Some do it simply because they love to garden. Others are motivated by a strong sense of civic pride. Whatever the reason, volunteer organizations and individuals get down and dirty to make certain their communities put their best face forward. The results are splashes of color and greenery in public spaces that give passers-by a lift and perhaps a reminder to stop and smell the flowers.
From town hall walkways to fire station entrances, from town greens to traffic islands, volunteer gardeners keep public spaces colorful and aromatic throughout the growing season.
"It is our way of supporting our community and making it a better place," said Linda German of the Windham Garden Club. "We hear from residents and visitors how attractive our town is. Realtors, in particular, tell us how much they appreciate it because it makes the town appear to be welcoming and loved to people coming to look at real estate possibilities."
The club takes care of the Nesmith Public Library gardens, the Town Hall flower beds, the triangle at Lowell and Cobbetts Pond roads, and has been working on the Bartley House Civic Project garden.
The Hampstead Garden Club has been creating and maintaining numerous town sites for almost 30 years, according to member Cindy Lanouette. They started by establishing several big gardens at places like Ordway Park and have continued to add locations as the years passed.
"We do it because we love gardening and we love our town and want to make it as attractive as possible," Lanouette said.
Members choose the plants they want for a given site. The boxes at the Hampstead post office were planted with drought-tolerant plants to conserve water and survive the heat, but also to attract bees and butterflies, club member Suzanne Pare said.
The club maintains Ordway Park, Sign Island, the storybook garden at the library, gardens and barrels at the fire and police stations, and the two post offices. It also tends to the Historical Museum, the Old Meeting House and various war memorials.
Come autumn, member Dottie Bartlett said, the perennials will find a winter home in a member's garden and eventually find their way into the club's plant sale.
In Danville, it's all about Charles Coffin. Coffin decided he wanted to do something special for his town, so he brought in a load of loam and began planting a garden in front of Town Hall about three years ago, Town Clerk Jane Singleman said.
"The residents have been delighted," she said. "It has made such a nice garden that can be seen as people drive by or come to Town Hall."
An accomplished gardener, Coffin is motivated by civic pride to keep digging, weeding and planting.
"It is nice to have a garden for people to see and enjoy," he said. "I was able to save some of the plants that were there, but they were pretty forlorn. I put in annuals every year. I plant about 400 or 500 tulips every year, and the daffodils come back every year."
He said he loves his own acres of gardens and wanted to beautify Danville and give residents something to make them proud and happy.
The Derry Garden Club plants a mix of annuals and perennials. The public gardens are designed so that when one flower passes its prime, another variety is ready to bloom.
Club member Michelle Mensinger said volunteers clean up each site in the spring, tend them through the summer and clean them again in the fall. And they do it because they care about how Derry looks and this is their way of presenting the town in the best light, she said.
Their beautification efforts include the Manning Street pocket park, the Robert Frost Homestead, Derry Public Library and Taylor Library, and the garden in front of the Marion Gerrish Community Center.
In Plaistow, Bernadine FitzGerald is the heart and soul of beautification efforts, something she said she does because of her lifelong pride in Plaistow.
However, she said, she worries that newcomers to Plaistow are largely transient, lack the deep-seated pride in the town she has and may not continue her work.
"They're all quite beautiful now," she said. "I think and many agree with me that we have the prettiest town green around."
Among the areas FitzGerald cares for are the walkway to the front of Town Hall, the war memorial and a dozen monuments.
The Plant Committee in Newton keeps things growing, but they get a lot of help from Ralph Estabrook and Tony Romanoski.
Estabrook began caring for a town garden because he found it pleasant to look at. He said he sits on his porch enjoying the view of the garden he tends.
Romanoski said he tends places in town out of civic pride and because of his personal passion and love for gardening. Both men say residents are appreciative of their efforts.
Places taken care of by the Plant Committee, Estabrook and Romanoski include Estabrook's town garden on Route 108, Romanoski's Town Hall garden, the Police Department, the traffic island, the museum and New Boston Road corner.
In Atkinson, the Garden Club takes care of the planting and maintenance, but town employee Dave Weymouth made things a lot easier for the gardeners, according to club president Sue Miner. Thanks to Weymouth, members now have soaker hoses at several sites, saving them from lugging a lot of water by hand.
"Groups of two or three members take each individual site for a week, or sometimes two weeks, maintaining it," she said.
The club takes care of the Town Hall area, the Fire Department, the Woodlock Recreation area and the town pound. Members put flower-filled barrels at the cemetery and police station, as well as flowers at the Triangle and at the war memorials. Individuals volunteer to care for Brittany's Garden in front of Town Hall and the Community Center, and Frank Callahan takes care of Dow Common as a memorial to his wife.
The Salem Garden Club has been working to make Salem prettier for decades.
"We have also done a couple of special beautification projects, one being the Old School House that we did with the Historical Society," Club President Christine de Camp said. "Salem's Garden Club has been active in civic activities for 50 years, promoting the beautification of local homes, businesses, roadsides, parks, public lands and buildings. The rose garden at Ma Parkinson's Memorial Garden is a beautiful spot on Route 97."
The club takes care of the fireman's memorial, Ma Parkinson's Memorial Rose Garden and the Salem Center Burying Ground. Members also plant whiskey barrels at many major intersections.
The club helps the Historical Society with the Old School House #5.
Londonderry, which doesn't have a garden club, takes a different approach, according to Carolyn O'Connor, who is in charge of beautification for the town. She runs a five-week event, Beautify Londonderry, from the middle of April to the end of May.
About 800 to 1,000 volunteers show up to do spring cleanup, weed and plant school- and town-building areas, she said. The town provides gloves, trash bags and planting materials. The volunteers take care of all the schools, the police and central fire stations, Town Hall, the library, the skate park, the memorials and the town common.
Just this year, Sandown resurrected its Garden Club, according to Pat Teague. They took on one project for the first year.
"We went to the depot building at the Historical Society RR Depot Museum and cleaned up and did some planting there," she said. "We will do more in the future."
Other volunteers care for the war memorial at Town Hall, and the Fire Department members take care of the safety complex.
In Kingston, it's trees not flowers. For the last six years, Kevin Burke and Rich St. Hilaire have been replanting trees on the Plains (town common). Burke said residents voted at Town Meeting to change turf-care practices in Kingston to all organic.
The Gardeners Group in Pelham takes care of the town common and the old library, member Dawn McLaughlin said. They may add more areas in the future.
