Amy Hatfield & Francesca McNichol of Penn Cumberland Garden Club
Two central-Pennsylvania gardens have won 2011 Community Greening Awards from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the group best known for running the Philadelphia Flower Show.
The new Ames True Temper community vegetable garden in Hampden Twp. and the Shippensburg Peace Garden were cited by PHS as outstanding examples of green spaces that enhance local communities.
The local winners are among 60 gardens PHS honored in the mid-Atlantic region this year.
Nominated gardens are visited by PHS judges who evaluate each garden based on plant material, maintenance, design, visual appeal and use of space.
The award includes a framed certificate and a sign to post in the gardens.
The Ames True Temper garden materialized just this past May out of what was long a grassy field next to the company’s plant at 465 Railroad Ave.
Ames True Temper is a North American leader in people-powered yard tools.
Thanks to a grant from the company’s former owner (Castle Harlan Inc.), the grass was turned into 1.7 acres of raised-bed gardens – all fenced in to stop rabbits and adorned with a central gazebo and a large tool shed.
Local arborist and radio host Bob Carey provided technical advice, and Penn Cumberland Garden Club co-chairs Amy Hatfield and Francesca McNichol managed the logistics.
More than 100 gardeners made great use of the plots – not to mention free water and free use of Ames True Temper tools.
Untold thousands of pounds of fresh food came out of this reborn land. Some of it even went to the area’s poor through the Plant a Row for the Hungry program operated by Harrisburg-based Channels Food Rescue.
It was an impressive effort – especially for a first-year garden.
Many of the gardeners were novices, but they kept it well maintained and thriving through what was less than an ideal growing season.
This year’s gardeners get first dibs on reserving space for next year, and already at least one other major Harrisburg-area corporation is looking into doing something similar.
Ames True Temper CEO Duane Greenly said at planting time that the three main goals were to give back to the community, to provide educational opportunities and to foster a joy of gardening. “And if people can lower their food bills, eat healthy and donate their excess vegetables, that’s all a bonus,” he added.
It seems that all six goals were accomplished. And the garden got an award to boot.
Photo by Jill Hudock
The Shippensburg Peace Garden is located in Shippensburg’s Memorial Park along Route 11 at the western edge of the borough.
It’s about 1 acre in size and was founded in 1993 as a public symbol of peace and social justice.
Shippensburg peace crusader Polly Underwood was the driving force behind the garden, which started out much smaller than it is now. Ironically, Underwood died this past January at age 92.
The Peace Garden began taking on its current form in 1999 when Master Gardeners Jill Hudock and Sally Boice volunteered to design and plant it.
The garden now features a wooden bridge, vine-covered arbors, benches, a wide variety of flowering trees, shrubs, perennials and groundcovers and a “Gandhi Stone” that reads: “We must be the change that we wish to see in the world.”
It’s especially nice – and peaceful – in the spring when the many trees and bulbs are in bloom.
Besides the usual challenges of weather, weeds and marauding animals, this garden also has had to overcome some problems with vandalism in the last couple of years.
If you haven’t seen either of these gardens, put it on your calendar to take a peek next spring.
They’re both free and open to visitors. And well deserving of the PHS honor.
George Weigel is a Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist, garden writer, owner of the Garden House-Calls consulting and design service for do-it-yourselfers and founder of the www.georgeweigel.net web site. 
