2009 Summary of Accomplishments

We have accomplished quite a bit at the Hospice Garden in 2009:

A master plan was created for the Garden. This included the landscape design and budget for the Garden. Schedule of completion being dependent upon availability of funding.

The Garden plan was approved by the Hospice administration.

The Garden's water feature was constructed and put into operation.

The garden surrounding the water feature was installed.

A cedar arbor was constructed at the entrance to the Garden.

The memory walk was installed. The walk features memorial bricks available for commemoration of loved ones.

Concrete pads were installed for the seating areas.

Most important of all - The Hospice Garden was awarded a grant from the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation - William Young & Dorothy Young Mixer Fund. This grant will allow for completion of the master plan.

Thanks to all the volunteers and donors who contributed to making the Hospice Garden a reality. It has been very rewarding to be a part of this project and to see the positive impact it has had on the Hospice patients, their family members/friends, the Hospice employees, and the residents and employees of Heartwood Lodge.

Karen

P.S. The blog will be going on vacation until Spring 2010.

Work date at Heartwood Lodge Hospice Garden on June 13 -- Important

Heartwood Lodge is attempting to obtain grant money for the Hospice Garden project. We have just found out that the committee which awards the grants will be at Heartwood Lodge on Monday, June 15. There will be a presentation to the committee of the proposed design of the garden along with the budget necessary to complete the project. There will also be a tour of the garden area. The committee members will be able to see what has been accomplished so far. This presentation and tour of the garden will be extremely important in the committee's decision of whether or not to fund the garden project.

Therefore, we need to accomplish as much as possible on Saturday to be ready for the committee members tour of the garden area on Monday. We want to blow them away with what Master Gardeners can accomplish. Also, they are much more likely to fund the project if they see volunteers from the community donating their time and effort towards the project. (Heartwood Lodge is a non-profit agency and as such keeps records of and reports volunteer hours.) Installing the landscaping around the fountain area and the arbor will go a long ways towards convincing the committee members that this project is worthy of their funding.

Please make an effort to help out on Saturday, June 13. We are going to start work at 9:00 AM but you can show up later, whatever time fits into your schedule. How long we are there will depend on how many volunteers show up to help. Please bring shovels, wheelbarrows, or carts if possible. We have rented a dingo(small bucket loader) to move the compost so that will be doing most of the heavy work.

Here is a link to google maps showing the location of Heartwood Lodge. http://tinyurl.com/HWLodge The address is 18525 Woodland Ridge Dr., Spring Lake, MI, 49456.

Check your email for my cell phone # and driving directions. You can call me on Saturday if you are thinking of coming out later on and want to find out if we are still there. If you are not on our email list and would like this information, send me a note at hospicegarden@gmail.com

Remember, the hours volunteered at Heartwood Lodge qualify under the catergory of Nursing homes & Assisted Living Facilites for your personal choice hours.

Could you please let me know whether or not you are planning on being there on Saturday? I will be bringing water and doughnuts and it would be very helpful to have an idea of how many people will be there. Reply by email will be great.

Hope to see you on Saturday,

Work date at Heartwood Lodge Hospice Garden on June 13

Our first MGV group work date at the Hospice Garden will be held Saturday, June 13 starting at 9:00 AM. This will consist of moving the compost into the planting area for the shrubs and then setting the shrubs into place. These are potted shrubs and most of them are fairly small sized (easy to handle). Please bring shovels and if possible, wheelbarrows or other carts for moving the compost.

I know this is scheduled for the same day as an Education Garden work date but we had to work around the delivery of the compost. This is a good opportunity to diversfy your volunteer hours. Heartwood Lodge is a non-profit nursing home/assisted living center/hospice facility. Hours volunteered at Heartwood Lodge qualify under the category of Nursing homes & Assisted Living Facilites. This is a great place to volunteer your personal choice hours.

You have to see the amazing fountain/pond that Lyndon Rosser of Weekending built for the garden, from scratch. You also have to see the beautiful cedar arbor that Roger Vigland and Tim McPherson designed and constructed, again from scratch. I hope you will come out in person to see them and help add to the garden.

The mailing address of Heartwood Lodge is 18525 Woodland Ridge Dr., Spring Lake, MI, 49456. I think it's actually located in Ferrysburg. The address is so new that it doesn't show up in mapquest, etc. just yet, don't let that throw you. Here is a link that shows the street location from google maps. http://tinyurl.com/HWLodge I also plan to put out some signs to help direct you. Any questions, just email me at hospicegarden@gmail.com. Hope to see you there.

The arbor has been installed

A beautiful cedar arbor has now been installed at the entrance to the Hopsice Garden. Our thanks to Roger Vigland and Tim McPherson for designing and constructing it. The structure is made of cedar and the MGV's will be planting flowering vines to climb it. The arbor makes a beautiful frame for the fountain. Stay tuned because the compost has been ordered and we will be planting the beautiful trees and bushes soon. MGV's can rack up some volunteer hours here! Date of the work bee has to be changed because the compost won't be delivered until the 10th. Looking at the 13th of June now.

Progress and MGV work date

This has been a busy week at the Hospice garden. Lyndon is still working on the splash factor of the fountain,22 boulders were transferred from the old nursing home to Heartwood Lodge, and the trees and shrubs from Evergreen Nursery were purchased and delivered. Transferring the rocks was quite the operation. Thanks to Reenders Construction and their front end loader and Bill Tysman Trucking and their rock hauler plus the brute strength of a few good men this was accomplished on Wed. morning.
I found out yesterday that the arbor is ready and will be installed on Tuesday May 26,late afternoon or early evening.
The first MGV work date is June 6 at 9A.M. and will consist of creating the planting area for the shrubs and setting them in place. MGV's please bring shovels and if possible, wheelbarrows. Directions to Heartwood Lodge will be e-mailed to all MGV's
So, for right now that's about it.
Peace to all

.

The fountain landscaping plan

The Monday afternoon meeting resulted in lots of discussion about what the site needed to look "complete" and I think we came up with a winner. We will be raising the ground at the back of the fountain pool and will be planting 2 Weeping Norway Spruce on the left and a Japanese Maple Acer Palmatum on the right. Flanking the pool will be 10-12 speciman picea pines interspersed with 15 Autumn Joy sedum and different varieties of ornamental grasses to segue to the front of the pool which will be Bertrum Anderson and Dragons Blood sedum. The water in the fountain will not be chlorinated so we will have a variety of water plants in the fountain pool itself. For this we are looking at water Iris and water lettuce plus some miniature cattails. As you can probably tell, this is going to take a bit of manpower to complete, but if enough of us show up, it could be done in one day. The Hospice staff is so excited. They want to help us with the work so they will be notified of our work day. Tentative date is the first weekend in June which is the 6Th. The compost will be delivered the Thursday or Friday before (4Th or 5Th). Hoping for a great Master Gardener turn out!

failed experiment

Well, in trying to consolidate all the names and e-mails to facilitate communication experimentation was necessary (I guess). I am sure many people got an e-mail that made no sense at all. Don't hold it against me please. Just consider it a weed!

The Garden Arbor

I met with the carpenters who are constructing the arbor this week. They are going to be starting this project soon. The arbor will be made of cedar and will be constructed to support vines--even wisteria if we choose to plant this. The idea of seating under the arbor was tossed around and ultimately tossed out re: cost. The structure will be 6 1/2 ft tall and will span the sidewalk. It will be anchored in cement. Our carpenters are Roger Vigland and Tim McPherson. Both of these men have used Hospice services and are happy to help with this project. I am finding that when people are working for the right things, for the right reason, things just fall into place.

Planning Session for Hospice Garden on Monday

There will be a planning session for the garden this Monday, May 11, at 2:30 pm. It will be held outside at Heartwood Lodge in the Hospice Garden area where the fountain has been installed. We will discuss the landscaping for the area immediately surrounding the fountain.

This is a great time to get involved. Get in on the planning sessions and you could see your ideas in bloom later on this summer.

If you would like to participate and need directions to Heartwood Lodge or other information, contact us at the email below:

hospicegarden@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

The fountain is working! Come out and see it in operation.

The fountain construction is completed. It is now in operation; come out to visit and enjoy the wonderful atmosphere that this water feature creates. This fountain is already drawing patients, staff, and visitors.

Lyndon did a fabulous job constructing the fountain and we thank him for all his hard work and creativity.

The next step will be to landscape around the fountain. Anyone interested in getting involved in the landscape design or installation can contact me at the following email address:
hospicegarden@gmail.com

Come out and see the progress on the Hospice Garden Fountain!

You have to come out and see the progress that has been made on the fountain! Lyndon has been working very hard and making great progress. He is still placing stone but there is water in it and we are near to getting it started up.

I have attached several pictures showing the construction in progess. As you can see, Susan chose the yellow and gray stone to match the existing chimney on the building. It was a great choice and is in keeping with the natural setting of the lodge.

If you have a chance come out and see it in person.

Visitors and Residents looking forward to garden

The fountain construction is attracting attention from the residents, visitors and employees of Heartwood. The word is getting out and they are stopping by to check on the progress.

This is just a wonderful location that was chosen for the lodge. It is very heartening to see how many visitors there have been and how both the residents and visitors enjoy the natural setting. It is just great to see the residents/visitors taking a stroll around the grounds and stopping by to talk with us about the garden project. Installing the fountain and garden in the hospice area as well as the gardens in the main courtyard area should provide a calming and uplifting experience for those at the lodge. I know my spirits always rise when I'm able to commune with nature.

Welcome to our new blog

good luck to all who want to post on this site. looking forward to getting all kinds of new ideas.

Mickey and I have been working very hard (and having lots of fun) learning how to use SmartDraw's landscape design software as part of the Hospice Garden design. Once you have a layout set up in the program you can drag and drop different landscape elements into place. This includes hardscape items such as patios, sidewalks or water features in addition to trees, shrubs, and plant groupings.

We have taken our hand drawn layout of the Hospice Garden area and input this information into the SmartDraw program. We now have a to-scale layout of the Hospice Garden with the proposed hardscape elements in place. Take a look at the layout above and tell us what you think. If you'd like a larger copy of the layout instead of this web-sized version, email myself or Mickey to request one. We'd love to have your comments.