Volunteers with “Green Thumbs” Needed Saturday!

Main Entrance Oskaloosa Public Library Oskaloosa, Iowa

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Twenty-four trees and bushes will be planted in the Oskaloosa Public Library’s Reading Garden, beginning at 9 AM Saturday, October 29. Wanda Gardner, library director, is encouraging volunteers to come to the site just south of the library Saturday morning, bringing along work gloves, spades and shovels.

“When this community project was proposed a year ago, I didn’t realize how quickly the people, businesses and organizations of Oskaloosa would come together to make it happen,” says Gardner. “We didn’t want the project to go stale, and having the first wave of plantings done this fall is an important part of our progress.”

The garden is on a lot to the south of the library, provided by Gridco LLC, a division of Musco. The garden design was donated by Dan Brice of “db landscaping” in Oskaloosa. During September, volunteer Ervin Edel leveled the site with black dirt provided by Dave Bower’s high school construction trades class, and delivered by the Oskaloosa Street Department.

Pro-Line Construction completed a garden structure in early October, that will serve as a presentation stage for outdoor children’s programs. The donated trees and bushes to be planted include eight Miss Kim Lilac bushes from Earl May Garden Center, 13 Butterfly Bushes from Stam Nursery, and gifts of a Weeping Cherry tree and Dogwood bush; and a Red Bud tree: memorials for David Jackson and Nicholas Moore. Clow Valve Company is providing their custom-made park benches for the garden.

Local gardeners, organizations, businesses and youth groups are invited to send volunteers to work on the planting Saturday morning. The garden has been marked by Iowa One Call and Dan Brice will have planting locations marked, and will guide volunteers in the placement of trees and bushes.