Library’s Reading Garden Breaks Ground Thursday

Proposed Reading Garden Coming To The Oskaloosa Public Library

Children Invited to Bring their Shovels

The public is invited to the Oskaloosa Public Library for the official groundbreaking of The Reading Garden on Thursday, September 1 at 5:30 P.M. City and Library officials, donors, and the public will gather at the future garden site, 301 South Market Street, to share in the event.

The land for the garden was donated by Gridco LLC in 2009. Dan Brice of DB Landscaping has donated design work for the three-phase project, and the Oskaloosa Street Department will prepare the site. Donations of plants, bushes, trees, park benches, landscape border, original Oskaloosa brick, engraved paving bricks, volunteer labor and cash contributions are making this community project possible.

A gazebo for summer programs will be constructed in October on the north end of the site, while the first trees and bushes will be planted on the south edge of the garden. Brice and Suzette Streigel, ISU Extension horticulturist, have selected a variety of plants and trees that will bloom from spring through fall, attracting butterflies to the area.

Because the garden will be used for summer children’s programs, families are especially invited to attend, bringing their children’s gardening tools so they can assist in the ground breaking. Refreshments will be served, and the Friends of the Library will take orders for engraved paving bricks. The engraved bricks are being sold for $50, and orders placed by November 1will be printed and available by mid-December as a unique, and heavy, stocking stuffer.