The Glasgow Gardenia Commission went about planting their seasonal flowers last week in the garden located adjacent to T.J. Samson Community Hospital.
President Jan Stuart enlisted the assistance of David Johnson, Charles Howard, Kenneth Wood, Allen Garmon and Justin Kindred in getting the work done.
Having retired from the task last year, 83-year-old Wood’s presence was strictly a one-day volunteer stint. He came around last Thursday to help the other workers straighten out the rows of flowers.
After the idea for the garden was approved in 1997, it was Wood who assisted with the building of the flower beds.
“I think it turned out to be a very beautiful spot,” he said. “It’s very therapeutic and lots of patients come out to sit in the garden.”
Kindred’s normal summer work of driving the hospital’s shuttle bus was interrupted so he could bring an extra set of hands to the task. The 18-year-old’s duties consisted of taking each individual flower out of its seedling tray and handing it to the other gardeners for planting. Once all flowers were in the dirt, Kindred picked up all the empty trays and put them in a trash bag for disposal.
The future Western Kentucky University student said he enjoyed both driving the bus and working outdoors amongst the flowers.
“You get to be outside and the weather’s been a lot better [lately],” he said.
The efforts and assistance offered by workers like Wood, Kindred and others help ensure the garden’s original vision flourishes for years to come. The concept of a place for those under hospital care to feel calm and at peace was originated by the late Fran Manning.
Stuart talked of Manning always wanting a garden where ailing patients could spend time in quiet reflection amongst the beauty of nature. After Manning’s passing, her son, Chris, designed plans for the garden. The plans called for it to house her favorite flower, the gardenia. “This was made for the community, not just the hospital,” Stuart said. “It’s a place for people to go and be at peace.”
In order to secure funding for the project, fundraising efforts began. One of them was the selling of the engraved bricks that not only line the garden’s entrance, but the rest of the grounds as well. Buyers could choose to let the bricks serve as a memorial or as an honor to someone in their life.
Money raised from the brick sales helped to not only fund the garden’s development, but also to rent the property from the hospital. Stuart said this is done so the community knows the garden is a separate entity from T.J. Samson.
Through volunteer help and discounts on supplies and plants from Borders Monuments, Greenleaf Nursery, Walbert Trucking and Barren County Glass, the project began to take shape. Stuart listed the garden as a project that continues to be an on-going endeavor, one that is strengthened through the support of the surrounding area.
“We encourage the community to come out and enjoy the garden,” she said.
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BY BRAD DICKERSON / Glasgow Daily Times
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