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Centre County Library’s outdoor space gets the garden club treatment

BELLEFONTE — What began as a discussion at a December Bellefonte Garden Club luncheon became a joint effort between club volunteers, the Centre County Library and Historical Museum, and Penn State University to refresh the library’s landscaping and brighten another corner of Bellefonte’s historic downtown.

At the Bellefonte Garden Club’s annual luncheon, library friend and club vice president Ann Sager suggested the club help the library revitalize the look of its main entrance with new landscaping.

Centre County Library Executive Director Lisa Erickson agreed that its main branch, at the busy intersection of North Allegheny and West Howard streets, could use a facelift to better reflect the colorful array of programming offered inside and attract even more foot traffic; almost 80,000 patrons visited last year.

Sager and Wilda Stanfield, club publicity chair, took on the challenge and started making phone calls. Rick Grazzini of Garden Genetics suggested talking to Dan Stearns, professor of landscape contracting in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State. Stearns and Martin McGann, associate professor of landscape contracting, teach the planting design class and like to use real sites for their student projects. They agreed to work with the garden club and the library.

Erickson helped assemble the information needed: the architectural plan for the library, photos of the site, dates, ideas and goals. The volunteers met with McGann in January to map out the project, then McGann and his students visited the library Jan. 30 to measure and view the existing landscape. Four groups of students developed a landscape plan, and each presented their plan Feb. 8 to Erickson and Stanfield on campus. The four were distilled into one landscape plan and presented to Erickson and Stanfield at the library by McGann and student Fritz Harrison.

With a bequest from one of the club’s former members, the late Lt. Col. Robert Barraclough (retired), the club was able to contract with Brent Potter of Landscape II to slightly revise the plan to meet the club’s budget, order the plants and handle the installation.

Meanwhile Sager and Stanfield went shopping for new urns for the entrance. Wanting something colorful that made a statement, and after enlisting the help of Jennifer Freed of the library staff who made a special trip to Lewisburg, the library ended up with five cobalt blue ceramic planting urns that grace the entrance.

Landscape II work crews came on June 10, and the project was finished in time for the public to enjoy it this summer.

A few other items will be added this fall with the planting of daffodil bulbs and other perennials. Some of the new plantings will continue to fill in their spaces and should look beautiful from inside the library as well as outside, including the Japanese maple tree by the side windows, according to the garden club.

“We are honored and grateful that the Bellefonte Garden Club offered their resources to create such a beautiful oasis at our front door,” Erickson said. “What a lovely reminder of what communities can do when individuals contribute their time, talent and hard work!”

The Bellefonte Garden Club, founded in 1994, continues a tradition of an earlier Bellefonte Garden Club and operates under the umbrella of Historic Bellefonte Inc. (HBI). The mission of the club is to promote gardening in the community, educate its members in gardening, and use plants and landscaping to beautify the town. Some of its community projects include:

r Partnering with the Talleyrand Park Committee to create and maintain the new butterfly/pollinator garden in Talleyrand Park.

r Assist Bellefonte Borough with the downtown plantings (the diamond, hanging baskets and planters) this year.

r Creating and maintaining the 9/11 Memorial Garden.

r Partnering with Centre County Library and Penn State Extension Master Gardeners to create and maintain the Bellefonte Community Children’s Garden and provide hands-on educational experiences for Bellefonte Elementary second grade students and others.

r Planting the large urns in Talleyrand Park.

r Providing children’s gardening activities at the Big Spring Festival, Bellefonte Children’s Fair, and other events.

Additionally, free monthly club meetings provide speakers on various topics and garden tours in good weather. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Find out more on the club’s website: http://www.bellefontegardenclub.org or find Bellefonte Garden Club on Facebook.

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