Blooming space: Empty lot redone in plants, gravel parking is coming
Published 4:11 pm Wednesday, October 29, 2014
“It looks so good!” said passersby on North Bend’s Main Avenue North October 7. “Very nice!”
For the “worker-bee group” who’d just finished planting some 150 plants in a newly cleared city lot, the compliments were just part of the reward. There was also the visible improvement to the 10 by 87-foot frontage, the anticipation of spring and their daffodil bulbs blooming, and the inherent satisfaction of gardening.
Plus, with the help of North Bend public works staff to prepare the ground and install the sprinkler system, “it’s the easiest garden I’ve done!” said Lynn Brechtel, a member of the Snoqualmie Valley Garden Club.
The club was recently enlisted to beautify the lot, cleared of overgrown plants and abandoned buildings in July. Working with Public Works Director Mark Rigos, they planned and purchased six or seven varieties of plants, many of them natives, said work group organizer Judy Bilanko.
“We were looking for a community service project,” Bilanko, who declared the group the worker bees, said. The city had recently cleared the empty lot, with plans to cover most of it with gravel for extra city parking.
The Nursery at Mount Si gave the city a discount on the plants — rudbeckia, evergreen huckleberry, Alberta spruce, heather, and mukdenia, among them — and Ace Hardware in North Bend donated 10 bags of compost to the effort.
The Snoqualmie Valley Garden Club meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month, except in summers, at the Mount Si Senior Center. Find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Snoqualmie-Valley-Garden-Club/132189950166278.
While Lynn Brechtel, right, digs, Vicki Bettes preps one last heather plant for transplanting into a now lovely spot along North Bend’s Main Avenue North.
Ward Bettes helps spread compost along North Bend’s Main Avenue North Wednesday, as part of the Snoqualmie Valley Garden Club’s community project.
Judy Balinko smiles as day one of the Snoqualmie Valley Garden Club’s project for North Bend nears completion.
After finishing planting on Wednesday, members of the garden club stand back to admire the finished product, and check the sprinkler system for good coverage.
This red-leafed mukdenia shrub, planted by the garden club, produces small white flowers in the spring.
