The restored Lord & Burnham Greenhouse was the center of the annual Brucemore plant sale on Saturday, May 11, 2013. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
CEDAR RAPIDS – Cool things were happening on a cool weekend in Eastern Iowa. Within blocks of each other in southeast Cedar Rapids, customers flocked to the annual Brucemore plant sale, while volunteers helped plant a community garden on Bever Avenue in the Wellington Heights Neighborhood.
Brucemore’s sale centered around the historic Lord & Burnham Greenhouse in the heart of the estate. From 2011-2012, the greenhouse was restored to its original 1915 design with a small head house, 450 square-foot glasshouse and – the admitted object of my envy – several detached cold frames on the south lawn. New head gardener David Morton and his crew are keeping the gardens gorgeous, as always. Check out the lush landscape later this month during Brucemore in Bloom.
Karl Cassell shovels in a new community garden on Bever Avenue SE in the Wellington Heights Neighborhood of Cedar Rapids on Saturday, May 11, 2013. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
I have nothing but admiration for the work under way in Wellington Heights. Karl Cassell, newly named president and CEO of the non-profit Horizons, is the driving force behind a new community garden, being planted where the former Bever Avenue Apartments once stood. He is getting an assist from friends Brandi Stiffin and Ray Ratcliff, both of Cedar Rapids, along with Sonia Kendrick of Feed Iowa First, as well as neighborhood volunteers like 8-year-old Tyrese Gudenkauf, who lives across the street.
With 16 raised beds and 30 rows of vegetables, the 120-by-60 foot garden is a huge undertaking. The goal is for anyone who helps out to be able to eat the “fruits” of their labor. Gardeners and anyone else interested in helping can contact Karl Cassell at KACassell@gmail.com or (319) 573-1230. See more images from both events:
Debbie Hedges, of Eagan, Minn., (right) and her niece, Megan Byers of Cedar Rapids, read a label on a plant in the cold frames at Brucemore during the annual plant sale on Saturday, May 11, 2013. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
“Black and Blue” salvia, one of head gardener David Morton’s favorite flowers, sits on a table for sale during the annual Brucemore plant sale in Cedar Rapids. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Brucemore head gardener, David Morton, (center) answers questions about a plant during the annual sale on Saturday, May 11, 2013. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Customers shop for flowers inside the Lord & Burnham Greenhouse on the Brucemore estate in Cedar Rapids. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Cold frames line the south end of the Lord & Burnham Greenhouse on the Brucemore estate in Cedar Rapids. (photo/Steve Gravelle)
Brandi Stiffin of Cedar Rapids volunteers on Saturday, May 11, 2013, at the Bever Avenue community garden in southeast Cedar Rapids. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Onions are planted at the Bever Avenue community garden in Cedar Rapids on Saturday, May 11, 2013. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Tyrese Gudenkauf helps out in the community garden near his house in southeast Cedar Rapids. The 8-year-old admitted that he doesn’t like onions, which he helped plant, but does eat them, along with many other vegetables. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
No Comments Yet