The comments below are from OSFR treasurer Cindy Noel. The garden indeed looks great and the reason is that we have several Master Gardeners in charge– some are current, some former, one in training, but all experts. These include Cindy Noel, Patty Street, Kristin Rubin and Marian Moss. Others who helped (and continue helping) with this project are Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, Merrill Jipson, Doug Jipson, Mike Roth and Jack Rubin.
This garden gets no watering, no fertilizer, but is heavily mulched as seen in the photos (by Cindy Noel) and is healthy and well.
Thanks go to all these people and also to Merrillee and Doug for donating the space at Rum 138, located at 2070 SW CR 138, Fort White. Cindy mentions plant and mulch donors in the article below.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
The Native Garden at Rum 138 is looking wonderful . The cut-leaf coneflower just finished blooming, the firebush is in bloom, native verbena is still showing beautiful lavender flowers. The fall will bring more color when the muhly grass blooms.
We just added more mulch from Joel Phelps – Just Performance Tree Service. He delivered the first load of mulch when we were putting the garden together last year, and supplied us with another load this week. Please help us support this local business if you need any tree service done!
http://www.justperformancetreeservice.com 386-438-9835
Last year we put in 6 coonties, donated by Rick McDonnell of Hickory Hill Nursery in Brooksville, FL. Many of the other native plants were donated by Ann Hudson with Alachua County Master Gardeners, the Columbia County Seed Library, and members of OSFR.
We have informative markers by the plants identifying them and providing helpful hints on where they will grow best and what conditions they prefer. Please feel free to walk around the garden and read the markers. Some plants may be seasonal and will die back in winter, but will reappear in the spring.
