A garden of hopes and dreams

FALLBROOK — The Friendly Village has many volunteers. Those who work with and for children are a special group. Among the Fallbrook Garden Club’s nearly 400 members is a dedicated and energetic bunch who show up regularly at La Paloma School. They are there to volunteer time in the garden. This has been an ongoing project for several years, but during the past months the garden has taken on a life of its own.

Thursday afternoons the joyful chatter of children can be heard as they plant seeds, water rows of beans and strawberries or gather roses for a favorite teacher.

Nanette Noonan and Tressie Crocker direct all the activity with their crew of up to 20 garden club volunteers monthly, four teachers, and during the school year 90 children happily named the Roots and Sprouts Garden Club. The children were divided into three groups, each session lasting eight weeks.

Rounding out the number of volunteers to a minimum of 29 each month is the Tuesday morning crew.

About 7:30 a.m. from various directions men arrive to do major weeding, make sure the irrigation system is efficiently watering the children’s rows of herbs and flowers, prune fruit trees, dead-head roses and take care of gophers. Other projects this year included installation of a couple of bird houses, replacing the cover on a neglected greenhouse and creating a walkway with pebbles donated by Southwest Boulder and Stone down the center past the benches. A bed was also created for a succulent garden. Named a ‘Backyard Habitat’ by National Wildlife Federation, the garden features plants to attract birds and butterflies.

On a recent Thursday the children, with the help of volunteers, put the finishing touches on a mosaic birdbath made from a base of stacked plant pots. Nearby is a stepladder and chickenwire trellis where morning glories were transplanted. Perhaps next year a wren will find a home among the sheltering vines and trumpet flowers.

The Garden Club is very proud of these young gardeners and the volunteers who mentor them. It is hoped that down the road these youngsters will become involved in the Ag program at Fallbrook High School. Perhaps one of them will decide to pursue a career in landscaping or some other garden-related subject and even win a Fallbrook Garden Club scholarship toward that goal. During summer vacation students will want to return to the garden to check on the progress of their vegetables and flowers and will no doubt be amazed at the size of the ‘Kong’ sunflowers already over three feet tall.

Three years ago an owl box was installed in a nearby pine tree. Owl chicks were discovered recently and soon the box will again be empty as they mature and move on. By day the owls are silent but at night the characteristic screech of barn owls can be heard throughout the garden.

June 5 was the beginning of National Garden Week and the Fallbrook Garden Club is celebrating with three days of activities. On Sunday, June 5, Live Oak Park was the site for learning about native plants and barn owls.

Today a tour of the garden at La Paloma is offered at 5 p.m.

Finally, on Saturday, June 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Village Square at Alvarado and Main will be busy with demonstrations, flower arranging, composting with worms, an exhibit of live reptiles and frogs, and guest Dan Myers from Grangetto’s on hand to talk about organic gardening and answer gardening questions. Watch for the green and white balloons to mark each venue.

Ms Noonan has directed each of the three groups in a number of learning experiences through a curriculum based on ‘Nutrition to Grow On.’

This is a program sponsored by UCSD and the California Department of Education. Already plans are developing for next year to “keep the program fresh,” Nanette said, as many of the same children will be back in the club and will want new material.

The Fallbrook Garden Club Flower Show includes a section for children to compete. Winning ribbons helped add to their enthusiasm for gardening and creating crafts with plant material. This is one bunch of kids who don’t mind getting their hands dirty. In May they proudly presented their mothers with teacups and saucers in which they had planted succulents. This was the result of volunteer Tressie Crocker scouring garage sales for useable china. She also helped direct construction of a succulent chair seat and a ‘pot person’ who now resides full time.