Garden of readin’

While a lot of hard work is normally done inside libraries, a Pennsylvania landscaper is getting down to business outside the library to improve the buildings surroundings. Neal Frederick, owner of Yardscapes in Telford, Pa., has lent his time and talents to the Indian Valley Public Library and, with the help of other volunteers, installed a butterfly garden, cutting garden, compost bin, rain barrel and they are in the process of planting about 20 trees to be planted around the property. They will also experiment with straw bale gardening, for which they received a mini-grant to implement.
 

What started with a butterfly garden has turned into a project to beautify the outside of a Pennsylvania library. Landscaper Neal Frederick has joined volunteers from around the city for the project.

“The goal is for the library to become more of a park instead of an oasis of grass,” he says. Frederick had never designed a butterfly garden, so he was excited to learn how to, on top of being able to help.

“If more people would volunteer their talents, we’d live in more pleasant neighborhoods, have a greater sense of local pride and have friendships with people we would never imagine,” he says. “It just so happens that I’m a horticulturist who is giving back, and trying to be part of the change that I want to see.”
 

The left photo is an after shot of the butterfly and garden while the middle photo shows what the area looked like before the work. Right: Volunteers assemble a trellis.

Good Works is an occasional feature that highlights charitable projects our readers are working on. If you’d like to see your company’s recent good work profiled, send an email to Associate Editor Brian Horn at bhorn@gie.net.