The patio outside of Wesley Enhanced Living Burholme, 7040 Oxford Ave., features a garden that reflects the residents’ garden club’s efforts to beautify one of their common living areas.
The raised garden bed has a healthy supply of cherry and heirloom tomatoes, dill and peppermint. The residents also added wildflowers, petunias and marigold to add some color to the space.
Behind the garden lies a path to a gazebo surrounded by daffodils — in which they might put their Christmas tree in there this upcoming year.
Behind the patio is a robust rosebush that the residents tend to along with pink and purple hydrangeas, which are perennial. The patio is also home to potted plants such as vibrant pink petunias and marigolds.
Joan Dougherty, a member of the garden club, said she loves how the marigolds bloomed because it’s evidence of their hard work.
“It gets us out of our rooms and gives us something to do,” Dougherty said of the garden club.
The 4-year-old-garden club started planting seeds in May. There are five members who work regularly in the garden.
At the end of August they will harvest what has grown and use the herbs and vegetables for various things around the residence.
While the garden is blooming, they did face challenges with heat waves and intermittent thunderstorms that left the plants either too dry or too wet.
Wesley Enhanced Living has socials on the patio where the garden is, a place for the residents to gather and socialize among a scenic backdrop. The residents have also taken to feeding the birds and they also have a cat that comes to visit the patio.
Liz Cinalli and Patricia McBreem are members of the garden club. Cinalli said working on the garden makes her think of her parents’ garden growing up.
“It brings back a lot of happy memories,” Cinalli said. ••
