Garden

[Lilysmom]

Eighteen months ago, a small group (5) of community members got together to do a beautification project around an industrial section of the main road that connects our communities and leads to one of the Province's major tourist destinations.

It took a tremendous amount of work, fund raising, planning and doing to complete the project.  Some businesses were on side and some were not and tried to obstruct the project.

We are finally almost finished. Photo one is the before.  On one corner of the intersection leading into the industrIal Park, we removed industrial signage, placed an 18 ton address rock and planted a huge garden among granite boulders.  In the garden are native plants, hardy to our region, rhododendrons, Rose of Virginia, Bayberry, etc which will mature into 3-5' shrubs that will provide seasonal flowers and color.

On the opposite side of this corner, we laid a bed of granite boulders and commissioned an artist to make a metal replica lighthouse, galvanized, powder coat painted and 25' in height.  

Our last job is to place uplighting for the address marker rock and the lighthouse.  We have totally transformed the area.

This is Phase 1 of a multi phase project to improve the vista for communities and tourists alike.  The road is known as The Lighthouse Route.

What do you think?  LM

I have shown the photo below to give you an idea of scale.  The men are around 6 feet tall.

[Leggett28]

Great job. 

[Kachina624]

 It's quite an improvement.   It should really shine in a couple of years when the plantings fill in.  I'd love to see it then as it's a bit hard to visualize.

[Lilysmom]

@Kachina624 , we who garden get that it will take a few years for the plants to be established and to have that wow factor.  I think the garden is going to be lovely.  The shrubbery was donated to our community from a local horticultural school.

The Lighthouse is currently the wow factor but I am hoping, in time, the garden will be lovely.  LM

[1Snickers]

 What an improvement! Congratulations on a great job! Please do send photos when the plantings are in! 🌿🌱🌾🌳

[phoenixbrd]

@Lilysmom   Congratulations to you and your colleagues for this project that will create a lasting change in your community.  It is lovely, and will only become more attractive in time.  Much respect for your transformation work

[Kachina624]

@Lilysmom    I wondered....will the lighthouse have a light?

[Lilysmom]

@Kachina624 , you never miss a trick!  you will see the light beacon below.  It is decorative, not functional.  The entire lighthouse will be uplit as will the address marker stone.

@1Snickers , the garden is already planted.  My comment was that it will take a couple of years for the shrubbery to become full size.  LM

[SunSprite]

@Lilysmom  This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. Hats off to you and your fellow community members! 

You should all be very proud of yourselves and the wonderful changes you've made. It's inspiring, and a good kick in the pants to me to be more of a "do-er" and less of a "someone should do something about that" person. 

Thank you for sharing!

[Lilysmom]

@SunSprite , thanks for your kind words.  We took an ugly corner and made it beautiful.  We are moving on to Phase 2 for 2020 amd hope to continue through our communities to add areas of interest for residents and tourists alike.  LM