Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sargent – Downing Gardens and Nursery Fall Planting

Sargent-Downing Gardens and Nursery Fall Planting

Beacon – After having a successful “Raise the Roof” fundraiser and raising over $3000 to begin repairing the roof of their future home, the Sargent-Downing Gardens and Nursery group planted 8 trees in Beacon parks. Four trees were planted on Saturday, October 29 in Memorial Park which include a redwood, beech, crabapple and birch and were generously donated by Gary Wood from East Mountain Associates and are namesake trees for his four daughters Hannah, Abigail, Claire and Emma. Three other trees were planted in Green Street Park which include a redbud, plum and magnolia. These were generously donated by Peoples Bicycle, Clearwater and Jessica Wickham.

Planting trees during the snowstorm in Memorial Park

"An eighth tree was planted earlier this fall at Patriot Park and was dedicated on the tenth anniversary of 9/11” said Justin Riccobono, the Beacon recreation commissioner who helped start this program. Richie Cabo, President of the group and the one who had the idea for this program, nursed the only tree that survived at Ground Zero back to health. This Callery Pear tree is a cutting from that 9/11 survivor tree and has now found a home in Beacon.  Cabo is the president of the Sargent Downing gardens and nursery is also the City Wide Nursery Director for NYC Parks Department. He can be recognized by his signature hat and has always had a love for horticulture. "I noticed many rare tree specimens here in Beacon and did some research only to discover that a man named Henry Winthrop Sargent had planted many of them 150 years ago. Then I found out that he had worked closely with Andrew Jackson Downing and knew this was something special and that it needed to be shared with my community", Cabo explained.

The Sargent-Downing Gardens and Nursery focuses on the areas of gardening, horticulture and civic pride while offering an education program with historical importance for children. Serving the community at large, the program also provides the City of Beacon with trees for its parks and Main Street.

This City of Beacon Recreation program offers a different type of recreation for the City of Beacon and the surrounding communities. It will help educate children in the areas of horticulture, gardening and sustainability. Volunteers of all ages are invited to participate in educating and maintaining the  grounds which will include seed starting, planting, harvesting food, composting, and propagating amongst other activities. The Garden is open to the public at the university settlement camp located at 722 Wolcott Ave.

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