Dexter Garden Club Volunteers Give Lucky Winner a Garden Makeover

By Mary Robinson

Did you hear about the fantastic garden bed makeover in the Dexter area this summer? I’m not referring to the Do It Yourself Network garden winners of the $25,000 garden on Broad Street. My tale is of a smaller but equally beautiful project taken on by the Dexter Garden Club. Let me explain how this garden renovation began.

A member of the Friends of the Dexter Library solicited the help of the garden club for a fundraiser the group was organizing for the . Club member Allen Gorgas wrote up a proposal offering a one hour garden consultation, three hours of garden renovation and 20 garden plants to suit the winner’s taste in color and maintenance needs. The request was agreed upon by the membership, a committee of three planned the project, and a date was chosen for the initial demolition.

This project fit in well with the garden club’s philosophy of giving back to the community members for their kind patronage of the yearly May plant sale. In the past, the group has made service or monetary donations to the Dexter Senior Center, Family Services of Dexter, Dexter Community Schools, the Dexter Area Historical Society, the Junior and Senior Master Gardeners’ Programs of Washtenaw County, and Faith in Action. This year’s beneficiary would ultimately be the Friends of the Dexter District Library.

The committee members — Allen Gorgas, Sandy Hansen and Mary Robinson — met Jennifer McCready Maynes, the winner of the garden club’s offering in the fundraiser. She led the group to a large 25-foot by 10-foot bed in the front of her house. There was a discussion of the garden bed conditions of light, soil and water needs; the owner’s plant preferences and colors; and the level of maintenance preferred. The committee members decided that the clay soil needed to be amended, most of the plants removed with some to be saved and used in the final installation, and mulch applied to finish off the project.

A crew of volunteers were recruited from the membership roster. Due to the clay content of the soil, a rototiller was needed. Ken Hosford, a volunteer, was kind enough to loan his monster machine for the project and contributed the gas as well for the morning’s job. He claimed he was happy to do so in support of the library.

On the hottest week of the summer, our eager team met early on a Saturday morning hoping to get a good deal of work done before the heat of the day slowed us down. Fortunately a storm the previous afternoon and a light misting of rain created a relatively cool morning. The “diggers” tore into the garden bed for four hours, removing all but one False Indigo. Even huge grasses were lifted manually. Much of the existing plant material was delivered via wheelbarrow to the compost pile, but some of the better plants were saved to be reused.

After the bed was cleared, it was rototilled twice. The first pass was to till up the soil and remove more of the quack grass invading the bed. On a second pass, compost was mixed in to the clay to amend it and give the new plants a fighting chance to survive.

At the end of our work session, our group all looked like “mud puppies,” as I like to call a person who is covered in dirt and sweat from head to toes. Nevertheless it was a very satisfying day for all who participated.  

On the following weekend a smaller contingency of workers arrived to install the promised plants purchased from Northfield Nursery by the garden club. Sandy Hansen used her expertise to create an attractive garden design. Within two hours the plants were in place and a layer of mulch put down to deter the growth of weeds, help retain moisture for the new plants, protect them over the winter and give a finished look to the bed. Both the mulch and the compost were donated by Alan Gorgas, who is also the owner of Castlerock Landscaping/Irish Landscaping.

Among the salvaged and reused plants were Autumn Sedum, Phlox, Daylillies, Chrysanthemums, German Iris, Rudbekia, Bleeding Heart, False Indigo and two big perennial grasses — Porcupine Grass and Maiden Grass. We added the following new plantings: Orange Butterfly Weed, "Red Riding Hood" and "David" Garden Phlox, Blue Plumbago, Crocosmia, "PurplePalace" Coralbells, "Party Dress" Autumn Anemone, "Moonshine" Yarrow, Cushion Spurge and a "Pinky Winky" Panicle Hydrangea. The owner’s preference was for a planting scheme heavy in warm colors. These choices of plant material definitely met that criterium.

So now you know my tale of the beautiful garden renovation. All it took was a good idea, a generous club, a willing crew, a carload of healthy plants and a lovely design. Yes, we all became mud puppies but it was a worthwhile project.

Editor's note: Mary Robinson lives in Dexter with her husband Gary and the cat Delores. She is a member of the Dexter Garden Club, which meets the second Tuesday of the month at 6:45 p.m. from September to June. The new meeting location this fall is the Dexter Senior Center located at 7720 Ann Arbor St. The January speaker is gardening expert Janet Macunovich and her program is on Mixed Borders.