Sunday, June 13, 2010

Hilda's Garden


Hilda McClure is widely considered to be the "Godmother" of the Idaho Falls Greenbelt. Her bequest jump-started all the great things that have happened to the Greenbelt on the west side of the river. A permanent memorial to this benefactor is the Hilda McClure Garden. It's the largest flower garden on the Greenbelt and one of the largest in the whole city. It sits in four large raised beds on an island near The Falls Overlook in front of the Red Lion Hotel. Susun was able to take responsibility for this garden in 2008. The City actually paid her to plant it and look after it that year. They would have continued to pay her each year but we wanted to travel last summer so she volunteered to do it for free as long as she didn't have to have a fixed schedule. The city agreed to a similar arrangement this year. For all practical purposes, the Hilda Garden is Susun's garden. It's a pretty sweet deal, actually. The city provides all the bedding plants and waters the garden regularly. Susun organizers people to help plant it and then weeds it once in awhile. Susun had maybe a dozen women lined up to plant June 12 but only 3 actually showed up. The weather was nasty so it's easily understandable why so few turned out. It's lucky that at least 3 people participated. Otherwise, Susun and I would have been there all day and probably a portion of today as well. The conditions yesterday were perfect for transplanting. We suspect there will be minimal transplant shock mortality. A light female rain fell overnight to keep the little plants happy. It's overcast again today with cool temps (52 as I write this) so we're hoping to have a very high survival rate this year. The Hilda Garden really reaches its stride in late July and early August when the flowers become mature. Busloads of Japanese tourists love to roam the garden snapping photos as they are wont to do. The garden remains beautiful all the way until the first hard freeze. We love to watch its evolution each summer. This is our third summer of involvement with the Hilda Garden.

Here's an interesting Karma Note about the Hilda Garden. We bought our little 1939 bungalow from a young couple. The wife's name is Catherine McClure S. Susun became curious in 2008 and called Catherine to inquire as to whether she was related to Hilda. Sure enough, Hilda was Catherine's Great Aunt! Small world, eh?

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1 comment:

stasea said...

I got to see this once. Moms gardening
skills are extraordinaire. Looking forward to
follow up pics.