About 30 volunteers came out on Nov. 20 to help plant flowers, grasses and bulbs for phase two of the Kings Court Beautification Project, a group effort by Haddonfield, its garden club and youth organizations.
Commissioner Frank Troy, of the Public Works, Parks and Public Buildings Department, said the idea came from former commissioner and mayor, Neal Rochford, who wanted to spruce up the area and make it more of an interest year round.
Sharon Parker, youth garden chair for the Haddonfield Garden Club, organized the volunteers, who included three Girl Scout Brownie troops; the Haddonfield Memorial High School Leo and Environmental clubs; AP environmental students; and borough public works employees, including Troy, Kevin Roche and Rochford.
While the Buildings and Grounds Department prepped the area by pulling up old plants and removing rocks and the old irrigation system, the volunteers helped plant 700 bulbs and around 100 plants, including spring blooming bulbs, summer blooming rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan) and anemone that will bloom in the fall.
Troy noted that fall planting allows for better root growth to make beds more sustainable.
“It’ll be a beautiful focal point,” Parker said. “These are perennials and bulbs that are easy to maintain. As long as they’re cared for correctly, they’ll come back every year.”
Prior to the project, Parker explained that there were “scraggy evergreen types of plant material that weren’t in good condition.”
“There wasn’t anything of color; everything was pretty much the same palette, evergreen of sorts,” she added. “So many plants coming through and it will be a revolving sea of colors.”
Volunteers planted half of the planned plants in Kings Court. When the rest of them are ready, they will be planted in the spring.
