Tending the Garden VOLUNTEER KEEPS WELCOME SIGN LOOKING GOOD
BY LISA SCHMIDT GIVING BACK TO EAST SAC
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n the more than 12 years since the “Welcome to East Sacramento” sign at the corner of Alhambra and H streets was built, the sign and the garden surrounding it have become an iconic symbol of East Sacramento, popular in photos and artwork. The sign was an idea that was originally suggested by members of McKinley East Sacramento Neighborhood Association. After it was constructed, the neighborhood group raised funds for the landscaping surrounding the sign and recruited volunteers to maintain the garden. East Sac resident Candy Holland is one of the volunteers who currently help in the garden. Holland, who has been working in the garden since 2012, can be found there most Saturday mornings. “My husband calls this my ‘guerilla garden,’” she says. “I spend on average half an hour with my first chore: to pick the garbage out of the garden. It’s amazing what gets tossed in there—clothing, a brass doorknob. Then, I weed, prune and deadhead the flowers.” On many Saturdays, Holland is joined by Lyell Heaps, who has volunteered in the Welcome Garden for more than eight years, and Jill Haw, Sharon Cooney and Katherine Bennett.
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Candy Holland at East Sac's Welcome Garden
“There is a good synergy in getting involved in things like this. We are taking some ownership of our neighborhood,” says Holland. The Welcome Garden is not the only garden Holland maintains. She and her husband own a house on a large lot (large for East Sacramento, that is). Their garden was featured on the East Sacramento Edible Gardens Tour in 2011. “My husband is the vegetable gardener,” says Holland. “He is great at planting, but I get
to weed and harvest. My thing is perennials and grasses. We have no lawns to mow.” Plants from Holland’s home garden are often replanted in the Welcome Garden. Holland, who works full time for the structural steel fabrication firm Davison Iron Works, loves to garden because, she says, “most of the things I do in my job are never-ending. But in gardening you can weed a patch, trim a hedge, finish a task! Cross it off your list!”
Luckily for East Sacramento residents, the Welcome Garden is on Holland’s list. If you’re interested in volunteering in the Welcome Garden or one of the other neighborhood gardens in East Sacramento, email eastsaclife@ aol.com To suggest someone for a volunteer profile, call 441-7026 or email eastsaclife@aol.com n