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May 2021
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Allen County Edition Ed E Reaching Fort Wayne And Surrounding Counties
www.seniorlifenewspapers.com ewspapers.com
Vol. 34, No. 1
1DQF\ /LQGVH\ LV KDSSLHVW %\ 52' .,1* )HDWXUH :ULWHU Getting her hands in the dirt and working with flowers at the Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department’s Lawton Park greenhouse is a fun and relaxing endeavor for Nancy Lindsey. She’s one of 40 volunteers who help there weekly. Lindsey inherited her love of plants from her father and mother who were avid gardeners. “When my fingers are in the soil,” she said, “I’m a happy person. I come here for three to four hours once a week throughout the year. It’s so peaceful here. Everything is nice and green and warm. It’s like taking a vacation in the tropics without having to pay. “In addition, I like to keep my hand in the game. I had my own landscaping business while living in Florida near my parents and am getting back into it on a limited basis. When they passed away I decided to return to Fort Wayne in 2008 where I lived for many years in the 1970s. People here are just as warm, friendly, helpful and genuine as I remembered. It’s good to be back.” She met parks and rec horticulturist Lynda Heavrin at the Great Tree Canopy Comeback tree planting event 12 years ago and was intrigued by the opportunity of helping at the greenhouse and has been volunteering ever since. “This place is the best kept secret in the Summit
City. In all the years I lived here I had no idea that these greenhouses existed here in Lawton Park. They’ve been growing all the flowers for those wonderful, colorful beds in Foster, Lakeside, Sweeny and McMillen parks, the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory, the Allen County Courthouse and the Fort Wayne Community Center since the 1920s. Fort Wayne is one of the few cities in the Midwest that has the capability to grow all its own plantings. This is a wonderful treasure,” she added. According to horticulturist Heavrin, 40,000 plants grown here go into the parks and another 20,000 are supplied to the Botanical Conservatory where they are changed out four times a year for the summer, fall, holiday and winter shows. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without the 40 volunteers that work here at the greenhouse, not to mention the 200 volunteers that help out at the Botanical Conservatory.” “Something different is happening every time I come in,” said Lindsey. “Most recently we were transferring small coleus plants that
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when her hands are in soil had been grown from seed in the Center Range Greenhouse next door into larger containers to give their roots more room to grow. They’re grown in shade because they don’t take sunlight very well. Then a couple weeks later we
transferred them again into even larger containers. Then they were sent downtown to the FoellingerFreimann Botanical Conservatory where they are now showcased at the annual Butterfly Show which runs through June 27. Besides working with the plants here, I’ve met a lot of really nice people and it
has been a lot of fun.” The former corporate event planner turned to landscape design and installation during her 25 years in Florida. “When the event planner job went away, I started doing some landscaping for friends. I really liked it and before I knew it I was in business for myself.”
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