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Thanks to dedicated volunteers, Liberty’s in bloom
By jeanne starmack
LIBERTY
They’re tall and they’re colorful, so they’re good at getting attention. But they don’t require much, so they don’t really need it.
They’re a bright spot for people who drive by them on the ramp to Interstate 80 from Belmont Avenue in Liberty Township, but if the hot sun beats down on them for days at a time with no relief, that’s OK — they stand up to their job from spring through summer and into fall.
It’s no accident they’re that way.
It’s by design, from about 35 dedicated volunteers who put them there.
They’re the flowers in the bed along the fence between the ramp and the Fortune Garden restaurant on Belmont, one of 26 community flower beds — and official welcoming committees to Liberty Township.
Janet Yaniglos, one of four master gardeners who lead the volunteers in their group, called Liberty in Bloom, introduced some of those plants Thursday morning while she and others worked in the bed, weeding and planting petunias that were donated by John Hinely from Colonial Gardens, a garden center in Vienna.
The profusion zinnias branch out in many blossoms from one stem that can be seen from a distance, and the big, flourishing hibiscus bush with the lone, large flower grew from a seed in a package that was given to township Administrator Pat Ungaro. The Maximilian sunflower bush, healthy, green and dotted with cheerful yellow flowers, was rescued as a half-dead little plant on sale for $1 at Lowe’s by Carol Cupan, another of the group’s master gardeners.
Behind all the other plants, pink and purple morning glories were clinging gracefully to the fence.
The gardeners try to pick drought-resistant plants, so if they don’t get watered for weeks by volunteers who are otherwise busy, they’ll be OK.
The gardeners grow annuals, such as the profusion zinnias and morning glories, from seeds at their homes starting in January. They use the plants to fill in the beds around perennials.
Yaniglos didn’t hesitate to point out some problems in the bed, having made the point before that gardening is always a learning experience.
A soft-leafed cosmos plant was hidden behind one of many bunches of tall ornamental grass.
“That could have been up front,” she said.
Yaniglos said being a master gardener — along with Cupan, Bessie Anderson and Marge Lardis are the others in the group — mainly means “you learn enough to ask good questions and know who to turn to for answers.”
Mahoning and Trumbull counties, as well as Fellows Riverside Gardens, offer courses.
“No one has all the answers,” she said. “We bounce ideas off each other.”
Anderson and township trustee Jodi Stoyak started Liberty in Bloom, which was designated a community- improvement project in 2013, in 2001.
The designation means township staff can send out solicitation letters to the community and can collect aluminum cans. That is how the group raises money, Stoyak said.
“It’s a government entity, so donations are tax-deductible,” she said. The group is always welcoming more volunteers, she added.
“It’s been such a joy,” Anderson said about her time with the program.
“We planted everywhere, and got so big we couldn’t do it ourselves. We got a wonderful group of volunteers. Those people that do the work, do it because they love it.”
For volunteer Kim Quinlan, the flowers near the Interstate were a sign that she could call Liberty Township home. She had traveled here to visit the man who would eventually become her husband. She’s lived here now for six years.
“I was in awe of the flower beds,” she said. “So beautiful, every time I got off I-80. I thought, it’s very welcoming. Maybe I could live here.”