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Fellows Riverside Gardens celebrates National Public Gardens Day
YOUNGSTOWN
Bright sun, warm weather, a slight breeze and blooming flowers: Friday was the perfect day to spend in a garden.
That’s what hundreds of people did at Fellows Riverside Gardens during National Public Gardens Day.
Visitors found additions to their own gardens at a plant sale, and children enjoyed activities in the family garden. Some people stopped in for some complimentary tea at the garden cafe, and others strolled through the garden, admiring the newly blooming tulips.
National Public Gardens Day, which is celebrated at hundreds of gardens across the country, is meant to “raise awareness of the important role botanical gardens and arboreta play in promoting environmental stewardship, plant and water conservation, green spaces and education in communities nationwide,” according to the event’s website.
“We’re fortunate to have this for free in our community — a beauty spot for all to enjoy,” said Keith Kaiser, Mill Creek MetroParks horticulture director, echoing the words of Elizabeth Fellows, who donated the gardens to the park system in 1958.
The spring plant sale, which started Thursday and continues through Sunday, is a fundraiser for the Friends of FRG.
“We try to have plants that you’re not necessarily going to find at your local garden center,” said Kaiser.
The sale includes herbs, perennials, annuals, vegetables, fruits, shrubs, trees, summer bulbs and more.
Friday also marked the start of Family Fun Fridays, which feature drop-in activities in FRG’s family garden from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Friday for the next several months.
Amie DeLuca of Hubbard had some fun in the garden with her two children Friday.
“It’s just fun to bring them. It’s nice that there’s something free like this for the kids,” she said. “Today, we planted lettuce for the kids to take home. ... They really enjoy it.”
“It’s just a hands-on learning place for kids and their families,” Kaiser said. “It’s all about hands-on touch, and feel, and smell and taste.”
Each event incorporates several learning opportunities. For example, children planted potatoes and lettuce Friday and got to take home the lettuce. They also learned about bulbs and got to dig some up.
“We had a game where they had to match the bulb to the flower,” explained Lori Mowad, metroparks educator.
Children also created tissue-paper tulips and learned about ladybugs.
The family garden theme for this year is “Peter Pan and the Fairies.”
Cut-outs of characters from the popular children’s story were placed throughout the garden. Children could sit inside “Tiger Lily’s Library,” a tepee that soon will be covered in vines.
Other visitors strolled down a grass path lined with pink menton tulips and white thalia narcissi, stopping to snap pictures along the way.
Many people will be back at the gardens Sunday for Mother’s Day, Kaiser said, as its an area tradition for families to come and enjoy the tulips with their moms
For more information about events at the gardens, visit www.millcreekmetroparks.org.