2017 Fairmount Park Pollination Garden Fall Weeding

Photos by Kyle Muschall

Deep in the Weeds. On a decidedly rainy Saturday morning ServeSaturday, a volunteer group from the First Christian Church, helped the FPNA remove a runaway growth of foxtail from its pollination garden.

 

Sharon Babbitt, our fearless FPNA president, pulls her gloves back on after filling a yard waste bag and pulling it to the curb

 

An interesting dichotomy. Apparently the City of Council Bluffs doesn’t quite agree with our Pollination Garden sign. Easily rectified with removing the Foxtail which is considered a noxious weed by the city.

 

Michelle Mutchler-Burns, our FPNA master gardener, breaking up some of the bigger weed growth

 

The ServeSaturday crew, 10 in all, wasted no time in pulling out the foxtail by the roots

 

Terri and Carl Allen are heads down and hoodies up attacking the weeds and trying to keep dry during the constant drizzle

 

The Serve Saturday volunteers plunge further into the lot along the retaining wall

 

Sometimes it takes close inspection on getting just the foxtail out and not damaging the plants that promote the pollination garden

 

Another bag gets stuffed with the overly abundant foxtail

 

The tiers are starting to come back into prominence with the weeds out of the way

 

From Left: Michelle, Sharon and Terri, our fearless triumvirate, pose next steps for the pollination garden

 

Karl Allen (far right) and the ServeSaturday folks have made their way to the back of the lot filing refuse bags as they go

 

John Huggins (back to the camera in black) grips a bundle of foxtail while he searches for more. John owns the lot our Pollination Garden sits on and put in the retaining wall this last year as well. His generous work on the garden helped make all this possible

 

The scope of the effort comes into focus as the entire volunteer group gets down to the last remnants of the foxtail

 

A quick group photo before the rain picks up again. A heart felt thank you to the ServeSaturday volunteer group from the First Christian Church. Without their generous time and effort the continuation of the garden would not have been possible.


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