The 2023 Veterans Memorial Garden Princeton
Every year members of the Garden Club, the TPS Webelos, and the community help enhance and tend to the garden by donating time and materials in honor of our Veterans and our community.
(Photo credit: Michelle York)
(Photo credit: Michelle York)
(click on individual pictures to enlarge)
Note of Thanks:
Thank You All for Your Help and Contributions to Maintain and Beautify Our Veteran’s Memorial Garden
It was wonderful to have our traditional Memorial Day Parade and Observances again on May 28, 2023
to honor and remember our Princeton Veterans who died serving our country in the armed forces.
New plants for the Garden
This year, the Wachusett Garden Club added many new red, white and blue perennials and annuals to the Veteran’s Garden. These include:
Perennials: Yarrow* (red and white) poppies (red/orange), canna lily (red), Veronica* (blue), amsonia* (blue), campanula* “blue waterfalls”, sea holly (blue), blue flag irises* (blue), and asters *(blue), and seaside goldenrod* (yellow, a non-aggressive variety which along with the asters provide pollinators with nectar in the late fall)
Annuals: Red, white and blue annual phlox*, red geraniums, ageratum (blue/purple), salvia (blue), alyssum (white), dusty miller, verbena* (red)
[See below for * explanation]
Activities to prepare the garden
We started preparing the garden earlier this year, in April, and worked on the garden more frequently than in past years. Usually we have 1 day of preparation before Memorial Day and another date in the fall to put the garden to bed. We worked on soil preparation, weeding, planting, edging, removing dead blossoms off the daffodils, marking the location of the daffodils with sticks to identify them when they no longer have leaves, watering, and mulching.
Many thanks to everyone who helped and supported the garden
We’re grateful to so many people who donated time and materials to the garden including JoEllen Quigley, Tom Hultzman, Carrie Phillips, Lynne and Larry Gordon, Lezli Lee, Steve Robichaud, Gina Constantino, Marsha Paine, David Caporello, Denise Ducharme, and Chris Samoiloff. Pamela Hill donated almost all of the loam and mulch in the form of many 5 gallon buckets. Carol Schrader shared loam from our plant sale potting party. Beth Burwell and the TPS Webelos helped to plant annuals in the rain and later water the garden. Erik Garcia stopped by to divide some plants on his way home from work, also in the rain. Town officials Alissa Horsung and Phil Connors helped to set up the water source, and the Memorial Day Committee provided guidance. Shelly York took pictures of the gardens and Steve Parr posted them on our website.
We also appreciate the Princeton town folks who stopped by or would honk and wave as they drove past. It’s been a pleasure to help make the Veteran’s Memorial garden more beautiful, a centerpiece for our town common.
For the first time in the fall of 2022-summer of 2023, the TPS Webelos and their parents with their den mother, Beth Burwell helped to plants bulbs, annuals and weed and water the garden.
Thanks to the Local Businesses giving WGC a discount to purchase plants
Local Businesses who gave the WGC a discount to purchase plants for the Veteran’s Memorial Garden:
· Hubbard’s Farm, LLC 163 Houghton Road, Princeton
“A family-owned and operated business, raising meat and eggs, cheese, seasonal vegetables, garden and hanging plants, plus landscape materials.”
· Dick's Market Gardens and Greenhouses, 649 Northfield Rd, Lunenburg, MA
“Offering annuals and perennials, vegetable and herb plants, and local fruits and vegetables.”
· The Gardener’s Spot, 66 Granite St, Leominster, MA
“A nursery and garden center with farm products, equipment and garden tools."
Watering
The watering of the Veteran’s Garden has traditionally been accomplished by filling one to two gallon jugs (20 jugs or so at a time) at a member’s home or from a faucet behind the town hall or the library. The jugs are then driven to the town common to hand water the garden and are then refilled for more watering. Gina Constantino and garden club members have spent many hours watering the garden in this fashion, especially Gina. Thank you!
We would also like to make a big Thank You to to our PRINCETON FIRE DEPARTMENT for the excellent services you provide to Princeton by responding to emergencies and keeping our community safe. In addition to these responsibilities, you are involved in many community activities and will be helping to water the Veteran's Memorial Garden when you have the manpower and your services are not needed elsewhere. Special thanks to Chief John Bennett, Tim Kelly, Deputy Chief, Retired Deputy Chief Richard Hawkins, Captain and ALS coordinator Bill Dino, Captain Brian Long, Captain Phil Connors and Captain Steve Giamo. Phil Connors, with the Princeton Highway Department, will water the gardens as back up. Dot Odgren will communicate watering needs to Tim Kelly and Phil Connors. Thank you!
It is truly wonderful to have so many people helping our Veteran’s Memorial Garden thrive and become more beautiful as the plants grow throughout the summer. Please stop buy and rest on the memorial bench or under the trees on the common. We hope that the community will enjoy the gardens!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
More about Our Plants in the Veteran’s Memorial Garden
Most of the plants on the common are native and provide our pollinators with nectar or pollen, or leaves for young caterpillars to eat. Native plants placed this season have an asterisk (*) and provide food and shelter to: bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies, hummingbirds and bats. Plants without an asterisk are non-native, but also provide nectar and pollen to pollinators.
It was wonderful to have our traditional Memorial Day Parade and Observances again on May 28, 2023
to honor and remember our Princeton Veterans who died serving our country in the armed forces.
New plants for the Garden
This year, the Wachusett Garden Club added many new red, white and blue perennials and annuals to the Veteran’s Garden. These include:
Perennials: Yarrow* (red and white) poppies (red/orange), canna lily (red), Veronica* (blue), amsonia* (blue), campanula* “blue waterfalls”, sea holly (blue), blue flag irises* (blue), and asters *(blue), and seaside goldenrod* (yellow, a non-aggressive variety which along with the asters provide pollinators with nectar in the late fall)
Annuals: Red, white and blue annual phlox*, red geraniums, ageratum (blue/purple), salvia (blue), alyssum (white), dusty miller, verbena* (red)
[See below for * explanation]
Activities to prepare the garden
We started preparing the garden earlier this year, in April, and worked on the garden more frequently than in past years. Usually we have 1 day of preparation before Memorial Day and another date in the fall to put the garden to bed. We worked on soil preparation, weeding, planting, edging, removing dead blossoms off the daffodils, marking the location of the daffodils with sticks to identify them when they no longer have leaves, watering, and mulching.
Many thanks to everyone who helped and supported the garden
We’re grateful to so many people who donated time and materials to the garden including JoEllen Quigley, Tom Hultzman, Carrie Phillips, Lynne and Larry Gordon, Lezli Lee, Steve Robichaud, Gina Constantino, Marsha Paine, David Caporello, Denise Ducharme, and Chris Samoiloff. Pamela Hill donated almost all of the loam and mulch in the form of many 5 gallon buckets. Carol Schrader shared loam from our plant sale potting party. Beth Burwell and the TPS Webelos helped to plant annuals in the rain and later water the garden. Erik Garcia stopped by to divide some plants on his way home from work, also in the rain. Town officials Alissa Horsung and Phil Connors helped to set up the water source, and the Memorial Day Committee provided guidance. Shelly York took pictures of the gardens and Steve Parr posted them on our website.
We also appreciate the Princeton town folks who stopped by or would honk and wave as they drove past. It’s been a pleasure to help make the Veteran’s Memorial garden more beautiful, a centerpiece for our town common.
For the first time in the fall of 2022-summer of 2023, the TPS Webelos and their parents with their den mother, Beth Burwell helped to plants bulbs, annuals and weed and water the garden.
Thanks to the Local Businesses giving WGC a discount to purchase plants
Local Businesses who gave the WGC a discount to purchase plants for the Veteran’s Memorial Garden:
· Hubbard’s Farm, LLC 163 Houghton Road, Princeton
“A family-owned and operated business, raising meat and eggs, cheese, seasonal vegetables, garden and hanging plants, plus landscape materials.”
· Dick's Market Gardens and Greenhouses, 649 Northfield Rd, Lunenburg, MA
“Offering annuals and perennials, vegetable and herb plants, and local fruits and vegetables.”
· The Gardener’s Spot, 66 Granite St, Leominster, MA
“A nursery and garden center with farm products, equipment and garden tools."
Watering
The watering of the Veteran’s Garden has traditionally been accomplished by filling one to two gallon jugs (20 jugs or so at a time) at a member’s home or from a faucet behind the town hall or the library. The jugs are then driven to the town common to hand water the garden and are then refilled for more watering. Gina Constantino and garden club members have spent many hours watering the garden in this fashion, especially Gina. Thank you!
We would also like to make a big Thank You to to our PRINCETON FIRE DEPARTMENT for the excellent services you provide to Princeton by responding to emergencies and keeping our community safe. In addition to these responsibilities, you are involved in many community activities and will be helping to water the Veteran's Memorial Garden when you have the manpower and your services are not needed elsewhere. Special thanks to Chief John Bennett, Tim Kelly, Deputy Chief, Retired Deputy Chief Richard Hawkins, Captain and ALS coordinator Bill Dino, Captain Brian Long, Captain Phil Connors and Captain Steve Giamo. Phil Connors, with the Princeton Highway Department, will water the gardens as back up. Dot Odgren will communicate watering needs to Tim Kelly and Phil Connors. Thank you!
It is truly wonderful to have so many people helping our Veteran’s Memorial Garden thrive and become more beautiful as the plants grow throughout the summer. Please stop buy and rest on the memorial bench or under the trees on the common. We hope that the community will enjoy the gardens!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
More about Our Plants in the Veteran’s Memorial Garden
Most of the plants on the common are native and provide our pollinators with nectar or pollen, or leaves for young caterpillars to eat. Native plants placed this season have an asterisk (*) and provide food and shelter to: bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies, hummingbirds and bats. Plants without an asterisk are non-native, but also provide nectar and pollen to pollinators.