Local gardeners do their part to beautify building on Queen Street East in the Beach

By ALAN SHACKLETON

Local gardeners along Queen Street East are doing their part to keep the Beach beautiful.

Tina Driscoll, Mark Fry, Ian Stinton and Vida Stinton have teamed up to create a garden and some landscaping in front of their apartment building at 2363 Queen St. E.

“It’s a group effort,” Ian told Beach Metro Community News recently.

However, leading the charge is definitely Tina who said that she does have a fair bit of gardening experience.

“I wanted the area to look nice,” she said.

“I’ve been gardening my entire life. I’m not an expert but I’m not a novice either. Of course, you can always have more gardening knowledge and I like to try and learn new things.”

Along with flowers, shrubs and herbs the garden also features a small fence to separate the grass from the sidewalk and a fountain with some stones around it to create a central feature.

Tina said there are 10 perennials for the garden that will establish themselves permanently so the garden will evolve yearly now that it has been started and laid out. There are also a mix of annuals for colour in the garden as well.

The garden has also helped boost connections and community spirit among the building’s residents with many volunteering to help.

“It’s just a snowball effect,” said Tina of the garden and how it is growing and making the residents happy and proud of their home building. “People smile when they walk by and see it, and I like that.”

Ian echoed Tina’s thoughts. “People feel really good about it,” he said of the garden.

One of the key things needed to be done to establish the garden was to build a small fence, which has the dual purpose of defining the area and also keeping dogs from damaging the plantings and the grass.

“We just needed a fence to keep the dogs off,” said Ian.