By Shirley Bohm, Master Gardener, Vines Volunteer Coordinator
A very active group of 5 or 6 Master Gardeners routinely work 3 hours every Tuesday morning doing routine maintenance and special projects at Vines Garden Park, 3500 Oak Grove Road in Loganville, GA.
For example, when the park was closed for a 2012 renovation, we saved the daffodils and other blooming bulbs from the bulldozers working on the lake shore and transplanted them throughout the park. We also helped clean up and landscape the Vines Railroad Garden near the South Gate before the spring reopening. The Railroad Garden has a complete village and over 1000 feet of track and operates every Sunday from 10 – 3 pm, weather permitting.
Last year in 2012, we were pleased to receive a Gwinnett County Master Gardeners Association grant to create a circular bed of hostas around the crape myrtle at the entrance to the park. The year before, the GCMG grant we received was used to replace a mature Japanese Black Pine in the Asian Garden that was rotted out and had to be replaced.
This year we were extremely pleased to receive a 2013 GCMG grant for $500 to begin placing botanical tags on the hundreds of common and rare perennials, shrubs and trees at Vines. The tag’s common and botanical names help park visitors recognize unusual plants and allows them to identify plants for their own gardens that do well in this climate. We were able to order 160 plant tags with the GCMG grant plus a smaller grant from the Dogwood Garden Club of Lawrenceville. We hope to continue the tagging project next year.