Thursday morning volunteers.
Text and Photos by Mary Walton.
The beautiful gardens of Ocean Grove are not, as some may think, maintained by the Camp Meeting Association or Neptune Township. A group of volunteers, the aptly named Ocean Grove Beautification Project, plans, plants, weeds and waters the gardens from March through November.
You’ve likely seen them on Thursday mornings hard at work — and it is hard work! — at one of the 18 flower beds around town, or in the Beautification cart dousing thirsty flowers in the 74 containers on the boardwalk, or up on tiptoe (or a ladder) plucking weeds from one of the five historic urns. Other volunteers come out on weekends or when needed for a specific task.
This year Beautification carried out a complete renovation of the twin beds flanking the Stokes statue in front of the Great Auditorium. Day lilies that had grown increasingly unkempt were removed and replaced with a colorful assortment of perennials and annuals. They also redesigned the bed at the Main Avenue flagpole, which is now a patriotic ribbon of red and white begonias and blue salvia against a backdrop of red cannas.
Not only do the volunteers garden, they raise the money to purchase thousands of annuals, as well as perennials, mulch, fertilizer and other supplies. They depend on contributions from individuals and civic minded organizations for support. They are environmentally conscious gardeners, relying on mulch and weeding rather than herbicides.
This weekend the Starving Artist at 47 Olin Street is hosting a fundraiser for Beautification from 8 a.m to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16. Owners Arnold Teixeira and Dave Fernicola will donate a percentage of the proceeds to the organization. Contributions can also be sent to directly to OGBP, P.O. Box 594, Ocean Grove, NJ 07756.
Here is a Blogfinger selection of photos of Ocean Grove gardens tended by Beautification. Place the cursor over the slideshow to find a tool to view images one at a time slowly.
We love the Beautification volunteers! All our guests to OG invariably comment on the plantings. Thank you all!
Lovely! A BIG thank you to Beautification volunteers for making our little town look so nice. Am sure this dedicated group continues to inspire home gardeners all over the Grove.
They do a beautiful job…thank you
Thank you for making our town look so beautiful. I’m glad Blogfinger ran this article because a lot of what you do is hard, labor-intensive work. I really appreciate your efforts.
Thank you for all you do. I wish I could join, but unfortunately, have to work 🙁
Maybe one day I will be able to help too.
Thank you, Blogfinger and Mary Walton, for writing such a wonderful piece on Ocean Grove Beautification Project and especially for those wonderful pictures of some of our work throughout the town.
beautiful!
You all are heros!!!! We really, really appreciate all that you do to make this town beautiful!!