Marti's Garden Now and Then

My volunteer project is the Marti Frumhoff Memorial Garden on Morgan Ford and Utah here in Tower Grove South. Five years ago I presented this plan to my Alderman, Joe Vollmer who supported my vision and helped create the garden. This is the only city sponsored memorial garden and after five years of work it's a gem. Before and after the ground breaking I met with a total of 26 various City employees on site to discuss the plans. After the curbs and sidewalks went in I stood at the garden, 2,300 square feet, marveled at the scale of it, and wondered at the enormity of my plan. It was intimidating. With the help of Christopher Thiemet we raised the funds to provide the plants for the area. The Tin Can and The Royale provided us with a venue for fundraising events. Remains on Morgan Ford hosted clothing drives for fundraising (and still does). State Rep Mike Daus donated 1,500 and countless other friends of Marti's contributed. TGS resident Peggy Hoelting did the initial drawing for the garden design and Bad Tim designed the site. Sean Heim found boulders and hauled them to the site as well as hauling recent trunk loads of mulch. TGS neighbors came out to help and they still do. We tilled. We mulched. I personally planted over 96% of what's in the garden while hand aggravating soil into the clay.

I did a lot of whining.

Scroll down to see what the original site and photos of the groundbreaking then scroll back up to enjoy the lushness. And should you personally stop by feel free to pull some weeds. While on site say hello to Marti.

I miss her and she still inspires me.

Fall 2008 photos of the original site and ground breaking:

Tim Moffit (left) and John Kohler from the St. Louis Dept. of Public Service. I had asked them to pose on the spot where Marti's Garden would begin on the east end. Behind them is the former very small intersection garden. Marti's garden is triple the size at 2,300 sq feet.

An employee of The Parks Dept who created the sign which was donated to the garden: