Below: The Garden Project did the landscaping for The Shasta Lake entry sign near Interstate 5.
photos by Laura Christman / Record Searchlight
Gennie Seely (right), and Georgia Haddon of the Shasta Lake Garden Project go after weeds in the native plant garden, one of the group’s gardens along Shasta Dam Boulevard.
Left: The Memorial Garden in the median area of Shasta Dam Boulevard was one of the first gardens done by the Garden Project.
Shasta Lake Garden Project was launched almost 14 years ago with the goal of making Shasta Lake better through gardening.
It worked.
The hands-in-the-dirt effort turned weedy center dividers along Shasta Dam Boulevard into flowery places. Garden Project volunteers also landscaped the Shasta Lake entrance sign near Interstate 5, planted a pocket park dedicated to Shasta Dam workers on Hill Street, and spruced up the grounds at Shasta Lake’s animal shelter on Ashby Road. Roses, petunias, pines and many other plants took root in Shasta Lake because of the Garden Project, but what really grew was community pride.
“It has inspired businesses to paint and put little plots of gardens in front of their places,” said member RoseMary Walter. “I really think it spruced up the town quite a bit.”
“Anybody who has seen Shasta Lake 15 years ago and looks at it today can’t help but be impressed, and I think the gardens are a significant part of that,” said Georgia Haddon, Garden Project coordinator.
It’s been a lot of work, and Garden Project members are getting a little tired.
“We are a lot older. We still have the enthusiasm, but we don’t have the bodies any more,” said Walter, noting that in addition to growing older, there are fewer active members.
Shasta Lake Garden Project isn’t throwing in the trowel, but it won’t be staging its English Garden Tour Tea in June — a 13-year tradition for the north state.
“We have always relied on the garden tour to be the major fundraiser, but it’s an event that requires more manpower than we have,” Haddon said.
Instead, the group is planning Garden Faire in the Park June 3 at Clair Engle Park, featuring vendors, demonstrations and refreshments.
The popular English Garden Tour Tea had costumed servers offering tea, scones and other treats; classical music; and gardens
in bloom. It was an image-builder for Shasta Lake, Walter said.
“There was a feeling in the wider Redding area that we were déclassé, say. Our Shasta Lake Garden Tour Tea was a high-class tea, something very new and different for the area,” she said.
Walter, who with Lynni Miller and Betty Head was one of the Garden Project’s founding mothers, said the first English Garden Tour Tea drew 100 people.
“We really didn’t know what we were doing. We ran out of food,” she said.
The next year they were better prepared. As the event grew in popularity, ticket sales were capped at 400 to keep it manageable. “I remember one year when we had people at the door of the house begging to be let in,” Walter said.
Walter is enthusiastic about the new event. “I think this plant fair will be fantastic,” she said. “We’ll have a little tea garden with recipes from our tour and some of those goodies there. So you can sit down and have a slice of cake or a couple of cookies with iced tea and lemonade.”
Admission is free. The Garden Project will raise money through sales and vendor fees. Members hope the event also raises awareness of what the group has done and is doing.
A concrete walkway was just added to the project’s native plant garden on Shasta Dam Boulevard. Gennie Seely, the member in charge of the native plant garden next to the group’s Memorial Garden, is adding markers to identify California bay, ceanothus, buckeye, coyote bush and the many other native plants in the garden. Seely, a Wiyot, started the garden to showcase plants used by Native Americans for basketry, medicines and food.
“I wanted to teach some of the younger people, so they will carry on when I am gone. I’m 82,” she said.
Haddon said the Garden Project has received lots of support from the community. Individuals, churches, schools and organizations such as Rotary and Kiwanis pitch in when there’s work to be done.
There are no immediate plans for starting new big projects, she said. “We are focusing on maintaining what we have right now.”
Walter noted that there’s always more that could be done, and she would like others to join the effort. “We have done a lot of things and accomplished a lot, and we really wish there were people to take up the shovels and keep it going,” she said.
For information on Shasta Lake Garden Project, go to www.shastalakegardenproject.org.
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