Spring Beautification Day volunteer event
This past Saturday as I was driving up O’Bannonville Road to CMH for the Spring Beautification Day volunteer event, I couldn’t help smiling at the sight of the showy blooms in the trees in yards lining the way: Saucer Magnolia, Star Magnolia, Plum, Serviceberry, Pear, and Redbud. I felt darn lucky to catch this sight on this sunny day since the delicate blossoms are so fleeting. The petals drop to the ground days or even hours after opening, to make way for fruit and seed production and for leaves to grow and get to work providing the tree with its food.
Gathering tools and work gloves, I made a mental list of the possible jobs for the volunteers for the day. I also took note of the young trees at the front of the campus and along the driveway. Most of these trees are too young to be so showy in bloom or bear fruit, planted by each CMH graduating class, each marked with a plaque of the 6th grade students names and their year. On the newest addition planted last May by the Class of 2014, a Butterfly Magnolia displayed 10 huge unopened flower buds of the palest yellowish green petals on its young branches. I wondered when they might bloom and if I’d be so lucky to catch that special day.
I was given another reason to smile on Saturday when 13 CMH families came to help dig, weed, tend, plant, trim, haul, and enjoy the blooms, sunshine, blue sky, and the community of the Beautification Day.
Today is Monday and I’m back on campus.
More smiles: I see the Butterfly Magnolia is in full bloom.
~ Veronica Brannen, CMH Naturalist
