The Arnold Garden Club and a cast of volunteers are set to complete the fourth phase of a five-part plan to beautify around Rickman Auditorium, 747 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.
The club will remove old plants and plant new ones from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 16, on the northwest side of the auditorium, which faces Fox High School.
Club president Joe McKee said he expects at least 40 volunteers to help with the project that was put on hold last year because of concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
“I’m excited,” McKee said. “It has been a year in the making, and I am ready.”
McKee said members of the Fox High School Student Council and National Honor Society as well as local Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are expected to help with the planting.
The club intends to remove grasses, weeds and rose shrubs and replace those with up to 250 plants, including trees, shrubs, wildflowers, perennials and grasses.
“It will be a 100 percent improvement,” McKee said. “We are getting rid of old shrubs and putting in all new shrubs that will have a fresh start. We will add a lot of perennial flowers that will add a lot of color.”
He said the Arnold Tourism Commission is funding the project, which will cost $4,000.
He said the commission gave the club $2,500 last year for the project and was able to increase the funds available after the 2020 planting was canceled.
McKee said those who participate in the club’s fourth phase to improve Rickman’s surroundings will be asked to stay 6 feet apart from each other when possible. He said because of the physical exertion required during planting, volunteers will not be required to wear masks.
The club’s first planting project at Rickman was in April 2017, when $2,500 was spent to put 200 plants in square planters at the building’s main entrance.
In April 2018, the group planted flowers in the parking lot islands on the building’s north and east sides. That project cost $3,000.
The following April, deciduous shrubs, wildflowers, perennials and grass were planted on the building’s southeast side. That project cost $2,500.
Plans for the fifth phase of the project call for trees to be planted around the perimeter of the auditorium’s parking lot and plants to be added to the campus entrance off Jeffco Boulevard.
McKee also said the club would like to enlist more volunteers to help maintain the various projects the group already has completed around Arnold.
He said the Garden Club typically holds gatherings from 9 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of every month at various sites around the city. The gatherings focus on the maintenance of the existing plants at those sites.
Right now, about three club members typically take care of the monthly maintenance. McKee said if that number grows to at least five, it would make a big difference.
“It is great to get everyone together and do a wonderful planting,” McKee said. “Everybody likes to get their hands dirty. Then in the heat of the summer, we still need volunteers to come out and pull leaves, water the plants and keep them healthy.”
For more information about the group or volunteer opportunities, visit the Arnold Garden Club Facebook page, email arnoldgardenclub@gmail.com or call McKee at 314-322-9543.