About fifty worker bees showed up Saturday to plant sunflower seeds in the 5100 block of Delmar as part of the Delmar + Sunflower Project. The previous meet-up two weeks earlier involved approximately the same number of people who picked rocks, bricks, and debris from the site.
Alderman Lyda Krewson (the Queen bee) is shown in the middle of the photo above giving instructions on the correct way to plant the sunflowers. The project was well organized with nametags bearing the row numbers assigned to each volunteer (in case you decided to poach someone else's turf). But believe me, two rows each was plenty.
Each worker also got a bamboo stick with seed spacing clearly marked.
Paper cups contained exactly enough for two rows – 137 seeds.
From the youngest
to twins who had just celebrated a 4th birthday
everyone joined in to get the work done.
Lyda is photographed with Ulrike Schlafly who corralled members of the St. Louis Garden Club to lend a hand.
Lyda again with St. Louis Garden Club members Jeanne McLean and Isabelle Montupet far right. Yours truly is in between. Garden Club member Joe Carpenter was part of the May 9th crew and Bowood Farms' John McPheeters (also a member of the Garden Club) drove the nursery's watering truck over to the site on Saturday.
Watering was the most tedious task of all, since it took five buckets per row (not sure who figured that out). That's CWEA board member Dixie Buford in the photograph above. Mother Nature contributed with some rainfall Sunday and Monday; apparently there is more to come this week – perfect for germinating the sunflowers.
There are signs spaced around the property explaining both what was on the site previously and what the future holds. The next work day is scheduled for Saturday June 7 at 9 a.m. when the task will be to weed between the rows of plants. Sign up here: [email protected].
And be sure to stop by the CWE Flea on your way home that day. We'll be there from 9 to 2 (449 N. Euclid at Washington).