Cobourg Ecology Garden Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Pete Fisher
3 years ago
• Categories: News

If you’ve been for a walk along the West Beach lately, you may have noticed new elements in the Ecology Garden: three triangle beds with a distinctive planting design, art banners strung around the gazebo, sunflowers popping up all over the site, a large vegetable garden underway.

It was an indomitable Cobourg citizen named Minnie Pennell who got it in her head to start an ecology garden in 1995. She pulled together a committee, convinced Legion Village to donate some land and, on Earth Day 1996, launched the garden with a sunrise ceremony around a new bur oak. Since then it has evolved and expanded to almost half an acre between Hibernia and Durham Streets and is maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers.

The official 25th celebration will be on July 24 from 11 am- 1 pm, with speakers and activities, but garden volunteers and community partners have been beavering away on a variety of projects since the beginning of the year. The 21 art banners around the gazebo were created by clients of Community Living and Respite Services Northumberland. “We delivered burlap and paints to our clients and suggested they create messages with a nature theme,” says Wanda Tinney. “When the burlap frays, birds can pull off threads to make their nests and the banners will eventually disappear.”

The planting design in the new triangle beds is the result of a competition in the Green Industries program at Cobourg Collegiate. During the winter, students were given a set of criteria and had to develop a plant list and design for each of the beds. Madison Walter, 17, won the competition and her garden was installed in May.

There’s also been a poetry contest for adults and students and the winners will be announced on July 24. The anniversary event will be opened by Town Crier Mandy Robinson and will feature a number of speakers followed by recognition of the designer of the new Silver Garden and the winners of the 25th anniversary poetry contest reading their entries and receiving their prizes. Sister Linda Gregg, one of the original members of the garden, will then plant a tree that is being donated by Villa St. Joseph to commemorate the anniversary.