Dear Auntie Mac,

The letter in the July Gazette imploring whoever is driving through public gardens to please stop was disturbing. If someone is volunteering to spruce up a space with plants, why ruin it? Elsewhere the destruction of the public gardens in town is largely unintentional – it’s called neglect.  I remember when these spaces first filled with flowers; now so many of them are rampant with weeds. I don’t know who’s responsible, or who could be, but it seems as though other towns manage public gardens.  Ours are incongruous with the pride evident in homeowners, and the natural beauty surrounding us. Why not muster the resources to properly care for these few floral areas?
                                                                                                                                                                               Beautification Advocate

My Dear Neighbor:

Auntie Mac shares your frustration and disbelief at the childish behavior of those who are no longer children and should know better. The temptation to be naughty and destroy things should have been outgrown by about age 7. These miscreants should be put to bed without supper. What is it about a public garden, made for the enjoyment of everyone, that is so much more inviting than, say, a muddy and unused family field, or in the case of the ATV set, an appropriate woodland trail? Indeed, Auntie Mac wonders if those who are so fond of flattening everything in their path could not put their talents to better use and volunteer as a group to develop some trails on the town-owned Pudding Hill property, simultaneously frequented and cursed at by hunters for its lack of adequate walking area.

As to your other point, dear, regarding the upkeep of town gardens, may Auntie Mac offer a bit of history and elucidation? The gardens you remember still exist, established by a volunteer Garden Committee. Most members have sadly moved away or are now no longer able to perform the quite arduous work of digging, planting, mulching, weeding, weeding, and did I mention weeding? The gardens that you now see received donations from the public (Auntie Mac included) to purchase scores of shrubs, perennials and bulbs, and additional plants were donated by the late and dear Mike Chapel from his nursery. What you see now may appear overgrown, but I assure you that they are far from “neglected.” Volunteer gardeners still spare what few hours they can to tend these patches, and I assure you that if this were not the case you would see none of the daffodils, peonies, lilies, iris or other spectacular colors that the previous volunteers’ work produced.

Volunteerism is indeed the cornerstone of a healthy community, and unlike the sixteenth birthday party of Princess Ingrid of Norway, one does not need an engraved invitation—not to mention a Karl Lagerfeld couture ensemble–to participate. I urge you to contact the editors of this publication if you are horticulturally challenged and fear that you will be removing columbine instead of chickweed, to ask when someone will be weeding, and which garden, so you may go and assist. Or, since you seem to be able to so readily identify what should not be there, a solo trip to the area that most vexes you is encouraged, with gloves, trowel, hat, and bucket, and you will become an instant member of the Hampton Garden Committee.

Auntie Mac suggests that everyone interested in maintaining these beautiful and welcoming spaces on a more regular basis send a generous check to the Resources Mustering Department at the Town Hall, earmarked for gardeners’ stipends, tools, or additional plantings. And let us all be willing to let our fellow citizens know how much we value these little oases of community pride, which should be treasured and not trampled, for everyone’s benefit.

Auntie Mac