What Happened to the Town Triangle?
Revamp? Decimation? Beautification?
*All of the above? Or none of the above?
*Maybe a bit of both?
When our family volunteered to maintain the flowerbed on Main Street and East Old Route 6 we got a bit more than we bargained for/bit off more than we could chew/grabbed a handful of thorns instead of roses (choose your favorite cliché).
Last fall we received permission to weed the area and with gloves and shovels we tackled it with a vengeance. The myriad of weeds, morning glory and unbeknownst and unrecognized by us – poison sumac were mostly eliminated. I was spared, my wife was not. A miserable itching, swelling, oozing and sleepless nights over the next two weeks ensued, until a doctor’s prescription took care of the sumac.
Fast forward to spring! “We need to tackle the town triangle” (as we affectionately call it) we would say to each other. In the past six months we had talked to the powers that be and some Hamptonites who had helped create the initial perennial masterpiece years ago and had learned of the volunteer labor of love and donations that had been given so generously over time. The daffodils, peonies, lilies and others had sentimental value.
We kept putting it off, hoping the sumac had not resurrected. “Should we rent hazmat suits?” Our self-imposed deadline of Memorial Day was fast approaching. We waited until the week prior and did an afternoon weeding job that ended up looking like a bad haircut.
“This will not do!” We thought some annuals with a little color for Memorial Day is what was needed so we went to work – sort of. The compost from Woodhill Farm that had been donated more than a decade ago had provided those perennials with everything they needed to thrive. Everything was so root bound that you could barely find a square inch of soil that wasn’t already occupied! Help!
We called in reinforcements and then it took on a life of its own.
“You need yards of loam!”
“Save the peonies!”
“Take out the gravelly border that has suffered the onslaught of years of road salt.”
“What’s going to keep the fresh loam from washing down East Old Route 6 the next time it really rains?”
“Let’s dig a trench and put in a French drain rock border.”
“Lots of annuals and fresh mulch are needed!”
Unfortunately, even with plenty of volunteer help and late night/early morning labor we just couldn’t get it all done for the Memorial Day parade.
Which brings me to the reason for this letter. I take full responsibility for this fiasco. I am offering a sincere apology to those of you who were horrified by the result of our effort. The timing was terrible and if we had to do it over we would do it differently. We did not intend to be insensitive to those of you who invested enormous amounts of time and energy over the years in creating and maintaining the town’s greens and flower gardens. Having only lived here for five years we don’t always understand the heartbeat/pulse of this town. We didn’t realize, for example, that Hampton’s “feel” is more of a perennial/wildflower town and not annual flower beds with symmetry and mulch. For the record, the perennials are still there and I’m praying the daffodils come up next spring. Here’s hoping that as the flowers reach full bloom and the zinnias in the center create a ground cover and beauty, those of you who are upset and disappointed will truly be able to enjoy the beauty and forgive us for over stepping and being insensitive. We love Hampton very much and want to help make it an even better place today and for future generations.
Sincerely,
Sam Fisher