Moody Demonstration Garden grounds flourish this summer

  Visitors to the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden will be able to enjoy paved access throughout the grounds and expanded garden seating thanks to the generosity of three organizations.

  The new installations were funded by the Yuma Community Foundation, Urban and Community Forest Challenge Grant and North End Rotary Club, said Val Colvin, grants chair for the Moody Garden Makers (MGM) Garden Club.

  She said the additions they financed also included new kiosks and placards, brochures and six new trees. The new trees, provided for specifically by the Arizona State Land Department, Forestry Division, consist of an Arizona ash, Fan-tex ash, olive, pomegranate and two orchid trees that were planted on March 1 during a public tree information and planting workshop, said Colvin.

  She said there were 50 audience members and two demonstrators at the workshop. "We had one little child there and she helped plant the pomegranate tree," Colvin remembers.

  The most visually notable additions to the garden, however, are the miniamphitheater and paved pathway.

  "We needed some place to seat more people," Colvin said.

  Ellen Gardner, the aptly named co-president of the MGM Garden Club, envisions the miniamphitheater as class seating for the many school field trips that visit the grounds.

  Both Gardner and Colvin say that the gazebos and other various seating areas dotted around the gardens were not adequate to accommodate all the garden's visitors on a busy day.  

  Colvin, who uses a walker, also said that she appreciates the new walkway, which will aid those with limited mobility.

  Both Colvin and Gardner said they're indebted to the community for contributing to the renovations of the demonstration garden.

  "If you have a project and you put the word out there, you can get it done," Gardner said.

  Gardner estimates that they have 12 regular volunteers, though numbers can vary according to the project at hand. She said that volunteers often contact them from adult probation groups and the Arizona Western College campus.

   Colvin on the other hand, though valuing the contribution of various garden club members and volunteers, credits Gardner as the "catalyst for getting people to do something."

  The Moody Garden relies on donations, grants and volunteer work to remain a viable educational tool for the public, according to Colvin. Unfortunately, she said, like many other charities they are having difficulties maintaining a steady flow of donations during the economic downturn.

  For this reason, she said, she was pleasantly surprised when not one but three grants, all of which she had applied for in the past year, were received together this past spring.

  "We've about filled up our space," she said, comparing the grounds now with the empty lot at the spot in 2001.

  When asked what's next for the Moody Garden after a long discussion of grants and volunteer work, Gardner answered, "We want to garden!"

  Colvin, on the other hand, admits, "I can't plant but I can write grants!"

  The Moody Garden sits on 1.7 acres of land owned by the University of Arizona. Its purpose is to educate the community on local botany and agriculture.

  The MGM Garden Club is a 501(c)(3) organization established and operated by volunteers who locate and receive grants on behalf of the Moody Garden as well as maintain the garden grounds throughout the year. 

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Erin Orozco can be reached at eorozco@yumasun. com or 539-6849.