McLane Children’s Hospital – Healing Garden Project
1901 SW H.K. Dodgen Loop, Temple, TX 76502
BCMGA Contact: Kathy Love
The Healing Garden at McLane Children’s Hospital is a project that has grown through the years. Originally BCMGA provided pots and potted plants to add color to an existing garden. BCMGA stepped up it’s involvement when it assisted the hospital with a complete redesign of the base garden in 2017. The new design primarily features native perennial plants including evergreen varieties to assure continuing color during the winter.
April 13, 2019: Master Gardeners and 2019 interns repair, clean and replant the BCMGA donated trug at the Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Hospital Healing Garden, a project of the BCMGA on April 13th. Two flats of red, white and blue Tidal Wave petunias were planted in the shape of the Texas flag. Volunteers pictured: left rear, Master Gardener Mike Butts, left foreground, 2019 intern Laura Briggs, right rear 2019 intern Meredith Amanell, right foreground 2019 intern Alfred Stall. Not shown Master Gardener Kathy Love and 2019 intern Darla Lowe.
BCMGA volunteers met April 17th at the Healing Garden to empty, clean, refill and repot the almost 20 decorative pots which are planted quarterly with seasonal color for the enjoyment of visitors to the garden. Here are a few photos of this spring’s color.
September 2018: Salado High football team members pitching in to plant trees and spread mulch in the garden beds.
After: Garden has grown! Fall 2018
Before: Garden was planted in Spring 2018
Native Plants and Butterfly Bed: In October of 2018, the Association was asked to design and incorporate a native plant and butterfly bed in the garden to be undertaken before the end of the year. A treasure hunt map is one of the educational aspects of this project which guides children through the garden to find and identify many of the plants.
Pollinator education: Another educational program initiated in 2018 provides pollinator education information, a vase of wildflowers, wildflower seed packets, flower and pollinator coloring sheets, a box of crayons and a get well card from the association for children who are patients in the hospital, once, during each season of the year.
BCMGA Mission Statement
The Bell County Master Gardeners Association assists the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in providing high quality, relevant, research-based horticultural education and service to the residents of Bell County and the state of Texas through outreach, teaching, and demonstration projects. Read More