ANDOVER — While the bees weren’t buzzing and the flowers were blooming, shovels were digging outside the Doherty Middle School Track and Robb Center Monday afternoon.
The city is building a pollinator and a garden for children from the nearby youth center and attendants of the nearby senior center. The garden was unveiled during a groundbreaking ceremony as an “intergenerational” space.
The location has been maintained since the 1980s by the Village Garden Club of Andover, said Club President Rita DeLollis.
DeLollis said that when the garden was originally designed, pollinator gardens had not really become popular and, as such, were simply made to be “pretty.”
The new garden is a combined effort by the city, Robb Center, the Andover Pollinator Pathway group and the Village Garden Club of Andover.
“It’s so nice to see so many groups coming together to design and rally around building a community space,” said Sue Curtis, a volunteer on the project.
The garden is being built with $10,000 in city funds from something called the participatory capitalization program, which seeks input from residents on projects.
The idea for the grant is to “connect residents and their ideas to actual results,” City Manager Andrew Flanagan told Revolution. “A great example of the public leading the way.”
The plot will include a native demonstration garden, which will showcase native plants chosen specifically to support local pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Jane Burns, director of Elder Services for the city, said the area would also be a program space.
“They have a lot to offer each other,” DeLollis said of the young and old.
The space will be designed with handicap access in mind with table-height raised garden beds and a picnic table.
The garden will be worked on in April and new plants will be added in June, according to Curtis.
Donations are also accepted to grow the project. To make a donation visit the Friends of the Senior Center website andoverscf.org
