SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Johnny Mae Gunn has been trying things in her garden since she moved onto Hope Avenue, near Brighton Academy in Syracuse, almost 14 years ago.
Most things work and some don’t.
Like, these flowers here is something new that I just tried. Look at how beautiful they are, but see how they’re dying off?
Johnny Mae Gunn, gardener
Now, help is on the way. Her neighborhood has been chosen to participate in Blocks in Bloom, a beautification program through Cornell Cooperative Extension.
About twenty volunteers are getting ready to spend their Saturday morning doing what they love most. Planting beautiful flowers.
They are Master Gardeners, volunteers who’ve gone through hundreds of hours of training and continuing outreach work in the community to earn certification.\
What we’ve found in the past is that it brings the neighbors together, cuz on planting day everybody comes out and they help the master gardener and the resident work together to create these gardens.
Sue Lewis, gardener
Nine homes signed up to participate on Hope Avenue. And Johnny Mae knows it’ll make a beautiful change for her neighbors.
A good feeling to come out, sit in the morning time on the porch and look at their flowers and some you’ll see them watering their flowers. They gonna really enjoy it. They gonna love it.
Johnny Mae Gunn
Johnny Mae Gunn
I had a little girl this morning, waiting for the school bus. She said ‘You have a beautiful yard.’ I said, ‘Thank you very much,’ you know, and I say when you get older, you can do the same thing too, if you want to. She said ‘OK!’
Maybe that’s why they call these plants “perennials.”
