Garden Club Tour

Shawangunk Garden Club at Railway Station

Many green thumbs were united today as members of the Shawangunk Garden Club visited Mountaindale today for a tour of the numerous beautiful plantings around our community. The tour was hosted by members of the Mountaindale Action Committee and the Mountaindale Community Development Project (MCDP) and coordinated by neighbor, Susan Cioffi. Susan has been an area resident for several decades and was looking forward to proudly sharing her town with her friends.



Hummingbird Feeders, Hanging Baskets &
Planter Boxes on Main Street



We began bright and early at the Mountaindale Railway Station for a closer look at the beautiful landscaping outside and the unique historical photographs inside, We then walked over to the Hummingbird Garden to see the hummingbirds, butterflies and swallows flying acrobatically overhead. The tour continued as a leisurely stroll down Post Hill Road and Main Street to admire our train themed new banners and colorful planters, planted by local girl scouts & karate school families, as well as the rock garden maintained by Hospitality Green. We continued on to the Firehouse to admire the lovely flower garden that the Mountaindale Action Committee planted along the inner courtyard of the building, which leads to stairs to the gateway to the O&W Rails to Trails.

We admired a few more of their berm gardens and then headed to their other flower gardens at Quiat Road and Hatt Road. Everyone was given one of the new Town of Fallsburg O&W Rail Trail brochures to get a better understanding of how these locations fit into the original railway track line. At Quiat Road, our guests enjoyed seeing the historical Signal House and  one of the newly installed interpretive signs. A total of 4 interpretive signs were designed by the O&W Rails to Trails Committee and paid for in part, by a grant from Parks & Trails NY. A lot of the labor for the sign installation was an in kind donation from Bugsy Bennett, but more on that in the future.

The club members enjoyed a delicious lunch at Uccelli Restaurant. We all had a wonderful time together. The best part was learning from each other as many gardening tips were shared. If I can speak for the Action Committee members, I think it's also very gratifying to have new visitors express their appreciation for all that is done to make Mountaindale one of the more attractive communities around. The Shawangunk Garden Club invited everyone to a public reception for their Photo Flower Show on Saturday, August 18th from noon to 3PM in the Gallery of the Ellenville Public Library at 40 Center Street in Ellenville. All are welcome.

Main Street Banners & Flowers

The design committee of the Mountaindale Community Development Project worked over the winter to develop a new set of banners for our Main Streets.  They were funded with our Phase II Sullivan Renaissance Award from last summer. We were all so delighted when the banner delivery arrived. But then it rained, sometimes torentially, every day and then it was brutally hot, which made climbing a ladder to install them on the telephone poles around town an unpleasant task. Luckily, today's balmy weather was just perfect! Our new banners are a wonderful addition to our charming street and will be greeting all the summer visitors to Mountaindale this season.

Our interesting recent weather also created some challenges for the volunteers who worked on our flower box enhancement project this year. The original design of our Main Street flower boxes came to us from the Technology Education classes of the Fallsburg High School. They look terrific but had a flaw in practical application in the scope that we use since there are nearly 30 of them around town. A lot of water would leak out of the side slats, which was inefficient from both a water conservation and volunteer labor standpoint. A portion of our Renaissance winnings also went toward refurbishing the planters as well as enriching the soil with a precise mix recommended by the knowledgeable staff at EarthBox.

With a lot of support from local Girl Scouts of Troops 401, 580, 234 and 738, as well as students and parents of Upstate Karate of Mountaindale, we got the planters planted and out on the streets earlier this month. The Girl Scouts will continue to assist during the summer with watering tasks as well as working in the Communty Garden behind 51 Main Street and Radiant Yoga of Mountaindale. The Scouts are hoping to be able to grow enough vegetables to be able to donate some to people in need in the community. They will also have a small herb garden in an EarthBox planter that we purchased.

Yoga Students Lisa & Greg lending a hand

We are very fortunate for the support from the Scouts, Karate families and Yoga students who helped with other tasks to keep Mountaindale looking beautifully in bloom. They helped with maintenance of the Hummingbird Garden. It needed a lot of weeding and trimming after the winter. We are lucky to have Janet Gula in town as she is also the owner of My Secret Gardener and was the original designer of the Hummingbird Garden. I have also noticed how wonderful our Rock Garden at 37 Main Street looks next door to HospitalityGreen, thanks to all of the extra TLC that Evadne Giannini has been giving it.

I guess what I am saying is, "It takes a village" to keep our hamlet looking so great!  Thanks to everyone who participates in this effort!