2021 Bouquets for Seniors Community Project

Growing Food, Flowers, and Friendships--That’s the theme of the volunteers involved in raising fresh vegetables for local food pantries and flowers for nursing homes in the Back Mountain area. In Spring of 2021, co-managers of the Back Mountain Veggie Garden, Joe Hardisky, and Mandy Newman, invited members of the Back Mountain Bloomers Garden Club to use newly constructed raised beds to plant colorful flowers and distribute them to local nursing homes.

Members of the Back Mountain Bloomers Garden Club volunteered  to plant zinnias and over the summer each team worked just once a month to maintain the garden and cut and deliver flowers. In the fall, pumpkins were added to their deliveries. The teams delivered 180 vases of flowers to residents at the Meadows, Village at Greenbriar, and the Mercy Center at Misericordia University. 

Thrilled with the success of the zinnia planting and deliveries, the Back Mountain Bloomers planted more than 500 daffodil bulbs in the fall of 2021.  The garden club has adopted this zinnia and daffodil duo as a project, and the team of Bloomers expect to repeat the zinnia planting and deliveries again in 2022.  It’s a twist of irony that the Bloomers are using this critter-free gardening space and some of the raised beds they helped fund to grow their flowers and friendships. Visit the Community Grants page to learn more about how the Back Mountain Bloomers offer opportunities for other organizations to improve their community.