Walking arm and arm with her mother down Cottage Grove Avenue, Leiana Gary noticed an empty flower planter and said, “Humph somebody needs to do something about that.”
Her mother replied, “Who might that somebody be?”
Walking arm and arm with her mother down Cottage Grove Avenue, Leiana Gary noticed an empty flower planter and said, “Humph somebody needs to do something about that.” Her mother replied, “Who might that somebody be?” Little did Gary know that somebody would be her. With her mother’s words resonating two years after her death in 2007, Gary decided it was time to do something about that planter. To get started she sent letters to Alds. Freddrenna M. Lyle (6th) and Michelle Harris (8th), and the Department of Transportation, to get permission to put flowers in the planters. With the OK to move forward, with her green thumb and care for her community the Chicago Public Schools speech pathologist and avid gardener then headed to Home Depot. She told the Defender she spent about $2,500 on gardening materials. And with some help from her son, Jerald, and others, Gary began digging, planting, cutting and watering the 75 different plants and 48 varieties of perennials she planted in the cement “pots.” Gary started planting Memorial Day 2009 at 80th Street and Cottage Grove, looking to beautify her Chatham community. This Mother’s Day, she dedicated that planter to her late mother. And her work continues. “Whenever people saw me out planting they would stop and ask if I needed any help or what I was doing – children, adults, and gang members alike,” Gary, an award-winning community gardender, told the Defender. She didn’t want gardening to be an isolated project, she said. So she got the community involved, including area kids. They helped to decorate the planters and quotes from famous Chicago African Americans appear on each side of them. Planting, from 80th to 90th and Cottage Grove Avenue, became a community project and a life lesson for the children. “Kids don’t make the connection between plants grown and the food put in their mouths,” said Gary, adding that gardening teaches lessons of life and science that can be learned by children and adults. “It teaches you that nothing occurs overnight, you have to nurture something if you want it to grow. It’s a lesson for children and adults. Gardening makes you slow down and nurture.” She solicited elementary schools in the surrounding area to decorate the planters. The students were given two weeks to finish paintings that were put on the cinder pots. The artwork included the students’ name and their respective school. The idea to plant the vegetation and decorate the planters was born out of an idle curiosity, but grew into a community event. Now the project is part of the Cottage Grove Planters Society. “It’s about our children, it’s about our community and our concern for both, there are some very good things happening in our community with our children,” said Gary. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
Photo: Defender/Dominic Brown
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