Caring, Planting, and Painting! Oh, my!

A massive effort of volunteers and grant support combined for an incredible day of beautification at the Larchmont Library trailhead. It’s always a delight to partner with the United Way of South Hampton Roads for their annual day of caring. It’s a testament to what can happen in the community when we all work together. The ERT Foundation has had the great, good fortune of teaming up for the past few years on the United Way Day of Caring, knowing many hands are available allows us to plan for a large project.

We knew just the thing. The Virginia Department of Forestry granted us funds to increase the tree canopy and provide native plants and grasses in the wetland and restoration area at Larchmont. Part of our ongoing resilience work at this trailhead includes adding native trees that will mature and shade the area behind the trailhead shelter, native plants, shrubs and grasses along the wetlands and restoration area that will stabilize the ground and help with flooding, and the creation of a salt meadow and monarch wayfinding station.

Over 30 volunteers spent a wildly hot September morning planting more than 40 total trees, shrubs, grasses and plants in phase 1 of this effort. We also assembled two Vego raised garden beds which will host herbs and pollinator plants and we painted, assembled and installed the ERT Foundation’s fourth stewarded Little Free Library. This LFL features a green roof and will have rotating seasonal plants. Our Charter signs reads: Love Trails, Read Books. (You may just see a fairy visiting the Little Free Library, too)! Thank you to the United Way of South Hampton Roads and all our volunteers, especially the Navy sailors from the USS Simanek, Fairwinds Landing and our friends and mentors, the Norfolk Master Gardeners.

Stay turned for volunteer opportunities for the next phase of planting in mid-October.