THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512220095
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
THIS IS THE season for giving, for sharing one's love with one another. Few have shared their love of gardening with others more than Agnes Merkle, a resident of Westminster-Canterbury retirement home in Virginia Beach.
When Merkle moved to Westminster-Canterbury in 1989, the adjustment was difficult, as it is for many. She had been a gardener at her home in New York state. In 1992, she discovered that the key to happiness in her new surroundings was to build a garden to be enjoyed by many.
Merkle asked and received permission to plant flowers along a sandy, windy dune on the west side of the Westminster-Canterbury property. First she cleared the sand of brambles, wire grass and weeds.
Then she filled large pots with 100 40-pound bags of top soil and placed them in the sand, planted with flowers and shrubs.
She fertilized and watered weekly. To everyone's surprise, plants grew and flowers bloomed.
By spring of 1993, roots were outgrowing the pots. So she dug holes in the sand, filled them with more top soil and transplanted the plants.
Merkle purchased butterfly bushes and lantana at a Butterfly Society tour, and they flourished.
That same year, Virginia Colclough, a friend now deceased, bought climbing roses with arbors and had them planted on the hillside in memory of her son. Resident John Foil, with the help of groundskeeper James Revels, planted the roses, which were then cared for by Merkle.
The result was a glorious springtime hillside of red ``Blaze'' roses, surrounded by white daisies from Merkle's original garden.
Foil asked Merkle if she would mind caring for other plants, if they were donated by residents. A note in their newsletter resulted in a flood of discarded Easter lilies, chrysanthemums, poinsettias, amaryllis bulbs, small pine trees and even a live Christmas tree.
More than 25 Easter lilies planted in 1994 produced 65 flowers in June of 1995. So far this year more than 50 plants have been given to Merkle by residents and planted.
The garden now is over 10 feet wide and at last count was 60 feet long and expanding monthly. It includes hibiscus, geraniums, forsythia, nasturtiums, yarrow, sunflowers, cosmos and countless bulbs and daylilies, all flourishing. There also are shrub roses, hydrangeas, sedums, rosemary, lisianthus, rudbeckia, gaillardia, vinca, vitex, iris, dahlias, azaleas and marigolds.
Fellow resident Florence Hasler had a sign made for the garden that says, ``Merkle's Miracle.''
Merkle downplayed the credit. ``This is not a miracle but an outpouring of love, concern and caring for one another,'' she said. ``This is proof that the Master Gardener, our Lord God, provides the incentive, the soil and water to make our gardens a real blessing and a joy to all. With John Foil's pruning and Mickey Fenn's watering, I pray it will be my privilege to continue our miracle garden. As we survey our beautiful surroundings, we must all know that `The Lord is truly in this place.' ''
Merkle shares her love by giving a garden to the nearly 500 residents of Westminster-Canterbury. It has provided a fulfillment she did not expect but richly deserves. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Agnes Merkle tends a seaside plot at Westminster-Canterbury.
by CNB