Garden Walk committee supports Eco Island

Story and photo by Senior Contributing Writer Alice Gerard

For the past two years, Eco Island, 3285 Staley Road, has been one of the stops on the annual Grand Island Garden Walk.

On Aug. 13, several members of the Grand Island Garden Walk committee visited Eco Island to have a tour and to donate to the Grand Island Central School District’s nature center.

“It’s for $250 for Eco Island to help support the planting of the perennials and native plants at Eco Island, to help further that mission of trying to bring more native plants to Eco Island and expand the gardens,” Grand Island Garden Walk committee member Jan Freedman said.

Fellow member Peggy Koppmann added, “Cyndi Booker and Eco Island have been on the Garden Walk for the past couple of years. It seemed only fitting that we would support one of our own display gardens. We know that Cindy’s committed to the development of additional gardens to show off some of the plants that attract pollinators and support wildlife. And so, it seemed like a fitting donation for a cause that we celebrate and we want to support.”

Eco Island is very unique, Booker explained: “In New York state, there are no known nature centers owned by a school district (other than Grand Island’s).

“It is incredible. Also, as part of the education point I have, we did some winter sowing in January with third-grade students. We took those seedings, and we put them in the garden (near the fence at Staley Road). I actually labeled that as the children’s garden. I’ve got a little painted sign over there on one of the old crates. It says, ‘children’s garden.’ In the fall, I had children plant bulbs. There were two first-grade classes and a second-grade class. They planted daffodil bulbs and tulip bulbs. Then, third graders planted seedlings in January, that we cultivated. Then we put them into the garden. We also gave some native seedlings to the kids, that they could take home. I gave them directions on how to care for them.

“And one kid from Jeanne Percival’s class, he had it in mind (that), ‘I’m going to do five different native plants that I have enough seedlings for.’ He came in and he goes, ‘No, it was a red one, and it attracts hummingbirds. It’s none of these here.’ I said, ‘OK, I know what you’re talking about. I only have two of them, but it’s called Royal Catchfly.’ I went and grabbed it and had the hummingbird next to it. He said, ‘Yep, this is it.’

“It made me happy, too, because the kid remembered from January, and here it was May, and he was saying, ‘Oh no, I want that one because I know that’s what I planted.’

“They (the students) are paying attention. They understand the importance of native plants. Right now, with people having their yards, that’s what they’re saying online. I’ve been reading many sources that have said that we are kind of destroying our ecosystem with these beautiful manicured lawns. We need our ecosystem to bring it back. We need to have more of the native plants, the ones that belong here. We need to reduce the invasives. They’re not good for the animals that live here and for the environment.”

Koppmann said, “The Garden Walk group is very appreciative of support from our community, support from our sponsors, who helped defray some of the costs for continuing the walk. This was an opportunity for the committee to give back to the community. I appreciate the support from individual visitors and also from the businesses that support us.”

Booker said, “I am so grateful for the continued support of this school district, namely our superintendent, our director of buildings and grounds, and the business manager, for supporting everything that I’m trying to do. They understand my mission, and I really appreciate their help.”