GLOVES-ON
GARDENING LESSONS WITH BETSY
Please join the BTG every Wednesday morning from 8:00-9:30am for a Gardening Lesson from Betsy Burgeson, Supervisor of Gardens and Landscapes, followed by hands-on gardening work with new friends.
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Led by Volunteer Coordinator Ellie Nickeson, we will focus on three areas in 2025. One new area - the Hall of Philosophy - and two returners from 2023 - the Secret Silo Garden and the Shoreline Garden in Miller Park.
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We have pinnies and gardening tools, but please bring a water bottle, gloves, and clippers if you have them, wear sturdy shoes, and be prepared to get a little dirty.
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Thank you in advance for your willingness to contribute your time and effort to maintaining the natural beauty of Chautauqua. You do not need to be a BTG member to volunteer!
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The Secret Silo Garden
in the South Ravine
(Our focus Weeks 1 - 3. Meet at the corner of Massey and Hawthorne.)
Originally planted by the BTG decades ago, the Secret Silo Garden is a native woodland wildflower garden that had become overgrown with invasive, non-native plants like privet.
We began the restoration in 2023 by creating a walking path in the woods through what had been an impenetrable bramble of privet and multi-flora rose.
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In 2025, we plan to replant the area and the small Secret Silo Garden with native plants purchased at the Native Plant Sale, June 24, 2025.
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Click here to learn more about this garden. Hope to see you Wednesday morning!
A tough trillium blooming in the ivy at the Hall of Philosophy
The dream team! Lily, Elsie and Betsy Burgeson with 2022/2023 Volunteer Coordinator Jean Fulkerson preparing to get after the ravine invasives.
The Hall of Philosophy
Lakeside Garden
(Our focus Weeks 4 - 6. Meet under the arches.)
In a 2018 letter from Isabel Braham Pedersen to the BTG, she reported that many years ago, the BTG planted specimens of "every kind of fern which grow around here" flanking the walkway from the Golden Gate up to the Hall of Philosophy.
We hope that many of them will reappear once we rid the area of the English ivy and pachysandra which are so happy here that they have crowded out the native trillium and fern.
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Click here to learn more about the garden. We hope to see you on Wednesday morning!
The Shoreline and Wetland Gardens
in Miller Park
(Our focus Weeks 7 - 9. Meet at the picnic tables.)
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One of the first rain gardens planted in Chautauqua, this garden personifies Betsy's favorite mantra: Slow it down, spread it out, soak it in...meaning water gets cleaned up before it enters the lake.
Planted in 2005, the BTG helped fund the original shoreline plantings project, but it was largely funded by an anonymous donor - thank you, whoever you are!
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The plants are very happy here, which is wonderful, but also means it gets overgrown really quickly so it's calling out for our help!
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Click this link for more info about the garden. See you. Wednesday!
