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Greenup Master Gardeners Spruce up War Memorial
By
Katie
Pratt
 GREENUP,
Ky., (Nov. 14, 2007) – Greenup County Cooperative Extension
Master Gardeners found a little green goes a long way toward
community beautification.
The Master Gardeners planted a large stone flower bed to add to
the appearance of the county’s war memorial built to honor
soldiers currently serving in active duty and those who fought
or died in a war during the past century. Built solely on public
donations, the memorial includes a tank, Howitzer, Higgins boat,
UH-1 “Huey” helicopter and an Air Force airplane in addition to
several stone monuments.
“People from all over the country come to see the memorial,”
said Arnold Litteral, chairman of Greenup County War Memorial,
Inc. “Many people want to know who did it, and how we keep it so
nice. One man from Virginia liked it so much he sent the
committee money.”
When the project began in early 2006, many of the Master
Gardeners that participated in the project had just completed
the Master Gardener program, said Nannette Stevens, Master
Gardener secretary.
“For our first project, it was larger than what we expected,”
Stevens said.
Nancy Litteral of the war memorial organization said she
approached the Master Gardeners after learning about the
organization and its community projects.
 “When
I approached them, I had no idea what the project would
involve,” said Nancy Litteral. “Once it got started, it just
took off.”
Linda Heineman, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension
Service agriculture and natural resources agent for Greenup
County, said the Master Gardeners used principles learned in
their landscape design class to draw a plan for the flower bed.
The group applied concepts they learned in class as they
selected flowers. They chose flowers based on required
maintenance, tolerance to dry ground and their ability to mesh
well with the memorial. After considering all of these
variables, the Master Gardeners decided to go with a patriotic
theme and planted perennials including rose bushes, daisies, day
lilies and sages.
They presented their plan to the war memorial organization and
then solicited donations to pay for their portion of the
project. The group was able to get donations for soil and mulch
and found a bricklayer that donated his time to lay the stone
bed.
“We had a very tight budget to work in,” Stevens said.
The project that was in the planning stages in January was a
reality about a week before Memorial Day.
“People say it’s one of the best ones they’ve ever seen,” Arnold
Litteral said. “We had people from Michigan travel to see the
memorial, and they said they heard about it in Michigan.”
Master Gardener President Melvina Blair said the group would
continue to maintain the flower beds each year. This year,
another Master Gardener committee planted flowers around a
gazebo that was donated to the memorial by the Southern and
Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association.
The Greenup County War Memorial is free to visit and open to the
public. In addition to veteran’s activities, the memorial is
used for picnics and school field trips. It is located off U.S.
23, near Wurtland.
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Contact: Linda Heineman, 606-473-9881
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of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
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