Among the bright orange monarch butterflies in the zinnias at Ortenstone Gardens, Deanna Pepper carefully moved through the flowers with her garden shears, smiling. She was there that Tuesday afternoon for an event by Engage and Project 412 to create bouquets to give back to the community. Pepper was making a bouquet for her neighbor, who recently lost her husband. She knew her neighbor loves flowers and wanted to offer comfort.
"I think it's just so wonderful to be able to do this and to give back to the community, to different people," Pepper said. "It is kind of hard to decide who to give to, because so many people in the community could just use a positive lift."
About a dozen community members, many part of the Engage program, gathered at Ortenstone Gardens for their second bouquet-making session this month, cutting vibrant zinnias from the field that overlooks Highway 10. The group's goal was to create floral arrangements to give away to local businesses, friends, loved ones — or even brighten their own homes.
The process began at the back of the flower field, where participants carefully checked stem stability, stripped leaves, cut stems on a diagonal and organized the blooms. Teri Holehouse, director of Engage, said that while the garden is a community resource, it isn't open for anyone to pick flowers at will.
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