Lasata gardens a labor of love

By DAN BENSON

Ozaukee Press staff

For residents of the Lasata Senior Campus in Cedarburg, the best time of year may be right now, thanks to a group of faithful volunteers who lovingly tend the flower beds and gardens there.

The volunteers are with the Ozaukee Master Gardeners, a group of gardeners certified by the University of Wisconsin-Extension dedicated to beautifying the county and training others to do the same.

For Mary Hotchkiss, the group’s past president, “Lasata is my baby,” she said.

She and nine or 10 volunteers can be seen out on the Lasata grounds almost every day tending, planting, weeding, trimming, watering and doing whatever it takes to create something beautiful for the residents there, their families and anyone else who might walk through the campus.

It’s been a long-term relationship between the facility for the county’s seniors and the gardeners.

“I’ve been working there 14 years. And it was going on before I got there,” Hotchkiss, who lives in Grafton, said. “We have really transformed the gardens there.”

One of her favorite parts is the walking  path that follows a circular path on the north side with seating areas at several points on that path.

Another favorite spot is on the south side, where there is a gazebo.

“There are multiple gardens there that our team works on — a gazebo garden and raised-bed gardens and a shady garden along the wall. Most of the plants are decorative. And one little corner near the raised beds have some scented items like rosemary, lavender and oregano that add to the sensory experience,” she said.

That helps residents to remember their own past gardens.

“We try to grow a lot of natives and grow flowers that residents may remember from their very own gardens,” she said.

They label the plants so residents know what they are and think of how they can grow them at their homes.

“We want to educate and entice them to do some gardening on their own,” she said. “The more gardens the merrier.”

  “Lasata is a place of peace and visitors can take their loved ones and can sit and relax,” she said. “Or I often see Lasata residents walking alone, just enjoying  themselves.

“It really is a place where people can take their loved ones and evoke a lot of memories and generate conversations.”

Hotchkiss says Lasata is special to her because when she was younger she worked with older people with physical and mental disabilities.

The gardeners’ work doesn’t just benefit the residents of three facilities on the campus — the Crossings, a 60-unit assisted living facility, the Care Center, a 106-bed skilled nursing facility and the Heights, a 60-unit building for independent seniors — but the staff as well, who often enjoy the bucolic setting while on breaks.

“The physical therapy department overlooks the gardens and the therapists will walk residents there. I’m betting the PTs also want to get outside. It really is beautiful.

The hard work of the gardeners has not gone unnoticed.

“It is not an insignificant number of hours they put in,” Lasata Administrator Barton Smith said. “Every day or every other day there is someone here.

“They’re wonderful. A really nice group of people to work with. There’s a real sense of ownership among them.”

The feeling is mutual.

“We have a great working relationship,” Hotchkiss said. “Barton is very supportive and understands the importance of gardening to the residents.”

The Lasata staff supply the gardeners with equipment such as hoses, bricks, edging, a tool shed and other necessities, including moving mulch to wherever it’s needed.

If there are pest infestations, the facility’s workers help take care of that too.

“They took care of of some wasps after I got stung,” Hotchkiss said. The gardeners pay for the flowers and plants with funds they raise at their annual plant sale, which is Saturday, May 17, in Cedarburg.

In addition to Lasata, the Master Gardeners maintain projects across the county, including Ozaukee Advocates, USS Liberty Memorial Public Library in Grafton,  Ozaukee Food Alliance in Saukville, and Triangle Garden and the Light Station and Museum in Port Washington.

The Master Gardener’s annual plant sale will be from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 17, at the Ozaukee County Fairgrounds Expo Center, W67N890 Washington Ave., in Cedarburg.

On Tuesday, May 13, the group will hold a Patio Pot Workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Holtz Garden Center, W51 N729 Keup Rd., in Cedarburg.

For more information on events or projects or on how to become a master gardener, visit www.ozaukeemastergardeners.org.