On the blog today, take a flight with Morgan, the Library Fairy, to discover what is going on outside the library building!
Hello All! Morgan the Library Fairy here! As I was answering all of the wonderful fairy mail this last week, I had a lot of invites to visit people at their homes. I am overjoyed with the invites, but sad that I cannot accept any. For fairies, the law is very clear that we cannot be seen by humans. While this fills me with sadness, I know that the fairy laws are there for a reason, fairy safety being #1. So, keep dropping off those letters!
As I was brainstorming about what to discuss on the blog this week, I thought it might be fun to video my daily outside fly about! Every morning I take to the skies to take a peak at all of the flowers around the library! Lucas, the library's maintenance supervisor, does such a beautiful job picking out the flowers (with some fairy input), planting them, weeding the gardens, and of course watering everything in this crazy hot weather! The next time you see him working outside make sure and say hello & thank him for all of his hard work! Lucas rocks!
Lucas spent a lot of time this spring adding plants to different pots around the library. The flowers in the front are now in all their glory and are incredible! With vinca, petunias, lantana, and calibrachoa the pots in the front continue to buzz with all kinds of pollinators!
Speaking of pollinators, for the second year in a row the library and the Illinois Extension DeWitt County Master Gardeners have collaborated on a Pollinator Garden on the south side of the library shed. This is also a buzzing place! Make sure you take a walk over to look at the Mexican sunflowers, sweet alyssum, oregano, parsley, milkweed, zinnias and so many more beautiful flowers. When the sweet alyssum is in full bloom, it is the best smell in the world. As you are enjoying the flowers, look closely to spy all the different insects that visit the pollinator garden. Ants, milkweed beetles, aphids, monarch caterpillars and butterflies, swallowtail butterflies, and all different types of bees and wasps have all been hanging around!
You might be thinking, "What about the birds?" The library has been partnering with the local DeWitt County 4-H to make a beautiful place for the birds too!
Tucked between the Autumn Sedum that is getting ready to bloom you will find a small brick path leading to a railing that surrounds one of the library's two sunken gardens. If you look down to the sunken garden below, you will find native plants, a hummingbird feeder, and a bird bath all for the birds in the area. The garden has even been given the Audubon seal of approval!
Finally, as you walk to the library doors, you might have noticed that the sidewalk obstacle course has received a bit of a face lift! Thank you to Corey, Youth Services Manager, and the Peterson Family for volunteering the time to give this extremely popular activity a refresh! Even the fairies have fun! Check it out!
One final note, while we do not grow any yummy veggies on the library grounds, we know that a lot of you grow them in your own gardens! Don't forget that you are welcome to bring any extra produce to share with the community on our Garden Table. We have seen eggplants, tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, and today we got some rhubarb. Strawberry rhubarb pie anyone? YUM! Feel free to drop off your "extras" (we know you have zucchini - HA!) or stop in, grab a book or movie, and some produce to take home!
Well, I hope you are all surviving the hot weather and finding ways to stay cool! Don't forget you have until July 31st to claim all of your Summer Reading prizes and enter the Grand Prize Drawings! Echo, W.B., and I are working on finishing our reading paths. That's it for me! I am going to hit the seed library and see if I can convince Lucas to plant some fall veggies. Not sure what a seed library is? Stop in and ask a library staff member, they are always so helpful!
Until next time library friends,
Morgan, The Library Fairy