Edible Pickens
Lee Newton Memorial Garden
Edible Pickens
at the Memorial Garden in Lee Newton Park
In 2002, KPB established a Memorial ~ Honorary Garden located at the Chamber of Commerce Building in Lee Newton Park. The garden is near the picnic area and provides a quiet, serene place to relax and reflect on your surroundings. Trees and shrubs have been planted in honor or memory of loved ones and a marble plaque reflects the name of the person. That same year, KPB erected a Pergola and placed benches in the garden area.
In 2015, the Memorial Garden was redesigned and the plaques were relocated to a new seating area.
In 2022, another significant reconstruction was begun – the paths were reconstructed and an Edible Pickens garden was started! The Pickens Master Gardeners had their offices in the Chamber building and had built some raised beds near our pergola. They donated those beds to us, so we began our new gardens in those beds and in our new bed in the bend of the path. Enjoy!
We are constantly adding to our gardens, so check back regularly to see how our gardens are growing! Photos are in reverse order with the most recent first so you can see the garden today. Be sure to scroll down to see how it’s grown!
We have such a happy garden! Thank you to all the volunteers who have helped! This is just the beginning 🙂
The pollinators also love the catnip blooms.
blue vervain – what a beautiful flower! We added new kale plants to replace the seed plants we removed. They’ll fill in nicely!!
we’ll let the seed mature and dry on the stalk, then we’ll shell them for our fall garden
pak choy seeds – we intentionally let it go to seed for our fall garden pollinators!
rosemary and onions
yarrow blooms yarrow and rosemary
hyssop and yarrow
The gardens are so happy! The pollinators are loving our herbs!
happy pollinators
pak choy seed and happy comfrey comfrey in bloom and arugula that’s gone to seed
What a happy garden!!
bee balm sochan – has been an important part of the Cherokee diet due to its high nutrient value
A happy little onion sprout! We planted onions around the perimeter of the bed to help deter critters like groundhogs (hopefully).
comfrey, dill, chamomile, catnip, blue vervain, bee balm, sochan, and hyssop pak choy, comfrey, arugula, and Asian cabbage
Check out the happy gardens! We added pak choy, cabbage, arugula, dill, chamomile, bee balm, hyssop, and sochan to these beds.
What awesome little helpers! Thank you Jasper homeschoolers! They added new plants to the middle and onions around the perimeter. The beds are almost ready for new plants!
The catnip and blue vervain needed to be thinned. The homeschoolers could take plants home for their gardens!
Check out the improved raised beds! There was comfrey, catnip, and blue vervain that regrew from the Master Gardeners’ gardens. In addition to clearing out the raised beds, we also added more soil and compost.
The Jasper Homeschoolers also added plants to the new bed in the bend of the path.
The Jasper Master Gardeners donated their raised beds to KPB. The Jasper Homeschoolers have partnered with us to maintain these gardens. First, the plants from last season needed to be cleared out. In the future, we’ll fill in the paths with flood-resistant pavers. For now, the mulch looks great!
What a happy garden bed! Thanks to our excellent Serve Pickens volunteers!
We added rosemary, lavender, hyssop, yarrow, and more to the new bed. Creeping thyme was added around the perimeter. Then we covered the paths in mulch.
We added little plugs of creeping thyme along the edges to fill in the paths.
What a great team! Thanks Serve Pickens volunteers! This is a new garden bed with poor soil. We added a layer of leaves, then some soil, and topped it with mulch so begin improving the bed.
We removed the slate chips from the paths to prep for soil and mulch
Serve Pickens 2022 volunteers cleaning up the Memorial Garden About the Plants Check back soon for updates!! We are currently growing this page.
KPB is successful because of folks like you! Come lend a hand!