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NEW HOPE: Gardeners find good use for downed trees, limbs

   Hurricane Sandy’s devastation scattered trees and branches all over the Bucks County area in late October.
   Meanwhile, the flowers in the decorative baskets that had been installed on New Hope street lamps by the New Hope Borough Park and Recreation Board last summer had faded.
   ”Then one day our members, Bill and Linda Low came to me with an idea,” said Chuck Tarr, chairman of the Garden Club.
   ”Why don’t we gather some of the evergreen branches that have been broken off trees and use them to decorate some of our street lamps?”
   Mr. Tarr was excited about the idea. He contacted Garden Club members, and within a week, the beautiful greens that littered lawns, sidewalks and streets around New Hope were on their way to their new places around New Hope street lights.
   ”We had an immediate, positive response from our members,” noted Mr. Tarr.
   ”Bill and Linda Low arrived early Monday morning with ladders and a van full of evergreen branches they had gathered from their lawns and nearby roads. Elsa Wise, Barbara Sebestyer, Bob Luisi, Bill Kiefer and Roy Ziegler joined them with garden tools and more stray branches.
   ” Within three days thanks to their efforts, street lamps along South Main Street and window boxes on the Visitors Center were festooned with festive greens, red ribbons and painted white tree branches for the beginning of the holiday season,” Mr. Tarr added.
   As a result, with little cost to the Garden Club, the heart of downtown New Hope was decorated and ready for the holiday season. “This was a great example of volunteers working together to help beautify our town.”
   Additional members, Dave and Jo Kemble, assisted during the previous week when the Garden Club planted ornamental kale in the Whiskey Barrel Planters and in Blue Urns located in the New Hope Pocket Parks and at the administrative offices of the borough.
   For information about joining the New Hope Garden Club and about its activities, contact Mr. Tarr at 215-862-0883.