2009 was marked by events both new and continuing in the Hebrew Cultural Garden.  Here are some of the highlights:

“Brunch and Bloom” attracted over 100 people again this year on another very pleasant day, weather-wise.  Almost 1000 plants went into the Garden is a few hours.  Publicity for the event worked very well in spite of the budget belt tightening needed given the dramatic decrease in funds available to the community as a whole and the Garden in particular.  And this year was marked by the smoothest running one we’ve ever had thanks to Jewish Volunteers in Action and the Hebrew Cultural Garden committee members who do a outstanding job in carrying the event off so well.

Volunteers applied fertilizer, herbicides and grass seed in two springtime applications to eliminate the usual and extensive invasion of weeds, were it not done, and the turf was preserved.  The fountain pool’s floor was painted, as usual, to hide the peeling paint from the previous year.  Fountain bubbler was removed, but not taken, maliciously only once this year so that a replacement was not needed.  The new trash receptacles, that the City of Cleveland kindly supplied at our request, has been working very well and the need to remove trash has markedly decreased.  The receptacles were painted and marked.

Thanks to Holden Parks Trust’s funding six (6) trees were trimmed of dead wood.  With an extensive forest canopy around the Garden it is always a challenge to keep up with the dead wood coming out of the trees. HPT’s help in mitigating it for the truly large dead limbs is very important.

New this year was a clean-up event on July 15th that was organized by the Cleveland Hillel Foundation’s Summer Internship Program and consisted of volunteers from Hillel, Summer on the Cuyahoga, Key Bank’s internship program, Center for Civic Engagement Learning (CWRU) and City Year-Cleveland.  They did a remarkable job in cleaning up areas of the Garden that have not been for decades.

Also new this year was Case Western Reserve University’s 7th Annual Case for Community Day were 18 student and staff volunteers helped us weed and further clean-up the Garden.  There is always more than enough work to do.

Both before and after all of these events, we cannot say enough about the City of Cleveland’s Parks Department and how they help us remove, literally, truckloads of plant matter, along with other trash.  They do it speedily and work closely with us in everything we do.  They are terrific.  Not to mention that that supply the Garden’s water, electricity and lighting at no charge, AND regularly cut the grass and clean up leaves and other plant materials.  Great to be their partner in this City-owned park.

The Better Garden Club funded a new, granite bench and it was dedicated in June.

The Garden now has a photo and listing on “Google Maps” for convenient way-finding.

The Maltz Museum’s October show featuring the Cultural Gardens had a section of the displays on the Hebrew Cultural Garden.  Donna Yanowitz, chair, loaned objects for use in that show.

Dr. Mark Tebeau and Erin Bell, Cleveland State University, and the proud parents of this site, introduced a new Cultural Gardens blog this year, which increased the number of visitors to the www.culturalgardens.org site as well as the Hebrew Cultural Garden page on that site, which is very much appreciated.

Lolly the Trolley’s daily tours of the Cultural Gardens stop at the Hebrew Cultural Garden among others.  And various tours of Jewish Cleveland make the Garden an important stop in their itinerary.

The Jewish Community Federation continues their irreplaceable support of the Garden with both manpower and money.

We are very much indebted to them for their ongoing support.

And we continue to work toward the funding of the restoration of the Hebrew Cultural Garden, with the replacement of the critical missing plaques from the Garden on the top of our list of things to do, soon.

Apologies to anyone and any organization that I’ve missed in this report.  It was not intentional in the least.

Bill Jones for the Hebrew Cultural Garden committee

Article on Brunch and Bloom; Cleveland Jewish News 6-26-09

Family at Brunch and Bloom

Summer interns clean Hebrew Cultural Garden 7-15-09

The German Cultural Garden continued to experience improvements primarily in the Goethe-Schiller Square.  On both sides of the Square the level was raised with 4 cubic feet of top soil so that perennials’ could be planted.  Among the perennials’ were hosta’s, Iris, day lilies and bulbs in the fall. Unfortunately 21 of our hosta’s and 20 plants of our petunias’ were stolen.

We also improved the flower beds around the gate and rearranged the flower bed on the upper and lower level of the sign.

In the fall we planted quite a few new perennials’ on the side beds.

On July 12 we staged a free concert at our garden which was well attended, however improvements will have to be made for the 2010 concert to attract more people. For example we would like to invite the seniors from the Judson Home and the German “Altenheim” home of the aged.On November 20^th we observed the traditional “Welttrauertag” “World Mourninf Day”. Here we also have to see if it can be improved to attract more people to give tribute to all the people who have suffered innocently and died because of politics.

Total donated working hour to the German Cultural Garden 175 of which the German organizations have contributed 59 and the Kopp family 116.

Reported by Chairperson Hans Kopp

It is essential to recognize the Latvian community’s involvement with the Cleveland Cultural Garden Federation since 1998 - not only during 2009, but also the commitment to the process of establishing the new Garden.This has included attending meetings as delegates for a potential Latvian Garden, participating in the land-parcel assignment process, and meeting with members of the Design Review Committee at least a dozen times to identify the key guidelines for establishing a new garden.Thus, before the first “official” activity of establishing the Latvian Garden on October 2006 (first phase), the preparatory tasks included

- announcing a closed competition for sculptors to participate in the proposal for the garden’s design and art

- selecting a sculptor from Latvia, and providing oversight in the creation of art

- making arrangements for site preparation and bringing containers with sculptures to US

- going to Latvia to collect soil from the four regions of the country for depositing in the Peace Garden Crypt, and obtaining a US government permit to bring soil in the US

- meeting with Cleveland City representatives to obtain permit for phase II:  dedication of  the Latvian Garden and hosting One World Day 2008

April, 2008, the Latvian garden is visited by the President of Latvia

September 14, 2008 Dedication of the second phase of the Latvian Garden

and placing of soil from Latvia in the American Legion Peace Garden Crypt

September 14, 2008 Hosting One World Day Celebration in conjunction with the Estonian and Lithuanian gardens

Fall 2008 planting of tulip bulbs provided by the Federation

November 18, 2008 laying of flowers at the Latvian flag commemorating the declaration of ndependence of Latvian state in 1918

December 2008 Holiday decorations in the garden, and 7 Latvian representatives attended the Federation’s sponsored Christmas party

2009

Made a presentation about the Cleveland Cultural Gardens at Judson Center and to a  group in Brecksville

April 2009 spring cleanup with Cleveland State University students, Earth Day

April 30, 2009 talk given about the Latvian Garden  for a Baldwin Wallace cont.ed. class

June, 2009, delivered documentation about the establishing of the Latvian Garden to the Western Reserve Historical Museum to have the material included in their archives

During summer at various times birch trees sprayed

September fall cleanup, garden decorated with plants for One World Day 2009, and had an architect evaluate the condition of deteriorating infrastructure of Doan Creek bordering the Latvian Garden

October, 2009 Provided items for the Maltz Museum exhibit and 5 members attended the opening ceremony

Secured a permit requesting to hold a brief ceremony in the Latvian Garden in commemoration of the 1918 Latvian Independence Day. The actual day is November 18th, 1918 but, after a short ceremony, the placing of a floral wreath at the base of the Latvian flag commemorated this 91st anniversary on Sunday, November 15th at 9:30 a.m.

The Latvian Garden was decorated for the year-end holidays, and 8 representatives attended the holiday dinner hosted by the Ukrainian community.

Participation with other gardens:

Members of the Latvian community have attended all One World Day celebrations since joining the Federation, including 2009, hosted by the Polish Garden

September fall cleanup, garden decorated with plants for One World Day 2009

During 2008 and 2009 members of the Latvian  community attended events sponsored/hosted by other gardens (German, Italian, Polish, Serb, Indian,Azerbaijani, Estonian,Hungarian)

Convened Cheering groups for Rite Aid Marathon races

While it has been a lengthy trip since 1998, we thank our travel companions for making it most enjoyable. And, as we welcome a New Year, we wish much success for all our Gardens, existing and planned.

Anda Cook, Primary Delegate, Latvian Cultural Garden

Two major improvements were undertaken in the Czech Cultural Garden in 2009.

One; the two full size statues in the Garden, Comenius and Masaryk, were illuminated with the use of relatively new technology. A solar collector powers two LED flood lights, the system is backed up by batteries recharged by the solar collector. The installation was done by Photon Energy LLC, a new local company. The cost of this system was approximately $5,000 and was funded by a grant from the Foreign Ministry of the Czech Republic. This is a first use of solar energy in the park. It is a good application of this emerging technology since electric power is not readily available in the gardens. See attached photo-page illustrating the installation as well as the night time effect.

Two; The Czech Garden undertook the task of replacing a missing bust of Bozena Nemcova, a woman novelist famous for her novel “Grandmother”. The model was created by Paul Burik. The mold and the bronze casting were made by a local studio - Light Sculpture Works. The cost of approximately $12,000 was funded by a donation from the Victor Ptak family, grant from Holden Parks Trust and a donation of the artwork by Paul Burik. The bust was completed and placed at the Bohemian National Hall for viewing until spring of 2010 when better weather will allow for installation at the Garden and a dedication ceremony. See attached photo-page for the illustration of the process of making the bust.

As every year, the Czech Garden planted flowers and additional tulip bulbs were planted for next year showing. Also, three of the five existing busts were waxed as a preventive maintenance.

Lastly, several tours were conducted through the Gardens including the NASA Lewis Ski Club and The Czech and Slovak Society of Arts and Sciences – Cleveland Chapter. An annual wreath laying ceremony commemorating the establishment of Czechoslovak Republic was held in October.

Paul Burik, Czech Cultural Garden Primary Delegate

Click on the following links for the photos and text on each item.

Nemacova replacement bust’s manufacturing process

Solar lights installed in Czech Cultural Garden

There are many ways to say happy holidays.  If our headline sounds Italian, you are right!  Visit the Italian Cultural Garden and many of the other Cultural Gardens as they spread holiday cheer.  Here are some photos of the 2009 Italian and Irish Cultural Gardens’ holiday decorations.

2009 holiday decoration--Irish Cultural Garden

Holiday Decorations, 2009, Italian Cultural Garden

Virgil in the 2009 holiday spirit, Italian Cultural Garden