As the summer days dwindle down and gradually grow shorter, the garden at the Great Falls Library reaches out to passing birds and butterflies with irresistible colors and scents.
Members of the Great Falls Garden Club maintain 50 varieties of grasses, shrubs, and perennials selected for their ability to attract and interest birds and bees.
“We have people going there once a week to weed, deadhead and water,” said Rilla Crane, the publicity chair of the garden.
Along the short walkway from the library to Georgetown Pike, is crowded with the color, texture, sight of insects glorying in the garden’s offerings.
The Garden Club is also nurturing a “freedom tree” that was planted on Great Falls Heritage Day last May and is located beside the garden, near the library entrance.
“It looks small, and I think the beetles are eating some of the leaves, but I am assured it is healthy,” Crane said.
It is a “service berry tree,” or Amelanchier, a hybrid Lamark II.
The tree was planted to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Crane said.