Landscaping Project
Our landscaping project is now complete, and it was a tremendous success thanks to the support of our members, friends, community, and local businesses. What started as an idea turned into a hands-on effort that transformed the front of our building in time for America’s 250th birthday. And we’re not done yet.
Project Preparation
In the days leading up to planting, volunteers were hard at work behind the scenes, picking up donated materials, cleaning and painting the crawlspace walls, coordinating with local businesses, and handling the many details needed to make the project a success.
Dave Coates picking up 55 bags of mulch donated by Lowes #0639 in Aiken.
Travis Hargrove of Groves Nursery, donated 40 plants.
Lowes #2207 in North Augusta donated eight plants and 25 bags of mulch.
Dave Coates paints the foundation walls.
Volunteers gathered to paint the foundation walls.
Jane Doolittle paints the foundation walls.
Alex Hamilton discusses plans to improve our parking lot.
Andrew Covar lays out the plan for shaping the beds and calculates how much topsoil will be needed.
Marking the outline of the beds with paint.
Planting Days with Students
By planting day on March 24, everything was in place and the students from Strom Thurmond Career and Technical Center (STCTC) were ready to get to work.
STCTC teacher Jacob Laughlin gives students instructions before work begins.
Volunteers and students hard at work.
Jacob Laughlin works on the drip irrigation system.
Dave Coates and Keith Kennedy use an auger to dig 48 holes for planting.
Students and volunteers work side by side to plant the shrubs.
Students and volunteers spread out to plant shrubs across the beds.
Jacob Laughlin adjusts a drip irrigation line at a newly planted shrub while talking with students.
Volunteers spread mulch while students smooth the beds after planting.
The final bags of mulch were going down as the last connections on the drip irrigation system were completed.
The big shrub removal took place on February 28, 2026.
Tommy Tripp & Roger Ellis prepare a shrub to be removed.
Johnny Hensley pulls a shrub while Tommy Tripp and Jon Notestein stand ready to remove the debris.
Tommy Tripp and Jon Notestein did extra clean up behind the building.
A shrub is ripped out of the ground.
The big tree at the corner of the building came out fairly easily.
Winston Boddie and Roger Ellis hookd a tow chain to a shrub.
Tommy Tripp shuts off the water main prior to digging up roots.
A shrub dangles from a tow chain.
Scott Burton volunteered his trailer for tree removal.
The team looks in amazement at the open ground where shrubs used to be.
This pile of shrubs is only about half of the total.
This is the corner tree that uprooted easier than we expcted.
Post 30: The shrubs are gone and we need to ready the ground for new plants.
Special thanks to Johnny Hensley who brought the equipment, directed the operation, and made this day a success.