Volunteers keep Temple Square blooming

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    By Jennifer Hansen

    More than 200 young adults and families gathered together Saturday, May 24, to take part in a 3-week service project of planting flowers and greenery at Temple Square.

    “There”s just no way that this turnover could be possible between seasons without all of the volunteers,” said Jan Stevens, a garden designer for Temple Square. “It just couldn”t be done.”

    Students from BYU and the University of Utah, as well as some families, come to Temple Square three Saturdays in May and October to help with the gardening process.

    Youth and service groups from all over the Salt Lake Valley work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

    The volunteers were divided into groups and assigned areas to work in. Plants and flowers were strategically placed around each flowerbed so each volunteer would know where to deposit each plant or flower.

    Stevens said the first Saturday of each 3-week period is spent pulling out old plants and redesigning the flowerbeds.

    She said the designers try to create a real natural look so the viewer”s attention is called to the flowers, not the designer.

    “We try to throw them as if Heavenly Father threw them – as if nature designed them,” Stevens said. “Our goal is still the same as every other department here, and that is to bring people to Christ. Whether it”s through flowers, that is still our goal.”

    She said she has learned so much and has loved the planning and gardening process.

    “It is the most wonderful place on earth to work,” Stevens said.

    Ryan Cromar, a BYU graduate from California, went to Temple Square as a part of a stake service project.

    He said he enjoyed his time planting flowers at Temple Square, and gardening is something he really likes to do.

    “It was awesome,” Cromar said. “I”ve always wanted to come plant flowers at Temple Square.”

    Frankie Freeman, a service missionary from Centerville, Utah, said the gardens are a great missionary tool for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    Freeman said visitors often ask religious questions after visiting Temple Square and seeing all of the plants and flowers.

    Larry Tavenner, a garden steward over the south half of the church office building, said the gardeners and designers could not make Temple Square look so beautiful without the help of the volunteers.

    “They do a lot of extras we couldn”t do before,” Tavenner said.

    He said 500 volunteers came to work the first Saturday, 400 the second Saturday and 220 volunteers this last Saturday.

    Fifty to 100 other volunteers came each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening over the 3-week period, he said.

    The plants and flowers are grown in a greenhouse by the fairgrounds, and 200,000 annuals are grown and planted each season, Tavenner said.

    Individuals can volunteer to work in the gardens by calling the Garden Guide Office at Temple Square at 801-240-5916.

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