Legion Hall Memorial gardens get a helping hand

The Shelter Island American Legion Hall is about to benefit in a big way from a Long Island landscaper’s misfortune.

Cathy Warren of Broadview Gardens in Wainscott recently learned that the land she leases for a nursery and greenhouse operation is going to be developed and that the plants must be moved this spring or be bulldozed. She had just received a request from Mitchell Post 281 Legionnaire John D’Amato to help Island veterans develop a landscape plan for the area around new and existing memorial rocks outside the hall.

Instead of just a plan, she is donating most of the plants. Her low-maintenance garden design was presented by Ms. Warren and her associate Alejandro Saralegui at Legion Hall Saturday morning. In addition to Legion members, Town Supervisor Jim Dougherty and Garden Club President Jean Brechter were in attendance.

In 2008, the Legion sold its property to the town for $1. The main hall was transformed into the town Youth Center, while Legionnaires retained the basement for their use, as well as control over the veterans’ memorials.

Rock memorials outside the hall have long honored Island veterans who served during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. For years  Legion members have discussed adding a memorial for post-Vietnam conflicts. After Lt. Joseph J. Theinert was killed in Afghanistan last year, the talk turned into action.

Since November 2010, Legion members and local volunteers have brought a fourth rock into the memorial area, to mount a plaque honoring recent veterans. To make room for an overall design that includes the new rock and refurbished canons, overgrown junipers and thorny honey locust trees were removed, work that began in November with the help of the Highway Department.

The garden proposed by Ms. Warren will be low maintenance, deer-proof (“as we know deer today,” she said), look good year around, be wheelchair accessible and kid friendly. Inkberry, Alberta spruce and spirea, along with colorful perennials and hardy ground covers, are part of the plan.

While the final plan will need to consider many uses — those of the Legion and the Youth Center, as well as public gatherings — time is of the essence. Ms. Warren must place the plants in April to get them out of the path of a bulldozer due on May 1.

Mitchell Post Commander Mike Loriz thanked Ms. Warren for her efforts and generosity. “We’re happy to do it,” she said. “Something good should always come from something bad.”

Some of Cathy Warren’s revised plans for the Legion Memorial Gardens shown below.