Sacred Heart
1840 E. 8th Street, Jeffersonville, IN
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The garden was developed in 2000 by parishioners of Sacred Heart Church in Jeffersonville and was supervised by the parish landscape committee made up of five Sunnyside Master Gardeners. The area of the future garden was a grass field with a small poplar tree, crab apple tree and an underground unused fuel oil tank. After the tank was removed, the area was tilled and a garden was designed. Gardeners of the parish were asked to bring plants from their gardens and share them with the committee. They were shown where and how to plant their donations, so it became appropriately known as the Sacred Heart Sharing Garden. Benches are placed around the garden to make it inviting for folks to come in and enjoy the variety of plants. In 2023 the Parish Boy Scout troop replaced the split rail fence around the garden with a new four-rail fence.
There is a cactus and succulent area in the garden which was designed by MG Mary Lou Rousseau who loved caring for that type of garden. There are hens and chicks, creeping sedum, blue fescue and yucca. Two lantanas are planted each year to add some color. Pea gravel is around all the plants in this area.
The herb garden contains twelve perennial herb plants, costmary, anise hyssop, lavender, lemon balm, oregano, pineapple mint, rosemary, Russian sage, chives, tarragon and winter savory. The recycled mailbox in the garden has a list of the names of the herbs and the other plants in the ‘sharing garden’.
Joan’s rose garden was planted by MG Joan Becht because she had roses at her home and knew how to care for them. Two roses, Queen Elizabeth and Peace that she planted are still growing there. We tried to care for them but lost the rest and we planted daylilies and phlox to keep it colorful. A stone marker was put in the garden in memory of Joan.
When the garden was designed on the flat ground a mound was added to make it a more pleasing area. It was put near the poplar tree and now is shaded and the mound is now the shade garden planted of hostas, lily of the valley, columbine, coral bells, begonia, coleus and impatiens. There is a bird bath in the center planted with begonias.
The left of the sidewalk in front of the building was planted when the gym was built in 1960 with barberries and rhododendrons and we planted the right side with heavenly bamboo, daylilies, petite barberry, midget arborvitae and euonymus. The daylilies were donated by John and Verna Habermel of the former Floyds Knobs Daylily Garden.
When MG Phyllis Lewis passed away, donations were made for a concrete table with a plaque. It was placed in front of the large bench that was in the garden.
All the plants in the garden have plant tags with the common and botanic name. Other plants in the garden are oakleaf hydrangea, crape myrtle and lilac.
