The Deadheaders will be missing a dear friend and excellent volunteer in October when Pat Smoyer and her husband Ron leave Country Creek to relocate to South Carolina. I recently asked Pat to reminisce about her experiences as a Deadheader.
The Deadheaders were founded in 2014 by charter members Mary Marrone, Jane Hopson, Alice VanDuyne (deceased) and Andrea Ronca. Originally, the group did exactly what their name suggests: pinch off the dead heads from flowers. Deadheading was necessary because Country Creek’s landscapers were under contract to plant hundreds of flowers twice per year, but nowhere in the contracts were provisions to maintain the plants. A group of residents led by Mary Marrone took responsibility for caring for the flowers. The Deadheaders was formed as a subsidiary of Volunteers, Inc. This is the organization of male volunteers, identifiable by their lime green tee-shirts, who tackle light construction projects around our community.
Initially, the Deadheaders worked in-season, beginning at 10AM on Mondays and Wednesdays. Word-of-mouth and monthly social gatherings helped recruit new members. As their numbers grew, the Deadheaders added more Common Grounds areas to their maintenance list, established summer deadheading, and start times moved to an earlier and cooler time (8:30AM).
Much of the work done by the early Deadheaders was back-breaking. These ladies would bend over or kneel for an hour at a time to deadhead flowers and pull weeds. More recently, the group’s work has changed as a result of new landscapers being hired and prohibitively expensive prices for flowers. The current master landscaping plan emphasizes hardy, colorful native plants and shrubs and far fewer flowers. These new plants require far less maintenance.
Today, the Deadheaders have approximately 26 volunteers in-season and 6 -10 volunteers during the summer months. The group’s primary work now consists of digging out invasive weeds and vines, trimming dead branches and any activity that helps our landscaped areas thrive.
Residents sometimes ask why a volunteer group is needed to maintain plants. The short answer is that, while paid landscapers do the heavier work, there are not enough hours in the day or dollars in the budget to totally outsource this job. The Deadheaders help keep our landscaped areas looking tidy without breaking the bank.
As Deadheaders, we love our work, the camaraderie of our group and the recognition we get from residents. If you see the pink-shirted ladies cleaning up the landscaping in your neighborhood, stop by and say hello.
