NewsLab

With mud on their pants and gloves, 18 college students walked out of the Duluth Rose Garden after five hours of volunteering on CSS's Community Day.

Among the more than 800 CSS students who took part in Community Day service on Oct. 7, these 18 students joined two CSS staff and three gardeners in the Rose Garden. The job began at 9:30 a.m., and in five hours of work, they planted new roses, pulled out weeds and cleared the ground for the Rose Garden, located on London Road and S 12^th Avenue East.

Julie Kluge, a freshman, knelt on the ground, pulled out the rose from a flower pot and helped loosen its roots.

"They have to stay in flower pots for a long time, and all the roots are stuck in it," she said. "If we do not loosen the roots, the roses will probably die within a couple of days."

After finishing the roots, she put it into a hole that she had dug. Then she made a water circle for it, making sure there would be enough water for the roses.

The volunteers spent almost two hours transferring roses from flowerpots. Then, their next assignment was to pull out the dead plants and weeds. More than half the plants needed to be cleaned at the edge of garden. The students used shovels to dig the dead plants out and used pliers to cut root if one was too hard to pull.

"Working with the plant is one of my favorite jobs," said Anna Jacobson, a senior majoring in English. "Rose is my mascot; I really enjoyed working with plants."

After five hours of hard work, they finished the job at 2:30 p.m.

Mary Tennis, one of the gardeners who has worked for this garden for nearly 15 years, said, "Normally more than 300 people will come and do the volunteers' job for the garden each year, including individuals, different organizations and companies, as well as students come from Duluth and Superior," Tennis said.

She continued with a smile, "I really appreciate that the students could come today. It gave us a lot of help here."

"Nice day, right?" Helen Helberg said, after finished the work. She is a staff member who works for the CSS psychology department, and she gave four students a free ride to the Rose Garden from campus. "This is one of my favorite places in Duluth, and actually most of the plants are my friends," Helberg said, satisfaction showing on her face. "I am so glad to see all the students are hard working."

Wearing a smile on their faces, the volunteers walked out of the Rose Garden, promising to return for next year's community day to spread the beauty of the roses.