Green Space Project

Mount Kisco Public Library Green Space Project

The mission of the Mount Kisco Library Green Space Project is to create a greenway that will surround the new public Library and increase the beauty and natural habitat located in the center of Mount Kisco. This green space is walkable, enhances wildlife habitat, serves to educate the public about birds, native plants and pollinators, and helps prevent water pollution from entering the Branch Brook. By so doing, it creates a very special place as the heart and soul of the community.

After the new Library was built, the Butterfly Garden was re-established to revegetate the area from the library to the Branch Brook adding an Experiential Garden for people with special needs at the center. The vision of a community green space has since brought together many members of the community and the support of the Village Manager, Jim Palmer.  Early in 2010, several donations were secured, special thanks going to the Mount Kisco Rotary Club,  A&J Home Care, Bedford Audubon and of course, the Foundation for the Mount Kisco Public Library, allowing the rebirth of the Butterfly Garden in the spring of 2010.

With the Garden, butterflies, goldfinch, rabbits and other wildlife have returned and brought people to the Library and its surrounding area. The garden has inspired a real love of nature.

Many thanks go to those community leaders who were instrumental in this first step. The Highway Department under Peter Scala supplied the machine power and soil amendments, while several volunteers from Neighbors Link prepared the soil. My Second Home supplied plants grown from seeds and then nurtured them until planting by horticulture therapist, Mimi Edelman who then supervised the planting of the Butterfly Garden. Maintenance and watering has been contributed by Willy, the Village Hall custodian.

Hopp Ground Garden Club, Ability Gardeners, and the Butterfly Garden

Click on images above to enlarge

The second stage of the Green Space Project was to construct raised gardens and surrounding patios which can be maintained by people who love to garden but have physical limitations. To raise funds for the construction of these accessible gardens, Hopp Ground Garden Club with the support of the Mount Kisco Public Library Foundation conducted a fund raiser in the spring of 2011 raising $5000. As a culminating and celebratory event, Hopp Ground Garden Club hosted a "Garden Party", Sunday, April 10, 2011 in the Community Room of the Mount Kisco Library.

While the construction of the raised gardens was underway, the Butterfly Garden continued to provide a myriad of colors in plant life and butterflies for public enjoyment. In the spring, the Ability Gardeners filled in open spots in the Butterfly Garden with plants grown over the winter from seed or cuttings. Throughout the summer, the Gardeners continued to weed and tend the eye-catching gardens surrounding the Mount Kisco Public Library including the large Rain Garden that greets people who enter the library property from Mount. Kisco’s shoppers’ parking lot. Lastly, again with the financial support of The Library Foundation, the group worked on improving the entry garden on the east side of the Library by planting small shrubs and perennials which will beautify the entrance to the garden for many seasons to come.

In the summer of 2012, ground was broken for the construction of two raised gardens and surrounding patios at the southern entrance of the Library Green Space. Thanks to the continued support of the Foundation, the Hopp Ground Garden Club and the town of Mount Kisco, the gardens were completed and dedicated August, 2012. Since then the Ability Gardeners with the help of members of the Hopp Ground Garden, have planted the gardens with plants grown by the group and then nurtured them throughout the summer of 2013 culminating with the Mayor of Mount Kisco awarding Certificates of Appreciation to all those who participated in the Ability Garden project. Bulbs were planted in the fall to insure a welcoming burst of color for the spring of 2014.

Ability Gardeners and Hopp Ground Garden Club would like thank all who helped support this project with special thanks to the Foundation; for without the continued Board support both spiritually and monetarily, this project would not have become a reality. The raised gardens, now called the “Ability Gardens” has truly given the pleasures of gardening to those who would not, in the past, be able to garden due to their physical limitations. But now, they are able to dig, plant, water, contribute to their community and enjoy!

The Foundation for The Mount Kisco Public Library looks forward to working with other local organizations in support of the new Mount Kisco Public Library.

Please contact the Foundation through its website or call Anthony Monteleone at 914-666-2118 or Carol Steiner at 914-241-0233.