The Circle – A Triumph of Will and Cooperation

See more photos at the end of this article

For years, everyone visiting the Board of Education or circling the century-old roundabout at the junction of Valley, Church, and Hillside fumed about the muddy mess in this 40-foot-wide circle.

Back in 1976, the Garden Club donated a fountain and created and maintained an oasis in the middle of the road for 30 years until that responsibility was taken away from us and the area languished. Careless construction vehicles driving to a nearby apartment project further degraded the area.

In December 2024, Deb Hirsch and Sarah Olson met with the planning and development office of the town to offer our help in the rebirth of the circle as part of the Club’s mission to combine civic beauty with environmental best practices. Marie Donnelly, Wendy Stahl, Celia Radek and Sarah Olson met at the circle to discuss ideas, and, with the help of Deb and Wendy, Celia came up with a beautiful plan using only native perennials and grasses.

Months of careful planning followed, involving calculations of soil needs, plant quantities, mulch, and logistics. Cynthia Corhan-Aitken handled the purchases. A pivotal moment came when a local resident’s letter expressing frustration with the muddy circle appeared in the Montclair Local. The Club quickly responded, announcing their upcoming efforts and highlighting their commitment to beautifying Montclair.

A Community Effort Takes Root

On Friday, June 13, a pile of eight cubic yards of soil was dumped on the circle, a packed and weedy, stony mess. The weather was a summer combination of rain storms and humidity. Some hardy souls started hacking away at the mats of grass and weeds with rakes and hands, until Deb realized that this is what rototillers are designed for. Over the next four days, whenever the rain let up, Deb’s husband Peter pushed the jumping machine back and forth while Members painstakingly filled 10 paper leaf bags with chopped up weeds and spread three inches of dirt ― now mud ― over the area. We left a boundary of four feet for the town to fill with stones or Belgian block to allow for clumsy drivers. During those back-breaking days, passing cars honked their approval, and some local people even joined in the work.

Wednesday was the fun day. The truck arrived with the plants and Club Members scampered between the cars, carrying 236 plants (see full list at the end of this article) onto the circle. There Celia directed our volunteers where to place them and Members and friends dug down to the very vocal good wishes of passers-by. It was a remarkable shared experience, driven by the need to get the plants in before the forecasted heat wave, but also a reminder of our renewed commitment to our town and the environment.

The Future

Happily, there is a water pipe in the circle that was put in a few years ago when the township was considering replacing the old fountain. The attempt was abandoned when the town realized how difficult and expensive maintaining fountains are in the north-east, but the pipe remains. The town has agreed to attach a spigot to this pipe and we will then connect drip hoses to save the plants during the ferocious heat of the summer. Hopefully this will be done soon because we are still in danger of losing our plants to the heat of summer, in spite of some efforts from the water trucks of the BID and the township.

Currently the town has ordered and plans to install the needed parts within the next two weeks. Supposedly the township will be coming up with a more elaborate solution to the problem of vehicles driving over the area and we will be working closely with any plans they develop. Until then, we will be maintaining our beautiful new garden in the middle of the road. Truly, this has been a triumph of will, camaraderie, and cooperation.

Here is a list of all the people who helped. Many thanks to:

Kathy Bachmann, Barbara Baletti, Susan Benner,  Olga Bequillard, Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Mike DeCastro, Marie Donnelly, Larry Engelstein, Peter Hirsch, Deborah Hirsch, Donna Karanja, Mateo Karanja (Donna’s grandson), Betty Murphy, Sarah Olson, Amy Poster, Celia Radek, Peter Reilly, Tracy Reilly, Matt Schifrin, Amy South, Maureen Sprong, Wendy Stahl, Susan Yu, Sue Young, Dio from the Quest Emporium, and the Circle Guardian.

Full List of Plants in the Circle

Agastache 'Blue Fortune'	Blue Fortune Anise Hyssop
Amsonia hubrichtii	Hubricht's Bluestar
Conoclinium coelestinum	Blue Mistflower, Hardy Ageratum
Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb'	Zagreb Whorled Tickseed
Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'	Coneflower
Liatris spicata	Blazing Star
Penstemon digitalis	Foxglove Beardtongue
Pycnanthemum muticum	Short-Toothed Mountain Mint
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Little Goldstar'	Little Goldstar Black-eyed Susan
Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Standing Ovation’	Little Bluestem 'Standing Ovation'
Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'	Fireworks Goldenrod
Vernonia noveboracensis	New York Ironweed