Flowering summer gardens of Mary Mother of Hope Church-New Castle,Pa

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous",

( Aristotle)

The fragrant floral gardens,

in a park like setting, that surrounds Mary Mother of Hope parish, welcomes it's visitors, to the awareness of beauty and tranquility. It is an oasis in the desert for mind and spirit, inside this church, as well as the parish gardens.

The planting, delicate care and nurturing of all the hundreds of flowers are joyfully done

by Richard and Ann Lukas. They have volunteered their time and their green thumbs for the last 4 years .

This year Rich said their focus was to change the land landscaping along the front entrance of the church.

Seven pick-up loads of dirt were removed and replaced with 4 1/2 tons of new top soil mixed with mushroom compost.

New young pachysandra plants and many flowering plants have been planted this year. It was decided to increase the perennials, due to the short period planting season.

Rich And Ann started their project on June 3. and still visit the gardens daily to water the flowers. Their first step in their yearly project was to plant the flowers around the rectory and fill the flower boxes.

Their plan was to give the plants an early start, so that when the " Mary Mother of Hope Summer Fest" occurred, the plants would be in full glory

Rich said, that Ann does the hedge clipping ,the edging and helps with the planting. Rich and Ann often work by street lights in the evening to get the job completed.

Rich has retired from his previous job and Ann works until 5:00 everyday, so the work had to be done in the evening, that gave them the opportunity to work on the project together

They never worked on Sunday and tried to juggle their planting time in-between church weddings, funerals, church events, and meetings.

.

.Mr. and Mrs. Lukas have always been actively involved with their church and they love every minute of it.

Love poured forth.................

..........evident in the beauty of the Majestic, Gothic, Roman Catholic , Mary Mother of Hope parish.

Thank you to the pastor, Rev. Victor Molka and Rich and Ann Lukas for showing us God’s beauty through Mary Mother of Hope parish and it's gardens.

The parish is located at 124 N Beaver Street, a few blocks from the center of town.

Visit the church web site at www.marymotherofhope.com

Rich and Ann also are into antiques and have a business called…Rich & Ann’s Past Timers and Bloomers