Sanders has 'the knack' with courthouse flower garden

The colors of summer are slowing starting to fade and the Greene County Courthouse garden is not quite as colorful as it was earlier in the season but it's still beautiful.

It's aging gracefully into the fall.

Didn't know there was a courthouse garden? Well, there's not really, not officially anyway, but that's what I call it -- a patch of what looks to be a hundred different kinds of pretty flowers in a rainbow of colors that greets visitors as they walk up to the eastside door.

Don't worry about taxpayer expense ... it's the work of one woman with a seriously green thumb, a volunteer offering of beauty in a big block dominated by brick, stone and concrete.

She's worked at the courthouse for years, and while she works in her small office (with no windows) inside the probation department, countless visitors walking by, or sitting on the bench during a recess in a trial, notice her flowers and make comments about their beauty. They really have been spectacular this year.

She selected and planted the flowers and has been weeding and watering all summer. If you happen to be at the courthouse about quitting time, you might see her. As everyone else is clearing out and heading home, you'll find her carrying a bucket of water down the hall and out the door to splash the thirsty plants.

Besides the long stretch of flowers near the bench, which includes a few window boxes with more flowers spilling out, she maintains concrete urns on the walkway at the entrance door -- there are two filled with purple and white flowers this year -- my favorites.

The gardener is JeanAnne (Lent) Sanders, an administrative assistant in the juvenile division of the Greene County Probation Department.

As garden and decorating people might say, she's got "the knack."

Thanks JeanAnne for all your hard work on the little garden. Your flowers have been just beautiful!