Baiting Hollow Library to add native plant garden

The trustees of the quaint Baiting Hollow Library on Sound Avenue hope library users will also spend time outside the 82-year-old library this spring when a native plant garden will make its debut.

For the first time in the life of the library — the smallest in Suffolk County, holding approximately 1,900 books — there is an outside source of water on the quarter-acre plot.

Ellen Talmage, Library Trustee, explained the plans for the new garden. “I used to have a wholesale nursery on Talmage Farm. I grew native plants and collected local seeds 20 years ahead of the strong demand there is now. The new generations have very little interest in dividing their grandmother’s peonies or tend to her high maintenance roses, but they want to celebrate and preserve the local ecosystems that nature has given us.”  

Ms. Talmage envisions six raised garden beds with composted leaf soil brought over from her family’s farm. These beds will be placed around the library’s perimeter and the sign on Sound Avenue. A drip irrigation system will be installed in the beds to show novice gardeners how to raise native plants. Several local nurseries are donating native plants and low-maintenance plants to the garden.  All the beds will be labeled and possibly have QR codes to educate about the importance of indigenous plants. Visitors can expect to see golden rod, Joe Pye weed, butterfly weed, New York ironweed, wood aster and several ferns.

Installing the spigots in the back of the library took about two months, according to Dan Fulton of Fulton Plumbing and Heating in Riverhead. “They’re 4 feet underground and are connected to the town water system. So now they can attach a hose and have an above-ground irrigation system.”

The library, which opened in 1903, received a grant for the project from New York State Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio, who said she’s been driving by the library for almost 40 years. “It probably existed when Sound Avenue was just a quaint little country road. It is important the we maintain our history — it helps keep the heritage of Baiting Hollow alive.”

“People say the library is like a little fairy tale house. It’s a great place to showcase plants and this is something I can do for the public,” said Ms. Talmage.