The Bella Vista Garden Club planted trees at the Veterans Wall of Honor on Oct. 18 with the help of county inmates.
Club spokesperson Ginny Vance said the trees that formerly adorned the inside of the memorial were holly trees and they were damaged by freezing temperatures in the winter. Also, she added, the memorial was damaged by flooding. Veterans power washed the memorial, removing the mud.
Garden club member Toni LiCausi said the new trees were a breed called Zmatlik Arborvitae, and Garden City in Bentonville gave them to the club at cost.
The county inmates assisted by digging the holes nine inches deep and then filling them in once the trees were in place. Club members brought wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes and mulch to assist in the job. Garden club president Pat Meyer said the inmates also helped dig out the damaged holly trees on a very hot day in the summer.
Leo Scaturro of the Veterans Council of Northwest Arkansas was also on site. He said the group is planning to expand the memorial. There is no more room to place bricks with honorees' names on them, he said. The expansion will have granite walls where the information can be inscribed instead of bricks. The price will be $50 per honoree.
"We have plans. It's been approved by city planners. We just need money," he said.
He said the new addition will include five circular areas, one for each branch of the military, along with bushes and trees and smaller walls for additional names.