Augusta Citizens Clean Up The Botanical Gardens

Augusta, GA—Peter Smith was just one of the people who spent Saturday morning cleaning up the Augusta Botanical Gardens, on Reynolds Street.

Peter Smith: “We are kind of doing the warm-up for the lawn mowers taking out the big weeds they can’t really eat through it all that well so it already feels pretty good.”

Anthony Esposito heads the cleanup group “Growing Augusta the Green Way”. Since the Gardens closed, they’ve become an eyesore and that’s why Esposito put a team together with lawn mowers and weed whackers to give this side of downtown a facelift.
Anthony Esposito: “The alternative is weed city sitting right on Reynolds Street, downtown, next to the Riverfront and Marriott. That’s not something I want for the city, no one in Augusta wants that.”

Because the State of Georgia owns this land, Esposito had to get clearance from state officials to get onsite. The crew broke a sweat, but they were unable to clean up the entire Golf and Gardens. That’s because some parts have hidden dangers…like snakes.

Anthony Esposito: “We are going to focus on the four quadrants in the middle circle. We are also going to do the parking lot because that’s something people can see from the side road.“

Anthony says he has a plan in place that could continue this cleanup until September. He says this cleanup project is not about him its all for the City of Augusta.

Anthony Esposito: “I want to take this crisis and turn it into an opportunity for the whole city to come together toward a common goal which is keeping Augusta the Garden City.”

All volunteers had to sign liability forms before they could help out.