During the past few weeks, the green space next to the Historic Hormel Home has undergone a transformation.

The flat, uninterrupted expanse of lush grass has been molded around flower beds, walking paths and an elaborate rock fountain.

The new garden not only adds to the beauty of one of Austin's most famous historic landmarks, but also gives members of the community an interesting garden to tour and rent for activities such as weddings.

The garden's creation was the result of many months of planning and many hours of work by local businesses.

It was created as part of the Hormel Home's renovation project and has been named the Peace Garden because Pat Ray wrote a grant for the garden during the week of Sept. 11, said Ray, who headed the committee that developed the garden.

Work on the garden started earlier this summer.

"There were so many people who donated time and labor for the project. Everyone bent over backwards to make sure it was open in time for the SPAM Museum opening," Ray said.

She says all the nurseries in town donated plants, various clubs have purchased benches for it and groups of Pacelli High School students stripped sod and did the planting in order to complete their community service hours.

Randy Berg, owner of Berg's Nursery in Austin and a landscape designer, not only donated plants, but also helped create a landscaping plan for the project. He said he asked the heads of the garden's committee what they wanted in it and "they said they wanted it to be a pleasant space with water and that they wanted constant color."

So Berg worked to fashion a garden of a mix of perennial and annual plants that "are things with long periods of bloom and plants that have early to mid to late blooms. There are large chunks or drifts of perennial plants, ornamental grasses, lots of different things."

"They had nothing there except a big, open, green space. It was essentially an open palette, so we could create what ever we wanted. It was fun with so many people working on it and it went very, very smoothly," Berg said.

Both Ray and Berg said they hope visitors enjoy the garden.

"It's open to the public, so we hope they come in and sit by the pond and enjoy the garden," Ray said.

Amanda L. Rohde can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at :mailto:amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com