donated it in 2012<\/a>, and the seed of the idea began to sprout. Last fall, just after the floral shop opened, they supplied the prison with all kinds of seeds, including many that Bauer had just brought back from the Netherlands.<\/p>\nThere are only three inmates involved with the flower program, which they’ve dubbed the Eden Garden Project. Many people have expressed interest in getting involved, Weixelman and Sweeney said, but people have to be on their best behavior to be eligible to join.<\/p>\n
This spring and summer, Bauer and Clifton have come to the prison once every couple weeks to cut the flowers. Bauer and Clifton walked into the courtyard Friday with Sweeney and Weixelman, ready to harvest a few more.<\/p>\n
“This is our garden,” Sweeney said to them.<\/p>\n
The flowers have shot up in the past few weeks, they all agreed, and Bauer rushed forward to a group of marigolds bursting with bright yellow and red colors.<\/p>\n
“These marigolds, they’re incredible,” Bauer said.<\/p>\n
Bauer and Clifton came Friday and left with heaping portions of those marigolds, rudbeckia, sweet peas and more.<\/p>\n
They said they were planning on incorporating many of the flowers into bouquets later that day, and said they’ve gotten a warm reception from people around town when they tell them where the flowers have come from.<\/p>\n
Sweeney, who turns 30 next year, has been at LCCC since 2014 and said he’s set to be there until 2022. He said he’s been convicted of eight felonies, but hopes to start attending the University of Alaska Southeast full time when he gets out. He also hopes to have a garden of his own.<\/p>\n
His mother is a florist, he said, and has a private garden at home in Kodiak. Sweeney grew up helping her out with it, he said, and getting back in the soil at LCCC brings him back to those times.<\/p>\n
“It’s almost nostalgic,” Sweeney said. “I feel like I’m hanging out with my mother and we’re back home and I’m gardening, doing the things that are familiar.”<\/p>\n
Bauer and Clifton were elated to hear Sweeney’s story and see the impact the project has had on him. They were glad to see the program is doing some good for those raising the flowers in addition to those receiving the arrangements.<\/p>\n
Sweeney showed them a drawing he had made of cosmo flowers that he hopes he can turn into a mural in the prison. Sweeney already helped paint one mural, which is a nature scene with mountains and water.<\/p>\n
The garden has already brightened the mood among some inmates and staff, Weixelman said. Sometimes, Weixelman said, they grab a flower if a staff member at the prison is having a bad day and hand it to them.<\/p>\n
“Flowers are nice,” Weixelman said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re at.”<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.<\/b><\/p>\n
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