New year brings renewal to Friendship Garden

The overseer of the community garden at Longboat Island Chapel shared her pride in seeing it flourish post hurricane with residents' support.

By Dana Kampa
| 5:00 a.m. January 14, 2026

Kelly Shrout, one of the main coordinators of the Friendship Garden at Longboat Island Chapel, takes a look at one of the butterfly plants in the garden. Volunteers recently helped spruce up the community garden that holds the memories of many residents who have contributed to rebuilding since hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Longboat Key
Neighbors

The recovery from hurricanes Helene and Milton has had plenty of benchmarks, from residents returning to their homes to businesses celebrating their reopening. But another, more subtle indication is the regrowth of the island's plant life.

Kelly Shrout is the garden and grounds chairperson for the Friendship Garden at Longboat Island Chapel. During a recent two-day cleanup of the grounds by volunteers, she took a moment to reflect on what the green space means to visitors.

As with many of Longboat Key's parks, beaches and other natural spaces, the gardens were left tattered by the hurricanes' high winds and rain.

Organizers got to rebuilding and replanting. But they came up with an idea to bring the gardens back in a way that makes them more personal to those who live here.

From the pond out front to the Friendship Garden outside, Longboat Island Chapel maintains a variety of plants for community members to view.

People who wish to purchase flowers for an altar arrangement, like for a memorial service, can opt instead to pick a plant to go in the garden.

The stories aren't limited to celebrations of life. She said people have bought plants to recognize birthdays, anniversaries and other significant moments.

"We'll take a picture of the plant by the altar and then another when it's in the ground to send to the families," she said.

While the half-dozen volunteers there on Jan. 8 worked on weeding, raking pine bark mulch and otherwise sprucing up the gardens that were highly visited during the month-long "Christmas in the Garden" celebration, Shrout looked around and pointed out the stories the plants represented.

Rhonda Pfaff, Kelly Shrout, Jack Joyce, Bob Mazurek and Linda Crouse volunteered to help fix up the Friendship Garden after "Christmas in the Garden" to start off the new year.

"Iris bought that beautiful bottlebrush tree right there in front of the knee wall," she pointed out. "I took a picture and was so excited to tell her that it was about to bloom."

Turning again, she pointed to a blue agave bought in celebration of a family member and a gardenia bought in her husband's memory.

"Just about everything you see here was bought for the altar program," she said. "It's really amazing."

Volunteers planted seven additions that week, including a variegated pitch apple, firespikes and others.

Rhonda Pfaff recently returned to Longboat Key for the season, and she unequivocally loves gardening. She serves as the building and grounds chairman at Sutton Place, and even in her off time, she volunteered to help out with fixing up Friendship Garden at Longboat Island Chapel on Jan. 8. She tends to a foxtail fern.

Bob Mazurek, who celebrates his 89th birthday next month, volunteers at the start of the new year to fix up the Friendship Garden at Longboat Island Chapel.

Jack Joyce lends a hand with planting new additions to the Friendship Garden.

Linda Crouse said she was happy to spend a few hours giving back to the community by helping rake wood chips, clear debris from "Christmas in the Garden," and prune the plants at the Friendship Garden.

Shrout said the idea actually came from a congregation member on a suggestion card.

"The garden was so devastated after the hurricanes, and we were thinking about how to replant it when we had to prioritize fixing things like the air conditioning," she said. "Ever since we launched it, I think one person has done an arrangement. Otherwise, they have all been plants to add."

She said she is grateful so many people knowledgable of local plants and where they might thrive have helped out with the replanting, especially those from the Longboat Key Garden Club and the Manatee County Extension Office. If there was any silver lining to the damage the hurricanes caused in the garden, Shrout said it was learning what native plants are most hardy and able to grow back from extreme conditions.

The Friendship Garden includes quit a few unique plants, including this pencil cactus that is a favorite of coordinator Kelly Shrout.

Some of the flowers in the Friendship Garden not only attract butterflies, but also resemble them.

The Kentucky-born member of the church said she didn't always naturally have a green thumb, but she learned a great deal from her mother. Now, she finds satisfaction in helping a space that gives back to the community.

"You just can't help but smile," she said when asked what she feels looking around the garden now. "We're lucky that we get to do this, and fortunate to even have the garden."

Besides offering a green patch of respite for those patronizing the Lord's Warehouse or visiting the church, it also serves as an event space. She said the first outdoor wedding of the year is coming soon.

She doesn't know exactly when members started planting the garden, but it has been part of the church for at least 15 years, she said. Shrout looks forward to seeing what it will grow to be for upcoming events like Artists in the Garden in April, and beyond.

Anyone interested in contributing to the garden can speak with the front desk staff at 6200 Gulf of Mexico Drive.

author

Dana Kampa

Dana Kampa is the Longboat Key neighbors reporter for the Observer. She first ventured into journalism in her home state of Wisconsin, going on to report community stories everywhere from the snowy mountains of Washington State to the sunny shores of the Caribbean. She has been a writer and photographer for more than a decade, covering what matters most to readers.