Episode 52 With Leiana Gary

After having served in various capacities as a speech-language pathologist for 40 years, Leiana J. Thomas Gary retired officially in 2019. Always a crafter and amateur gardener with an in-born entrepreneurial spirit and raised by a mother of the Renaissance kind, Leiana tended to look at things a little differently.

During one of the last outdoor walks with her mother Alva prior to her passing in 2007, Leiana, made the snide remark "Someone should do something about these nasty looking planters" and her mother responding quietly later said, "And who might that someone be?" After 2 years of trying not to remember that conversation, Leiana founded the Cottage Grove Planters Society.

She dug up all the hostas and day lilies out of her garden and began transplanting them with the help of family and friends into the planter pots one at a time. After two years of tending the planters, she began to look at the blank concrete planters as canvases to display student artwork. In 2009, the Cottage Grove Planters Project began, placing framed versions of local student artwork on the then 24 planter pots, using donated funds and materials. In 2012, the Cottage Grove Planters Project was awarded a Pepsi Refresh Grant to complete the installations. The project has continued since then and has been supported by numerous individuals and organizations such as My Block, My Hood, My City. The CGPS was recently awarded a Neighborhood Access Program (NAP) grant from the City of Chicago — Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to replace the artwork with new designs by more local school children in addition to refreshing the plants and flowers.

Also, to learn more about her forthcoming book covering the history and beauty of decorative drink ware, contact her at ltgary@sbcglobal.net.

NOTE: Although we didn't cover this during the interview, along with Leiana's other gifts, she transforms magnets into brooches.

While wearing her mother's favorite brooch that was lost forever because the clasp opened, Leiana decided that would never happen again. Having created refrigerator magnets in the past, she began adapting brooches that would adhere to clothing without pins using magnets instead. Ladies of Attraction was born in 2009.

Website: www.ladiesofattraction.com

Website: www.cottagegroveplanters.org

Email: ltgary@sbcglobal.net