Merrimack's Community Hospice House (CHH) volunteer gardeners, from left, Amy Wood, Kathie Breen, Barb Young and Jeanne Johnson took a pause on May 30 from tending the dozens of gardens and a meadow at CHH to host their third annual plant sale. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

MERRIMACK – The parking lot at St. John Neumann Parish, 708 Milford Road, was the drizzly scene of the third annual plant sale hosted May 30 by a crew of volunteer gardeners who tend to the flowers, trees, shrubs and a meadow that thrive within the green spaces abloom with color and fragrance at Community Hospice House (CHH), 210 Naticook Road in Merrimack.

“Gardeners and shoppers braved unseasonably cold, wet and windy weather for the display of beautiful native plants grown in New Hampshire,” said Barb Young, co-leader of the garden team, along with Jeanne Abramson.

Young is well versed in green thumbery as owner of The Big Little Garden in Nashua, a longtime go-to for garden design projects, perennials, annuals, wildlife habitat attractants and pollinator garden supplies.

“Proceeds from the sale go directly to the CHH garden fund to cover arborist and plant expenses and despite the rain, we far surpassed our expectations for financial support.”

The Community Hospice House, built in 2000 and operated by the nonprofit Home Health & Hospice Care, based in Merrimack, has expanded in recent years to showcase 16 comfy suites whose professionals provide tender end-of-life care for residents, mostly from southern New Hampshire communities.

The CHH gardens with new plantings, new benches, a supportive irrigation system and other enhancements have developed into a lovely enclave of respite.

The greenery tended by more than 20 volunteer gardeners includes a Tranquility Garden that features an unusual 8-foot Scotch Pine, a pinus contorta — Hindu Pan — whose topiary tends to grow into exotic globe shapes resembling bonsai.

The mindful placement of the plantings of the Tranquility Garden ensures visibility from each patient’s room and common areas, indoors and out.

A soothing walk through the adjacent Remembrance Garden is a circular stroll crowned in the center with trees, flowers topped with visiting honeybees and flowering shrubs beloved by butterflies and dragonflies.

Young notes that the gardens are entirely funded and cared for by the team of dedicated volunteers, ladies and men focused on providing beauty and solace for patients, families and staff.

Through their efforts, patient patios are continually immersed in exceptional plant palettes which bloom from early spring through fall. The varieties provide habitat and sustenance for many species of birds and local wildlife.

More information on Community Hospice House and its volunteer opportunities is available online at hhhc.org.