When Hurricane Helene ripped through Western North Carolina last fall, Grovemont Park in Swannanoa was one of the many that emerged from the wreckage.
Tulip grower Marco Rozenbroek, an eight-year resident, remembers vividly how the park kept his community together after landslides, flooding and downed trees took out roads and electricity for weeks and water for months.
Six months later, Swannanoa is still picking up the pieces. Residents are navigating everything from unemployment and housing insecurity to what seems like an endless amount of debris. But in the face of all those challenges, the town has also found new ways to band together and look out for each other.
For his part, Rozenbroek is determined to bring beauty back to his hometown.
He planted thousands of donated tulips, peonies, daffodils, hyacinth and other flowers at Grovemont Park over the winter. Now 鈥� after months of storm cleanup and grey weather 鈥� they鈥檙e finally in bloom.
鈥淔lowers give hope,鈥� Rozenbroek explained, showing off a purple and white double fringed tulip in the garden bed. 鈥淲hen you plant them, you don't know what's coming. But when you see them in spring, you get happy. Planting a bulb is believing in tomorrow.鈥�
Rozenbroek, a flower aficionado and longtime tulip wholesaler, has worked in the tulip trade for decades. He actually grew up in Anna Paulowna, a small town in Northern Holland, known for its enchanting tulip fields.
鈥淭ulips are completely in my heart,鈥� Rozenbroek said. 鈥淚 know how they work. I know how they need to be treated. I know, also, what varieties I like.鈥�
Rozenbroek used his wholesale connections to convince DutchGrown, a European country, to donate tulip bulbs and other flowers to Swannanoa.
鈥淚 asked if they could donate a few boxes,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淭hey sent a lot. I think there are around 10,000 different flowers.鈥�
With the bulbs secured, he worked with his neighbors and the Swannanoa Community Council, which owns the park, to map out and plant all the bulbs. They framed the flower beds with rocks that were flung out of the nearby Swannanoa River when it flooded.
One of the flower beds frames a few dozen tulips in the shape of a heart.
鈥淚t's not perfectly professional but we're getting there and we鈥檝e done everything by ourselves, so it's kind of beautiful,鈥� he said.
Bonds forged from disaster
Recently, on a bench perched near the garden, Clare Duplace watched her 6-year old son Quinn frolic around the park. It was her first time there since Helene. Seeing the flowers, she said, was a 鈥渞eal moment for her.鈥�
鈥淟iving in Swannanoa is like living in two worlds. Every day you're seeing the devastation,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut then you come to a space like this and you see all these flowers and the rocks placed so beautifully and it makes this space feel like a coming home. It's really beautiful.鈥�
Community organizer Allen Dye, who helped run the mutual aid site at Grovemont, credits the flowers 鈥� and other homegrown efforts, including the newly formed 鈥� as a product of all the connections that were forged during the dark days after Helene.
For weeks after the storm, hundreds gathered at the park to share hot meals, exchange supplies and organize wellness checks. Many residents joined search and rescue missions for people who were stuck in their homes, Dye recalled.
鈥淭here's just an amazing feeling of helping people out that we experienced every day for a month and it forged some bonds between a group of people that are still strong,鈥� he said.
Echoes of that experience will shape the town鈥檚 future, Dye believes.
The flowers, as he sees it, are 鈥渁 first step towards what we hope will be a really exciting beautification.鈥�
鈥淚 hope to be talking with you in another couple of years,鈥� he said in a recent interview with BPR, 鈥渁bout all the amazing things that have happened in the wake of this storm.鈥�
