PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY AND THYME: THANK YOU FOR KEEPING THE LIONBRIDGE GARDEN!
The green space on the 4th floor in Astrum is all your doing: a teamwork activity, a Botanic lesson and an opportunity to get away from the desk and soak up the sun. Thank you for your work over the past few months!
A green lung for the Warsaw Astrum office, the Lionbridge garden, first grew in the mind of Joanna Zaręba, otherwise known to you as the Lead in one of the engineering teams, former Crew Representative for many terms, and the Corporate Social Responsibility Animals Section Animator. Before joining Lionbridge, Joanna used to teach biology in junior high school.
Plants have always surrounded me and I know how big a role they play in the ecosystem. So why not plant some of this energy into the Warsaw office?
Joanna convinced our Site Leader Marek Szul to join the project. It wasn’t difficult: Marek himself is environmentally conscious and an avid amateur beekeeper (more info on Lionbridge’s bee friendship soon!). Not only did the Site Leader grant the budget for gardening tools, soil and seeds, Marek could also frequently be seen rolling up his managerial sleeves and shoveling, watering or pruning. He also had a say in choosing the plants.
Phacelia, the blue-flowered borage, and the globe thistle with its spherical head are well-known to attract bees and other insects that pollenate – Marek says.
The collection was completed with the sweet pea, sunflowers, chrysanthemums and herbal selection: sage, thyme, rosemary, lavender, mint, and basil. Many Lions contributed their flowers and helped to plant and tend them.
Preparations began with turning the empty balcony spaces on the 4th floor into flowerbeds with the layers of soil and gravel in April, as the spring came. In the warm months, weeds sprung up as happily as the actual flowers. Luckily, a team of volunteers from across the office and the career ladder stepped in to wage a war against the pests. Now, as the summer begins to fade, the three gardening spots are home to about 20 species of flowers, herbs and bushes, as well as many flying creatures such as bees and bumblebees.
The garden gave us a possibility to stand up from the desk and do something for our immediate environment, creating a beautiful spot in result!” – rejoices Zaręba. When asked why Lionbridge Warsaw hasn’t simply hired someone to manage the garden, she muses: “Our efforts turned the terraces into a more familiar and friendlier place and revealed our secret gardening talents. It brought us together in a different way than production and deadlines do! Putting an effort into the terrace also encouraged the administration department to invest in the garden furniture.
Iwona Berezińska, Warsaw’s Administration and Procurement Manager, says: The new spaces are ready, so you can move the meetings and breaks to a new scenery!
Helena Marzec-Gołąb, who coordinates Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in Warsaw, congratulates Zaręba on the idea, carefully tilting the watering can over the cornflowers: “This way, we can write off our first success in integrating the staff around an environment issue! This is an excellent example that there’s more to work than just work and we can cooperate across projects and seniority levels for a broader goal.”
The gardening project is aimed to be continued for the next seasons. Everyone’s welcome to harvest the crops and enjoy fresh mint, basil or sage at the office or to take it home. Plants that can survive the winter will be carefully embedded, and Joanna is already looking forward to collecting the seeds.
We hope our gardening team grows bigger with each year as do our plants! – she says.
Special thanks to everyone who contributed to the garden with their resources and labor (in alphabetical order) : Adam Bębenek, Katarzyna Dębska, Justyna Kokar, Katarzyna Janus, Marta Rydzewska, Kamil Stawirej, Marek Szul, Jerzy Tymiński.
