We have a lovely park in our parish that's mostly renowned for its mountain bike paths. I've walked the paths and especially at this time of year, enjoyed the changing colors of the dogwoods (seen above).
Our Master Gardeners' class, which graduated this past May, decided to take on as a project one of the flower beds near the playground. We wanted to create a bed that was welcoming of the birds and butterflies. Of course, summertime is not the best time to tackle such a thing in the south so we decided to wait until the fall, normally a great time for planting here. But our fall weather this year with its record setting rainfall kept delaying the planting. In bits and pieces we did things such as painting the white rain sprinklers black, replacing the edging (thanks to the park's grounds crew for their muscle), growing cuttings from our own garden, buying plants here and there, measuring the garden, and designing the planting plan. Finally we were able to put it together this past week.
I've never "group gardened" before but found it to be delightful. Although it still took us longer than I expected, imagine doing this much work alone! Here's a couple of shots of the work in process.
When it was all over guess what we found on one of the plants? A Gulf Fritillary of course!
Back in August I took some "before" shots. Here you can see the front of it with a white crape myrtle on the left, a Savannah holly on the right, and some cosmos in the bed. The "after" shot is below it. Click on these smaller photos for more details.
If you take the first parking spot you get a different view. Here's the "before" and "after" shots. (Click on these smaller photos for more details.)
There's still a little bit more work to do (tree trimming in January, possible new plants in early spring). But the big work is done for now. A big thank you goes out to Carolyn, Virginia, Dalerie, Kathy, Warren, Steve, Jennifer, and Michael and Allen, park employees.
It's great to be part of a beautification team! We do this in my neighborhood regularly. Yesterday we planted trees, as that is pretty much the only type of planting that is advised up here at this time. That and bulbs of course.
ReplyDeleteThe park looks great!
Nice project! I do and don't like group gardening... of course it's nice to have the work shared and work toward a common goal, but I also garden as meditation and like to be in my own thoughts. And aren't dogwoods the cutest understory trees?!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great project, can't wait to see it in all it's glory!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I like to walk through the park and watch the beauty of nature. It's very interesting to watch changing of colours in this part of the year.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the Gulf Fritillary is all the thanks you'll ever need for your hard work in the park. It all looks lovely. You'll have to do a follow post so we can see the progress as everything grows and blooms.
ReplyDeleteA great improvement. This kind of project can be so rewarding. I can't wait to see how it matures. You will have to keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteNice job, Jean and friends! Next time you visit Houston, you need to come out to my corner of Katy so we can dig plants for that garden.
ReplyDeleteI'll be happy to dig plants from your garden anytime Cindy!
ReplyDeleteHow fun and a worth while project, too. I've been mulling over taking the MG classes~~gail
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely way to end a class. It must be nice to have so many working together... as you say ... hard to do with just one digging and toting... not to mention the shared joy of making a place you love more beautiful and you already are feeding the inhabitants. Lovely documentation of your group garden. Carol
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