(Members of the Stittsville Goulbourn Horticultural Society were kept busy on April 9, 2022 cleaning and preparing the gardens at Lee Boltwood Park. Photo: SGHS)
The Lee Boltwood Park is a gorgeous park scattered with flourishing trees, lush grass, and plenty of potential.
Luckily, the Stittsville Goulbourn Horticultural Society (SGHS) has made the Lee Boltwood Park an ongoing project of theirs, which is expected to take three years to complete.
In order to reach the park’s full potential, the SGHS has built three gardens within the park which now need to be filled: two flat gardens and a berm.
The gardens are relatively weed-free, however, the only source of water is rain, there are no footpaths, and the plants have very little shade.
Following the beginning of this project, the neighbour association requested that the park gardens be turned into pollinator gardens, meaning the plants must be able to produce nectar and/or pollen, make a good host for butterfly and moth eggs as well as caterpillars, and provide nesting sites or materials for native bees.
Although, the first year of this project will be about establishing the structure of the gardens more than anything else.
While the two flat gardens are in relatively good condition, the berm suffers from erosion, weeds, and an abundance of Burdock/wild parsnip, making it a much bigger challenge.
Even after removing the Burdock from the garden, the leftover burrs will make planting much more difficult.
To combat this issue, the SGHS will be planting hundreds of annual Helianthus seeds in this area, as perennial plants would need to be disturbed when it comes time to remove the burdock.
The berm will also be planted with Bee Balm/wild bergamot and Moss/Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata/stolonifera), as the roots of these plants will help hold down the soil to prevent further erosion.
Then, for a truly shocking transformation, once the Burdock issue is under control, the berm will be planted with bright and beautiful splashes of yellow, red, and white, contrasting with the soft and delicate hues of pink, white, and blue plants in the flat gardens.
However, because of the magnitude of the gardens, SGHS will need upwards of a hundred Ontario native plants to fill the gardens.
In order to reach this goal, they have asked community members to reach out and donate what they can by May 8th.
The plants they are requesting are:
- Monarda (Bee Balm and Wild Bergamot)
- Black-eyed Susan
- Creeping Phlox
- Evening Primrose
- Coreopsis
- Coneflower
- Helianthus
- Heliopsis
- Yarrow
- Gaillardia
- Goldenrod
- Liatris
- Bloodroot
- Canadian Anemone
The SGHS are also accepting volunteers to nurse the native seedlings prior to planting. The planting blitz takes place on Saturday, May 21st.
Those who are interested in making a donation by the Sunday, May 8th deadline or volunteering are urged to contact the Stittsville Goulbourn Horticultural Society through their email, sghorticultural@gmail.com.