A brutal winter and challenging spring for Firestone Park
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FIVE YEARS IN FROM THE RESTORATION AND REPAIRS NEEDED
For those of us who do not head south during the winter months, it was a very severe and long winter, followed by a dismal and wet spring, all adding up to a considerable amount of winter damage to the plant materials in the park, as well as the proliferation of weeds, such as we have not seen in many years.
We are aware of the complaints on social media regarding the condition that has been created by the winter weather. Apparently, those who make such comments have little knowledge or understanding of what such weather conditions can cause in the life of bushes, trees, and plants. it is termed "desication." This results in creating a significant amount of dead or severely damaged stems and branches in the plants affected, which then need removed. The cool damp weather is just what the weeds thrive upon.
In response to these comments, we ask anyone who can instruct our crew in ways to improve our "dismal" performance to join us at the park and show us a more efficient and/or faster way of completing this onerous task. All suggestions will be seriously considered. Look for a red Chevy truck or a green Jeep, and workers will be nearby to respond to your questions and comments.
We have a crew of three to five workers, giving the park attention on most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I say, most, as rain precluded many days of anticipated work. The damage to many bushes in particular is monumental and makes the spring cleanup, lengthy, and more complex. It is now the the beginning of June and the work has just reached the halfway point with much more to do in order to prepare the landscape and flower beds for this planting.
VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED NOW
We are asking for volunteers to help in these early weeks of June when the flower beds need to be planted from June 8th through the end of the month. Volunteer hours are every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, weather permitting, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Volunteers can meet at the pool parking lot where the spring garden waterfall is located. Or look for the red truck or green Jeep to connect. Volunteers are asked, if they can, to bring a small hand trowel or small shovel for planting. Water will be provided. Watch social media, this newspaper and the electronic sign at the Legacy Center located right next to the main entrance of the park for more information. You may also speak to our crew when you see them in the park.
To give an understanding of how much replacement plant material is needed, a list follows below of the woody ornamentals already purchased. These will be installed by our professional crew. What we really need now are volunteer gardeners and wanna-be landscape artists to assist us in the planting of the annual flowers in the many flower beds within the park.
REPLACEMENTS FOR WOODY ORNAMENTALS
Two Chinese Dogwoods, three white Rododendron, five Pink Weigelia Sonic Bloom, five Lindera Benzoin, three Taxus Repandens, three French Hybrid Lilacs, three French hybrid lilacs, one Hemlock, one Serbian Spruce, two Hydreangea Petilolaris Vines, five Cameo Quince, six Calycanthus Floridus, five Clethera Hummingbird, six Hydreangea Bobo, five Hydreangea Quercifolia, five Cameo Quince, five Blueberry bushes, four Potentilla Jackmani, for a total of 61 replacement plants.
The Bradford and Patricia Tingle family foundation will be paying for these in our continuing effort to make the park a series of gardens as well as recreational sites. That was the plan from Harvey Firestone and his esteemed landscape architect, Alling DeForest.
An arboretum, it is indeed!
Another area needing attention and rethinking is the pool parking lot where the bioswales are located. There were work issues guiding this important project -- drainage and aesthetic appearance. Cindy Tyler, of Terra Design, saw the project as an opportunity to provide beauty as well as parking spaces. She felt it IMPORTANT that Harvey Firestone, looking out from a boulder now called Harvey's Lookout, would not want to see merely a large paved lot, but something of beauty as well.
Instead, she said the aisle dividers with their narrow beds of soil should be meadow-like as should the hillside on the south side of the lot adjacent to the Idabelle Firestone Gathering Place ........trees, bushes, and flowers. For the first several years, this seemed to work but over time the idea reached its limits as we took over and maintenance became a real challenge.
Several consultants accompanied Cindy on 20 May to the lot and met with Skip McCullough, Pat Tingle, Michela Good, and others to study the area and make suggestions for improvement. We are awaiting their ideas and plans to guide us in improving the bioswales.
Skip McCullough is also in contact with Zach Felger from the Mahoney County Soil and Water Conservation Office for additional guidance and recommendations for changes to be made. Watch future Postings for additional information for this project.
For more information on all of Firestone Park's many activities, stop by the Firestone Legacy and Visitor Center, located next to the main entrance of the park on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment on Saturday. Potential visitors to the museum building may also call 330-397-4706 with questions and comments or to schedule a visit.
Watch for the next posting with news of the Idabelle Firestone Fall Concerts and the Idabelle Firestone Fine Art Exhibition and Sale in late summer.