Beth Langlois, chair of the beautification program, reports:
The neighborhood flower beds weathered the winter and spring very well.
- The pansies have been removed, and beds have been weeded. Thank you to Lyddan Pawlowski for help weeding the Jackson, Tate and Cedar beds.
- Bushes have been trimmed at McGee/Spring, Cedar/Spring Garden, Jackson/Spring Garden and Market/Tate (you can now see the sign.)
- We still need to trim at Carr and Tate, but the lavender and cone flowers survived winter and that bed looks so much better now!
- The elephant ears have been transplanted from Market to McGee because they were blocking the sign.
- The variegated lirope at Market has been split and transplanted to the beds on either side of the roses at Walker and Mendenhall.
- Russian sage volunteers from McGee have been transplanted to beds on either side of the roses at Walker and Mendenhall. They don’t look too happy right now, but they may perk up.
- The shade garden at Jackson has received transplanted ferns, astillbe, hosta, 0ne small hydrangea donated from my garden and one baby hosta donated by Lyddan Pawlowski.
- Black Eyed Susans donated by David and Cathy Sevier have been planted in the small bed at McGee and at the Cedar bed.
Does anyone have an opinion on the roses at Walker and Mendenhall? Are they a bit too tall? Should they be lowered a foot? Any trouble seeing when approaching the stop sign coming up Walker?
The “Patriotic bed” at Rankin and Mendenhall was “skillfully” destroyed by a “lucky car thief.” Annuals were planted last summer and fall. I had planned on putting in perennials for a more permanent bed. Lonnie and Noreena Cole have volunteered to help care for the bed.
Other volunteers would be greatly appreciated to help weed the other gateway beds.
Funding request
At the Rankin/Mendenhall bed, I purpose three red knockout roses across the back, in the middle of the bed three white gaura and seven white swan cone flowers. The front of the bed would be blue salvia. Cost: $146.38, including mulch. In the fall we would do pansies again as with the other beds.
- Mulch for beds, $99.40
- Fertilizer, $9.42
- Plants for pots at pergola, $21.35
- 14 cone flowers for the two beds at Cedar and Spring Garden, $59.78
- Total request including the cost of the Rankin bed), $336.33
- Total without the Rankin bed, $189.95
Other concerns
- Sidewalk access is becoming an issue because of overgrown bushes. Examples: behind Wafco on Spring Garden, at Jackson and Morehead, and Carr and Tate. The stop sign is obscured at Cedar and McGee, and there’s an ovegrown bush at Carr and Mendenhall. I could go on and on. When you have to walk in the road because bushes and “hell strips” are overgrown it is unsafe, looks unkept and says, “We don’t care about College Hill.” Statistics show crime goes up when yards are not kept trimmed and mowed.
- With permission I would like to touch up the black lettering at the Gateway signs at Market/Tate and Cedar/Spring Garden with flat black exterior, multi surface paint.
- If it cools off a bit, I will touch up the stain on the benches at the pergola with stain left over from last summer.
- In the near future, the grout at the gateway signs needs some attention. It has been crumbling, allowing water to get in.