Neighborhood Garden Projects – Tuscany Canterbury

Linkwood Rd Bridge Garden 2017

Originally the entrance to Wyman Park was a barren, weedy area that mostly acted as a ramp for skateboarders and bikes. TCNA in conjunction with Jonna Lazarus designed and installed a new garden with large boulders and native plants to enhance the entrance.

Pedestrian footbridge that connects the 4.5 mile upper and lower Stony Run Walking Path through Tuscany-Canterbury

June 2022 Linkwood Rd Bridge

The Linkwood Rd Garden now provides a welcoming access for Wyman Park. Skateboarders and bikers are redirected to the paved ramp. The picture shows Black eyed Susans in full bloom.

Tuscany Oval Garden

As part of weeding/mulching, we decided to intensify our efforts to rid the Tuscany Garden of the large crabgrass infestation: I’m sure you have seen the successive sets of landscape fabric over the southern face of that garden. At the same time we were contacted by Charles Brenton who was volunteering his time and expertise to us to improve the garden. So in consultation with Charles Brenton, we have come up with a multi-season plan to improve that garden. We hope to add new native perennial plants such as giant onion, hydrangea, bluestar, sideoats gramma and coneflowers. We are also aiming to relocate some of the plants that are there now. In the end, we intend that the garden will need no additional watering, other than the natural rainfall. We hope to do some of the planting this fall, and then work on the crabgrass area next spring: giving us a full year to hopefully kill all the crabgrass. Obviously, we will need water to get these gardens installed and underway, but we hope that will take less than one season. We are extremely fortunate that an adjacent homeowner is willing for us to share their garden hose. We could not install these garden improvements without their generosity, and I wish to thank them publicly. (John and Kirsten Held).

Garden Renovation Tuscany-Ridgemede Island 2013

by Sharyn Frederick, TCNA Member

Every time I walk or drive past the triangular traf-
fic island planting bed at the intersection of Tuscany and Ridgemede Roads, I swell with pride. Many great neighbors pitched in to make its renovation a shining example of civic pride. Do you remember what it used to look like?

The problem: Neighbors immediate to and just passing through this location were tired of looking at the island infested with weed grass and English Ivy. Wouldn’t it be nice to come home to a welcoming flowerbed instead of a weedy mess?

The plan: The TCNA Garden Committee started by hiring me, a professional landscape designer, to plan what this approximately 600-square-foot garden could be. I studied the soil and light conditions, the extent of the weed problem, and which good plants in the bed could be salvaged
for a low-maintenance, colorful garden. My biggest thrill was finding about ten nice-size boulders hidden inside the weeds. The next step was to go shopping, with the budget in mind, for appropriate perennials and shrubs.

My hero was Eugene O’Dunne, who drove through several counties with me while I selected plants from three different nurseries. He also provided total demolition, trash collection, and disposal. He brought garbage cans and tarps and, to my delight, a pry bar with which we moved the boulders to a more visible spot in the front of the plant-
ing bed. After delivering all the plants, he purchased the enriched topsoil and the shredded hardwood, ennabling us to finish the job on time.

Next, the Garden Committee put out an all-points email bulletin requesting specific perennial donations. Thanks
to the following folks who donated great plants: Jean Van Buskirk—bleeding heart; Sue Talbott—daisies; Sally Robinson—large hellebores, gorgeous Epimedium, and bugle- weed; John Rabb—two containers of good compost; Jane Pilliod—Saint-John’s-wort; and Sharyn Frederick—Ger- man Iris bunches, Poet’s Laurel, and perennial coralbells.

The solution: At 8 o’clock on Saturday, October 13, Kenna Forsyth, Eugene O’Dunne, Jo-Ann Orlinsky, AJ O’Brien, and Jane Pilliod pitched in with time, tools, and muscle power. AJ brought orange cones, gloves, and other helpful tools. I brought recycling cans, first aid kit, tools, and lots of plants. Everybody maintained a determined spirit to get it done in one day. Without the hired help of Alex Proc- tor and Daniel O’Brien, we never would have met this deadline. Alex and Daniel are no strangers to the physical demands and creative decision-making necessary to carve out an inspired garden. Plus, they were a joy to spend the day with.

The final step was proper watering. A special subcommittee of waterers formed to immediately address this need. John Held provided a hose extension with a 50-foot hose and hose holder in the corner of his front yard close to the planting bed. Were this water access and watering committee not available, all our hard work could be destroyed by August.

If you would like to be a part of the watering committee to help this garden get properly established, please contact Kenna Forsyth at kjforsyth@verizon.net or 410-467-4891 to volunteer. Weeding volunteers are also welcome.

39th Street Garden

A large bed of native sedge plugs was planted in the 39^th Street Garden this Spring. Again with the expert guidance and design from Charles Brenton we installed a broad band of these plants for two purposes: to add depth to garden; and to fill in what had become a pretty deep erosion channel along the interior sidewalk. We are water-challenged at this location; so we hope/expect the new sedges to survive this first season and get established.

The erosion channel was also eroding the roots of the large tree that shades that garden. BTW, Fred Chalfant assisted by Will Snyder trimmed the tree so that more light would enter the garden. We are also keeping watch over the storm drain that gets stopped up and overflows water toward that garden: emptying it as often as we see that it has been filled up. Grateful kudos go Alison Moliterno who championed and organized the staging and installation of the project along with TCNA Board member Patricia Hawthorne and Will Snyder, for installing the garden and for Mary Loker’s (another TCNA member) watchfulness over the storm drain. And of course, a huge thank you to Charles Brenton for his steadfast patience and guidance and expertise.

Regarding the Elbow garden in Ridgemede: on March 2, 2022 we sent in a 311 request to the city to have the mostly dead tree in the that island garden assessed by the city. It needs significant trimming, or most likely, total removal. We are still waiting.

As we close out this fiscal year we have already done more weeding in all of the 4 gardens and hope to add some mulch to the 39^th St. garden and the Stony Run Garden. We also hope to find a relatively crabgrass free Tuscany Oval early next spring so that we can get the new plants installed bright and early, to beat out the crabgrass next spring.