What a gorgeous start to the month of May! It seems like we have waited an eternity for the trees to start leafing out! What a beautiful time of the year, full of promises and expectations! Hopefully, we go through the month of May without too many big fluctuations in temperature and other weather-related challenges. While it is hard not to be tempted to start putting annuals in the ground at the first stretch of warmer temperatures, our ELM team will adhere to the safer rule of not putting annuals in the planters until after the May long weekend, into early June. If delivery of the newsletter occurs at the start of June as planned, you will at the time of publication be enjoying the beautiful displays that Foothills will be planting. There will be different plant compositions for parks and round versus rectangular planters.
As mentioned in the May newsletter, the first weed pull day of the Naturalization Pilot Project near the Edgemont Community Centre was planned for May 29. We expect to have two additional weed pulling bees before the end of October. The city will once again provide materials and staff to help volunteers with the weed pulling process. Can you spare a few hours? Please contact our volunteer coordinators by sending an email to the following email address: [email protected].
This year, the city will limit watering in city parks to the months of June through August instead of May through September. Currently, there is no announcement of water restrictions; however, being prepared for restrictions may not hurt. Recently, at one of the big garden shows, the city of Calgary was advocating for gardeners to consider lawn and groundcover alternatives. Recommended lawn alternatives are Microclover and Fescue. While both options require only occasional mowing, there are several factors to be considered, including how quickly the plants spread, the amount of foot traffic and sun exposure. The city has eleven suggestions for drought-tolerant groundcovers, including Sedum which apparently does not need watering at all! Before making a choice, you need to consider sun exposure, foot traffic, maintenance, and rate of spread. A pilot area may be a reasonable approach as well. The city website includes a wealth of information on this topic, so below is a link to more information on the various plant alternatives, how to go about transitioning to alternative lawn and ground covers, and how to be successful! https://www.calgary.ca/water/programs/lawn-alternatives-and-groundcovers.html.
The YardSmart section of the city website has a huge amount of information about gardening in Calgary in general. Here is the link to the YardSmart pages: https://www.calgary.ca/water/programs/yardsmart.html.
Any concerns or comments about ELM, please contact us using the following email address: [email protected].
Kathleen Stewart, Rick Wierzbicki, Shari Pitka
Click here to the Edgemont Community News home page for the latest Edgemont community updates.
