It’s
Showtime for Hawkwood’s LEAF Program Flowers!
Our
flowers are making their appearance for another year full of colour and
vibrancy, all thanks to our LEAF Program.
Was
that a crazy spring – caught in the middle of the fight between winter and summer?
Actually…, for Calgary, that was pretty normal! As for Hawkwood, our elevation
plays a significant role. While Calgary weather forecasts typically do not
include the snow level, or the elevation above which snow accumulation is
expected, this phenomenon does affect in Hawkwood as it does in our back-yard
mountains to the west. Our elevation, amongst the highest in Calgary, results
in cooler evenings, higher snow accumulation, and longer frost seasons.
We
certainly got our money’s worth from our winter displays; the centre portions
remained frozen into the pots well into May. Another telltale sign of our
microclimate here happens when the annual Lilac Festival is celebrated – often before
we see any of our lilacs even leaf out!
We need
to be careful when we plant our delicate flowers too to ensure no more killing
frosts will occur, even if that means delaying our flowers well into June. Our ability
to re-plant flowers compared to the numbers that Hawkwood enjoys is not really
possible, but our LEAF program is in good hands with Pixie Gardens ready to
take care of everything.
Flower
selection is a lot more than colour and texture choices. Through experience,
selections are made based on our dry air, high altitude, cool nights, hot days,
aphids, and the ability to bounce back from our inevitable hail and wind. No summer
season has ever been the same, so we look forward to this summer’s journey.
I have
received some very good feedback for small, localized improvements and will be
addressing those in a timely manner. Thank you for submitting them! If you see
anything that needs attention, please send me a note to [email protected]. A
wonderful element of the ELM Program is the ability to address issues rapidly.
Another
hot topic this time of year are our dandelions. They will occur and they are no
longer considered a noxious or restricted weed under the Alberta Weed Control
Act. As such, chemical control of them is not an option. The LEAF Program
addresses these with weekly community mowing to give turf a healthy advantage
over dandelions, but please understand that this will not prevent them.
One LEAF
Program element that will be missing this year is irrigation in our five
eligible parks. The anticipated stage two water restrictions throughout the
summer reduces the value received due to the required maintenance on these
systems regardless of the amount of water delivered. For reference, these parks
are:
·
The park linking Hawkdale Bay and Hawkdale
Place
·
The west end of Hawkdale Gate
·
The upper park linking Hawkmount Heights
and Hawkstone Close
·
The park linking Hawktree Green and
Hawktree Circle
·
Within Hawkmount Green
The
financial savings will be used to correct some deferred LEAF infrastructure repairs
that require some attention.
Enjoy Hawkwood’s
outdoors with the floral scents of flowering trees, morning dew, and budding
spruce trees, and the return of the soothing sounds of our trembling aspens and
delightful Robins singing at dawn and dusk!
LEAF
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