5 Corners @Chauncey Lane
Adopted by Hastings' Beautification Committee & Hastings Pollinator Pathway Project, with help from many volunteers
See Our List of Supporters - We Can't Thank you Enough!!
BEFORE: April & May, 2021
A tangle of mugwort, wild carrot and poison ivy. Members of the Hastings Beautification Committee and Pollinator Pathway project prepped the site (yes, we all got poison ivy!). The Village removed dead trees and replanted with four dogwood and three willow oaks.
Phase 1: June, 2021
A bevy of volunteers turned out to plant grasses and flowers.
Together we planted panicum grasses plus a border of wild geranium and other flowers. and staked to protect the tender plants.
Our Second Planting Party, July 2021
We installed the center grasses and added some native baptisia to the meadow edge. Nine volunteers planted all these plugs!
The Meadow Is In! Next step is to nurture the grasses so that they take over the center of the space, which includes continuing to weed out mugwort. In the fall, four of us covered the trail areas with mulch for the winter and put the garden "to bed."
June, 2022
We weeded out mugwort, wild carrot, random grasses and garlic mustard and planted another round of plugs over two sessions.
July, 2022
May, 2023
The HPP worked with the Garden Club of Irvington, Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct, and NYS Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to host a crew of volunteers on NYS' I Love My Park Day, May 6th. We expanded our planted area to the elevated edge of the Aqueduct trail, installing nine DEC bare root stems (ninebark, witch hazel and Virginia rose) plus some native flowers. A great and satisfying time was had by all! In April, the HPP conducted two weeding and planting maintenance sessions and removed the temporary fencing around the now-established garden below.
October, 2023
June, 2024
September, 2024
Maintenance Day. It's true what they say: The first year your garden sleeps, the second year it creeps and the third year it leaps! We are weeding out some mugwort and grasses here and there, but mostly our native plants are well established and thriving.
This Spot was made possible through the patient guidance and contributions of Sue Smith, chair of the Beautification Committee, Mary Gries, and Margie Lavender and Melissa Reavis, members of the Hastings Pollinator Pathway project, plus support from Mary Beth Murphy, our Village Manager, and Anthony Costantini, Village Clerk. In addition, we thank our community of supporters who contributed to planting costs. This garden would not have been possible without help from the many volunteers who pitched in to weed, plant and water the fledgling garden. We're excited to watch it grow!
February, 2021
The very first step: measuring the plot for Melissa's design on a freezing day in winter. We also keep a photo album of all our many pictures, which all are welcome to view!
