After so many days with absolutely beautiful weather in May, we started populating our flower beds on June 1 in weather requiring toques and hot chocolate. Foothills, our landscaping company spent the first two days of June planting flowers in the flower beds, while work on the planters started on June 5. By the time you read this article in the July newsletter, the plants should be well established and full of colour and beauty! The pictures accompanying this article show a few of the parks that were just planted a few days ago. It will be exciting to see how they compare when in full bloom! Prior to planting, Foothills helped our ELM coordinator plant all the perennials donated by Edgemont residents! We will gratefully welcome your donations next year, as we have now finished the program for the remainder of 2023. Please contact our ELM coordinator at [email protected] if you would like to donate perennials in the spring of 2024!
Going back to the start of the month of May, we met with one of the City ecologists on May 1 to have a look at the steep slope next to the firehall as a potential naturalization pilot area. The City of Calgary is currently working on a plan of potential pilot naturalization projects and the ecologist will further discuss our specific scenario with the City. As mentioned in previous articles, there is quite a bit of planning and red tape associated with this type of project and the very earliest we could see anything happen would be in 2024.
On the topic of naturalization, if you are interested in planting wildflowers in your own yard, you may want to check out the YardSmart section on the City of Calgary’s website. It has a wealth of information on what trees/shrubs/plants grow well in Calgary and includes a section on wildflowers that thrive in Calgary. You can download several free guides in PDF format on trees and shrubs, plants, and native wildflowers. Below is the link: https://www.calgary.ca/water/programs/yardsmart.html.
Regarding potential tree planting for this year, responses are anticipated from the City’s Forestry Department regarding potential plans of tree placements in our community.
Tagging along at the Spring Market event on May 6, ELM hosted a perennial plant exchange. Given that April had been so cold, and many gardeners were still facing frozen or partially frozen flower beds, we were happy and impressed with the turnout of our real garden troopers! This included some very young and enthusiastic gardeners who promised to send us some pictures of how their new plants are doing! Next year, our plan is to host a perennial plant exchange later in the month of May to give our perennials a better chance to show themselves!
Any concerns or questions regarding maintenance and who should do what, City or ELM, please contact us at and we would be very happy to respond to your concerns.
Kathleen Stewart, Rick Wierzbicki, Shari Pitka
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