I wanted to do a quick update about the Rain Park. It’s been an amazing year for the project. We have built a huge group of volunteers and contributors. We saw it spring to life. As summer faded, we doubled our efforts to prepare for next year. Public projects like the Rain Park want to be a catalysis for new connections between people and nature. They foster real dialogue between different perspectives as well as help us relax. We are only at the beginning, and the future looks bright.
With it being November, the Rain Park has had its first birthday in South Orange. And to date, we have had between 30 and 40 volunteers involved with seeding, weeding and planting the garden. We added nearly 300 new plants and around 10 lbs of seed. Plus we have plans for more plants for next April and May. By the end of year two, the Rain Park will be home to over a thousand native flowers and grasses.
The image above shows some of the seed we dropped in late summer already sprouting. All of the green leaves in the photo are baby Lupinus perennis, commonly known as Lupine. They kinda look like wolf paws hence the name Lupi (Latin for Wolf). There are lots of varieties of L. perennis, but we choose the more native species. They bloom purple with teardrop-shaped petals. The flower is paramount for a very rare butterfly called Karner blue. The butterfly is only present in a few areas of New Jersey. With our effort to cultivate L. perennis in South Orange, we might be able to add one more place they exist. Along with being ecologically valuable for rare insects, the flower is also a big draw for hummingbirds, bees and other winged creatures.
Getting Your Hands Dirty
With so much activity in the Rain Park, the existing grasses have been matted down a bit. This is primarily due to the grasses going dormant and people getting into the garden on their hands and knees to dig holes for new plants.
With so much activity in the Rain Park, the existing grasses have been matted down a bit. This is primarily due to the grasses going dormant and people getting into the garden on their hands and knees to dig holes for new plants.
Cycle of Life
Below you see an image of Echinacea purpurea ‘PowWow White’. This is only one of about a dozen coneflowers we planted. This photo shows the entire life cycle of it. Some of the blooms have gone completely dormant while others are slowly fading into dormancy, and yet others are trying to bloom. These flowers will, hopefully, come back next year. With the mild weather in September and October and the rain, the roots should have had plenty of time to develop and survive whatever winter throws as us.
Below you see an image of Echinacea purpurea ‘PowWow White’. This is only one of about a dozen coneflowers we planted. This photo shows the entire life cycle of it. Some of the blooms have gone completely dormant while others are slowly fading into dormancy, and yet others are trying to bloom. These flowers will, hopefully, come back next year. With the mild weather in September and October and the rain, the roots should have had plenty of time to develop and survive whatever winter throws as us.
Echinacea purpurea ‘PowWow White’
More and More
I can’t say enough about the volunteers that have helped during our inaugural year. There is so much discussion these days about the need for a public square to voice personal or political views. I couldn’t agree more with the need of rich, public interaction. However, I hear almost nothing about the need for places of respite where mutual interaction is directed for a common goal. It’s clear that South Orange and surrounding towns need more of both. The Rain Park has really offered itself as a way to get to respite. The new connections made with people of different ages and backgrounds while working in the park have been enlivening. The conversations I’ve had during our planting sessions haven’t been deep or necessarily nationally important, but they have been a break from more heady topics in the headlines. Parks are only as good as the people that support them. We have had tons of support and it is I’m extremely thankful. Though we are not solving the problems of a nation, we are making it a little more sustainable and a little more attractive. I look forward to more times of just being among others that love the outdoors as we make the Rain Park outstanding.
I can’t say enough about the volunteers that have helped during our inaugural year. There is so much discussion these days about the need for a public square to voice personal or political views. I couldn’t agree more with the need of rich, public interaction. However, I hear almost nothing about the need for places of respite where mutual interaction is directed for a common goal. It’s clear that South Orange and surrounding towns need more of both. The Rain Park has really offered itself as a way to get to respite. The new connections made with people of different ages and backgrounds while working in the park have been enlivening. The conversations I’ve had during our planting sessions haven’t been deep or necessarily nationally important, but they have been a break from more heady topics in the headlines. Parks are only as good as the people that support them. We have had tons of support and it is I’m extremely thankful. Though we are not solving the problems of a nation, we are making it a little more sustainable and a little more attractive. I look forward to more times of just being among others that love the outdoors as we make the Rain Park outstanding.
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