Heritage Place Park in downtown Ashcroft is one of those little gems that local citizens may just take for granted.
Conceived 14 years ago, Heritage Place Park was created using a Millennium grant and a lot of volunteer labour. Over the years, much of the materials that were used in the establishment of the park have rotted or required replacing and many of the plants have become overgrown.
Enter Ashcroft Communities in Bloom. Recognizing the value of the park not only to local citizens, but also to people visiting our Village, the Communities in Bloom group has made the refurbishment of the park their number one priority for the past eight years. Piece by piece and area by area, the park is slowly being transformed into a low maintenance, low water use and esthetically pleasing park that we can all be proud of.
Partnering with the Village of Ashcroft, Communities in Bloom presents their ideas and plans and works with the Village to bring the plans to fruition. The latest facelift involved the total makeover of one of the larger areas of the park. Any original plants that had been planted in this bed had been totally overtaken with grass resulting in an unsightly area.
The entire area was stripped of all overgrown grass, large rocks that had originally been placed were removed and the area was prepped for the new plans. New shrubs and plants were arranged with complimentary rock features, site specific irrigation was installed (for water conservation) and landscape fabric was laid. Finally, desert shale was spread as an overlay giving the entire area a desert-like look that fits right in with our semi -arid climate.
A big thank you to the Village maintenance workers whose diligence, hard work and cooperation ensured the project was a success. As each area of the park is upgraded, the maintenance man hours required to care for it is reduced and the water usage decreases.
Take a walk through Heritage Place Park when you are downtown next and enjoy the little gem that it is.
Andrea Walker