We went to the Master Gardener sale with our native plant list  of ideas from various  people. We wanted to provide food and housing for bees, butterflies and beneficial insects.   Here’s what we purchased, using a generous donation:

We’ll be planting them this Tuesday, May 23 at 4 pm.  Please join us in celebrating our new additions.

Today was a busy day at the Park.

We changed the shape of the western entrance to the trail and filled in the area with wood chips.  Looks like it’s been like that forever.

We are experimenting with using vinegar on some of the weeds. We poured it on and will see what they look like on Wednesday.

Suzan Cole released beautiful butterflies that she and her ESL class hatched. She released them in our butterfly garden. She also released some lady bugs that her class nurtured.

She also picked her 4X4 garden area.

We’ll be there again at 2 – 4:30 on Wednesday, May 17.

Butterfly garden is growing. See the first purple flowers in the middle.

Chuck and I were working at Ross Lake this afternoon and saw an osprey dive into the water and come up with a fish in it’s talons.  It flew away to the north and it’s mate flew along with it.  If you stand quietly in the garden you will see so many wondrous things.

Come join us this Wednesday May  beginning at 1 until ????? as we help to beautify the garden.  Tools and gloves will be available or you can just stop by to chat and enjoy the beauty and serenity of the lake and garden.

Elinore Ave, Long Branch 07740

Ross Lake Park Garden Journal Entry

The intense rain storms of the past few years have begun to damage our lovely Ross Island.  As you can see from the pictures above,  there is a new island of leaf litter and silt being formed on the west side of the original island.  This causes the fast moving waters to rush around the new island and undercut the old island.  In the next picture, you can see a thin line of the ground and then the tree roots exposed underneath.  

Also, a large limb from a tree that we didn’t know was in bad shape fell off and is laying in the lake.

We want to save this treasure.  We must  work together with the rest of the towns on the watershed to try and slow down the water flow and siltation.  If all the neighbors on the Whale Pond Brook would work together we could make a difference.

Any volunteers to help stop flooding would be appreciated. We’re working with Rutgers Water Resources Green Infrastructure Champions across New Jersey. http://www.water.rutgers.edu

META: Stormwater is undercutting the banks of Ross Island. Read about the recent damage and find out how you can volunteer to help our watershed recovery efforts.