Construction of the much-anticipated children’s garden at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth is slated to get under way this month as local contractor L.P. Murray & Sons begins the exacavation and grading work needed.
In addition, the intial work will also include the removal of what James McCain, the arboretum director at the park, calls “thickets of invasive vegetation,” such as black swallow-wort and the Norway maple.
Special features planned for the new children’s garden include the Cottontail Burrow, or meadow tunnel, walking paths, a new frog pond and stream, a footbridge and boardwalk, the meadow maze and a willow tunnel and dome, which will be handbuilt.
The garden’s meadow will be seeded with native wildflowers to begin and McCain said later phases will include deliberate attempts to “gradually increase the native plant diversity.”
Linkel Construction of Topsham is serving as the general contractor for the project, which has a cost of nearly $530,000. Much of that money was raised through private donations.
The initial site work will include clearing and grubbing the entire site of unwanted vegetation, as well as some lawn areas, removing the dilapidated concrete and stone step and removing the concrete floor of what’s now known as the Council Ring.
The goal is for enough to get done this spring that visitors will be able to explore the garden “as it slowly establishes” during the next several years, according to McCain.
Most importantly, he said, volunteers will be needed after the contractors leave the site in late June or early July to help ensure the plantings become established and don’t get overcome by weeds.
“We hope local families will be interested in joining our Adopt-a-Plot program to help care for their own small piece of the garden,” McCain said.
That’s where Calie Ramisch, the volunteer coordinator for the Fort Williams Park Foundation, comes in.
This week Ramisch told the Current, “Once the gardens are complete, I will be looking for participants who are interested in adopting a plot.”
She said plots are generally 10 square feet in size and the tasks involved include “weeding, edging, pruning and mulching.” Once volunteers meet her and are assigned a plot, Ramisch said, “they can come and go as they please.”
The minimum number of visits required of volunteers is once a month, but she said that many volunteers, who have adopted plots in other parts of the park, “tend their plot on a weekly or every-other-week basis.”
She added, “We are also looking to recruit groups for larger, ongoing projects and workdays. Volunteer work days can include invasive plant removal, weeding, mulching, general garden maintenance” and more.
The Town Council first approved the plans for the children’s garden nearly two years ago, but it has taken that long to raise the necessary funds for the project.
A closer look
Anyone wishing to help tend the new children’s garden at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth should contact Calie Ramisch, volunteer coordinator for the Fort Williams Park Foundation, at calie.ramisch@fortwilliams.org. Volunteers are also needed in other areas of the park, as well.
Work on the children’s garden at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth is set to start this month.
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