Submitted by Nigel Peck

We had a great day at New Brighton Park. Perfect weather, a wonderful group of 13 volunteers, 5 of whom were helping for the first time. Newcomers Ross and Roz worked together up on the hillock, planting native roses digging out mega-holes for the two-gallon pot sized shrubs. On the eastern slope newcomers Jacqueline, Riis and Mark did a fabulous job planting Canadian and European Golden Rod, Douglas Aster and Large Leaved Lupines which, hopefully next spring and summer, will survive to put on a real show.

Also, thanks to all the multiple day New Brighton stalwarts; Cal, Fred, Kitty, Lorna, Mike and Peter who returned yet another day to make the New Brighton planting effort a success. Finally, an absolute huge thank you to Sue, who helped with getting everything together, placing plants, planting and cleanup.

The quality of today’s planting was also great with further refinements to our techniques. We took the time to dig holes with extra depth and width, plus the addition of lots of leave debris both below and as a mulch above to give the transplants the best possible chances to flourish.

Finally, there was a lot of interest in the planting and project with several groups of people stopping to ask about the work. Riss, Mark and Jacqueline had an excellent conversation with Nour who actually emailed on returning home that he wanted to volunteer! I had similar experience with Sioux. who had been noticing our work for months and who also emailed, saying she wanted to volunteer. Fantastic!

Our next work party, dependent on snow and winter weather, of course, will be Saturday or Sunday, December 10th or 11th. It will be a Blackberry, Broom and Thistle removal party, the day to be finalized closer to the event – once we know what the weather will be.