BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
Main Street in Lake Butler is looking brighter and more vibrant these days, thanks to the joint efforts of the City of Lake Butler and the Lake Butler Woman’s Club, which worked together to rehabilitate the landscaping islands placed at the curbs in several locations on the city’s main thoroughfare.
City Manager Kimberly Hayes contacted Woman’s Club member Monica Bayer about a project conceived last year to rework the planting areas to improve the appearance of the downtown area.
The Woman’s Club set aside funds to help pay for the project, but with the many issues faced by the city last year, the project was put on hold.
Last month, Bayer and Hayes made it active again, with Bayer securing professional design and plant selection services, which were donated by Greenhouse Nursery/Conceptual Landscape Design of Gainesville.
When the islands were first created, the idea was to brighten up the area with flowering plants, some of which were not drought tolerant or ideal for the growing conditions. Most of these plants died relatively quickly, and travelers passing through the downtown area saw only weeds and dead plant matter.
The new design focused on plants with bright and attractive colored foliage as this type of plant is always attractive, not just for the short blooming time for flowering plants.
The plants selected were Sunshine Ligustrum (yellow), Cerise Charm Lorapetalum (purple), and Lomandra Breeze Grass (green).
In total, 84 plants were placed in seven islands. Local individuals and businesses sponsored islands to pay the difference between the funds the Woman’s Club provided and the actual cost for each island.
These sponsors were Jack Schenck (three islands in memory of his late wife, Ann), the Rondell and Lisa Huggins family, Free State Realty/Marco Van Peterson, the Fred Sirmones family, and Clarence and Jean Brannen.
City public works personnel did the hard part, clearing away the dead vegetation, digging out the old mulch, and planting the plants according to the design.
New Public Works Director Sam Norris was on hand to see that things got done. Bayer supervised the plantings, making sure the design was followed, and Woman’s Club President Cathryn Reagan helped wherever needed, carrying plants, helping set up the plant spacing, and whatever else needed to be done. Hayes dropped by the planting sights to see what the end result looked like and commented on the workers’ handiwork.
“This is really an improvement to the appearance of the downtown area of Lake Butler, and I really want to thank the Lake Butler Woman’s Club for helping out in so many ways to make it happen,” Hayes said.
Bayer was equally complimentary of the city’s efforts to make the project a reality.
“I cannot emphasize enough that the city’s cooperation and effort to make this project happen was wonderful,” Bayer said. “I can say only that we could not have done this without them.”
At first, there was a question about seeing that the plantings got watered regularly, but city workers came through with a plan to get it done and said they would be taking care of it.
The final touch needed to complete the project according to plan is creating and placing signs recognizing the support of the contributors mentioned above. Contributions are being accepted towards this final goal, with checks accepted at Lake Butler City Hall.
