The FOFP are grateful for the collaboration and support of the following people and organizations:

While this idea was intriguing, unfortunately, wildflower mixes are only native to the country usually, not the region. While they would provide immediate gratification, the Friends of Fonticello Park would rather see this done with true native plants from our local ecosystems. We want to make this an educational space in the park, where community members can come to learn about local ecosystem plants, how they support wildlife and native pollinators, increase soil health, and contribute to cleaner waterways. Our hope is that we may even be able to support seed sharing for folks to plant in their own yard gardens.

From this meeting, Friends of Fonticello Park reached out to Ashley Moulton of Moulton Hot Natives and Bill Shanabruch of Reedy Creek Environmental for help. On September 26, volunteers from the Friends group, Ashley and Bill met in the park to devise a plan and course of action that ultimately led to the grant opportunity above.

After much consideration, the Friends decided to move the proposed location of the meadow to the area east of the tennis courts instead of where the old playground use to be to maintain a larger green space for sports and games. The area to the east of the tennis courts is sloped and often underused. Additionally, the meadow will extend across the asphalt drive by the Spring house and into the pollinator garden, which which will host the outdoor classroom space. Work for this project began in August 2023 and extends until July 2025. Follow our blog for updates on the progress.

In 2006, a group of neighbors did a little “gorilla gardening” in the park. They installed bench planters and a variety of ornamental plants on the Perry side of the park on a roundabout in the park and around the sign at the park entrance. Since that time, the pollinator garden in the park has been mowed and overgrown. The benches rotted and became a hazard.

In April 2023, the Friends of Fonticello Park began work on the Pollinator Garden. This work focused on removing invasive plant species, such as Annual Honest (Lunaria annua), English Ivy (Hedera helix), and Liriope (Liriope spicata). During the April Workday, volunteers dug up these and other invasive species, removed the benches while retaining the planters, laid cardboard to smother grasses and other weedy plants, and started lining some of the gardens to create a distinction between them and walkways. The work will continue at subsequent work days in 2023.

---

Savannah Restoration