2024 September 28 Wagar Park Native Garden

Wagar Park holds a special place in my heart. My house looks directly out to the park. When I bought this house in 2012, I looked out to a cracking cement wall that held tennis courts level. It wasn’t pretty, but at least the park was well-attended. There’s nothing spookier than an abandoned park, so at least we didn’t have that issue.

We are in the planting groove here.

After the city held meeting for feedback on improving the park, ground finally broke during the COVID19 shutdown of 2020. The improvements were delightful. Now, instead of tennis courts, we look out into a field of white clover. Many a pickup football game or a tot soccer practice are held there. The updated park has a spinning feature that makes me woozy thinking about it. There’s a little unmarked rain garden behind it with native plants. They kept most of the larger trees and planted some large hardwoods along the park perimeter. A basketball hoop is near Madison Avenue, and next to that is a mound that is an Adopt-a-Spot managed by Keep Lakewood Beautiful.

Some of the volunteers.

The list of events from Wild Ones Greater Cleveland came out earlier this month and my park was on it! Betsy Jarvis, a neighbor I came to know through the project, was taking a lead in creating a true native garden! So, one rainy Saturday, a group of Wild Ones and Keep Lakewood Beautiful volunteers got together and densely planted this plot with all kinds of beautiful native plants! I’m excited to watch it grow!

A larger view of Wagar Park.

More of the volunteer crew.