We are thrilled to announce that Santa Paws will visit the park again this year. He will give a dog biscuit to each good dog and pose for a photo op, so bring your camera or cell phone. In the holiday spirit, all donations received at this event will go to the Pennsylvania S.P.C.A. to aid the less fortunate pups in our area.
Bridlewild Dog Walk
Bring your dog to the Beth David parking lot for a guided tour of the Bridlewild Trail. The trail can be accessed directly from there and there is plenty of parking. A member of the Bridlewild Trails Association will give us a fascinating glimpse into the history, flora and fauna found along the trail.
2014 Projects
We have three projects for 2014
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Some of our new beach sitting boulders on their first day on the job.
Beach Seating. Mission Accomplished! We acquired five locally quarried Pennsylvania bluestone boulders with nice flat tops suitable for seating at the beach area where previously the only seating was plastic chairs donated by park users. The Township installed the boulders for us on June 27, 2014, just in time for the summer season.
- Path Improvement. We have been communicating with the Township about the excessive muddiness of some areas of the path that circles the park. The Township understands the problem and has agreed to undertake improvements. They plan to use Parks & Rec funds for this. Since it was impossible to undertake the project this past winter due to the weather, the Township now plans to improve our trail sometime this summer. We will continue to monitor progress and advocate for this project.
- Wildlife and Respite Garden. In the enclosed fenced area to the left of the path as you walk to the park from the parking lot, we are creating a combination wildlife habitat, garden, and retreat for park visitors who need temporary respite from exuberant dogs. The wildlife aspect of the garden will focus on habitat for butterflies and other pollinators and beneficial insects as well as birds. Here’s a link to view the site plan, designed by Cramer Design Associates: WMC Park site plan. (Note: the current garden design is different because of some difficult and unexpected site conditions discovered while implementing the original plan.)
Most of our currently planned volunteer work days will focus on soil preparation, planting, and maintaining this garden, and we welcome one and all who want to help!
If you have ideas for additional projects, please send us an email or talk to anyone on the Steering Committee. FYI, so as not to spread ourselves too thin, we plan on starting new projects only when the current ones are done or well in hand. However we are very interested in your ideas for future projects, so please do share your ideas with us.
Dog Days of Summer #3
Our final day–bring your wallet to take advantage of all all the great stuff we’ll have for sale!
Dog Days of Summer #2
Our middle fundraiser day–come and bring your wallet! We’ll have lemonade, home made dog biscuits, and great items with our elegant Friends of WMC logo!!
Dog Days of Summer, #1
Join us for our annual three-day fundraising event — we’re selling lemonade, cookies, dog biscuits, useful Friends of West Mill Creek Park paraphernalia, and more–all to fund our events and projects. Come and don’t forget that wallet!
May/June 2015 Planting Blitz
Garden workday volunteers–L to R Wendy White, Martha Lombardo, Linda Pitt, Paula Burns, Karen Hinckley with Rocket and Lizzie
A hearty thank you to all the great garden volunteers who participated in our perennial planting blitz. During our five work days, we planted 620 (yes, six hundred and twenty!) plants and did a bit of weeding besides. Thirteen planting volunteers–Paula Burns, Michelle Detwiler, Mary Field, Joseph Garrity, Karen Hinckley, Martha Lombardo, Hazel Murphy, Melissa O’Connor, Linda Pitt, Ellen Reese, Toba Spector, Wendy White, and Ellen Briggs–donated a total of 48.5 hours to accomplish this feat.
L to R, Michelle Detwiler, Ellen Briggs, Ellen Reese and Melissa O’Connor pause for photo op in May 2015 marathon planting of 450 Blue Wood Sedge.
Chris Bushnell with newly installed garden sign
In addition, Chris Bushnell once again donated his woodworking talents to frame and install our beautiful Wildlife and Respite Garden sign, which was designed by Ellen Reese and Gary Stein. Gary also fixed the gate hardware for us so it is now a pleasure to open and shut those gates.
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- Michelle and Ellen planting wood sedge
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- Planting blue wood sedge
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- Tess and Lizzie supervise the planting
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- At the sign in table
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- Karen plants Packera
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- Wendy weeds
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- Paula pauses
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- June 2015 garden work day in progress
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- A male Ebony Jewelwing damselfly enjoying the WMC wildlife garden, June 2015
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Plant the Packera–Day 2
Packera aurea (golden groundsel)
Same as Day 1–we’ll finish up planting the golden groundsel, and do some weeding too if there’s time. Bring garden gloves, garden hat, and a trowel if you have one. Water and Kind bars will be provided. As always, come and go as you please.
Plant the Packera –Day 1
Packera aurea (golden groundsel)
We are expecting 150 Packera aurea (golden groundsel) plants this week; bring garden gloves, a garden hat, and a trowel if you have one and we’ll Plant the Packera! Water and Kind bars will be provided. As always, come and go as you please, all are welcome.
Meet the Trees
One of our Appalachian Spring dogwoods in bloom.
In February of 2014, at our first annual meeting, we announced our plan to create a wildlife garden in the park and offered the chance to dedicate a tree in honor or memory of a person or dog to the first 5 people to donate $150 to the project. The trees were planted in the fall, made it through a tough winter, and received their dedication plaques at our Meet the Trees event on Friday, June 5. Member Helene Feinberg Walker provided delicious treats for both person and dog guests and everyone had a great time.
Lee and Tessa enjoy refreshments at our Meet the Trees event
For those who couldn’t be there, we missed you! Do drop by the wildlife garden and take a look at the 5 trees and their tags:
One of our two Appalachian Spring dogwoods was donated by Hazel Murphy in memory of her sister Avis and her husband Tony; the other was donated by Jon and Janine Weller in honor of their dog Lucy.
Helene, Kent, and Abby in front of a Winter King Hawthorn dedicated to the memory of Cybil and Max, Poodle Girls
Our three Winter King hawthorns were donated by Karen Garbeil in honor of Junior (who needs no introduction); by Helene Feinberg Walker in memory of Cybil and Max, Poodle Girls; and by Jay and Marya Margolis in memory of Dollie the Collie.
True to the wildlife mission of our garden, the flowers of both varieties of trees are especially beneficial to endangered pollinators, and their fruits provide food for over 35 bird species.
