This newsletter is being written in late May. The ELM program is up and running and our landscaper and his crew have been doing the Spring clean-up, preparing and edging garden beds and preparing the planters for their plants.
The shrubs in the park on Edelweiss Pt have been cut down as advised by the Urban Forestry and City Parks Departments to start a rejuvenation process. The shrubs contained a lot of dead wood and many of them were so matted they were being starved of the oxygen they needed to stay healthy. The City has recommended that we let the stumps rejuvenate for 2-3 years then start shaping them. This is the process that should have been followed since they were planted. Any shrubs that do not rejuvenate will be removed and replaced as long as they do not interfere with the root systems of the spruce trees. We will plant some flowers in the front section of the shrub bed to alleviate the starkness while the new growth begins. The garden bed in front of the water feature has been enlarged slightly but due to fiberoptic cables running underground across the front of the island we could not expand it any further. The same cut-back process and pruning of all our Edgemont shrub beds will be taking place over the next few years to promote well needed rejuvenation. Pruning normally happens in early Spring or late Fall. We have been advised that the rejuvenated shrubs will be healthier, hardier and more drought resistant.
Edgemont is scheduled to receive and place the planter centrepieces by June 3, 2020. The rest of the planting is scheduled to begin by the end of the first week of June. Able will continue to follow the City’s recommendations regarding Covid-19 procedures. Because of the social distancing and the number of people that can gather, Able is unable to hire his regular large planting crew. He is only allowed to have one person per truck so the planting will be done by his regular crew only and therefore the planting process will take longer this year. This problem is affecting all ELM communities, as well as the City, so we will understand and support the crew in their efforts to do their best as quickly as possible.
The white planters located along the boulevards in front of the natural areas have been put up for sale and are being replaced with aggregate planters. The white planters dried out too quickly from the winds blowing across the open areas. The aggregate planters will retain water better and they also add continuity to our community. The Edgemont Community Association and the ELM team donated two white planters to Mother Mary Green School to support their request of wanting to start a student garden project. They also wanted to continue to follow through with the enhanced look of our community and are extremely appreciative of the donation.
We received a notice from the City that the irrigation systems and water features in all ELM communities will not be initiated this year. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions they will not have enough staff or crew to maintain the systems. They will only be irrigating and maintaining the highly important areas in Calgary. All ELM communities have also been instructed to mow their public green spaces at a 4 inch height instead of the normal 3 inch height to help protect the turf from burning easily and to help retain any moisture the turf receives. Sports fields will not be irrigated and will not receive their enhanced mowing this year but they will receive their regular one mowing per week.
Our community has a huge crop of dandelions everywhere this year. Dandelions have been removed from the noxious weed list so the City no longer treats them with any herbicide to control them. They may be more troublesome this year as we have to move our mower cutting heads up to the 4 inch height so the tops of the dandelions may get missed in the mowings. Our landscaper and the ELM team will do their best to maintain the expected standards agreed to in the City Landscape Maintenance Agreement regarding the maintenance of the public green spaces and any enhancements carried out throughout the community of Edgemont.
The Edgemont Community Centre is still closed until August 31 at the time of writing this newsletter. Messages may still be left on their voice mail.
ELM questions should be directed to [email protected]
ELM updates will also be put on the ECA web site.