After a long period of neglect, today the Eastwood entry garden at Creekmere and Peavy came back to life. Many thanks to Sharon Holmes, Keith Marcom, Francis Shaner, and myself, Amy Martin. Planning on a two-hour garden session, the results of our labors were so exciting we kept at it for two more.

As we were toiling, the traffic was backed up as usual at the Lake Highlands traffic light. A fellow called to us through the window: “So glad to see the garden is back. Every day on the way to work I loved seeing it. Thank you for everything.”

That is indeed why we tackled this large task. The entry garden is seen by thousands every day. It’s the public face of Eastwood. Of course, it also brings us residents joy. It’s vital that it be looking fabulous.

Here are some before photos. Rosinweed, a tall rambunctious native, had been planted some years ago, but had spread by underground rhizomes and taken almost the entire garden. When the plant grows six feet tall, that’s a considerable force.

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Sharon, Keith, and Francis dug in — literally. A large tub of roots was collected, to be planted in the greenbelt at the next Eastwood Riparian session. A lovely pink yucca was saved, among other plants. Many weeds were pulled.

Next we tackled the south half of the garden flanking Creekmere. The vigorous Turk’s caps bed was about all that remained. We spread greensand, lava sand, dried molasses, fertilizer, and compost. We spaded the soil by hand (whew!) and mixed in soil supplements.

Then we planted a grand variety: Texas sage, Gregg’s salvia, bee balm, gold lantana, sundrops, Gregg’s mistflower, coneflower, white and blue mealycup sage, and more.

Finally, we spread mulch from the giant pile the park department left us, and watered the plants in.

Melissa Martinez who lives across the street from the garden has offered to be the maintenance waterer — very important with new plants until they’re established. We’ll have another major session in a week or so to tackle the other half of the entry garden.

Then it will be weeding the rest of the year. We simply must keep the dreaded hedge parsley (maker of horrid burs) and native morning glory from talking over again. Both are easy to pull when short.

And here’s another reason why we do what we do: bumblebee!

We’d love for you to join the Eastwood Garden Club (or Eastwood Diggers or Eastwood Beautifiers, we’re still debating the name) by emailing me. Once the garden is up and running, we’ll meet monthly for maintenance, and when there’s not much maintenance to do we’ll take a field trip to see other gardens.

If you can’t donate time, we urge you to donate money here. (Be sure to put in the note that it’s for gardens.) We need to purchase additional soil amendments and replacement plants for those that don’t make it through the summer. The raised garden at Whitehaven and Lake Gardens (where we had the apartment access blocked due to speeding traffic) has lost its sunlight to trees. This fall, it’ll need to be converted to a shade garden.