We Have Only Just Begun...
Naturally Kiawah Demonstration Garden at Night Heron Park
“Why try to explain miricles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden.”
It seems like only yesterday that we dedicated the
Naturally Kiawah Demonstration Garden in Night Heron Park.
Groundbreaking was held on Earth Day in April of 2013 and
dedication was in October of the same year. However planning
for the Garden had commenced years before it became a
reality. Trident Technical College landscape students and their
professor Tony Bertauski along with Bill Maneri, landscape
architect and Island resident, assisted Kiawah Conservancy
staff and volunteers and representatives from the Kiawah
Island Golf Resort with the creation of the Garden, offering
support every step of the way. They made the dream of a
place where native plants would thrive in conditions found
on Kiawah a reality. Today the Garden is a colorful, thriving,
vibrant place teeming with butterflies, home to a variety of
small birds and a refuge for many types of wildlife.
In the Garden visitors will find a variety of plants
that work together to create a structure that builds cover and
nesting places for songbirds and hummingbirds. Property
owners can find in the Garden living examples of plants they
can layer in their own yards to provide habitat for as many
species as possible. There, too, are varieties of plants native to
the area that will thrive in the variable weather of our barrier
island. Along the Garden’s numerous pathways are benches
for resting to enjoy the view or read a good book.
The Garden has proved to be such a popular spot that
after only a year of development it is already being expanded.
Planting is underway for the second phase of this special place.
Several naming opportunities within the Garden are available
for donors, and volunteers to assist with its maintenance are
always welcome. Contact the Kiawah Conservancy office at
843-768-2029 or [email protected] for more
information. n
19
Robert Brault