New and improved lily pond at Proctor Park

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

They have been working on this for sometime now and the group doing the work is not allowing it to fill with water. Look at the beautiful progress. All volunteer work with out the help of the City.

[BHU]

It looks to me like it's complete. So why won't they let it fill?

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

They are letting it fill but work has to be completed around the outside for landscaping which is in progress.

[Clipper]

Are they depending on rain to fill it or do they have a source of city water to fill it and keep it up? They could put coy fish or gold fish in it to help keep it clean, but someone would probably steal them. We have a lily pond up the road. It is about 1/2 acre or more. The guy always has a sign up offering lily plants for $5. They have taken over his pond and have gotten so thick that he has to thin them every year in order for his grandkids to use their paddle boat. When they bloom they are beautiful. There is a mix of pink and yellow. No lily pond will be complete until someone dumps in a few frogs.

[clarencebunsen]

Isn't it near Starch Factory Creek? Frogs should be able to make that trip.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

The Lily Pond is slowly filling up. Although the recent downpour helped, believe it or not, this little trickle of spring water from the hill behind it will do most of the work (a little take home point: those drippy faucets at home can waste a lot of water!).
Next week, we are told to expect that the pathway will be installed along the perimeter and the new fountain will be installed. Then Beebe Construction’s exemplary work is done—and Olmsted City will need to begin the long-delayed process of weeding and manicuring the area immediately adjacent to the Lily Pond.
There will be still more developments this summer across the plateau on which the Lily Pond sits, but Phase One of this 3-phase project is almost complete! Thanks again to all our generous donors and volunteers for making this happen!!

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

Join us Saturday, June 17 at 10am for a Walking Tour of the new native plant gardens at F.T. Proctor Park.


Olmsted City, with the help of Wild Ones Mohawk Valley and other community groups, planted two native gardens last year at F.T. Proctor Park. The Peace Garden is filled with pollinator flowers, sedges and grasses, and the North Circle Woodland Garden has more than 1600 native pollinator flowers, sedges, grasses, shrubs, and trees. Many of these are native to NY, and all of them are native to our larger ecoregion, the Eastern Temperate Forests, which extends from the Canadian border south to Florida, and west to Illinois and Missouri.


Most of these native plants are hard to find in local garden centers, and so are unfamiliar to us in our home landscapes. These 2 gardens provide us an opportunity to see how these plants grow in a garden setting, what they look like, when they bloom, etc. We hope you will be inspired to grow them in your own gardens. As we walk, we will also identify some of the naturally occurring natives and invasives growing in the park.


F.T. Proctor Park is located at the intersection of Culver Ave and Rutgers St. in Utica. Park along Rutgers St near the parking lot as the parking lot is closed for construction. We will meet in the park on the main loop in front of the parking lot - you should be able to see us from the street. The tour will start promptly at 10 am!





olmstedcity.org/blog

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

Jun 20, 2023 15:48:26 GMT -5 clarencebunsen said:

Isn't it near Starch Factory Creek? Frogs should be able to make that trip.

I can see them now packing up a light lunch gathering the kids and hopping right on over for an afternoon swim as well as some fun activities like jumping off the lily leaves and who can catch the biggest fly with there tongue!!!!!!