Historical Fall 2001 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Things have been getting greener around the Four Corners area of Skinker DeBaliviere thanks to the new playground. Formerly a crumbling asphalt slab, the playground at Kingsbury and DesPeres has a stretch of healthy green grass, trees, flowers, and vines. Hundreds of daylilies were planted along the alley edge of the playground, among the bollards last winter with the help of Jonathan Watt and Craig Jung of Gateway Greening. Dozens of plants from the Great Perennial Divide, sponsored by Gateway Greening, were planted in the new garden at the front of the playground. Later this spring, the St. Roch second grade Brownie Troop 3528 helped plant hundreds of tiny vinca and marigolds supplied by Operation Brightside.
The girls also planted starts of other plants that they had seeded one afternoon in an earlier Brownies’ session.
These included dianthus, vinca, and the morning glories adorning the fences.
This November, the (now Third Grade) Brownies planted over 200 tulips and crocuses at the playground, again under the guidance of the Beautification Committee The first summer of a new lawn and garden is often the most difficult as the soil is not “alive” yet, and the plants and trees are not settled in.
We lost a couple of trees that the city had planted for us but we replaced them with three fine birches donated by Jonathan Watt.
With a lot of work we have kept the sod alive for this first summer and it, along with the trees, have set their roots and completed their transplantation.
We have more work to do next year but the new playground green space at Kingsbury and Des Peres is a significant improvement to that area of the neighborhood.
Original photograph caption
Brownies plant at Four Corners playground. Photographer not credited.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, Fall 2001.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2001_09.pdf, printed page(s) 4, 6; PDF page(s) 4, 6.
