Lewes in Bloom pitches garden idea

The future of a 1-acre parcel dubbed Stango Park Extended is in the hands of Lewes Mayor and City Council. 

Lewes in Bloom, a community group that beautifies the town, has approached city officials with a plan to turn the unused space into a garden for all ages, with a children’s garden, community garden and a host of other features. 

Eric Wahl, a landscape architect with Element Design, developed the plan and walked council through the design at its Nov. 29 meeting. 

Warren Golde, president of Lewes in Bloom, said the plan would likely call for the city to pay for water and grass cutting, although it would not be asked to contribute any funds toward construction, estimated at $250,000 to $300,000.

“We’re not asking [the city] to kick in any money for the planting of this,” Golde said. “If it were just left as grass and [the city] did nothing with it, [the city] would still have to pay for grass cutting.” 

Deputy Mayor Fred Beaufait said he was concerned the day will come when Lewes in Bloom will not be able to manage the park and all of its other responsibilities. 

“I worry that you’re overextending yourselves. That’s a big demand on volunteers,” he said, noting Lewes in Bloom has several responsibilities and projects already on its plate. 

Golde said Lewes in Boom has grown from 50 volunteers to 170 in the last three years, and he does not foresee any problems with maintaining the proposed park. 

“I think you have to have confidence in our organization,” he told Beaufait. “We’ve proven ourselves, and you just have to believe in us.” 

To pay for ongoing maintenance, Golde said, the plan is to create an endowment. 

Maureen Miller, children’s librarian at Lewes Public Library, said a larger children’s learning garden and a community garden would be a great addition to Lewes. 

“If you fill it with interesting things that are hands-on, you’ll get people there all the time,” she said. 

Plan at a glance

Since developing the plan earlier this year, Wahl has twice presented his vision to the city’s parks and recreation commission, using the feedback to tweak the plan. 

His concept includes a new children's learning garden, small stage, community gathering area, labyrinth, a council ring and several smaller gardens. A community garden was added in the latest version of the conceptual plan. 

The learning and community gardens would feature raised beds, accessible to people in wheelchairs. The learning garden would feature herbs and vegetables, while the existing learning garden in the original Stango Park section would be for fruit trees and shrubs. Next to the learning garden would be a grill area for cooking demos to teach children how to cook with herbs and vegetables from the garden.

Behind the learning garden would be a stage that Wahl envisions as a place for teaching, with an outdoor blackboard and possibly a natural amphitheater.

In another section of the park, a path, envisioned as a yellow brick road, would take people through several smaller gardens, including native, pollinator, sensory, reading and fairy gardens.

Seating walls would be placed along the path so visitors can enjoy the gardens.

Wahl agreed with Golde’s estimate to make the plan a reality.

“The majority of the cost in this plan is hardscape; it’s in the irrigation,” he said. “If it does become cost prohibitive, we can always reduce some items, like the seating walls can go away or some of the hardscape could become mulch paths.”

About three-quarters of the land is owned by the city; the remaining land is the responsibility of the library.

Council is not expected to vote on the proposed design before its next regular meeting slated for Monday, Jan. 9. Find upcoming agendas at ci.lewes.de.us.