Oh Natural!

From the corner of Balmoral and Central Avenue, turn west past Robins's and the car wash place. A little farther along, on the right side is the Central Natural Enviromental Garden, a nice place to stop and walk about or sit for a while. A picnic table provides one of the few places to eat a picnic in the inter-city area. There is a small parking area at the back.

A set of wild flower gardens unfurl under the willows, spruces, pines and two lovely small gold tamaracks. Even in the late fall, there is lots of interest as the natural plants hold out their seeds and the birds arrive.

Evening primrose, prairie sunflower, pearly everlasting, golden rod, dame's rocket, brown eyed susan, anise hysop, mullein, hawk weed (also called devil's paint brush), pinks, flax and other wild flowers are identified by well-made signs. This is a good place to check out the looks of the wild plants that you might want to use in your own garden.

I was interested to see a pile of wood chips at the back of the garden and note the use of wood chips between the groups of plants. Wood chips make a great weed repelling mulch, much more attractive and enviromentally friendly than plastic or weed barrier cloth. Also I some of the paths are just made of mown grass, a very nice way to create a path in a heavily planted garden.