On April 22, 2010 the staff of Total Landscape Care magazine organized a project to benefit Tuscaloosa Parks and Recreation Authority (PARA), and The Miracle League of Tuscaloosa which are constructing a Field of Dreams, a synthetic surface baseball field for children with physical challenges at Sokol Park north in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Total Landscape Care is a member of PLANET (Professional Landcare Network) an organization that encourages its members to complete a community beautification project each year as part of their Annual Day of Service held on Earth Day, April 22. This year, the magazine staff landscaped six parking islands that serve as the entrance to the Miracle League Field by planting drought-tolerant trees, shrubs and perennials. Proscape of Tuscaloosa donated and planted two large ‘Summer Red.’ maple trees and also donated several boulders and placed them with a skid steer.
“It was a pleasure donating our time and materials to help out the Miracle League of Tuscaloosa,” said Austin Marcum, owner of Proscape. “The trees, shrubbery, and boulders turned out nicely. I’m just glad everything worked out for us to lend a hand. It would be great to see people in our industry take advantage of the opportunities that are out there and give back to our communities.”
In addition to Proscape, several other area nurseries also donated plants or sold them at cost for the project. Jay Strickland, Director of Park Planning, Development and Operations for PARA, provided additional plants to complete the project. Drought-tolerant plants included Knock Out roses, miscanthus grass, dwarf pennisetum grass, daylilies, Russian sage, and ‘Natchez’ crape myrtles.
“On behalf of PARA, I would like to thank the members of Total Landscape Care for the wonderful landscaping they designed and planted in honor of Earth Day at our Sokol North Complex,” Strickland said. “Partnering with local landscape suppliers, such as ProScape and others, the magazine group secured great donations of plant materials, pine straw, and decorative rocks. This energetic collaboration yielded a serene setting to a once desolate parking lot which will be enjoyed by thousands of park patrons for years to come. This project certainly should be a source pride for the magazine as well as the PLANET organization. Once again, I would like thank Team Total Landscape Care and those local landscape suppliers for making a portion of our park beautiful for Earth Day 2010.
The staff of Total Landscape Care would like to thank all of our generous benefactors who contributed labor and supplies for our PLANET Day of Service event:
Brown’s Flowers, Cottondale, AL
Crosstie Supply, Northport, AL
The Ground Floor, Northport, AL
Ilex Farms, Northport, AL
Proscape, Tuscaloosa, AL
Publix, Tuscaloosa, AL
Tuscaloosa Parks and Recreation Authority, Tuscaloosa, AL
