Colorado Association of Lawn Care Professionals hosted our 3^rd workday at Riverside Cemetery to revive the landscape that has been drought stricken since 2002-03.  We had 29 CALCP volunteers who worked 5 hours for a total labor output of at least $5075.00 plus equipment and at least $1030 in purchased supplies and approximately $3600 in donated supplies/materials.  Master gardeners also volunteered for several hours planting the Plant Select plants in the raised demonstration beds.  The value of the Day of Service was at least $10,000.00.

 

Volunteers disrupted the soil and planted native grass seeds with fertilizer in an area of about 4 acres, felled and chopped up 6 large dead trees and used the tree trunks to mark a parking area, planted 700 Plant Select perennials in raised beds, dug and replanted irises in prepared and amended beds, planted 70 native trees and shrubs around the main administration building, and watered in the new plantings. CALCP donated 2 large water storage tanks (one on wheels) and Dan Schneider of  Nitro-Green of Longmont donated a 3^rd water storage tank so they now have capacity to store 4000 gallons of water on site to use in getting plantings established. A portable irrigation system was devised and tested. This 3^rd annual Day of Service project is part of a national project sponsored by PLANET.

 

Donations for this year’s Day of Service came from:

 Companies that brought volunteers include:

 

( Click on photos for detail)

 

 

           

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CALCP Day of Service 2010

CALCP returned to Riverside Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Denver, for our 2nd Annual Day of Service on Thursday, April 22. We removed dead trees; rototilled and fertilized a large 30’X30’ bed for planting iris bulbs; rototilled, prepared and planted 3 raised beds with Plant Select Plants as demonstration gardens; aerated, fertilized and seeded 2 acres of turf area with Buffalo and Blue Grama Grasses; and planted about 100 trees and shrubs donated from Rocky Mountain Native Plants. 32 volunteers worked in the rain, the snow, the sunshine and cloudy weather to accomplish all of the tasks.

Donors included: Buffalo grass and Blue Grama grass from Arkansas Valley Seed Solutions and Pawnee Butte Seeds, equipment from L.L. Johnson Distributors and Davey Tree Expert Co, Fertilizer from Agrium Advanced Technologies, John Deere Landscapes and Alpha One Inc, weed spray from Helena Chemical Co, compost from Organix Supply, trees and shrubs from Rocky Mountain Native Plants, Plant Select plants from Welby Gardens, Little Valley Nursery and Ft. Collins Wholesale Nursery, a financial donation from Scotts Lawn Service, and equipment and laborers from these companies: Fertek, Inc., Davey Tree Expert Co, Green Mountain Lawn Service, Out West Weed Control, master gardeners and Heritage Foundation

( Click on photos for detail)

 

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CALCP Day of Service 2009

CALCP participated in our first Day of Service on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at the Riverside Cemetery—the oldest cemetery in Denver located at 5201 Brighton Blvd, Denver.  This cemetery had its water supply cut off during the drought of 2003 and has had no outdoor supplemental water available since then.  Their board of directors developed a plan for a sustainable landscape with the help of Ray Daugherty, instructor at Front Range Community College.  The plan called for 13 small plots of native grasses and wildflower mixes.

On the Day of Service dead trees were felled and chipped, live trees were pruned, and 13 test plots were aerated, fertilized, raked and seeded with different mixes of seed. Hand watering will get the seeds germinated and help to get the plants established.  CALCP hopes to make this a long term project with the staff at the cemetery once it is determined which mixes of seed do best in their sandy soil with no supplemental water.

The seeds for the project were donated by Arkansas Valley Seed, Sharp Brothers Seed, Western Native Seed Co, High Country Gardens, Pawnee Buttes Seed Co, and Beauty Beyond Belief.  Organic fertilizer for the whole project was donated by Alpha One, Inc. Helena Chemical Co donated week killer, while Chem Way and John Deere Landscapes donated cash to be used for the signage installed. 

Volunteers from Cyn Mar, Fertek, Inc., Green Mountain Lawn Care, Jim’s Pride Landscaping, and 3 branches of Davey Tree Expert Company donated their time and equipment.

Stay tuned for progress on the development of seeds in the test plots and the cemetery project.