Keep Brevard Beautiful Recognizes City of Indian Harbour Beach and Indian Harbour Beach Garden Club with We Noticed Award
Keep Brevard Beautiful’s (KBB) South Action Team presented the “We Noticed” Beautification Award to the Indian Harbour Beach (IHB) Garden Club for their recently completed butterfly garden located at Gleason Park.
The garden club partnered with the City of IHB to install a beautiful garden that would attract pollinators and enhance the park. It was Public Works Director Todd Scaldo’s vision to create a native butterfly garden after visiting other cities with similar gardens. Director Scaldo wanted to inspire others to plant natives at home while adding extra features to an underused area of the park. After support from the council and City Manager John Coffey, Mr. Scaldo approached the IHB Garden Club.
An easy partnership was formed, and the IHB Garden Club was delighted to provide ideas, design, and labor for the project. President Linda Kuhl helped facilitate the project, but a core group of four ladies led by Suzy “Queen Bee” Hodge ensured the goal was completed efficiently and properly. The garden club will continue to maintain and improve the plantings year-round. Under a beautiful canopy of live oak trees, Florida native plants are used throughout the garden, including firebush, dune sunflower, milkweed, pentas, salvia, and porterweed. Raised flower beds provide accents for several pollinator plants. The area implements sustainable practices, using no fertilizers and minimal watering. Using trails of mulch, wooden benches, and coquina rock for the final aesthetic touches, this garden has inviting fragrances and visual cues to welcome people to appreciate nature and stay to observe it.
Planting these species reduces carbon in the atmosphere, reduces stormwater impacts, creates a cooler environment while providing habitat and food for numerous animals, and provides an easily-accessible area to get close to nature.
Attending the “We Noticed” presentation on May 15th were City of Indian Harbour Beach’s City Manager John Coffey and Public Works Director Todd Scaldo; Indian Harbour Beach Garden Club members; KBB employees; and KBB South Action Team trustees.
