Explore Lincoln for those hidden garden spots
If you’re looking for a pleasant walk on a summer morning or evening, you couldn’t make a better choice than the neighborhood around South 27th Street and Sheridan Boulevard.
As you explore the area, with its fine older homes and tree-lined streets, you’re bound to walk along either Stratford Avenue or Rathbone Road.
At the junction of those two residential streets, you’ll discover a lovely little park. Called David’s Park, it’s a haven of trees, bushes, flowers for all seasons and quiet benches for contemplating, enjoying the breeze and listening to the birds.
The park is a gift to the city from an anonymous donor in memory of her son who died in a car accident. The donor pays for the upkeep of the tiny park, which has an annual panoply of color: spring daffodils and irises, creeping phlox, alliums, summer daylilies, and ornamental grasses and asters in late summer and fall.
It’s one of many garden spots, sometimes called pocket parks, sprinkled throughout the Capital City.
Another parklet, with a totally different character, is a favorite lunchtime hangout for downtown workers. It’s the Government Square Park on the northwest corner of 10th and O streets.
It’s a little formal garden with a fountain in the middle, flanked by brick walkways and shaded benches. Stone-carved motifs in the enclosing wall replicate figures and leaf designs from the historic Old City Hall building to the west.
The park also has seasonally changing flowers — early spring daffodils, late spring purple irises, fountain grass plumes in late summer and asters in early fall. Oak-leafed hydrangeas pick up the oak-leaf designs in the old building and the new wall.
Here are some other garden spots around Lincoln to explore and enjoy:
-- 48th and Adams streets: Two small parks, on the northeast and northwest corners of the intersection, form a gateway to the University Place neighborhood. Trees and tall perennials form a backdrop for benches. The plantings include tall Karl Forester ornamental grass, hardy sedums and variegated yuccas.
-- Shanda Dixon Memorial: This beautiful spot is hidden away in Mahoney Park, east of 70th and Fremont streets. A few steps off the Murdock Trail, nestled in a grove of trees, are two marble benches backed by pink shrub roses. A stone marker honors Shanda Dixon, an 11-year-old girl killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1986. The inscription reads, “Life is so precious … cherish it always.”
-- 27th and South streets: On the northwest corner is a pocket park with buffalo grass, butterfly bush and sedums against a backdrop of taller shrubs and trees.
-- Kontras Park: This park across from Piedmont Shops, on Cotner Boulevard north of A Street, was created by the Kontras family, whose heritage is Greek. It has sculptures of classical heads representing the four seasons, with flower beds to match. There’s a bevy of daffodils in spring, pink Knock-out roses in summer, ornamental grasses mimicking waves of grain and asters in the fall, and an interesting display of dry perennials in winter.
-- Hazel Abel Park: This park at 18th and E streets has a French Renaissance feel, with a domed gazebo, fountain, play area and benches, all surrounded by an ornate iron fence. The park is being renovated and will have many new plantings next year.
-- Bea Richmond Park: This tiny park (only one-tenth of an acre) is a shaded spot of greenery at the busy intersection of 27th and Holdrege streets. Norway maple and prairie fire crabapple trees overhang benches, and planter boxes have a variety of low-maintenance plants.
Reach Bob Reeves at 473-7212 or breeves@journalstar.com.
As you explore the area, with its fine older homes and tree-lined streets, you’re bound to walk along either Stratford Avenue or Rathbone Road.
At the junction of those two residential streets, you’ll discover a lovely little park. Called David’s Park, it’s a haven of trees, bushes, flowers for all seasons and quiet benches for contemplating, enjoying the breeze and listening to the birds.
The park is a gift to the city from an anonymous donor in memory of her son who died in a car accident. The donor pays for the upkeep of the tiny park, which has an annual panoply of color: spring daffodils and irises, creeping phlox, alliums, summer daylilies, and ornamental grasses and asters in late summer and fall.
It’s one of many garden spots, sometimes called pocket parks, sprinkled throughout the Capital City.
Another parklet, with a totally different character, is a favorite lunchtime hangout for downtown workers. It’s the Government Square Park on the northwest corner of 10th and O streets.
It’s a little formal garden with a fountain in the middle, flanked by brick walkways and shaded benches. Stone-carved motifs in the enclosing wall replicate figures and leaf designs from the historic Old City Hall building to the west.
The park also has seasonally changing flowers — early spring daffodils, late spring purple irises, fountain grass plumes in late summer and asters in early fall. Oak-leafed hydrangeas pick up the oak-leaf designs in the old building and the new wall.
Here are some other garden spots around Lincoln to explore and enjoy:
-- 48th and Adams streets: Two small parks, on the northeast and northwest corners of the intersection, form a gateway to the University Place neighborhood. Trees and tall perennials form a backdrop for benches. The plantings include tall Karl Forester ornamental grass, hardy sedums and variegated yuccas.
-- Shanda Dixon Memorial: This beautiful spot is hidden away in Mahoney Park, east of 70th and Fremont streets. A few steps off the Murdock Trail, nestled in a grove of trees, are two marble benches backed by pink shrub roses. A stone marker honors Shanda Dixon, an 11-year-old girl killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1986. The inscription reads, “Life is so precious … cherish it always.”
-- 27th and South streets: On the northwest corner is a pocket park with buffalo grass, butterfly bush and sedums against a backdrop of taller shrubs and trees.
-- Kontras Park: This park across from Piedmont Shops, on Cotner Boulevard north of A Street, was created by the Kontras family, whose heritage is Greek. It has sculptures of classical heads representing the four seasons, with flower beds to match. There’s a bevy of daffodils in spring, pink Knock-out roses in summer, ornamental grasses mimicking waves of grain and asters in the fall, and an interesting display of dry perennials in winter.
-- Hazel Abel Park: This park at 18th and E streets has a French Renaissance feel, with a domed gazebo, fountain, play area and benches, all surrounded by an ornate iron fence. The park is being renovated and will have many new plantings next year.
-- Bea Richmond Park: This tiny park (only one-tenth of an acre) is a shaded spot of greenery at the busy intersection of 27th and Holdrege streets. Norway maple and prairie fire crabapple trees overhang benches, and planter boxes have a variety of low-maintenance plants.
Reach Bob Reeves at 473-7212 or breeves@journalstar.com.
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