Planting the future

Heritage Garden at Lower Peninsula Park ready to educate the public

MOSES LAKE — The Heritage Garden at Lower Peninsula Park, 3519 W. Peninsula Drive in Moses Lake, is beginning to come together, and now there are signs to explain to the public exactly what’s what. “The first sign has the riparian plants,” said Dinah Rouleau, conservation director for the Columbia Basin Conservation District. “Then (another) honoring the history of the site and the Moses Columbia Tribe, talking about some of their historically used plants. We have a Heritage Program sign, an Urban Water Efficiency Program sign and one about us and why we did this.” The signs are the latest phase in the Lower Peninsula Park’s Heritage Garden project, which began last October. The CBCD, with a lot of help from the city of Moses Lake and local businesses, removed the grass in a 15,0009-square-foot area of the park and replaced it with plants native to the area, interspersed with gravel beds and stone paths. The signs, designed by CBCD Communications Specialist Anna Maletzke, are affixed to stones and describe the plants in the garden, the animals and insects that live among them, and the history of the area, as well as what to do and what not to do to keep the flora and fauna thriving.