The woodland garden project at Bush’s Pasture Park took another step towards reality today when volunteers cut an opening through the hedge into the new garden space. Over the next 6 weeks, the City will level the uneven ground, grade two paths, and install irrigation. Then, in mid-October, volunteers will begin planting trees, ornamental shrubs,…
The Tuesday Gardeners wasn’t the first volunteer group Anita Engberg joined when she moved to Salem in 2013. That was the Willamette Humane Society which she joined just days after moving here. It was 6 months later, in January of 2014, when she learned of the Friends of Bush Gardens through a coworker of her…
In 2005, the Oregon Legislature adopted the Dawn Redwood Tree (Metasequoia) as Oregon’s state fossil. The story of how this came to happen and how a “living fossil” came to grow in Bush’s Pasture Park is a fascinating one. Dawn Redwoods were common during the Paleocene and Eocene Epochs (beginning about 55 million years ago),…
If you follow our Facebook page, you know we spend a lot of our time mulching landscape beds and tree circles. It’s a task that is both never-ending and strangely satisfying. It’s also critically important for the long-term health of the park’s plant collection. Mulch is any loose material that covers the top of the…
Mission Street Parks Conservancy is excited to announce the kickoff of our next project in Bush’s Pasture Park! The City of Salem has authorized development of a new Woodland Garden in an unused area near the Conservatory (greenhouse) and the Bush Barn parking lot. The new garden, designed by Michael Slater and Gretchen Carnaby, will…
Donna Shepard is one of our dedicated greenhouse Tuesday Gardeners.. She’s been volunteering with our group for over 20 years, starting back in the days of the Friends of Bush Gardens. I’m always curious to know what brought someone to the Tuesday Gardener group to begin with. For Donna, it was a lecture on winter…
This week, the Tuesday Gardeners moved into the historic Orchard area of the park, which holds the majority of the Lord & Schryver flowering tree collection. The area also holds 9 landscape beds, some dating back to the early 20th Century. This week, we weeded, edged, and mulched three of the beds. Unfortunately, hot weather…
If you’ve ever asked Gary a question, chances are you know it’s not easy to get a direct answer from him. His life story is no different…circuitous, often looping back to Oregon in his first few decades. My first question to Gary got an easy answer. How long have you lived in Salem? 5 decades…
Tonkon Torp attorney Maureen McGee has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Mission Street Parks Conservancy (MSPC). MSPC helps the City of Salem preserve and celebrate the iconic public landscapes on and near Mission Street, with a current focus on Bush Pasture Park. “I’m an avid gardener and have a deep appreciation…
The arboriculture company Bartlett’s Tree Experts was in Bush’s Pasture Park on Tuesday, May 10th, on several projects to help extend the life park’s trees. One of those projects was reinvigorating the root system around an historic flowering cherry tree. Root invigoration is a well-studied treatment that uses an air spade to blow soil away…