Landscape Committee

By Mary Sapp, Chair

New Landscaping 

A few days ago, Meadows Farms removed existing sod and installed stacked-rock walls for two raised beds in Triangle Park to replace grass that, despite hydroseeding, has never thrived there due to the shade. They also added new topsoil in the beds since the existing soil is not good, and then they mulched the entire area. Installation of plants for the raised beds will be done in the fall when less watering will be required. A list of the plants to be used (with photos) appears at the bottom of this article. 

 
 Meadows Farms also installed a rock wall between 1930 and 1932 Lakeport Way, where shrubs and perennials will be added in the fall to beautify that area and block the view from the sidewalk of the transformer, and boulders and shrubs behind 1954 Lakeport Way to reduce runoff of silt and leaves into the rain garden. 

Chevy Chase Land Company graciously planted six needlepoint hollies at their expense beside the road behind Safeway to block access from that road to Lakeport property. Volunteers bought and put down mulch and watered.

Blade Runners installed 32 natives between 1952 and 1954 Lakeport Way at no charge to replace plants they removed by mistake last year. Volunteers are watering.

Volunteer Projects

Based on a tip from an owner, we discovered that some crepe myrtles in Lakeport have been infected with crepe myrtle scale. Landscape Committee members measured and treated the eight crepe myrtles on HOA property. More information, including how owners can treat their own crepe myrtles, is available in the article titled “WARNING – Crepe Myrtle Bark Scale Infecting Lakeport.”

Poison ivy was found on HOA property along the Sunrise Valley sidewalk to the west of Lakeport’s entrance, growing up and around three trees where the RA path starts down to the pool, and behind the back fences of homes at 11118 and 11120 Lakespray Way. These areas were sprayed using horticulture-grade vinegar (six times stronger than vinegar from the grocery store), salt, and dish soap, a treatment that is more environmentally safe than Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. The photos show it was effective, but it will require more applications.
 
As part of I Love Lakeport Day, 21 volunteers collected a large pile of debris from over a dozen dead trees (most cut by Rich Shelton) and other branches and removed pokeweed, invasive mahonia, briars, and unwanted grasses from the hill next to the RA path to the pool, the conservation landscaping area, and the woods behind homes. 

 Members of the Landscape Committee did follow-up weeding next to the RA path to the pool to remove weeds that were choking out the seven natives planted there last fall by Blade Runners as replacements for plants they removed. The area was then mulched using mulch from the stump grinding on the Lakespray hill. The solid green on the left of the photo to the right is what the mulched area looked like before we opened up the seven shrubs planted by Blade Runners at their expense. 

New plants for Triangle Park 
All of the new plants prefer part shade, or for some, full shade, and all are natives, which makes them more disease/pest resistant and attracts butterflies, bees, and birds.