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Ormond Beach
Real Estate and The Florida Lifestyle

PONCE INLET - One of the town's parks is going native.

At the recommendation of the Parks, Recreation and Tree Advisory Board, council members recently voted to drop the word "botanical" from Timucuan Oaks Botanical Garden.

Traditionally, botanical gardens include non-indigenous plants and board members are promoting the use of native plants in an effort to preserve the environmentally sensitive grounds.

But, visitors expecting gardens at the park right now will have to be patient.

"It will come," said Margi Richard, development review clerk.

Along with its new name, Timucuan Oaks Garden will sport a new sign that conforms with signage at other town parks and park improvements are on the drawing board.

For now, however, the 8-acre park located in the 4500 block of S. Peninsula Drive remains largely untouched, with a couple of muddy paths cutting a swath though a dense canopy of trees, brush and ferns.

On a recent afternoon, the quiet is broken only by the incessant buzz of cicadas. A few discarded soda bottles under a sprawling oak tree are evidence of some recent visitors.

Purchased in 2004 with the assistance of the Trust for Public Land, the park was funded by a $1.8 million Florida Communities Trust grant. The park, which includes access to Halifax River through Daggett Creek, includes both wetlands and uplands and features an Indian shell mound, salt marsh, mangrove swamp and maritime hammock.

Work will begin this month on a handful of parking spots that will be located parallel to the road.

Future plans include nature trails, a playground, a wildlife viewing tower and a boardwalk with a canoe launch, Ms. Richard said.

The launch will allow paddlers to link with canoe trails at nearby Ponce Preserve, she said.

As part of the city's "Adopt a Park" program, the Lions club has proposed a Braille trail and a resident hopes to sponsor a butterfly garden. Designed as a "passive recreation" park, improvements will encourage low-impact activities that don't unduly impact the wildlife and environment, Ms. Richard said.

"I'm excited," she said. "It's a little bit different than Ponce Preserve. It's not so big. The trees in there are really amazing."

By Jeanne Willard Staff writer
Hometown News - http://www.myhometownnews.net/index.php?id=49155