by Lorraine Cherry, Friends of West 11th Street Park

It’s hard to believe that another year has ended and a new one begun. We had some great activities and projects at the park in 2015:

• In April, West 11th Street Park was the start line and finish line of the first annual “Run the Grove” 5K race organized by our TMNA neighbors across the bayou. We were the recipient of a generous donation from the proceeds of the event to our Trail Development and Maintenance Fund.

• In June, we partnered with the Houston Parks Board to make significant improvements to the last remaining low spots on the ½-mile loop trail inside the park. As a result, the trail is now walkable every day of the year. Our project was listed as one of their top 6 capital improvement projects of the year in their 2015 Annual Report.

• A group of about a dozen enthusiastic volunteers came out to the park in November and completely re-did the butterfly/pollinator gardens at the southeast corner. Over 900 square feet of garden area had all the dead and dying plants from summer removed, after which the plot had new compost mixed in with a rototiller. We have about 20 perennial plants in the garden, and Friends vice-president Wally Ward has replanted about 60% of the area with native wildflower seeds, with more plantings to come.

• Signage on the Wireless Wilderness cell phone tour was cleaned, with some damaged signs replaced.

We are so thankful to all of our neighbors who have given their time and money to help make West 11th Street Park one of the most uniquely beautiful places in the city. If you love the park and would like to help, please visit our website at www.wirelesswilderness.net for more information.

Dateline Winter 2009: Believe it or not, enough snow fell in Houston that year to build the little snowman pictured above at the southeast corner of West 11th Street Park. A lot of Timbergrove kids got their first chance ever to see snow that year!