Students dig into Garden Day at Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens
First- and second-graders from two Palm Beach County elementary schools attended Garden Day at Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach.
A beautification project for the Royal Poinciana Way medians in Palm Beach was recently dedicated.The Garden Club of Palm Beach donated $575,000 for the project in a joint effort with the town.The project features native plants, new trees and crushed-shell pathways while preserving the iconic royal palms.The medians were completed ahead of schedule and under budget, costing a total of $737,988.
Palm Beach’s historic Main Street has a new face to greet visitors, thanks to a project that was dedicated March 5.
The Garden Club of Palm Beach gathered with the community under a brilliant blue sky to celebrate the completion of the Royal Poinciana Way medians, a project that was a joint undertaking between the club and the town.
The project included the pair of medians along Royal Poinciana Way between Bradley Place and North County Road.
A plaque in the east median notes the date of the dedication and includes, “A gift to the Town from The Garden Club of Palm Beach.” The nonprofit donated $575,000 to help cover the cost of the project, making it the organization’s largest donation to the town and one of the most substantial donations ever made for a single beautification project in Palm Beach.
During the dedication, the club thanked its former president Christine Aylward, who led the organization at the project’s inception. The organization also extended gratitude to SMI Landscape Architecture’s Claudia Visconti and Jorge Sanchez, who donated their expertise for the medians’ design. Private donors and local entities such as The Breakers contributed to the medians, club organizers have said.
The sea breeze lightly ruffled the leaves and petals of the mostly native plants in the medians during the ceremony. Verdant green ground cover and soft grasses provided a background for pops of white and violet from irises and coral creepers.
Small hedges and crushed-shell pathways ring each median, and the the beds are comprised of mixed perennials. Each median includes five inner circles planted with lignum vitae, also called holywood, trees in three of the circles, and purple salvia in the other two.
The iconic royal palms what have lined the street for decades remained. The town’s Public Works team surprised the Garden Club by planting 23 lysiloma trees on the north and south side of Royal Poinciana Way, which will provide shade once they mature, Ginny Parker, town beautification chair for the Garden Club, previously told the Daily News.
The project was completed in November ahead of schedule, on time and under budget, town staff said.
While the cost had risen to a budgeted high of $979,902 after a change order in September, the medians ultimately cost $737,988 with a contingency of $110,698, the town has said. The town covered the portion not paid for by the club.
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