Gardeners coax blooms from former landfill

Closed Loop Park

By Diane Huber | Lacey Today • Published June 04, 2008

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There’s a secret garden in Hawks Prairie that local gardeners would like to publicize.

Tucked behind recycling bins and carpeting an old landfill is Closed Loop Park, a demonstration garden at Thurston County Waste and Recovery Center.

It’s true: Here, garbage and gardens coexist in harmony.

Enter the vined trellis and find lush greenery and bursts of color. Bold peonies demand attention, while starry columbine blooms offer an understated elegance. Birds, bees and frogs happily mingle with the blossoms and branches.

There are picnic tables for lunch, benches for reflection and a 1.4-mile path that meanders through the gardens.

“It’s a great place here. We love it. It’s really peaceful,” said Bobbie Liberty, a volunteer with the Thurston County Master Gardener program, which maintains Closed Loop Park.

Beginnings

The park began with a grant obtained by the Thurston County Solid Waste Department to educate residents about recycling, or “closing the loop,” Liberty said.

Volunteers covered the landfill with a thick sheet of plastic, followed by two feet of fill and a thick layer of mulch. The park’s benches, picnic tables, concrete pieces and compost bins all are made of recycled materials.

The garden includes several small, themed sections, including a native area lush with Oregon grape, red thimbleberry, strawberry and Indian plum. Spontaneous poppies spring to life, evidence that birds have helped the garden evolve by spreading seeds.

Nearby, 148 varieties of sedum hug a rock garden in shades of rust and gold and green. The sedum garden is so extensive that Martha Stewart Magazine will come out to photograph the area this week for an upcoming issue.

One of the garden’s highlights each June is a peony display, featuring 84 varieties donated by the Pacific Northwest Peony Society. The oversized magenta and red blooms are bursting open this week, and gardeners say it’s a must-see.

“We have some pretty spectacular, unusual ones out there: not your average varieties,” said Dorothy Taylor, a Master Gardener.