Garden Club Contributes to Mullet Creek Park

One of the great things about the Mullet Creek Park project is that it has been a complete collaborative effort by a variety of officials and organizations in Safety Harbor. 

From the attention to detail in planning the park, which incorporates nature and art, to the contractors and volunteers who have helped bring it all together, Mullet Creek is truly of, by and for the community. 

Monday morning, another local group got the opportunity to contribute to the park, as members of the Safety Harbor Garden Club came out to plant demonstration gardens at the site.

“This park is unique because there have been so many partners contributing to it,” leisure services director Andrea Norwood said. 

“The Public Art Committee, the Garden Club, Nadine Nickeson, the contractors have all played a part in making the park what it is today.”

Around a dozen members of the SHGC, which has been involved in numerous beautification projects around town since its inception in 1991, were on hand to plant a variety of species in the nine beds.

The plants were chosen to depict nature in transition, making the gardens a place to witness butterflies and passionflowers and the cycle of life that exists between the species.

Signs on the boxes will identify each plant, in order to help schoolkids learn more about them and help home gardeners decide which the ones they might want to plant in their own beds.

Want more local headlines? Sign up for the free Safety Harbor Patch email newsletter and you won't miss a thing!

The combination of the natural aspects with the artistic ones is what makes the park so special.

“This is a great enhancement to Safety Harbor, and I’m glad the Garden Club has stepped up to contribute to it,” current club president and local artist Carol Zieres said. 

“It’s great to be recognized in a civic project of this size.”

Club member and 2012 Holiday Parade Grand Marshal Joe Caisse said he believes the facility could be used a template for building parks in city settings.

“This park is a prototype for Safety Harbor, blending art and nature,” he said. “It could be a prototype for all parks being built in an urban center.”

While the planting was supposed to mark the final step before an official ribbon cutting in January, delays in choosing the playground equipment has pushed the ceremony back to spring.

But the public is still able to come and enjoy the park as it is today, whether to sit in the Adirondack chairs and enjoy the scenery or walk the paths and soak up the perfect blend of art and nature.

“The biggest reward for me is seeing people use it,” Community Planner Ana Mena, who has been instrumental in the park's development, said.

“It’s a true collaboration and representation of Safety Harbor.”