The equinox on Thursday and the warm weather have us all thinking about getting out into the dirt – right?  Maybe your kid doesn’t like to get out and garden with you.  Consider sending them to the Green River Preserve this summer.  This environmental camp for rising second through ninth graders, with expedition programs for all high schoolers, is located on several thousand acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  They have an outstanding program.  They also promote a book, Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv, which centers on a concept to consider: nature-deficit disorder, which can affect any of us if we’re not careful.  Plant those seeds, take that walk, mount that expedition!  Have a great one!

 The flowery driveway of a street that edges Fletcher Park. This time of year, it’s one of the prettiest sights in central Raleigh. You can glimpse the new construction on the right.  More about that below.

The Fletcher water garden project is really moving along and needs more coverage. One of the primary functions of the water garden will be to capture, slow and filter the water from this drainage as it makes its way down to Pigeon House Creek, across the railroad tracks by Capital Boulevard.  There are plenty of other tributaries to that troubled creek that need help more than this heavily wooded glen, but it definitely will provide some much-needed quality control.  We will watch this project carefully, and use it as an entrance to the many issues surrounding Pigeon House Creek.