Annuals from the City of Atlanta Parks Department

Jennie Drake Park

Saturday, June 6 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Visit Jennie Drake Park with Ecoaddendum.  Jennie Drake Park hosts a high diversity of trees and wildflowers, including uncommon and sensitive species such as Umbrella Magnolia, Wild Geranium, and Blood Root. Our timing should be ideal for seeing some of the high value species found here. And at this time of year we may also hear some of our migratory songbirds just coming back from winter homes in Central and South America, some of whom may nest in this forest in the summer season.

We’ll walk on natural and unpaved trails, fairly flat terrain with small hills, about a mile at most.

This walk is offered in partnership with Friends of Jennie Drake Park.

 To register, visit:  http://www.ecoaddendum.org/event/jennie-drake-park/

NOTE:  Walks are limited to 10 persons.  We will practice physical distancing, and we ask participants to wear masks.

We had a productive session on Saturday, May 16th. Many thanks to our volunteers! There were seven of us, and we planted about a dozen Eastern Redbud saplings in the park, primarily along the Oldknow trail and on the north side (West Peek). of the park.  Look for purple blossoms in the early spring, if not in 2021, perhaps in 2022. 

On Saturday, November 16, the Friends of Jennie Drake Park honored James H. Gantner as Volunteer of the Year. Jim has been a resident of Collier Heights since 2009. In 2012, he was one of the neighborhood residents who participated in the visioning process. When the steering committee for the park was formed in 2013, he became a member. Since that time, he has been an active and reliable volunteer, performing tasks in the park, taking photographs, and preparing publicity for the park. We are grateful to Jim for his loyal and valuable service. He is the second Jennie Drake Park “friend” to be recognized as volunteer of the year. Our 2018 honoree was Miriam Miller.

Students and others volunteering to work on a beautiful Saturday morning!

At the July Steering Committee Meeting, Kathryn Kolb of Eco Addendum was the guest speaker.  Kathryn is a Master Naturalist, and consults green space managers, gardeners and homeowners on how to preserve our native urban forests.  She explained the importance of Atlanta’s urban tree canopy and the ways it can be protected.

www.ecoaddendum.org

The winners of the 2019 Photo Contest were:

Hassan Hashim- High School

Syjae Rashid- Middle School

Jydie Rashid- Elementary School

Mohamed Hashim has volunteered at Jennie Drake Park beginning in his sophomore year at North Atlanta High School, attending more than a dozen work sessions.  This year, Mohamed graduates from North Atlanta, and will be attending Emory University in the Fall.

We take great pride in having Mohamed as a student volunteer, and wish him the best as he enters Emory!

On May 18th, Jennie Drake Park hosted a Trees Atlanta workshop on identifying invasive plants species, steps to remove those plants, and how to select native plants for landscaping.  The Park also kicked off the 2019 Bird Photo Contest, open to students from 1st through 12th grades.