Eco-gardening is at its best in The Monday Garden
Issue 191, Part 4, January 20, 2006
SCALZI PARK
note: This entry is part of a series on Stamford's Mill River. Click here for the introductory page to the series.
Click here (link to be added) to view the section of the riverwalk across from Scalzi Park.
PICTURE: View of Scalzi Park from the northwest side of the roadway that circles the playing fields, Oct. 2005. To the left are the main baseball fields. The children's playground is directly ahead under the impressive red oaks. The J.M. Wright Technical High School is to the right.
PICTURE: Bench at the side of the bocce court in the northwest corner of the Scalzi Park, December 2004. The variety of games and teams, formal and informal, at Scalzi Park reflect the town's rich international heritage. Many, many languages are spoken here. If you look closely, under the bench is one of the Park's black squirrels (actually, they are sable) which were much in evidence in 2004 but much harder to spot this winter (2005-2006).
PICTURE: View from the northeast side of the Scalzi Park circular drive, looking down at the Mill River and riverwalk just south of the Bridge Street bridge, April 2005. In the foreground are the golden yellow twigs and buds of a native linden. The bank is very steep at this point with fairly dense underbrush, making river bank access extremely difficult. Yet, note the daffodils down by the water in the lower left. I've often wondered whether they were planted by a staunch human volunteer or whether the bulbs were stolen from elsewhere and re-planted by the squirrels who have no problem scampering up and down the bank.
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PICTURES: Other native treasures along the Scalzi Park side of the river bank include (from top left) linden, crabapple, shad, and arrowwood. Spring 2005
PICTURE: Fire fighter training program in progress at Scalzi Park on the hill to the east of the circular drive. This hill also has equipment install for an "outward bound"-type program. Dec. 2005.
PICTURE: The picnic area at the southeast end of the circular drive is shaded by more red oaks. The lower playing fields, the hockey-soccer court, and the Mill River are hidden by the crest of the hill. The buildings in the distance are in downtown Stamford. Jan. 2006.
PICTURE: A young, invasive, palm-like ailanthus tree obscures the view of the blue walls of the Scalzi Park hockey-soccer court directly adjacent to the river in the Park's lower southeast corner. June 2005.
PICTURE: Walking down the hill from the circular drive to the lower playing fields, native cat briar graces the fence to the Wright Tech parking lot. Autumn 2005.
PICTURE: In spring the southern end of the lower playing fields turns into a carpet of spring beauties, trout lilies, and cut-leaf toothwort.
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PICTURES: close-up's, respectively, of the spring beauties, trout lilies, and cut-leaf toothwort.
PICTURE: West side of the silver maple at the northwest corner of the footbridge, Nov. 2006.
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PICTURES: Mockingbird in an Asiatic bittersweet; wasp in the smooth sumac; west bank of the Mill River in Scalzi Park. 2005
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Photo credits: Sue Sweeney © Sue Sweeney 2006