Greenspace
Idle Hour Creek on October 9, 2017
The Idle Hour Greenspace is located at 209 St. Ann Drive, across the street from the entrance to Idle Hour Park. It provides habitat for pollinators and other wildlife and serves as a space for passive recreation and for observing nature.
The trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses along the intermittent creek function as a stream buffer.
Why create a stream buffer?
Long before there were cities, rivers and creeks already traversed the land where we now live. When they rose above their banks, the water spread out in flood plains where wetland plants eagerly absorbed a good amount of it through their roots. Then these plants released the moisture into the air through their leaves.
Some of the flood water seeped deep into the ground along channels that the roots of plants had established in the soil. In these ways, the plants along our water courses absorbed storm water and prevented it from rushing along a creek all at once creating havoc further downstream.
The wetland trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers also kept the banks of rivers and streams from eroding. Their deep interlacing root systems held the soil along the river banks in place.
All this changed when cities grew up along our natural waterways. In suburban yards and urban parks, wetland vegetation gave way to a monoculture of turf grass and a routine of frequent mowing. These turf grasses with their tiny leaves and shallow roots do very little to absorb flood water and they cannot stabilize creek banks.
Planting a stream buffer aims to restore a more natural wetland ecosystem in our city.
Beginnings
About 15 years ago, LFUCG bought two properties between 205 and 217 St. Ann Drive, because the deep yards frequently flooded and remained swampy due to the poor drainage conditions common in Idle Hour. For about 10 years, the entire area was mowed up to the creek, except that invasive honeysuckle and wintercreeper established themselves along the fences of adjacent properties.
Since 2016, the Idle Hour Neighbors Alliance has removed invasives from the fence rows, and planted trees, shrubs and flowers along the creek and in newly establish no-mow zones, above all in especially wet areas. .
Neighborhood volunteers maintain the Idle Hour Greenspace in collaboration with the LFUCG Division of Environmental Services. We monitor the no-mow zones for newly emerging invasive plants and manage desirable plants that emerge spontaneously.
The help of volunteers and Idle Hour residents is always welcome. Please contact us if you have questions or if you want to contribute to the maintenance of this area.
A bench invites visitors strolling along the path to take a rest in the midst of nature, and a sign explains the purpose of the project.
Support
The stream buffer is a project of the Idle Hour Neighbors Alliance. Support was provided by the LFUCG Division of Water Quality, and by generous financial contributions from Idle Hour residents, as well as by the dedicated volunteer work of Idle Hour neighbors.
In 2020, a grant from the Kentucky American Water Company made it possible to expand the planted area and willows, bald cypresses and other water tolerant species were planted into an expanded no-mow zone.
In the spring of 2022, LFUCG Environmental Services planted some trees along the St. Ann sidewalk. They are small now but will eventually provide significant shade.