City of Dundee Projects

Viewmont Park Project – City of Dundee in conjunction with the NHS Greenhouse Program.

            Continuing our commitment to beautifying and ecologically stabilizing our areas open spaces. The NHS Greenhouse programs’ students, staff, and volunteers have completed Phase One of the Viewmont Park project for the City of Dundee.

            Description of Location: Viewmont Park is a new park within the City of Dundee. It is located on the N edge of town and is a long linear park separating the homes on the North end of town from the adjacent Vineyard. Planning was done for the West or upper end of the park or the Phase I, in conjunction with a Fall 2015 planting of Phase II.

            History of involvement: In 2013 Rob Daykin (City Manager of Dundee) contacted the NHS Horticulture teacher Peter Siderius about writing a “letter of support” for a grant the city was writing to obtain funding to build the Viewmont Park.

            Dundee received a parks grant from the state and decided to have the NHS Hort program supply and install all the plant material for the park. Designing, growing, and installing the landscape for Phase I. They have agreed to have the NHS Greenhouse program to landscape the remainder of the Viewmont park’s Phase II. Much of the Phase two landscape will be seeded in a native grass and herbaceous plant mix.

            Preparations for planting: During the 2013-14 school year the NHS Horticulture classes propagated plants for the project. The plants to propagate were selected to meet the needs of the park landscaping.The criteria were low-maintenance, mowable, xeriscape (that is plants with low water needs), adapted to our areas climate. Native species were to predominate in the Middle of the park. The plan is to use plant diversity to create a stable diverse ecosystem for the park.

            Landscape Design and Planning: Met with the City of Dundee’s Parks committee, the City Manager, and the City Engineer to discuss the design for the park. Bryan Stewart the Head Landscaper for the Chehalem Parks and Recreation District along with Peter Siderius’ input designed a landscape planting plan.

            Installation of the plants: Phase I: Staging of the plants……..Students under the direction of Bryan Stewart and various Master Gardeners laid out the plants ----basic plan 11,426 plants make up of 143 different species/varieties.

            Inspection and Maintenance: Ongoing Inspections of the plantings has shown that the students, teachers, and volunteers did an excellent job. As of January 2015 we have only lost 3 plants out of the 11,426 planted. The city of Dundee has hired two NHS Horticulture students to take care of the many new plantings the City has undertaken in the last two years.

            Savings to the City of Dundee: Savings to the City of Dundee was significant for Phase I. The plant costs to the city was reduced by over $6000 and savings on labor of over $10,000.

            Hours spent on the Viewmont Park Project: A concise breakdown of the hours spent by both Newberg High School and Dundee Elementary school. These hours include planning, volunteerism, project meetings, and planting by staff, volunteers, and students.

• Newberg High School Greenhouse:        536
• Dundee Elementary School:                   282

For more images of this project see our blog!