Lake Lorna Doone Park – Analog Artist Digital World

Lake Lorna Doone Park is a 12 acre park located in the between the neighborhoods of Westfield and Parramore in Orlando, Florida. The physical address is 1519 West Church Street, just to the north of Camping World Stadium. I had a fun assignment to add landscaping improvements to the park. Improvements had already been made, thanks to a donation from the Arnold Palmer Foundation. The $8 million dollar renovation including a new walking loop, fitness stations, a pavilion, inclusive playground, basketball courts, covered seating, and a splash pad and even a putting green. Walking around the lake I was quite impressed, but what really stands out is the wildlife. Water birds off all types can be seen exploring the shores.

What I was tasked with was to show less grass and more butterfly garden plantings. Other proposed additions include an outdoor classroom under a huge live oak tree, a natural log climbing play area and a small floating platform for water birds to rest on. For all the money that had been invested in the park, the planners didn’t consider the brutal Florida sun in their plans. Most outdoor benches have no shade from the sun making them unusable. Outdoor chess tables suffer the same fate.

It is human nature to mow down beauty and replace it with grass. Close cut grass lawns first emerged in 17th century England at the homes of large, wealthy landowners. English landowners depended on human labor to tend the grass. Before lawnmowers, only the rich could afford to hire the many hands needed to scythe and weed the grass, so a lawn was a mark of wealth and status.

Now the walkway around Lake Lorna Doone only has close cut grass which is buzzed down by gas lawn mowers. The loud lawn mowers scare away the natural diversity of life. The grass also offers a barren landscape as it dies down near the waterline. The hope is that someday the grass can be replaced with natural florida plants and natural meadows. The hard part will be to keep indifferent city employees from mowing it all down.

The wildlife already exists, it just needs to be encouraged to stay. Another unique thing about this lake is that it is being stocked with fish. People are encouraged to bring a fishing pole or binoculars for bird watching.