In the famous opening scene of Forrest Gump, a mostly-white feather floats down from the sky to land at Forrest’s feet. If that feather were, instead, to float down toward one of our local summer meadows, it might well never…
Scattered Reflections on How to be Purple
Violet, lilac, lavender, orchid, mauve: all names for shades of the color purple, and all named for flowers (mauve from the French word for mallow). That etymology reflects both the relative commonness and the beauty of purple flowers. “Purpleness” in…
Activity Center Park Sprayground Opening Day
The sprayground will open for the 2026 season on Friday, May 22! The sprayground is open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. It will remain open through Labor Day weekend. An all-access playground is adjacent to…
Activity Center Park Playground Survey
Thank you to those who attended the May 13 public input open house for the 2027 Activity Center Park playground update! Your feedback is valuable to this renovation process! Whether or not you were able to attend, please take the…
On Catalpas; A Rhapsody
From the spring beauties of March through the asters of November, our woods and meadows progress through a wonderful cycle of herbaceous (non-woody) wildflowers. But some of our trees also bear beautiful flowers. The vivid pinks of redbuds, the greenish…
Preserving Ohio’s History of Transportation in Your Parks
Among the Centerville-Washington Park District’s 1,060 acres, a unique nod to Ohio’s history of transportation lies among the trails! Within Iron Horse and Big Bend Parks, residents can find a preserved corridor of the once-bustling Dayton-Cincinnati Railroad from over 100…
Rosewood Park Updates
Rosewood Park Pond Restoration Complete; New Playground Coming This Summer Thanks to multiple grant funding sources, the Centerville-Washington Park District has completed a major restoration of the one-acre pond at Rosewood Park and will soon add a new playground for…
Bee? Fly? Bee fly!
You hear a buzz. You see a fuzzy insect heading for a flower. Naturally, you think, “bee.” But something’s not quite right. The insect hovers, and it has a long, pointy “nose.” That’s no bee; you’ve spotted a bee fly!…
We’re off To See the Bloodroot
Poppies! Just the scent of them famously sent Dorothy and her Wizard of Oz companions into a deep slumber. In our local parks, our meadows are more likely to be filled with stands of goldenrod or partridge pea. But a…
Pileated Woodpeckers: Large and in Charge
Pileated woodpeckers never fail to impress. The first sign of their presence usually is auditory—the wild, laugh-like call, or the heavy jackhammering on a trunk. Those sounds were even used to simulate jungle ambiance in some old Tarzan movies. The…