Project GREEN Gardens at Ashton House
The Project GREEN Gardens at Ashton House are located at 820 Park Rd. in Iowa City, and the public property is Project GREEN’s largest ongoing project in its nearly 60 years of beautifying Iowa City.
Project GREEN and the City of Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department partner together to design and maintain this beautiful city-owned property of more than 8 acres along the Iowa River.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, Ashton House was a private residence built in 1947 by Edward L. “Ned” Ashton, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Iowa named “the most distinguished bridge engineer in the history of Iowa”. After the historic flood of 2008, the City of Iowa City purchased the home and surrounding land through the Community Development Block Grant property acquisition program.
The Project GREEN Gardens at Ashton House are beautifully maintained, featuring annual and perennial flower beds, mature trees with species labels, a walking trail, peaceful resting places, and views of the Iowa River. There is a fully accessible parking lot at the Park Road address.
Scroll down for more information about the design and planting for resilience at the Project GREEN Gardens at Ashton House….
A few beautiful spots in the Project GREEN Gardens at Ashton House:
Design
The site features plentiful wildflowers and a number of historic trees and shrubs which remain from the Ashtons’ original plantings.
Project GREEN is designing, implementing, and maintaining the landscaping, which includes reestablished historic perennial beds, parking-lot screening, colorful perennial borders, and decorative planters. Signs identify historic trees, plantings, and unique site features.
The trees, shrubs, perennials, and annual plants located throughout the park were each chosen for resilience: deer and rabbit resistance, drought tolerance, and surviving the floods that frequently occur along the Iowa River.
We have secured grant money from the Community Foundation of Johnson County, as well as the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) program, and continue to seek additional funds through other grants and private donations.
Project GREEN has established these gardens to represent our organization, and signage recognizes our contribution to and ongoing maintenance of the landscape.
The beautiful house and grounds, as well as the gorgeous natural riverside setting, truly make this a community treasure.
Project GREEN Volunteer Gardeners
Since 2014, Project GREEN volunteers have met on Monday mornings from 9-11 am during the gardening season (May through October) to plant and maintain the lovely flower beds and planters that ornament the natural beauty of this property along the Iowa River.
Read our Project GREEN Blog posts to see what our volunteers do, and the lovely results of our work.
Experienced gardeners–and those who want to learn gardening skills–are very welcome to join our great group of volunteers!
A few more views of the lovely Project GREEN Gardens at Ashton House:
by: L. Hawks, Landscape Architect
Project GREEN Gardens at Ashton House in the News:
$200K REAP grant awarded to Iowa City Parks and Recreation, November 2023
Gazette Article November 16, 2015
Daily Iowan Article November 13, 2015
Video: Project GREEN co-president Cindy Parsons talks about plans for the Ashton House. Press-Citizen July 13, 2014