DAPHNE — The Daphne Beautification Committee has two “big” projects scheduled for October — but they won’t get done without the community’s help, member Tomasina Werner said Monday.

This Saturday, from 8 a.m. to noon, volunteers will plant native trees and shrubs at Gator Alley in D’Olive Park, off north Main Street, under U.S. Highway 98 and Interstate 10.

“We’re trying to really enhance the walk along the path down along Gator Alley,” Werner said.

“The idea behind planting native species is first and foremost that they need little care,” Selena Vaughn, another DBC member, said. “Conditions are suitable for these plants or they would not already have been here for hundreds of years.

“Another reason to consider native plants in a landscape is that they are unlikely to be invasive and aggressively take over as they have natural predators like foragers, bugs and disease that keep them in check,” Vaughn, a Baldwin County Master Gardener, said. 

Invasives shade and crowd out native plants, disturbing the local ecosystem, she said.

Many invasive exotics come from the East or South America. They have been brought into this country because of their beauty, novelty or some perceived agricultural benefit.

“Kudzu, Chinese privet, cogan grass and Chinese tallow or popcorn tree are some of our greatest offenders,” Vaughn, a Baldwin County Master Gardener, said.

Native species that volunteers will plant on Saturday include red buckeye, grancy graybeard, oakleaf hydrangea, winterberry, yaupon holly, spicebush, black tupelo, sassafrass tree and sparkleberry.

Volunteers should bring gloves, shovels and rakes, Werner said.

The beautification committee also has planned a trash cleanup at Gator Alley from 8 a.m. to noon on Oct. 27, Werner said.

Visitors to the area seem to dispose of their garbage properly but the cleanup is intended to clear out trash that has lain for years — some of which had washed ashore from nearby waters, she said.

Volunteers should bring gloves, shovels and rakes for cleaning vines and debris along the path.

Past projects to spruce up Gator Alley have included Eagle Scout Robert Colville’s summer project — a garden with trees, plants and flowers to attract butterflies — and an irrigation system recently installed by the Daphne Public Works Department.

“D’Olive Park — otherwise known as Gator Alley — is like many of our parks: a work in progress,” Vaughn said, adding that additional projects are in store for the area.

“Directly across from (the butterfly garden) where we are planting Saturday, another Eagle Scout project of Charlie Sumner will take place later this fall,” she said. “His project will include benches and tables.

“There are, also underway, plans to complete and upgrade the parking lot for Gator Alley on Main Street,” she added.

DBC members Dorothy Morrison and Frieda Romanchuk oversee the Gator Alley projects, Vaughn said.

“The City of Daphne and especially Marshall Parsons and Marjorie Bellue of Public Works have been great supporters of the projects of the Daphne Beautification Committee and have given us much enthusiastic guidance and help,” she added.

To help with their efforts, or for questions about DBC projects, call Vaughn at 605-6243.