Memorial Park Plant Guide

Photo courtesy of Mark Krancer
The Master Plan for Memorial Park is designed to restore the luster of the park, enhance its appeal to today’s visitors, and pass along intact to future generations the unique beauty and character of this spot. The Master Plan is a guideline for protecting, enhancing and restoring as much as possible of the park’s historically important and highly successful design, even while adapting it to contemporary circumstances and needs. One of the many restoration goals included “restoring the landscape design more closely to its original intent, reflecting as much as possible the Olmsted Brothers’ design concepts of horticultural and spatial variety within a harmonious whole; carefully composed vistas and views; and a strong visual focus on the memorial sculpture.” For Phase IV of Memorial Park’s extensive restoration Master Plan, a landscape rehabilitation plan was prepared by Brett Godard of Godard Design Associates, Inc., in March 2018. In his plan, Godard noted, “Planting and grading plans to be respectful of original Olmsted planting concepts, as well as current City of Jacksonville Park Department maintenance capabilities. Original lines of sight to statue and river to be considered in planting plan.”