The South Whidbey Lions Club is taking the advice of a former First Lady by planting a tree and shrub in an effort to beautify their community.

Club members chose Freeland Park as their project, and are landscaping the flower beds in the park and planting the perimeter and beachfront areas.

Eleven weeping crabapple trees in spring bloom surrounded by dozens of daylilies and shrub roses now line the perimeter adjacent to Stewart Street. Azaleas and other evergreens were planted last year at the west end of the park.

Lady Bird Johnson would be proud.

“The park definitely needed help,” said Roy Benson, coordinator of the project. “We decided to take it on as a community service because it was in serious need of improvement, and the county doesn’t have the manpower to maintain all the parks on the Southend.”

Also, Benson said, the project is something the public will notice and enjoy

Each morning, Benson and fellow Lions Club members Bob Davis and Herb Bacon can be seen working hard on a real labor of love, digging in the dirt and plant-ing new shrubs and trees. With funding from the Island County Parks Department and donations from the Whidbey Island Garden Tour and the Lions Club, they have the cash to make the park a garden spot.

Lee McFarland, the county’s parks director, said that to date his department has spent $6,000 in plants and infrastructure improvements. Water lines with spigots have been run throughout the park to make watering the new plants easier. The county also installed an oil-water separator in the southeast corner of the parking lot to catch and filter runoff before it drains into Holmes Harbor.

Bayview Farm and Garden owner Maureen Rowley and employee April Davis donated their time and skills in developing the eye-appealing landscape design.

Future plans include continuing the plantings along the east side of the park and facing Holmes Harbor. Benches donated by the Whidbey Island Garden Tour will be placed along the edge of the park facing the beach.

A covered picnic shelter with six tables underneath will be built by the Lions near the playground.

The park is an ongoing responsibility for the club. Members have invested 440 volunteer hours since last winter. In the future, it will be the Lions who do the watering, weeding and pruning.

“We will continue to care for the new plants. It’s our responsibility now,” Benson said.

As part of the overall sprucing up, the park’s restroom will be remodeled by funds from the Port of South Whidbey.