Beautification

Beautification makes Carbondale more welcoming to prospective home-buyers and businesses and is a sign of economic well-being.  Keep Carbondale Beautiful actively encourages beautification of residences and businesses through the Bright Spot Award and by providing native trees and shrubs at our Tree Sale. Even if a city is entirely functional and livable, there is always something additional to be gained when efforts are taken to enhance aesthetic value through buildings that enhance neighborhood pride and through well-maintained greenery. 

Ongoing Projects

Tree Sale
Bright Spot Award
Garden on Grand
Champion Tree Contest

Other Projects
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​Saving Trees from Winter Creeper
Do you have a tree that looks like this? With invasive winter creeper (Euonymus fortunei) crawling up the trunk, where it will then flower and reproduce? If you want to protect that tree, the vine should be cut at the base of the tree and possibly torn out by the roots (the vine on the bark will die and fall off). Keep Carbondale Beautiful partnered with the Agricultural Student Advisory Council to save trees from winter creeper. If you'd still like help or would like to report a tree, please contact us at 618-525-5525 or keepcb1326@gmail.com. Provide address, name, and phone number of home-owner or person in authority who is giving permission.

                                Planting Trees

Each year, KCB devotes a chunk of its grant money to planting more trees along the streets of Carbondale.  According to James Howard Kunstler, there are four functions of street trees: 
  • to spatially denote the pedestrian realm
  • to protect pedestrians from vehicles in road
  • to filter the sunlight onto the sidewalk
  • to soften the hardscape of buildings and create a ceiling over the street/walkway

Each spring and fall we hold a tree and shrub sale. And in 2020 we'll be bringing back the Champion Tree Contest as part of a year-long campaign to promote trees as a way to combat climate change.

Did you know that the City of Carbondale will plant a tree on your property? Learn more.

                                        Public Forum:
​What would you do to make Carbondale more beautiful? ​

Months of surveying on this topic culminated in a Town Meeting in 2013. 
​The participating groups generated 49 ideas. The top 5 were:
1.  Bury lines (phone/power) and use Streetscape planning
     (downtown and all around town)
2.  Plant flowering trees at 4 major entrances to Carbondale (13 E&W/51 N&S)
3.  Add plantings to medians (Mill Street and 51)
4.  Conduct Sustainability Assessment for Carbondale (Whole city)
5.  Create a Dog Park (in Carbondale)

A full report was sent to the Carbondale City Council and the Downtown Advisory Committee. View or download the final report.

As of 2019 there has been significant progress on many of these items.
1. Power and phones lines have been moved from S. Illinois Ave. to the rear alleys and new streetscaping has been installed from Mill St. to Monroe St. 
2. Entrances to the city have been enhanced with plantings, and the Route 13 East entrance marquis was built.
4. There is an active Sustainability Commission working on a plan.
5. There is a nonprofit now raising funds for a dog park in Parrish Park. 
Carbondale's Most Beautiful Spot
When was the last time you walked the trail at Campus Lake?  Do it again!  Introduce a new friend to Carbondale's most beautiful spot.
Besides Campus Lake, votes for “most beautiful spot” were cast for Longbranch Café’s terrace, Castle Park (Jeremy ‘Boo’ Rochman Memorial Park), Rothrock Prairie (Green Earth’s North Oakland Nature Preserve), and the Labyrinth Peace Garden at Gaia House. The Labyrinth and Longbranch have both been recognized in the past with Bright Spot Awards. 
                                 Garden Tours
We will try to host another garden tour in June 2020. Please send us your nominations for beautiful gardens in Carbondale, or other ideas. In 2017 we toured the chicken coops! How about compost piles next time? The tour will be self-guided. Participants can drive or even bicycle to all the gardens. Gardener(s) will be on site to answer questions. 
Picture
2018 Garden Tour
                              Alternatives to Lawns

Our Alternatives to Lawns workshop was held on July 30, 2016 and included various approaches to convert from grass lawns.
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