Highland Garden Club creates a Zen destination at Glik Park
A walk through Glik Park now includes a peaceful meditation garden, the latest addition from the volunteers who have maintained the gardens for many years.
Ralph Korte and Joe Glik had the vision for Glik Park before the Glik family donated the land for the park in 1991, according to Joe’s son, Bob Glik.
Now the volunteers of the Highland Garden Club are carrying on family traditions, and more of the property reflects that vision.
The garden club recently added a Zen garden adjacent to park property, with walking stones and a small Buddha statue alongside potted plants and a small plaque honoring the Gliks. Buddha stands on one end with an Asian lantern on the other end, and Buddha faces east, as is traditional.
“When (Zen gardens) are well maintained, they’re beautiful, and this one is so well maintained,” Glik said. “It exemplified the Buddhist ideal of Zen, which is very peaceful.”
That concept of peace and tranquility in meditation is key to the new space, Glik said.
“You walk through it and you’re just absorbed by the beauty of it, the flowers and the trees and sculptures,” he said. “People enter, and are absorbed in thought.”
Mark Rosen, director of parks and recreation for Highland, said the Gardens in Glik Park are considered the city’s and are on city property, but are operated and maintained by the volunteers of the Highland Garden Club.
That arrangement goes back to 2004, when Nancy Hediger, lead master gardener with the club, approached the city to ask if the land between the Korte Rec Center and the Korte soccer field could be used for gardens.
Hediger could not be reached for comment, but Rosen said that over the years, the garden club has devoted countless hours, raised money through fundraisers and grants from the Highland Area Community Foundation, etc. to purchase plants, sculptures, a gazebo, lighting and more to create “one of the most fantastic and beautiful places in Highland, if not the area.”
“Their imagination and creativity has exceeded anything I could have ever thought was possible,” Rosen said. “They have maximized the space in an elegant manner that isn’t gaudy or distasteful. It’s become a place for people to establish memorials and learn about plants.”
Glik said already word has spread, and a few weeks ago a church bus drove all the way from Mount Vernon to Highland just to view the garden.
“It’s become a destination,” he said. “Thanks to the club’s labor-intensive maintenance of the garden, it’s become a real draw to visit Highland.”
