By Sydney E. Everhart, 1208 Chestnut Street, Atlantic, IA 50022
L Misconception L Unfortunately, far too many adults still have a false idea that prairie wildflowers are weeds. Nothing could be further from the truth. |
To help educate gardeners, acreage owners, farmers, and the public about wildflowers, a demonstration planting of native prairie forbs was recently planted at the Natural Resource & Conservation Service (NRCS) building in Atlantic. I was asked to plan and direct the project by Sindra Jensen, Soil Conservationist with the NRCS.
I applied for and received an “Iowa’s Promise…Our Youth” grant. The Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and Iowa State University Extension support and administers the grant.
Students who are members of the Atlantic Chapter of the Iowa Student Environmental Coalition (ISEC) formed a partnership with the ISU Extension Master Gardeners of Cass County to provide the labor and leadership for the project. I am the president of ISEC and the leader of this project. Kristie Kite, a Master Gardener from Cass County, is the project’s co-chair.
The project is a living example of how to design, reestablish, and care for a sustainable prairie plantings. It will be used as an example of landscape beautification, soil conservation, erosion control, wildlife habitat enhancement, and other conservation practices.
Over 150 plants of about 35 different wildflowers were planted in mid-July. The cooler and wetter than normal summer was ideal for establishment of the plants. We included beautiful as well as unusual species such as purple prairie coneflower, blazing star, butterfly milkweed, compass plant, rattlesnake master, leadplant, purple prairie clover, Culver's root, indigo, and bergamot.
ISEC students planned and designed the demonstration garden. Master Gardeners and ISEC students will provide upkeep for the first year. Then NRCS will take over the maintenance.
My hope is that this demonstration garden will be used as an example of low maintenance, sustainable plantings. The garden can be duplicated in home landscapes, parks, recreation areas, school grounds, golf courses, prisons, commercial landscapes, industrial sites, ISU Extension demonstration farms, and at other NRCS centers around the state.
Most of the plants are still small but a few have been blooming all summer and into the fall. It will take at least a year for most of the plants to mature. You need to patient with wildflowers but the results are worth the wait.
The plants will be labeled and a brochure will be available describing each plant. Educational programs are being developed to help people learn about prairie plants and how to plan and plant similar gardens on their property.
The planting is located at the NRCS building in Atlantic on the corner of Hickory and Seventh Street (Highway 6). ISEC students, Master Gardeners, NRCS staff, and Earth Year 2000 Ambassadors helped to prepare the planting site and plant the garden in mid-June. Mulch was applied shortly thereafter and ISEC students have been watering the plants as needed.
I hope that one of the results of this project will be a new awareness of the beauty and benefits of native wildflowers. This project may stimulate interest in the possibility of restoring small parcels of land to native prairie habitat. Restoration of this type has many benefits, from purely aesthetic reasons to environmentally important ones like conserving the biodiversity of our native Iowa plant species.
Prairie wildflowers attract people, birds, butterflies, and many other kinds of animals. Prairie plants provide food, cover, and nesting habitat for songbirds and game species all season long. Prairie plants offers something for just about everyone.
Whenever you are in southwest Iowa, be sure to visit the prairie planting at the NRCS building in Atlantic. It may inspire you to reestablishment a large prairie or plant a small wildflower garden on your property. I am sure you will be pleased with the results.
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This project was partially funded by a grant -- “Iowa’s Promise…Our Youth” -- supported by the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and Iowa State University Extension. However, the project was only possible with support from many people. Credit goes to the following individuals for volunteering and/or donating advice, support, labor, funds, plants, or products to the project.
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Retail businesses: |
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| Keith McGinnis, Owner McGinnis Tree & Seed Company 309 East Florence Glenwood, IA 51534 Telephone: 712-527-4308 |
Larry Bowman, Owner Willow Springs Nursery 64011 Jackson Road Atlantic, IA 50022 Telephone: 712-243-4496 |
| Adrian Nelson, Owner Prairie Hill Nursery 1408 Road M47 Kirkman, IA 51447 Telephone: 712-766-3353 |
Gene Fischer, Manager Pamida Discount Center Atlantic, IA 50022 |
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ISEC students: Desi Armentrout |
Master Gardeners: Keith Booth |
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Earth Year 2000 Ambassadors: Sindra Jensen |
NRCS: Cory Carr |
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County Conservation: Andrea Cossolotto
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ISU Extension: Sue Bogue |
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Landowner: Denny Rosener |
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Anyone who would like to have more information about this project or prairie plantings may contact the author or Sindra Jensen at the NRCS office in Atlantic - telephone 712-243-3180.
Sydney Everhart is a 2000 graduate of Atlantic High School, president of the Atlantic Chapter of the Iowa Student Environmental Coalition, an Earth Year 2000 Ambassador for Cass County, and an ISU Extension Master Gardener. Sydney is attending the University of Wisconsin at Madison this fall and is majoring in Biology with a minor in Spanish.
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Reprinted with permission from the Fall 2000 issue (Vol. 17,
No. 1) of The Iowa Horticulturist magazine, pages 14-15.
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