Purchase College Native Plant Garden
Here is the story of how our garden was created. Cared for by students, faculty, and staff working together!
The native plant garden has been a passion project of mine since 2018. It incorporates research, teaching, and giving back to the environment, all of which are important to me as a professor and a person. I have to teach my environmental studies students many sad stories of how humans have ruined the environment and I find we all need something to help us turn that negative energy into action. The garden gives us a place to come together and create something that benefits local biodiversity and reduces the carbon footprint of our campus.
Idea and ground breaking
In the fall of 2018, a group of ENV students approached me with the idea to create a native plant garden on campus. Previously, students had tried to manage a vegetable garden in this space but it never did well due to lack of water and lack of students on campus in the summer. A native plant garden would improve the biodiversity of campus, support pollinators and other wildlife, and also need very little water! I worked with the students to develop a plan and they were funded through the PSGA Green Fee grant.
In spring of 2019, we broke ground on the new garden space!
Soil, flowers, and lots of help
On a sunny day in May 2019, a large group of students, faculty, and staff got together to fill the beds with compost and plant native flowers.
Moving soil and planting the native flowers in May 2019
Flowers and rabbit munchies
That first summer in 2019, facilities helped a lot by installing an ADA pathway through the center of the garden and assembling new picnic tables for us. The plants mostly did great and we started to see all the pollinators we were hoping to see! Unfortunately, some of the plants were getting eaten by local animals. We want the garden to function in concert with the local wildlife, but still need the plants to survive to produce flowers for the pollinators. I installed trail cameras to monitor and found that the rabbits seemed to be the worst offenders.
Summer 2019
Installing rabbit fencing and replanting some flowers
In the fall of 2019, I met with students and we decided we needed to work to exclude the rabbits from the beds if we wanted to have a thriving garden. A group of students volunteered to install new fencing around each bed and replant those that were destroyed over the summer.
Fall 2019 fencing and new planting
The pandemic years
Right as the garden was waking up in spring 2020, we entered the covid pandemic lockdown period. The garden was left to fend for itself for a few months but once I was allowed back on campus, I really tried to increase my social media presence on instagram to keep connected with students and bring some happy flower pics to our followers.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the garden flourished
Rebuilding in fall 2021
We continued to teach primarily online through spring 2021 and the lack of students on campus started to show in the garden, as we didn't have enough help to stop the spread of invasive mugwort and porcelain berry into the garden beds. Finally in fall 2021, the majority of students were allowed back on campus and we set to work ridding the beds of invasive plants and giving our flowers more room to grow. It took several weeks, but we finally could see our garden beds again. Interestingly, almost all students who had helped build the garden had now graduated, so this was a totally new crop of volunteers, happy to help continue the mission.
We learned the garden cannot survive without help. We had to rebuild in fall 2021.
Seed propogation in winter 2022
Because native seeds can be difficult to start, we had always bought plants for the garden. In the winter of 2022, I took a native seed propogation class and decided it would be fun to try with the students. We had to plant the seeds in trays but then put them in the fridge for 30-60 days to break their seed dormancy. This would help us save money in replanting this spring.
Students helping plant native seeds in the winter for spring planting
Interpretation collaboration with Melissa Forstrom
One of the main questions I get asked when I'm working in the garden is "what is this place?". My colleague Melissa Forstrom is an expert in interpretation and we teamed up to develop interpretative signs for the garden. Because we wanted student help, our collaboration (funded by the Provost's office) included students in my Conservation Biology class and Melissa's Exhibition Practice and Management class. Throughout the spring 2022 semester, our students worked together to learn both about the global biodiversity crisis and also best practices in interpretation. We attended the Bronx Zoo and learned from their curators. The semester ended with presentations of text that could be use for signs to be installed in the garden.
Collaboration between AMG and ENV included multiple presentation days and a trip to the Bronx Zoo
Building energy for the garden in a new generation of students
As the garden woke up in spring 2022, many of the students on campus had never seen the garden actually flowering and attracting pollinators. Despite that, many students were very eager to come out and help as we tended our seed trays and later planted them. We also received plants from Hilltop-Hanover Farm and Environmental Education Center, who raises local NY ecotype flowers.
Planting in spring 2022
End of semester celebration
Between the class collaboration and all the work in rebuilding the garden, we felt like a celebration was in order.
Great to feel positive energy back by the end of spring 2022 semester. After the pandemic years, it felt like we all needed this garden community now.
Summer 2022: garden is beautiful again
We finally have a functioning garden again and it's amazing to see all of the amazing flowers and insects that are enjoying it. We also bought some habitat management equipment so that we can keep the area mowed and trimmed. Students continued to come to campus to help even in the summer!
Summer 2022, we have created a beautiful and biodiverse place!
Summer 2022 Interpretive panels and logo created by Alex Klercker (graphic design, '23)
Over the summer, Melissa and Allyson worked with Alex Klercker, a student in the Purchase College graphic design department to finalize the interpretation text and develop art to illustrate the garden. Alex did a wonderful job with these signs!
This sign will be placed at the entrance to the garden.
This sign will be placed at the heart of the garden, close to where we grow milkweed.
This smaller sign will be placed near the central sign to acknowledge all those who helped
Fall 2022 painting picnic tables
Through a collaboration with Counseling and Behavioral Health Services and the Outdoors Club, we got together to give our outdoor wooden picnic tables a coat of paint and decorate with as many bright flowers and critters as possible.
We spent an afternoon sanding, priming, and then painting designs on the tables.
Installation of Interpretation, Oct 2022
The final printed signs were finished in October 2022 and installed in the garden. We are so happy to have an explanation of the garden purpose that is artfully designed and brings color to the garden year-round.
Once the signs were installed, we gathered all of the students and faculty who worked on this project to celebrate this big accomplishment!