Native Plants Growing Strong After Volunteer Work Day

The rainy days last week may have seemed dreary, but here at the Y we couldn't have been happier! The ground was soaked each day - just the thing for our baby native grasses and perennials at the Y's west side parking lot! They're sure to grow big and strong thanks to our student volunteers.

Students from SECS and Red Bison.
Photos available on Flickr for download.

On September 25, 2011, volunteers from Students for Environmental ConcernS and Red Bison spend several hours at the University YMCA. They planted over 300 native plugs from the Grand Prairie Friends along the West Side parking lot.

Student volunteer digs in native plant plugs.
Photos available on Flickr for download.

These tall grasses, wild onions, and flowering perennials will be wild and beautiful in a year or two. Refer to the last post, "It's going to be WILD..." for details about the planting plan and list of plants used.

The student volunteers from SECS and Red Bison also powered through some much needed property maintenance. They moved load after load of gravelly soil along the edge of the building to prevent water from seeping down.

When the planting was done, volunteers transitioned into pruning and weeding the front side of the building and the native shaded beds along Chalmers.

The Y is grateful for their expert handling of the native plants, overgrown shrubs, and wheelbarrows full of dirt!

Without our student groups, the Y's exterior couldn't be nearly as environmentally friendly, well-maintained, and welcoming.

Special thanks to SECS, Red Bison, and Grand Prairie Friends for their help. Extra thanks to Valerie Sivicek for her leadership and plant knowledge.

It's going to be WILD (the parking lot, that is...)

Environmental responsibility is part of the Y's mission, and in just a few weeks it will be part of the parking lot too!

Valerie Sivicek designed the native planting plant and Jenni Kotting rendered into diagrams and sections as seen above.

With the help of environmental student groups, Red Bison and SECS, the University YMCA is about to plant a native border along the west side of their parking lot! The long 3-feet-wide strip was formerly an unsightly gravel and weed mixture while the building was under construction. Volunteers will plant the entire area with a mixture of flowering perennials and grasses that can thrive even in poor soil and dry conditions.

The native grasses will offer texture and height against the fence while shorter plants will hug the asphalt closest to the parked cars. Plants include:

• Allium cernuum, Nodding Wild Onion
• Bouteloua curtipendula, Side Oats Grama
• Heliopsis helianthoides, False Sunflower
• Liatris pycnostachya, Blazing Star
• Penstemon digitalis, Foxglove Beardtongue
• Schizachyrium scoparium, Little Bluestem
• Silphium terebinthiniaceum, Prairie Dock
• Sorghastrum nutans, Indian Grass
• Sporobolus heterolepis, Prairie Dropseed

Stay tuned for photos of the planting!