By JIMMY ROGERS
Credit: Jimmy Rogers
Often our built environment can feel harsh, structured and devoid of natural beauty. We plant specimen trees and create gardens to provide visual relief, while pushing back wild spaces with each new development. However, some local communities invest not only in parks, but in wild-space creation, too, so that residents can engage with native flora and fauna close to home.
Continuing last month’s theme of observation as a basis for designing a native garden, I want to highlight Wells Run Park, a walkable meadow space in University Park (UP) where the town now celebrates its annual Meadow Day.
The town’s pollinator meadow occupies about an acre of parkland between a stretch of homes and Wells Run Creek. The meadow’s easy to find, just across the street from the Hyattsville Branch Library, on Adelphi Road. The town mows the margin around the meadow, which makes the intentionality of the space clear to visitors. Signage at the entrance describes some of the plants and animals living in the meadow. At this time of year, the showiest flowers and insects are easy to find floating above the grasses.
I had a blast attending this year’s UP Meadow Day, which was held on July 13th. The University Park Sustainability Committee brought in numerous local organizations to teach residents about all the ways they can bring nature and sustainable practices back to their own yards and gardens. There were tours of the meadow, activities for kids, booths about free city programs and educational displays about plants and wildlife. Volunteers from Prince George’s Audubon Society Wildlife Habitat Program and Wild Ones Chesapeake Bay Chapter were on hand, giving away native plants and answering questions about native gardening.
Even in this year’s baking heatwave, the meadow, a mix of grasses and herbaceous plants, was the vibrant center of the event. Along the meadow’s path, I saw wild senna (Senna hebecarpa), a member of the pea family with distinctive foliage. Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) decorated the grassy expanse with pops of cotton candy pink. Cascading goldenrods (Solidago species) swayed among tall, clump-forming grasses such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii).
The air above the meadow buzzed with native bees, dragonflies and butterflies. I saw a lot of skippers and at least one tiger swallowtail butterfly, and an occasional bunny hopped off in surprise when a visitor got too close to its hiding spot.
Credit: Jimmy Rogers
Long expanses of uncut meadow are rare in residential areas and create a unique opportunity for wildlife. A few miles away from the meadow is another rewilded area, where the Friends of Sligo Creek collaborated with Pepco to let a powerline cut grow tall. Once the meadow matured, volunteers observed American kestrels, a type of falcon, nesting among the power line poles. It turns out that in addition to hosting over 120 species of flowering plants, the lengthy expanse of grassland under the lines is a perfect hunting ground for these high-speed birds of prey. If more utility lands can be managed for wildlife, these islands of restored habitat could become a corridor for biodiversity across the region.
What can we take back home from these rewilded spaces? First, while they resemble their naturally occurring counterparts, urban meadows are intrinsically disturbed sites. We tend to manage them by mowing, pulling invasive species and introducing new native species. This means that despite their wild appearance, these sites share traits with our residential gardens, where the plants that thrive are those that can best handle disturbances like soil compaction and erosion. These plants are also good at pioneering new areas. Plan for them to spread widely, or you can plant equally aggressive species together for a matrixed look.
And meadows remind us to integrate grasses into our garden designs. Even seasoned native gardeners can forget to add grasses to their beds, leading to exposed mulch around the base of taller plants. Grassy texture can ease this harsh look. Grasses can overwhelm small gardens, though, so clumping species like those mentioned above will help the eye mark out a distinct design. Choosing smaller grasses like little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) can help scale down the look of a meadow as well.
And finally, keep in mind that meadows organize themselves in masses and pops. Grasses, goldenrods, asters and mountain mints (Pycnanthemum species) tend to spread widely, while white beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis), pink wild bergamot, orange butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and yellow cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) tend to pop up and out. The eye will be drawn to those pops first before soaking in the dense green beneath.
I hope I’ve convinced you to take a field trip to a local meadow. Whether it’s the University Park pollinator meadow, a local unmown lot or some other wild space, try to fit a visit to one into your Saturday. Thirty minutes spent breathing a summer breeze among the goldenrods will melt away a weekday care or two.
