Native Garden for Washington Elementary Outdoor Classroom

Back in August I went and looked at Washington Elementary’s Outdoor classroom space to see what might be done to restore it to a functional place for learning.  For three years or so the area had been virtually left alone and as a result is was in pretty bad shape.  A thick impenetrable mass of Bermuda grass, Black Locust saplings and Torilis arvensis Hedge Parsley had set up camp and virtually no desirable flora remained on the site.  The immediate solution was to remove all of this unwanted vegetation and start from scratch with native plantings that would provide a resilient natural garden full of educational opportunities.  With this in mind I came up with a design incorporating some of our regions ecosystems of tallgrass prairie, shortgrass prairie and cross timber woodlands.  After a couple of vegetation removal visits the site was ready for planting and a volunteer day on Saturday November 1st got the majority of the planting work done!  The ponds will be the next thing to work on and next year will be critical in establishing our plants and keeping on top of the unwanted plants.  Overall this has been a great opportunity for us to volunteer and donate the design, some plants and labor on a project that can demonstrate the value of Eco gardening and also create a civic benefit for our community.  Thanks to Washington teacher Tammy Trumble for spearheading the whole effort and to the students and faculty of OU’s college of Business that volunteered.  Thanks also to Minick Materials who graciously donated compost and Prairie Wind Nursery who donated some plants.   There will be more volunteer days next year so contact us if you’re interested in getting involved.

Bio Blitz 2014 Black Kettle National Grassland

A small Eco Landscaping delegation attended this year’s Oklahoma Bioblitz (rapid biodiversity inventory) which was held at the Black Kettle National Grassland in Roger Mills County.  I really enjoyed spending some time in this region.  Ever since my first childhood trip to New Mexico I have always had a special affinity for the West.  This particular part of Oklahoma is an interesting interstitial area where the Tallgrass prairie gives way to the Shortgrass prairie and High Deserts of the West.  The level IV ecoregion for the area is referred to as the Rolling Red Hills, a sub region of the Central Great Plains.  The area we camped in was roughly 1000 feet higher than our home base in Cleveland County but much of the vegetation was similar with some notable exceptions.  Our main area of exploration was the red rocky, gravelly arid hills above Dead Warrior Lake.  My favorite finds were the more arid loving species like Echinocereus reichenbachii, Melampodium leucanthum, Artemisia filifolia, various Penstemons,  Aster fendleri and Scuttelaria drummondi.    Side Oats Grama, Little Bluestem, Hairy Grama, Opuntias and Yucca glauca dominated with the aforementioned forbs accenting and dotting the landscape.  Would like to have had more time to explore and hence will have to make a return trip.  The information in the county history museum on the folk artist and pioneer farmer Joseph Muhlbacher was really intriguing.  Looking forward to next year in Osage co.

City of Norman Landscape Award for Pi House

One of our flagship projects ,the Pi House, has received City of Norman Water’s Worth It™ Landscape Award. The city presents the award every month “to a resident of Norman for creative and attractive landscape maintenance and appearance, while demonstrating wise water use. Conservation techniques and native or drought tolerant vegetation are greatly encouraged”. We have made every effort to make this site as drought tolerant and eco friendly as possible. We designed and installed the irrigation system which is mostly drip based and uses a rain/freeze sensor and we have also selected plantings that need very little of the irrigation water. Our main design mandate with this project was that all plantings should be either native, water-wise or edible. It’s nice to be recognized by the City for this project and the award itself is a really cool idea. I hope it will encourage more people to consider alternatives to the landscape status quo and to conserve our precious water resources.  I’m also hoping that the city won’t be able to complain about our Wheat/Sweet Potato rotation Ag lawn since they’re giving us an award! I’ll be posting more about this project as time permits (thus far I’ve only covered the interesting little patio design.)

water wise buffer zone

Water wise buffer zone

 

pi house 9 '14

Buffalo Grass lawn Buffalo Grass lawn

switch grass

Switch grass

view of sweet potatoes in the Ag lawn area

Sweet potatoes in the Ag lawn area 

Rubeckia Subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’

henry eillers
Height: 4-5 feet
Spread: 2-3 feet
Type: Perennial
Origin: Central US including parts of eastern Oklahoma
Exposure: Sun or Partial Shade
Water: moderate
Edible: ?
Medicinal: possible
Companions: Little Bluestem, Big Bluestem, Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, Lead Plant, Baptisia, Prairie Dropseed, Blue Grama

Notes: The one of a kind look and performance of this selection of Sweet Coneflower puts aside arguments against selections and cultivars. In our experience this is a very robust cloned cultivar that’s not too fussy about water and light requirements and blooms for much of the summer and into the fall. It’s quilled ray flowers are very striking and unique and share something of an aesthetic kinship with the unique rays of Gaillardia Aestivalis Prairie Gaillardia. Think of this as a unique Rudbeckia for the back of beds.
Here’s some more information about the introduction of this selection and an Illinois Route 66 prairie project of Mr. Eiler’s.

Oklahoma Native Plant Society Hike at Lake Arcadia

It was a nice cool morning for a ONPS walkabout around the Lake Arcadia Conservation Education Area last Saturday.  I saw some new things, learned some new things and had a good time.  Here are some highlights.

Passiflora Incarnata

Passiflora Incarnata

onps 2

Cephalanthus occidentalis “Button Bush”

Schizycharium Scoparium "Little Bluestem" field

Schizycharium Scoparium “Little Bluestem” field

Ipomoea Pandurata "Wild Sweet Potato"

Ipomoea Pandurata “Wild Sweet Potato”

Andropogon Gerardii "Big Bluestem" and Sorghastrum Nutans "Indian Grass"

Andropogon Gerardii “Big Bluestem” and Sorghastrum Nutans “Indian Grass”