I particularly appreciate the quote from the campus grounds director about the amount of work needed to prevent native plantings from being overwhelmed by invasive species. On my PrincetonNatureNotes blog, I have written about the University’s past attempts to plant complex native plantings. A prairie planting around the neuroscience building lost out to mugwort, but the Betsey Stockton meadow next to the Firestone Library is hanging in there. Some of the new plantings near the soccer field have been weeded, others not.
Maintenance determines a planting’s fate. Maintenance crews need to know not only the intended plants but the many species of weeds as well. In that respect they must be even more knowledgeable than the designers, who are given higher status, recognition, and pay.
Having installed and tended native plantings at Herrontown Woods nature preserve in Princeton, I’ve found the key to success is timing the weeding before the weeds go to seed. The goal is to steadily shift the seedbank (the unsprouted seeds in the ground) from nonnative to native. Only then will native plantings become lower maintenance. In talking to one of the supervisors, I was concerned that the mulch being used might include weed seeds, which would make it impossible to progress towards lower maintenance. Perhaps the University could tap into the town’s copious quantities of woodchips. If there’s adequate budget, the University has great potential to eliminate the many invasive plants that afflict landscapes elsewhere, and demonstrate a successful collaboration with nature.
I particularly appreciate the quote from the campus grounds director about the amount of work needed to prevent native plantings from being overwhelmed by invasive species. On my PrincetonNatureNotes blog, I have written about the University’s past attempts to plant complex native plantings. A prairie planting around the neuroscience building lost out to mugwort, but the Betsey Stockton meadow next to the Firestone Library is hanging in there. Some of the new plantings near the soccer field have been weeded, others not.
Maintenance determines a planting’s fate. Maintenance crews need to know not only the intended plants but the many species of weeds as well. In that respect they must be even more knowledgeable than the designers, who are given higher status, recognition, and pay.
Having installed and tended native plantings at Herrontown Woods nature preserve in Princeton, I’ve found the key to success is timing the weeding before the weeds go to seed. The goal is to steadily shift the seedbank (the unsprouted seeds in the ground) from nonnative to native. Only then will native plantings become lower maintenance. In talking to one of the supervisors, I was concerned that the mulch being used might include weed seeds, which would make it impossible to progress towards lower maintenance. Perhaps the University could tap into the town’s copious quantities of woodchips. If there’s adequate budget, the University has great potential to eliminate the many invasive plants that afflict landscapes elsewhere, and demonstrate a successful collaboration with nature.