Monday, October 6, 2008

Fern Valley Prairie planting project


Construction is nearly complete on the Fern Valley Wet Meadow project. Only the railing needs to be installed on the boardwalk, a bit of sidwalk needs to be repoured, and the temporary drain/shunt removed. So.....Today, on our Monday project, we replanted the plants that we had dug from the Prairie prior to the construction project. Last year we dug selected plants that were growing inside the area to be regraded and stored them in a coldframe. Now they are back in the Prairie.

Once I got down on my hands and knees in the basin and lifted up the coconut fibre matting, I realized that a lot of the seed mixture had germinated. I saw at least 6 different taxa, though all the individuals were small. You can see that the annual oats have germinated (the bright green area in the right-center back of the photo. To the seedlings we added plants of Eupatorium, Thalictrum, and Helianthus salicifolius. Drier areas received Salvia azurea, Helianthus occidentalis, Sporobilis, Dalea, Coreopsis, and other assorted species. We still have some Liatris to plant and some more Helianthus. Some Salvia azurea will go on the dry hill above the Capitol Columns parking lot. Also some Opuntia humifusa. It's good to get the plants out of the cold frame and back into the ground.

No comments: