Ozark River Audubon raised money for a pavillion and completed the project. I was then asked to design a formal native planting to enhance the area around the pavillion.The objectives were to:Use native plants to increase bird numbers. Area would be used for events and teaching.Direct water away from the pavilion.
The pavilion is at the bottom of a hill, around the building we added drainage pipes and directed them into a raingarden below. From the seating area they would look out onto a globe which we called the nest. We had the designed priced by three local companies. The Globe could be multi functional, suggestions being:Children would be able to climb on it, Artwork and information could be pegged on it for display A coral honeysuckle vine could be grown on it People could go inside it like they were in a nest.
Secret paths lead to teaching areas so people could see the importance of certain plants:Grass - Big blue stem: vital for birds to make nests; habitat for ground birds and protection from predators.Shrubs which provided fruit for birds; plants labeled so people could recreate continuous berries all year in their yards.Building and discovery area which also included dead wood with insects living in it.
We were unsuccessful at gettng the $25,000 grant to create the Globe, but did achieve the Missouri Prairie grant of $800 for plants and the Missouri Department of Conservation did earth work for the project.
The pavilion is at the bottom of a hill, around the building we added drainage pipes and directed them into a raingarden below. From the seating area they would look out onto a globe which we called the nest. We had the designed priced by three local companies. The Globe could be multi functional, suggestions being:Children would be able to climb on it, Artwork and information could be pegged on it for display A coral honeysuckle vine could be grown on it People could go inside it like they were in a nest.
Secret paths lead to teaching areas so people could see the importance of certain plants:Grass - Big blue stem: vital for birds to make nests; habitat for ground birds and protection from predators.Shrubs which provided fruit for birds; plants labeled so people could recreate continuous berries all year in their yards.Building and discovery area which also included dead wood with insects living in it.
We were unsuccessful at gettng the $25,000 grant to create the Globe, but did achieve the Missouri Prairie grant of $800 for plants and the Missouri Department of Conservation did earth work for the project.
Rolla City Park Display Gardens
Redesigning the Rolla City Public Gardens involved many interested partners:Rolla Parks Department: Owned the land and needed to solve the problem of the water line burst so needed planting that didn't need irrigation; also wanted to fufill the promise for increasing milkweeds and pollinator plants for the 'Mayors for Monarch program'.Phelps County Master Gardeners maintained the display gardens but are aging so wanted a garden with easier maintenance; Meramec Hills Master Naturalists were successfully maintaining the informal prairie so it didn't change. But were supportive in creating other native plant gardens.Missouri Praire Foundation: Provided funding for native plants.
As landscape designer and grant writer this was a fun project for me. With funding only available from the Missouri Prairie foundation we had to use native plants and this achieved all the other criteria. We decided to remove excess gardens that were hard to maintain and focused on creating five teachable gardens: 1) Informal prairie had some invasives removed but was established and needed no changes; 2) Formal pollinator bed (to be) was completely replaced and the design focus was using native pollinator plants around 1.5' high to create a more formal look, grouping the plants to make it easier to maintain so people didn't pull the wrong plants out, and with more flowers grouped the pollinators would find them easier. We made sure to have host plants and continual flowering during the growing season.3) Shade garden; 4) Full sun shrub bed and the 5) lilac hedge. These beds had established shrubs so we filled in the beds with plants Master Gardneners had and natives from the Missouri Prairie Foundation funding.
The grant was awarded; Phelps County Master Gardeners implemented the design, use it for teaching the community, and have found them easy to maintain.
As landscape designer and grant writer this was a fun project for me. With funding only available from the Missouri Prairie foundation we had to use native plants and this achieved all the other criteria. We decided to remove excess gardens that were hard to maintain and focused on creating five teachable gardens: 1) Informal prairie had some invasives removed but was established and needed no changes; 2) Formal pollinator bed (to be) was completely replaced and the design focus was using native pollinator plants around 1.5' high to create a more formal look, grouping the plants to make it easier to maintain so people didn't pull the wrong plants out, and with more flowers grouped the pollinators would find them easier. We made sure to have host plants and continual flowering during the growing season.3) Shade garden; 4) Full sun shrub bed and the 5) lilac hedge. These beds had established shrubs so we filled in the beds with plants Master Gardneners had and natives from the Missouri Prairie Foundation funding.
The grant was awarded; Phelps County Master Gardeners implemented the design, use it for teaching the community, and have found them easy to maintain.
Construction Drawing
Pre-site photograph
Concept and Planting Plan
Cleared site
Audubon Food Forest development