The Board of the Wild Ones St. Louis Chapter has become increasingly aware of groups of dedicated volunteers in the St. Louis region who are working hard in their local communities to further the organization’s mission: promote environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration, and establishment of native plant communities.
We are initiating a series of blog posts to celebrate, support and learn from these communities. Each post will showcase the work of one ‘hyper-local’ group. Of course, the groups we know about include active Wild Ones St. Louis members. You may know that National Wild Ones has Seedling Chapters; young, new chapters which are working to grow into big strong tree-like chapters. Similarly, we will refer to the local groups we highlight as Seed Pods; collections of people who have various types of native landscaping ‘seeds’ and ‘dispersal mechanisms’.
The first Seed Pod we are featuring is Grantwood Village.
post written by Savannah Furman, with contributions from Susan Rohde, Kevin Bley, Florence Stalley, Andrea Durway, and Laura Yates
Wild Ones St. Louis has decided to showcase local neighborhoods, Seed Pods, that embrace native landscaping and that assist in connecting neighbors with resources and expertise. Grantwood Village is proud to be the first Seed Pod to be highlighted.
The garden is located at the entrance to Forest Haven/Grantwood Village on South Laclede Station Rd, between Gravois Rd and South Rock Hill Rd
Why Grantwood Village? For numerous reasons! First, Grantwood Village residents enjoy the benefits of a mature tree canopy. The village honored this legacy by establishing a community tree board and tree protection ordinance which requires having a good reason to remove and prune trees, and when a valued tree is removed, a comparable replacement must be planted.
Second, residents enjoy free tree consultations from the Village Arborist and tree board president, Laura Yates. Laura is a certified arborist and ecological horticulturalist (and a member of Wild Ones too!). This is a unique position and formalizes the importance and value the community places on sustaining its trees. In addition, Grantwood Village has numerous interested residents, including several Wild Ones members (Savannah Furman, Susan and Ed Rohde, and Jennifer and Scott Iverson), to champion the use of native plants in landscaping throughout our community. Also, these residents share their experience with their neighbors and demonstrate how they can incorporate native plants in their gardens so they can experience the wonder of nature outside their front doors.
Third, this group of resident native plant enthusiasts gained the village Board of Trustees’ support for renovating all the landscape beds at village entrances using native plants and sustainable landscape practices. The trustees hired Susan Van de Riet (Business member of Wild Ones St. Louis) to develop model designs for all the entrance landscapes in Grantwood Village. To date, we have installed a partial sun design at one entrance and plan on installing a prairie/glade landscape this year. The Board of Trustees Chairman has expressed his support for expanding our efforts to include more entrances in the near future.
Grantwood Village has achieved these successes due to the growing number of environmentally considerate residents that love the natural beauty of our community. Van de Riet says she gets several contacts from Grantwood Village residents who are interested in having native plants in their yards. She noted that Grantwood Village takes great care of and pride in its community forest and believes there are many in our community who love and support native plants and whose own yards showcase their application. Whether people are drawn to this area because of the trees and the native plant connection with wildlife or whether the trees were connected in some way to their eventual interest in native plants is not clear.
Regardless, the impact is making a difference in the biodiversity and sustainability of our community. As one resident put it, “It is a good idea to plant native flowers since they can handle Missouri weather conditions better.” Other enlightened gardeners have realized that increased biodiversity of native plants facilitate an increase in beneficial insects and desirable wildlife which won’t thrive with non-native plants. Since increasing the use of native gardens and trees, residents have seen a noticeable increase in native wildlife including bird species, butterflies, and mammals. Susan Rohde described some experiences in her yard including frost flowers on dittany in the winter, hummingbirds gathering fuzz from robin’s plantain seed heads during midsummer, and the unique spicebush swallowtail caterpillar munching on spicebush leaves.
And finally, as is the case with most gardeners, residents of Grantwood Village who are native plant enthusiasts welcome newcomers. They are a diverse group united in their commitment to native plants and sustainable landscapes. A recent convert says, “I have met many who are helpful, kind and eager to share their knowledge, which is refreshing during these divisive times.” They acknowledge that creating sustainable native landscaping is not “leaving it alone,” it is an ongoing learning process. And Grantwood Village has an exceptional network of caring neighbors available to help with that process! In addition to people connections, the ecological impact of the growing number of residential native habitats in Grantwood Village is connecting with bordering natural areas along Gravois Creek, and at U.S Grant National Historic Site, Grant’s Farm, and Whitecliff Park resulting in a widespread difference.
Being known as a Seed Pod community opens opportunities to people to find out about different plants that are native to this area. Grantwood Village is among the leaders in native landscaping residential communities. Wild Ones St. Louis has recognized this enthusiasm with its selection of Grantwood as the inaugural Seed Pod community.
Definitely an inspiration.