Community-Based Wildlife Gardens
Joe’s Wildlife Garden is our model—view this slide show to learn more.
Adapting the Model
For a neighborhood association, faith-based community, school—
In Spring of 2022, PGAS Habitat Advisor Sydney Sowell took the lead as her Calvert County community planted a pollinator garden, following the PRISM model. This is her summary of the effort.
First, a plan was submitted the previous November to our community association for approval, complete with garden dimensions, chosen location by our community pond, and a garden design using only Maryland native straight species plants. We then applied in December for a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, for which we received $2,000 for our 600 square foot garden. We designed a sign crediting the Chesapeake Bay trust and including the slogan “Doing our Part for Biodiversity”. The sign included photos of local flowers, butterflies and bees.
In the spring, we organized several neighborhood work sessions. The first was to prepare the garden area with very close cutting and hard raking of the turf grass, followed by placement of newspaper and mulch, which was left for a few weeks before planting to kill off any remaining turf grass.
Our second session, on Earth Day, was the planting, as a community wide activity, and the placement of a fence and our newly made sign.
Community members took turns watering over the next two months. By fall the garden was mature and beautiful beyond our expectations!
For a university campus—
Goal: to take the model we use to help homeowners transform their yards into habitat, and apply it—space by space—to the campus.
Plan: along with Erin Reed-Miller, Bird-friendly Communities Coordinator at Patterson Park Audubon Center in Baltimore, PGAS trained members of Epsilon Eta (a co-ed, professional fraternity focusing on Environmental Science and Sustainability) as Habitat Advisors who are now evaluating native gardens, woodland areas, and meadows on campus that are candidates for certification. With support from the Habitat Program they will report on their status—either ready for certification as wildlife friendly habitat or still in need of some specific steps.
View the progression of Joe’s Wildlife Garden from May 2022 through January 2023
