Big Bluestem-

We’re putting together a native garden at my service site. If this works out the way I hope, it may be the longest lasting project I complete here. With any luck, three years from now the students here will have their own source of juneberries and sweetgrass, and will be able to learn about native pollinators and the importance of protecting them. 

Little Bluestem-

It’s not something a lot of people asked for, though. Honestly, sometimes it feels like there’s only three or four of us who are really all that interested in it. Still though, it includes some of my favorite tasks for a project. For one thing you need to think about the landscape of the garden: where is there the most sun, the most water, and how much do you have of each. Then you need to consider which plants to use and what their needs are. It’s not easy using online lists of “Recommended Montana Native Plants” because Montana has such a range of environments. There are lots of pretty mountain wildflowers that look lovely on those lists, but you can’t take it for granted that they’ll do well over here in the central grasslands.

Sweetgrass-

Then we got a book called Cornucopia: a Source Book for Edible Plants, which leads to the next question: if the garden is an educational space, what do you want to prioritize in it? What is its purpose? Zoo Montana has a native garden focusing on the medicinal uses of native plants. It’s pretty cool if you ever get a chance to see it. Separate from that they also have a monarch garden, or a garden designed to attract Monarch Butterflies. Those types of gardens don’t need to be just native plants though. There are still leftover seeds at the center from when there was a vegetable/herb garden, but not all of those are native either. Out of those potential uses, we kind of picked “All of the above”. Half of the garden will be dedicated to fruits, vegetables, and other edible plants. Half of the garden will be focused on pollinators: native butterflies, bees, and moths.

Switchgrass-

Now, how do you balance all of these things? That’s my favorite part to be honest. Creating the mental image of the garden and how it will all come together, the colors, the shapes, and when everything will be in bloom. It’s like making a floral arrangement, but on a much larger scale and without having the elements in front of you. You just have to think of something that would look nice year round and then hope the plants cooperate with you. There’s been a lot of trial and error in this project. Right now, the juneberries have finished their cold stratification period and have been put in their first pots. Who knows if they’ll actually sprout though. If they don’t, they don’t, and that’s just something you have to accept. Try again next year, even if I won’t be here next year. I’m doing my best to make sure whoever comes after me doesn’t inherit a project that’s completely in shambles, and hopefully this experience is something I can bring home with me to create my own native garden.