SierraScape August-September 2005
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photos and info courtesy of Jill Miller

While most gardens are wilting under summer's intense heat and drought, one at the eastern end of Maplewood looks better every day. Purple Coneflowers stand tall, Black-Eyed Susans grow thickly, and Plains Coreopsis waves merrily in every hot, dry breeze.

The walk through our current garden.

These and other wildflowers, native to Missouri, began blooming last year thanks to volunteers from the Sierra Club's Eastern Missouri Group. Last year, volunteers set out to transform a vacant, weedy lot just west of their office into something that would enhance the neighborhood, require little water or upkeep, and teach people about the value and beauty of hardy native wildflowers.

"We wanted people to see just how beautiful and practical native Missouri wildflowers can be in an urban setting," said Penny Holtzmann, garden project manager and office coordinator for the Eastern Missouri Group. "Native plants can tolerate heat and very dry conditions far better than a lawn or most nursery-grown plants, so they help cities conserve water during droughts like this. It's also fun to come to work and notice what's blooming day by day." The garden is a work in progress that will fill in and look better each year, she added.

Coneflowers at our existing garden.

To get started, Holtzmann contacted the mayor and city council. They not only gave the project an enthusiastic "green light," but also had an attractive, curving walkway built so that residents and business people would have better access to a parking lot behind the building.

Shaw Nature Reserve, an extension of the Missouri Botanical Garden, provided wildflower seeds and even a few small trees. Under Holtzmann's guidance, volunteers prepared the soil, ridding it of fescue and invasive weeds before sowing seeds, stomping the earth, spreading straw, and watering. Volunteers gather periodically to weed, add new plants, and socialize.

Mayor Langston would like to see another wildflower garden across the street next to a city-owned parking lot.

"We'd like to do that, but it's a larger area, so we'll need more volunteers," Holtzmann said.