Not Pretty Enough
Bringing natural areas to suburban and urban parks
By Arnie Biondo
Photos: Centerville-Washington Park District
“Hey, mow down those blankety-blank weeds!”
Any park agency that adds native prairies, pollinator gardens, wildflower areas, or monarch waystations has heard a version of this. Why is that? There are many reasons why such areas bring heated words from some neighbors. They are breeding areas for rats and vermin, and, yes, for mosquitos. It’s not what a park is supposed to look like. Parks should be mowed. If you are not mowing, then you are lazy or—worse—wasting taxpayers’ money.
A Few Good Reasons
The real source of complaint comes from perception. In the USA for decades, parks have been places of wall-to-wall mowed turf. It’s simply what most people are used to. Mowed lawns are the paradigm for park appearance. While there is nothing wrong with mowed turf, there are good reasons for park departments to bring natural areas into neighborhood parks:
• Introduce new colors and textures
• Provide cleaner air with less mowing
• Provide cleaner water
• Use fewer herbicides and pesticides
• Offer a nature-study opportunity
• Attract birds and butterflies
• Provide children a place to play and use their imagination.
From the park and recreation management perspective, there are more benefits:
• Less time mowing means more time for other duties.
• Less money is spent on fuel.
• Hazardous mowing duty is reduced on hard-to-mow slopes.
• Programmers are provided a ready outdoor classroom.
Areas To Consider
There are a variety of ways to get started or to expand open areas:
• Corners and slopes. Nearly every park has places where people never go. Typically, these are corners and steep slopes. Areas can also be parking lot islands or spaces between ball fields. Start in a few of these areas to see how it goes.
• Native, flowering plants. When there are flowers, there is greater acceptance. Wherever possible, try for a mixture of flowering plants so some are in bloom all season or all year.
• Butterfly gardens. Only the hardest heart dislikes butterflies. Begin with a small bed with native plants that specifically draw butterflies. Sign it as such. Highlight the garden, the butterflies, etc., on the website and in your brochure. Just draw attention to it. Once it’s accepted, add more or expand it.
• Remote spots. Unless you have homeowners requesting plants behind their houses—don’t. Keep natural plantings far from homes. They are not weeds, but trying to convince angry homeowners otherwise is like spitting in the wind. Rather, let them appreciate from a distance. Plantings may be better received if put along a street or highway bordering the park.
• Landscape beds. Plant the beds at the recreation center, town hall, or sports complex with flowering natives and interesting grasses. For some reason, these are more readily accepted. An option is to use large pots or planter boxes. Then, if they are accepted, move on to beds. If not, go to plan B.
• Supplements. Native plants typically take three years to fully root and mature. That means there may be few—if any—flowers in the early days. So, supplement. A quick online search of annual flower seeds yields many suggestions. In the Midwest, candidates for seeds to sow in spring are zinnias, cornflower, cosmos, dill, and others.
• Low and slow. It’s not necessary to plant all forms of native plants. To project a less-dramatic silhouette, select plants that only grow 18 to 24 inches tall. Similarly, it’s not necessary to replicate the mixture of plants that were in prairies and meadows in 1803. Your initial native-plant beds can be a display of just some flowering plants that are not commonly thought of as “natives.” The Missouri Department of Conservation suggests many, such as purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, prairie blazing star, buffalo grass, and columbine. Check with your state department of natural resources or conservation for what might work in your area.
• Sign it. Small, simple, inexpensive signs can go a long way in heading off opposition. When there is a sign at the start of planting, it gives an answer to “What the heck are they doing?” Signs can be whatever sounds good. Some possibilities: “butterfly garden,” “Where we don’t mow, birds and butterflies go,” “prairie restoration,” or “native plant museum.”
Where To Begin
There are many ways to get started with natural areas in neighborhood parks, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be accepted by the general public. However, we can’t force-feed natural areas to residents and expect their friendship. The refrain, “We have to educate the public,” seldom finds willing pupils. So, can neighborhood and community parks co-exist with natural areas? In a word, yes, but we need to be smart, flexible, and open.
The best approach is to begin with allies. Who might be allies? Start with scouts or other youth groups. If kids are planning and planting, and then talking about their gardens, adults are more accepting. If the high school has an environmental club, ask if the students would like to partner—and give them publicity and credit! Other allies would be any local group that is into nature, such as birders, hikers, backpackers, campers, the Audubon Society, arboretums, environmental councils, etc. Once these folks become partners, they will promote the benefits and give the public backing you need. Even local businesses, water departments, and non-profits may wish to participate.
Be Patient And Flexible
Like taxes and death, it’s a certainty that, no matter the place, approach, or partner, someone will adamantly argue against the natural area in a neighborhood. When this happens, be open and ask for suggestions. If the complainer doesn’t like the native garden here, where in the park might be better? What if it were smaller or different? When Centerville-Washington Park District in Ohio planned what seemed like a perfect, flowering, serpentine bed along a path, it was met with stiff resistance, so the question was asked, “Where would be OK?” All agreed—move it to the south side of the park. It’s been there for years with no problems.
Natural areas should be wonderful additions with many benefits, but generally speaking, they’re not worth fighting over. When planting, think about alternate locations or even alternate plant mixtures. It’s not that expensive or difficult to remove a native-plant garden and return it to turf. Just move it to an alternate location.
When talking about native plantings, the conversation is typically about prairies and similar meadow-type plants. Don’t rule out trees. Reforestation is another form of bringing nature to parks. And, for whatever reason, people don’t seem to object to planting trees. The concept is similar. Just identify native trees; select appropriate park locations and enlist some partners.
Native plantings can be a little like the beauty and the beast. Some see a beauty and some see a beast. With some forethought, flexibility, partners, and strategy, native plants will beautify your parks. Once established and common, they’ll be the expected and accepted features. Just like mowed grass.
Arnie Biondo is the Director for the Centerville-Washington Park District in Centerville, Ohio. Reach him at (937) 433-5155, or abiondo@cwpd.org.