St. Therese Parking Lot Island Native Gardens
Kansas City, MO
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to see additional photos
Photos: Mary Nemecek
Size: Two are 40 x 8 feet; two others are 20 x 4 feet
Year established: 2016
Year induced: 2021
Category: Volunteer managed
Entrance Fee: Free
Description: Native grasses and wildflowers fill four parking lot islands between the church and the school. The gardens were sponsored by the Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City, with funding provided from a National Fish & Wildlife Foundation grant via Burroughs and from the Missouri Department of Conservation. While each garden was planted with a similar schematic and plan, the plants have decided on which island and what part of that island they wish to live.
Even these relatively small, seemingly inhospitable spaces are refuges for butterflies and pollinating insects, especially as compared to the rock-filled parking lot islands on the rest of the campus. After plants flower, dozens of American goldfinches visit to feast on the flower seedheads.
The gardens were established with plugs; some plants that did not fare well have been replaced, and volunteers have added sweet coneflower (Rudbeckia subtomentosa) to provide blooms in July and August. The gardens are weeded by volunteers during the growing season. Spent foliage is left in place until mid-late winter when it is cut down. Coreopsis is deadheaded once it finishes blooming. A challenge is that in winter, the islands are where salt-laced snow is piled from the parking lot. Still, the gardens thrive.
What Makes this Garden Excellent:
These 100% native plantings attract and support birds, bees, and butterflies in a place not often associated with native plants. The location was purposefully chosen so that people could come into contact with native plants while attending a service or dropping off/picking up children for school—so that exposure to natives has become a daily occurrence for many people. This once sterile and barren parking lot is now alive with wildlife!
Ten Great Native Plants to See Here:
Baptisia australis (false blue indigo)
Oenothera macrocarpa (Missouri evening primrose)
Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf coreopsis)
Amsonia ciliata (thread-leaf bluestar)
Asclepias viridis (spider milkweed)
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)
Echinacea pallida (pale purple coneflower)
Solidago drummondii (cliff goldenrod)
Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem)
Signage: None
Accessibility: Full accessible by car, foot, or assistive device.
Location:
7207 NW Hwy 9, Kansas City, MO 64152
Coordinates:
39° 14′ 36.528” N 94° 39′ 31.824” W
39.243480, -94.658840
For More Information:
Mary Nemecek at msnemecek@aol.com