Streamside Buffer Plantings for Earth Day!

May 3, 2012 by Stephanie

We did it!  On April 28, the Friends of Glen Providence Park planted elegant native trees, shrubs, ferns, grasses, and perennials along Broomall’s Run near the pond, to stabilize the streambank in an area of serious erosion.  This also creates a riparian buffer, improves wildlife habitat, and beautifies the park!

Thank you to the 23 volunteers who answered our call to bring shovels, pickaxes and wheelbarrows. They didn’t just help us carry materials, dig, install fencing, and cut matting… without exception, they did it with smiles, laughter and fun!  People quickly found their specialty, from preparing the plants or cutting deer fencing, to driving in fence posts or adorning the new plant beds with attractive rocks.  And 9 children carried buckets from the stream to water the newly planted beauties!

Of course our moods were buoyed by the delicious coffee donated by Seven Stones Cafe, and the yummy sandwiches donated by Planet Hoagie.   And we were lucky to have delightfully cool and dry weather – having rescheduled our planting from April 22 due to heavy rain.

Volunteers worked for an average of 4.5 hours on Saturday, with some working over 8 hours… and that’s just the day of the event!  Check out our fun-while-working photos below.

 

We have so many to thank for planning and funding:

– Delaware County’s Parks & Recreation, Environmental Planning, and Conservation District: for their guidance in selecting and planning this project

– Parks & Recreation: for the donation and early delivery of the bench, the pick up and delivery of the plants (on a weekend morning!), and the donation and delivery of woodchips

– Conservation District: for their Mini-Grant, their loan of their post driver and other supplies, and their patience with our numerous questions about deer fencing!

– The Reformation Lutheran Church of Media: for their remarkable generosity. After Pastor Larry Smoose saw our presentation at Media Rotary about the nature and history of this lovely park, his church voted to donate the matching funds for our Mini-Grant!

– Media Providence Friends School, Redbud Native Plant Nursery, and Garden Coach Marcia Tate: for their invaluable guidance and assistance

 

The next time you visit the park, we hope you enjoy sitting on the bench to appreciate these beautiful native trees, shrubs and perennials:

Trees:
3 Riverbirch, 2 Serviceberry & 1 Fringetree

Shrubs:
4 Winterberry, 3 Red-osier Dogwood & 3 Arrowwood Viburnum

Perennials:
Sensitive Fern, Switch Grass, Pennsylvania Sedge, Echinacea, Blue Wood Aster & Golden Ragwort

 

Photos by George Tate.  Click on any photo below for a closer look.