Gullett Elementary
The meadow a month after installation.
The idea was simple: Convert the overgrown and little-used space outside the row of 4th grade classes into a lush native meadow with only the resources we had on hand. With just under $10k of cash from our landscaping business we designed a space for the kids to run and play, explore, eat snacks, read under the trees, and enjoy the new wildlife coming to find a new home. But the space also needed to address drainage runoff from surrounding roofs, as well as lower ground temps from the beating sun at the beginning and end of school years. Needless to say, there were a few bumps along the way (weeds and trees and bermuda, oh my!).
Native seedlings a few months after installation.
To some it might’ve looked like we did a whole lot of work to replace one mountain of overgrown plants with another. But upon closer inspection the ground was teaming with dozens of species of native wildflowers and grasses.
The meadow in bloom near the end of the school year.
The first year overall was a success. Shortly after the meadow grew high enough to provide habitat a family of bunnies moved in, delighting students and faculty. Butterflies, hummingbirds, and other critters were constantly flitting about. On one visit to the school a couple of students told us the names of some of the species in bloom, facts they had learned in their science class that semester while exploring the meadow (little did they know we put them there, muahahaha…). But there were also challenges. The plants grew unusually tall and large—possibly from a wet spring and intense competition with each other, possibly from an explosion of nitrogen from the decomposing remains of many school animals which had been interred in the area—which shaded out seeds of later germinating species of grasses and summer/fall blooming species. We would have to reseed these species in the fall. We were pleased with the successes, determined to solve the challenges.
The lunch tables a few days before Summer Break.
After cutting back the meadow in fall, we reseeded the grass species and are planning regular cutbacks throughout spring to keep everything low, providing light and air to seeds that germinate later in the year. We’re already implementing these learnings into our future projects like Davis Elementary School and our new installations for this year. We can’t wait to see this project develop into a mature meadow!