Students from John Ireland Catholic School and Gustavus plant wildflowers in the Arb.
Working with Gustavus Linnaeus Arboretum Director Scott Moeller, students in GEG-105 Physical Geography paired with students from John Ireland Catholic School to plant wildflowers in the deciduous woods of the Arboretum on Tuesday, May 9. The deciduous trees, planted about 40 years ago, are now large enough to begin shading out invasive grasses; this will allow spring-blooming wildflowers to establish themselves under the trees. Students gave the flowers a leg up by planting over 250 plants in five “colonies” under larger trees. In years to come, we imagine the Arb filled with these gorgeous blooming wildflowers in spring!
Geography major Melissa Nelson (’17) with a student from John Ireland Catholic School. (Photo by Scott Moeller.)
KEYC News covered the planting here.
GEG-105 Physical Geography students don costumes to show how climate change can create a mismatch in timing between bee pollination and the brief flowering of spring ephemeral wildflowers.
Earlier in the semester, Physical Geography students prepared lessons on deciduous woods and spring wildflowers for the elementary students.
The project was made possible with a grant Linnaeus Arboretum secured from Pheasants Forever.