Master Naturalist Capstone Project Completed

Today's post is going to be the story and pictures of the completion of my Master Naturalist Capstone Project, which if you remember was adding flower and fruiting plants to the Bird and Bee Study Area as a memorial tribute to a gentleman who passed away last year. Some friends and members of his family were going to help with the planting which took place last Saturday (Father's Day weekend).

So I started digging some woodland wildflowers at the residence of another Master Naturalist alumni who volunteered some of his native plants. On June 4th, we dug up wild ginger, wild columbine, white violets, and some Canada mayflowers. (They also gave me a small hackberry seedling that I still need to find a spot for in my backyard.) Because it was still weeks till the planting day, I had to keep these plants somewhere at my place that was cool, reasonably shady and close by (so I wouldn't forget to water them!) The perfect staging area turned out on the sidewalk right outside our front door.
As you can see, it got a little bit crowded once the entire collection of dug-up and purchased plants was complete!

I also was able to dig up and divide two huge hostas from my gardens. This is Hosta "Krossa Regal." It has lovely pale lavender-colored flowers on an almost 5 foot stalk.

That sucker weighed a ton! I was wishing I had a bigger wheelbarrow.

Here's the other hosta that went: Hosta "Royal Standard." This one has the most fragrant and beautiful white flowers -- again on a really tall stem.

The planting party was set to take place from 9:00-11:00 on Saturday morning, so I got up early and started loading everything into Mr. Johnson's Tahoe. Holy Cow! It didn't look like that much stuff outside! And there's no more room for the hostas!

Well, hopefully the hosta tubs will fit in the second seat.......

......and they did. It's a good thing we have this enclosed truck for transporting plants; I think they would have gotten pretty beat-up in the back of a pick-up.


I wrote the names of the plants on orange flag markers so I could stick them in the ground and people would know which plants went where. These are the main viewing windows from the nature center out towards the little pond and bird feeders. The hostas were going here. It's my hope that once they start producing those tall flowers, the flowers should come right up to the bottom of the windows and visitors will be able to get some really close looks at the hummingbirds and butterflies that come to those flowers.

This is another area that was going to get a couple of hostas, plus the jack-in-the-pulpits that I had dug up from under my deck. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see a little green square on the center frame of the window down towards the bottom. This is the entrance/exit for an indoor beehive (look at the left side of the window and those big dark squares you see inside are the actual beehive--encased in clear plexiglass so people can watch the bee activity).

Fortunately, the morning was still pretty cool so I went ahead and planted these flowers early so as not to disturb the bees too much.

Under this sign, there were a couple of wild asters to be planted (this area gets a little bit of afternoon sun). There's also a yew in the background to provide cover for the birds and a bit of color in the wintertime.

Along the backside of this little pond, we planted the wild columbines. They will grow pretty tall but won't interfere with any views of the pond. In the background is another yew to be planted and in the foreground are a couple more jack-in-the-pulpits that didn't fit in the other spot.

In the front of the pond, there was a box full of wild ginger to be planted. Wild ginger is nice and low-growing and this was a perfect spot for it because it wouldn't obscure any views of the pond from the inside viewing area.

Underneath this tree, the white violets would find a new home.

Under this window and receiving a bit of afternoon sun, were two lobelia plants: one red (cardinal flower) and one blue (Great Blue Lobelia). I hope these make it as their tall flower stems will be quite attractive to the hummingbirds, bees and butterflies here.

This is the main sign at the front of the garden. I purchased a bee balm ("Petite Delight") and two Violet Dusk Bearded Tongue (penstemon) to be planted by the sign.

And lastly, there was this sunny, south-facing part of the garden where all of the flowering/fruiting shrubs were to be planted. For this area, I purchased: 2 each of Cardinal Red Osier Dogwood, an Autumn Magic Black Chokeberry, and 2 viburnums--Blue Muffin and Emerald Triumph.

So once everything was marked, I was ready for the family to arrive and get to work. Fortunately, my teacher Kirk was the liaison with the family and he did a great job of remembering everyone's names and making sure all the equipment they needed for digging, watering, etc. was available. I was more worried about getting everything done in the allotted time and usually am more comfortable staying in the background being a "worker bee" anyway.

Once everything was planted, it was time to start watering. Here are a couple of the grandkids with their water buckets watering one of the yews.

The kids did a lot of planting of the smaller plants in the pots, but the novelty of that chore wore off as they discovered the wonders inside the nature center and also the chance to play in the pond. Here, one of the dads takes over to finish planting the wild ginger.

This little girl was so cute! She and her mom got these plants by the sign into the ground. There was a lot of fascination with the worms discovered while planting; I think that's what the little girl standing up has in her hand.

I sent the big guys up to the front to dig the big holes for the shrubs. As you can see, there were plenty of 'supervisors' out there to help them!

And here are a couple of looks at where my hostas will be enjoying their new home. I think these spots will be perfect for them!

This was a fun project for me. I created a little hand-out for the family that thanked them for allowing me the opportunity to work on this project on their behalf and for giving me the chance to improve some habitat for the birds, wildlife and insects. I included a listing of the flowers and shrubs we planted that day and also invited them to come back in the future and visit this garden planted in memory of their loved one.

The grandchildren had created stepping stones and we added them to this garden.

I had a great time planning and choosing plants for this garden and was really happy with how well the project went. I can't wait to see how beautiful it will be next spring when all of the flowers are blooming. I will be keeping an eye on this garden and will be sure to get some pictures to share with you as everything continues to grow.