What Does it Take to Maintain a Native Plant Garden?

May 25, 2024

Maggie Rocchio

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

The practice of growing native plants has had a recent surge in popularity as a way to maintain sustainable communities. Given Purchase’s mission to work towards a more sustainable campus, a garden specifically devoted to the cultivation of various native plants and flowers was started a few years ago, which can be found behind the Dance Building. The Native Plant Garden, which is open to the larger Purchase community, is a welcoming space that is maintained by Purchase students and professors.

This 2024 spring semester also marks the beginning of various sustainability internships that are each focused on different facets of sustainable efforts being implemented within the Purchase community. Professor of Environmental Studies, Allyson Jackson, is working directly with the various students and the garden. A particularly interesting aspect of these internships is that they are open to all majors. So even though I am a Sociology major, I am still participating alongside students of varied majors.

Not only are native plants pretty to look at, but they provide innumerable benefits to local ecosystems. Primarily, indigenous planting is beneficial for protection of the topsoil, local pollinators, and other animals that interact with the environment.

Alongside these benefits, it is important to be aware of the difficulties that come into play when attempting to start a successful native garden. When I became a Native Plant Garden intern, I had expected to immediately begin working with the actual garden space to some capacity. To my surprise, we actually began our work in one of the lab rooms of the Natural Science Building. Given that this was a “Native” Plant Garden, I had falsely assumed that we would be able to easily cultivate new growth without the help of any other scientific pursuits.

However, most native plants that exist today have done so for hundreds of years and have developed strong and routine growing cycles. Our plants, on the other hand, are not yet at that level. I had a conversation with Professor Jackson about this topic, and she explained that in past years the new sprouts have been eaten or tampered with by deer and other animals. While animal interaction is a pro to native gardening, it is important to ensure that the plants are developed enough to actually grow throughout the season.

For these reasons, we began our work last week by potting the various seeds and placing them in thermo-regulated environments that simulate spring or winter. The beginning of the germination process does not require sunlight until sprouting occurs. As of right now, some of the native plants have already begun to sprout. After sprouting, we move them to a room with plenty of sun exposure to further develop. By doing this, we ensure that the plants get a fighting chance of staying alive once we actually place them in the garden.

The fellow interns and Professor Jackson are very optimistic about these adjustments to the growing process. Even though the garden is small in scale, it and other efforts all play a collective role in promoting a sustainable Purchase community. Follow the Native Plant Garden on Instagram @purchasecollegegarden and stay posted for upcoming events!

Margaret Rocchio

2023 Cohort