West Virginia University Potomac State College Green Team members (l-r) Agriculture
Professor Donna Ballard, Chemistry Professor Josh Carder, and Biology Instructor
Farren Smith stand in front of the Certified Wildlife Habitat Native Flower Garden
on the hillside near Science Hall on the PSC campus. The Wildlife Habitat was a
collaborative effort between students and faculty.
The Potomac State Green Team (PSGT) is pleased to announce the establishment of a Certified Wildlife Habitat Native Flower Garden on the campus of West Virginia University Potomac State College.
This collaborative project was made possible by the PSGT, a working group comprised of Potomac State College faculty, staff, and students committed to advancing environmentally sustainable projects on campus.
This beautiful flower garden was truly a hands-on project with students growing plants from seeds in the PSC campus greenhouse. A faculty landscape designer planned the design with ecological and aesthetic goals in mind while the grounds crew prepared the site and coordinated the necessary supplies. Students and faculty then came together to plant the site, transforming a previously underutilized, hard-to-mow site into a thriving ecosystem.
In addition to receiving adequate sun, this unique location helps capture rainwater run-off from the parking lot above it, and as an added benefit, sits along the migratory pattern of local wildlife.
Native wildflowers are preferred for the simple reason that native plants and animals have adapted together for thousands of years, making native gardens especially biodiverse. Unlike lawns or other non-native plantings, these gardens offer low-cost, low-maintenance benefits to the local ecosystem by providing shelter, food sources, and water collection that is crucial for pollinators and other wildlife facing habitat loss.
Featured native plants include swamp milkweed ( Asclepias incarnata), the host plant variety for the threatened monarch butterfly species and switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum ) which creates a dense shaded habitat for nesting creatures, as well as coneflower ( Echinacea purpurea) and black-eyed Susan ( Rudbeckia hirta ), a food source as seed and nectar for butterflies and birds.
Interested in starting your own native wildflower garden at home? Reach out to a Green Team member, including Farren Smith, Donna Ballard, Josh Carder, George Cayton, or any other Green Team member. We would love to help you get started.
Keep a watchful eye for more projects by the Potomac State Green Team. We have a variety of fun projects planned for the upcoming academic year, including more wildflowers!