Bunker Hills Regional Park
About
The garden at Bunker Hills Regional Park showcases the many diverse ways you can bring native plants into just about any landscape. For a large area, consider a seeded pollinator meadow! The majority of the garden at Bunker Hills was grown from a native seed mix. Growing a meadow from seed can take a lot of time; it often takes three years or more for a seeded meadow to start showing a diversity of blooms and mature plants. But seeding a large area can be very cost effective compared with the investment to purchase and plant hundreds or even thousands of plant plugs.
If you are working in a site with existing trees or shade, consider a woodland planting. There are many native woodland plants that have adapted to tolerate dry to wet soil conditions, and full shade to part sunlight. Many of these plants won’t have the most showy flowers, but their leaf color and texture really stands out! Check out the Blue Thumb Plant Finder to help identify the best native plants for your tricky site.
But if you are lucky enough to have a sunny spot that you walk by or look at frequently, you’ll never go wrong with a classic butterfly garden. Garden designer, Diana Grundeen at Trio Landscapes, took advantage of the sunny walkway to bring visitors to the park close to some of the most popular pollinator plants in gardens across Minnesota. By placing smaller plants closer to high traffic areas, you prevent taller blooms from flopping into the walkway and you keep the walkway inviting and accessible.
