Native Plant Garden, Hendricks Park

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Copy for Native Plant Garden Flyer/Brochure (Panel 3, or 3 +4) A Native Plant Garden at Hendricks Park Creation of a native plant garden forms an essential and integral part of the Hendricks Park Forest Management Plan, which was accepted by the Eugene City Council in January 2000. The plan was drafted by citizens who comprised the Departmental Advisory Committee, together with consultants in park planning, biology and forestry, with assistance from city staff. Citizens, staff and consultants all recognized that establishing a native plant garden in the area surrounding the historic F.M. Wilkins picnic shelter is a key component in the vision of the park. The native plant garden, as envisioned by citizens and staff, will play numerous vital roles in the integrated management of the Park and forest. Foremost is the need to improve safety and reduce the threat of windthrow in the area around the picnic shelter. Excess water around the roots of summer drought-tolerant Douglas -fir trees can contribute to root damage and failure of those trees. Establishing a garden composed primarily of native species will significantly reduce the need for summer irrigation, promoting increased stability of overstory trees around the picnic shelter. Planners and citizen advisors also highlighted the importance of working to integrate the various • social and natural components of Hendricks Park; in particular, the Rhododendron Garden; the shelter area, the picnic area and the natural forested area. A pivotal element of that integrated vision is a native plant garden to serve as a living bridge between the Rhododendron Garden to the north and the natural forest area to the south. Further, it will provide a transition to the forest meadow ecotype of the picnic/play area across the road from the shelter. In addition, a native plant garden will fulfill a crucial educational purpose by introducing visitors to local native plants in a variety of ways. Creation of a native plant garden will help fulfill ecological, educational and safety goals identified during the management planning process, and is thus considered one of the Top Action Priorities in the Hendricks Park Forest Management Plan. (Panel 4) The Concept A visit to the Native Plant Garden will provide people with a better knowledge of the native plants of our local area and ideas for incorporating native plants into their own landscapes. The garden will display native plants in a variety of natural settings and conditions, as well as in conjunction with established ornamentals. Because the heart of the park already offers a variety of such settings, changes to the existing Park landscape will be minimal. Specific garden styles identified during the design process are shown on the map at the right. These include landscapes of a "Natural" style, a "Garden" style and a "Semi natural" style, which will illustrate applications in a variety of settings including residential, commercial and forest -edge landscapes. The Natural style areas will feature native plant species, whereas the Garden and Semi Natural style areas will include a mixture of native plants and ornamentals.