During our early planning stages when we started managing the Wildlife Center property we came up with the idea of creating a native fruit orchard. One of our goals here was to find a way to connect wildlife, native plants and the agricultural landscape in unique ways. Since we already had naturally occurring pawpaw trees and added an additional 45 near our buildings, we felt a persimmon orchard was a great fit since both wildlife and people can enjoy their fruit and we didn’t have any on the property already.
Partnering with Kollar Nursery, a wonderful local nursery that specializes in many native plants and supports our work, we not only got our nicely started persimmon trees but we included a handful of hazelnut as well as some hackberry that would benefit wildlife. To aid in the honey production of our future bee hives we are planning to add next year, we also planted basswood and honey locust.
We had some areas we have designated to reforest so we took the opportunity to add some more native trees that would boost the diversity of our site. These included Eastern redbud and American elm, both of which are host plants for a variety of moths and butterflies while also benefiting bird species.
We want to thank our dedicated and hardworking volunteers who endured the cold and hard soil to help plant over 50 trees so that we could begin to enjoy them as they start to grow this spring.
We hope to serve as a demonstration of various ideas and techniques that can help encourage the restoration of our native landscape and show how our homes, public lands, farms and commercial properties can better serve not only wildlife but all of us.
