City of Pittsburg to create sustainable garden in downtown area

Pittsburg’s sustainability committee is partnering with master gardeners to create a native plant garden in Immigrant Park.

Key Takeaways

• Pittsburg is installing a sustainable garden in Immigrant Park
• Master gardeners created the design using native plants
• Native plants are more sustainable than non-native species

The City of Pittsburg and its Sustainability Advisory Committee, in partnership with Kansas State University Extension Master Gardeners, plan to install a sustainable garden of native plants next to Pritchett Pavilion in Immigrant Park, located in downtown Pittsburg.

The sustainable garden is a project of Pittsburg’s sustainability committee and K-State Extension Master Gardeners. The committee, which assists the city in advancing sustainable practices and establishing goals for sustainability and environmental protection, decided that a native garden would be a good way of promoting these initiatives.  

“We wanted to promote sustainable practices in our city,” committee member Tucker Jessip said. “Our native plants are gorgeous and require fewer resources to maintain.”

Sustainable practices maintain a balance between environmental concerns and economic development. The U.N. World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Master Gardeners Sue Evanicky and Denise Poznich, who designed the native garden for Immigrant Park, represent the Wildcat Extension District, which encompasses Crawford, Labette, Montgomery and Wilson counties in Kansas. They are enthusiastic about the creation of a native plant garden in Pittsburg.

“Native plants are more sustainable because they are adapted to local conditions,” Evanicky said.

As defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a native plant is “a plant that is a part of the balance of nature that has developed over hundreds or thousands of years in a particular region or ecosystem.” A native garden uses plants that are indigenous to the area where the garden is located, and many cities are now landscaping with native plants to reduce costs and combat climate change.

Native plants play a significant role in reclaiming areas in and around Pittsburg that were decimated by strip mining. For example, several reclamation efforts by Pittsburg State University replanted lands contaminated by mining with a mixture of native plant species to provide nutrients and improve the soil structure.

The benefits of using native plants in gardens are numerous, Evanicky and Poznich said. A key advantage is that they require little maintenance.

“People who want flower gardens at their homes should consider using native plants, “ Evanicky said. “They are easy to grow, require much less weeding, and because they develop deep root systems, they protect the soil from erosion.”

The deep root systems of native plants also mean that they use less water than non-native species. The deep roots help prevent water runoff and because they’re adapted to the local soil, they have the capacity for storing water from rainfall.

“Water conservation is a critical issue for Kansas,” Poznich said.

Native plants reduce pollution in the soil and water since they typically do not need fertilizer and require fewer pesticides. That translates into considerable reduction in the costs of maintenance.  

Another advantage of a native plant garden is the creation of wildlife habitat that provides food and shelter for birds, small mammals and beneficial insects. One significant function is the support for pollinators such as butterflies, native bees, bats and moths.

“Pollinators are crucial to the food chain,” Evanicky said. Poznich added, “Without them, the human race couldn’t survive.”

Pittsburg State University professor Catherine Hooey, who is the faculty advisor for the PSU group Students for Sustainability, praised the use of native plants in the garden.

“Native plants promote biodiversity and are better suited to the variable weather conditions that we experience in southeast Kansas,” Hooey said.

Not the least of the benefits from a native garden is that it brings beauty to the community and contributes to the happiness and sense of well-being of its residents. Evanicky and Poznich chose native plants with colorful flowers and leaves that reflect seasonal changes, which make them attractive and appealing for most of the year.

“The addition of a native plant garden is a wonderful idea,” said Pittsburg resident and avid gardener Gitana McAllister. “I would love to see more of them in Pittsburg.”