Emmerling Community Park
Indiana Township, Indianola, PA
Since 2004, the Backyard Buffers Partners have held planting events throughout Emmerling Community Park. Descriptions of each garden and native plant suppliers are listed below. Contact us to get involved with future events!
TRHP Emmerling Before From Lot Emmerling Park, 10/03, Before Plantings | Emmerling Park Design Photo Emmerling Park, 8/03, "Hello Hummingbirds" |
Site design & Plant List
(both files are in Adobe PDF)
Designed and implemented by the Three Rivers Habitat Partnership
Description
The site will be the first of its kind in the area featuring native species planted in a formal fashion along a riparian zone that will be termed a “streamside garden”. The plan for Emmerling Park includes seven small gardens with in the site and focuses mainly on species native to Pennsylvania that have high wildlife value. The gardens range from having a formal to natural look and each have a different theme.
PHOTO PLACERS:
TRHP Emmerling Layout Big Garden
TRHP Emmerling Planting Tree
TRHP Emmerling Before Batbox
TRHP Emmerling Before Thelma
The Streamside Gardens of Emmerling Park
Native woodland wildflowers and colorful shrubs will be planted in beds around and between existing trees to create a naturalized understory that retains the formality of a traditional garden while increasing wildlife and reducing non-point source pollution.
Hello Hummingbirds welcomes tiny travelers with nectar bearing native wildflowers at the beginning of the proposed trail spur and includes species such as Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).
Penn’s Woods celebrates the rich diversity of our local ecosystem and features some favorite spring and summer blooming wildflowers, trees and shrubs. This is the largest of the gardens.
Bird Borders are two fruit bearing shrub islands including species of shrubs that birds frequently feed on such as Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) and Winterberry (Ilex verticillata). The Bird Borders also include native grasses and wildflowers that together with the shrubs will create a screen to busier areas of the park, while providing critical cover and food for local wildlife.
Fairy Candles Grove draws attention to the native wildflower, Fairy Candles (Cimicifuga racemosa), a large plant with small white flowers, surrounded by large drifts of other colorful wildflowers.
Hemlock Hideaway includes drifts of native wildflowers with the focal point being an already existing hemlock tree. Future plans include a bench modeled after a style designed by Aldo Leopold, a classic naturalist and writer.
Floodplain Forest is at the end of the proposed trail spur and closest to the stream. This garden will be the most natural looking with very large drifts of False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides), Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginiana) and Beeblam (Monarda didyma) interspersed with Autumn Fern (Dryopteris erythrosora).
Past Activities
Winter – Summer 2003 - Initial site visits and drafts. Bat box built by Sewickley Academy students and erected with assistance of Indiana Township. WHC made an appearance at the Emmerling Park Youth Day.
Fall 2003 - Site revisited and the plan redrafted in October.
Winter 2004 - Plant lists finalized, nurseries contacted and volunteer groups established for the spring planting.
March 3, 2004 – Workshop and spring plantings highlighted on the Allegheny Front’s (WYEP) Event of the Week.
March 6, 2004 – Backyard Buffers Design Your Backyard Habitat – a formal approach workshop held at the Indiana Township Municipal Building with attendance of over 50 area residents.
April 10, 2004 - TRHP teamed up with Tri-County Trout Club to hold a stream clean-up and planting day. 30 shrubs were planted.
May 1, 2004 - over 25 shrubs and 800 wildflowers were planted on site by TRHP, local volunteer groups and community members.
Spring and Summer 2004 - New trail spur was installed and gardens have been maintained.
August 14, 2004 - Backyard Buffers Maintain Your Backyard Habitat workshop was held on site.
PHOTO PLACER: TRHP Emmerling Before Bench
On the Horizon
A new mulch trail will wind through the planted understory allowing visitors access to each garden. Dependent upon funding interpretive signage will be placed at each garden, and a bench will be added to the Hemlock Hideaway. TRHP has researched plant species and will plant those considered to be the most deer “resistant” at the site, as opposed to plants that deer most frequently damage. Note: No plant is truly resistant to deer and the list can vary due to deer population size and climate.
Primary Partners
Community Foundation for the Alleghenies* on behalf of the Western PA Watershed Program
Deer Creek Watershed Association
Dominion Foundation*
Emmerling House Commission
Fox Chapel High School
Indiana Township
Natural Resources Conservation Service WHIP Grant Program*
PA Department of Environmental Protection's Growing Greener Grant Program*
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Master Gardeners
TRHP
Tri-County Trout Club
* Represents Funder
Native plant Suppliers
Friday's Perennials
Sylvania Natives
Shemin Nurseries
Contact Nurseries
