There’s a new garden along the West Shore Trail of Onondaga Lake Park. The pollinator garden will restore a habitat that will recharge the birds, animals and fish that live along the lake shore.
“Right in front of us is Northern Obedient plant. We have Vibernum's, Yarrow, Bergamot, Nine Bark, Dogwood's, Cone Flowers, Tick Seed,” said Jim Molloy, a scientist with an engineering firm that is partnering with the restoration of Onondaga Lake. He helped plant the native herbs, shrubs and trees that will grow and expand in this pollinator garden.
“It’s really all about creating a diverse habitat,” said Molloy. “And diversity begets diversity."
And that improves the lives of all the birds, fish, insects and animals that call Onondaga Lake Park home. Molly Jacobson, a pollinator ecologist at SUNY ESF in Syracuse, said the importance of pollen moving from flower to flower can’t be understated.
“Really, they make the entire natural world possible,” said Jacobson. “The vast majority of plants require pollinators to reproduce. And that has wide-ranging ripple effects on all other types of wildlife, both terrestrial and even aquatic.”
Every day, hundreds of bikers or walkers will pass by the garden that hugs a portion of the West Shore Trail. So, beyond improving the ecosystem at the park, there’s an education component to this. Chris Lajewski, program director of the Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps, said native plants are among the easiest to grow in a central New York garden.
“These are all native plants that are adapted to our central New York climate,” Lajewski said. “So they do very well in even our harshest winters, or our hottest summers, really require very little maintenance.”
Jacobson encourages home gardeners to think about adding native plants to their landscape.
"If you are used to the look of a formal ornamental garden, there are native plants that can be used in that sort of setting with mulch and widely separated, and sort of how this garden looks,” she said. “There are also native plants that you can use in a more wild setting as well. What's great is that they are adapted to our area, so no matter what the conditions are in your yard, sun, shade, wet, dry, there are beautiful native plants that will work.”
