Gardeners work with community
Penn State Extension Master Gardeners Butler County collaborate with community organizations to promote projects that support the environment and educate the community.
The Jennings Gateway Native Gardens is an outstanding example of a multiorganization effort to promote education within a natural environmental setting. The gardens are at the Jennings Environmental Education Center near Slippery Rock.
The dual purpose of these gardens is to display Pennsylvania native plants in a cultivated but naturalized setting and to educate the public on native plant cultivation and garden designs.
The gardens are free to visit during park hours, and the environmental education center is open year-round with an interpretive center and gift shop.
The Gateway gardens were started a number of years ago by members of the Moraine, McConnells Mill and Jennings Commission (3MJC).
The Penn State Extension Master Gardeners Butler County became involved in 2016, and the gardens have continued to develop and grow since that time. Today, this cooperative effort is managed by the county’s Penn State Extension Master Gardeners.
The Jennings Gateway Native Gardens comprises 10 separate, cultivated areas. The gardens include a prairie garden, wetland garden at the Artesian Well, shade garden, hillside garden, a visitor center garden and rain/pollinator garden. All the plants used in the gardens are native to Pennsylvania and most are endemic to the local area.
Master Gardeners are involved in maintaining the 10 separate gardens and educating the public. Each spring, the Master Gardeners conduct a garden workday to prepare the gardens for visitors. Throughout the year, Master Gardeners schedule volunteer work sessions to maintain these gardens.
Every other Tuesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m., weather permitting, Master Gardeners are at the gardens to answer general gardening questions from visitors. The next session is Tuesday.In addition, the Master Gardeners will conduct an Ask the Master Gardener Portable Information Table in the prairie parking lot from 10 a.m. to noon on July 13 and Aug. 17.The Master Gardeners will also host an information table at the Jennings Celebrate the Bloom Event from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 27.Along with garden maintenance and public education, Master Gardeners promote native plants by growing from seed a variety of native plants.The Jennings Education Center distributes the plants at public events. This year, the project volunteers grew more than 100 specimens of three native plant species.In addition, native plants also are grown for use in the Jennings gardens. In 2019, plants grown for public distribution included Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpura), Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis) and River Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium).The Jennings Gateway Native Gardens provides an interactive experience in raising awareness about native plants as well as educating the public on environmental issues.Both Dr. Thomas Stewart and Vicki Stewart have been Penn State Extension Master Gardeners Butler County since 2015.
