Gateway Native Gardens cultivate education
The Penn State Extension Master Gardeners of 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 Jennings Gateway Native Gardens are located 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 Mills and Jennings Commission (3MJC).
The Penn State Extension Master Gardeners of 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 Penn State Extension of Butler County Master Gardeners.
Dr. Thomas and Vicki Stewart serve as the project co-directors. The Stewarts have been longtime supporters of the Jennings Environmental Education Center. Their home-schooled children attended many educational programs at Jennings.
Over the years, the Stewarts have watched the center grow and prosper.
In 2015, Wil Taylor, DCNR manager, suggested the gardens as a project that the Stewarts could see to fruition. Because the Stewarts were already DCNR volunteers at the Education Center, co-directing the Jennings Gateway Native Gardens project was a natural transition for them.
In just a couple of years, the project grew to its current scope.
The Jennings Gateway Native Gardens comprises 10 separate, cultivated areas.The gardens include a Prairie Garden, a Wetland Garden at the Artesian Well, a Shade Garden, a Hillside Garden, a Visitor Center Garden and a Rain/Pollinator Garden among other areas.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 to 8 p.m., weather permitting, Master Gardeners are at the gardens to answer general gardening questions asked by visitors. Their next session is July 24.In addition, the Master Gardeners will conduct an Ask the Master Gardener Portable Information Table from 10 a.m. to noon on Aug. 11.Also, the Master Gardeners will host an information table at the Jennings Celebrate the Bloom event, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 28.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 seven native plant species.In addition, native plants also are grown for use in the Jennings gardens.In 2018, plants grown for public distribution included purple coneflower (echinacea purpura), mountain mint (pycnanthemum virginianum), wild bergamot (monarda fistulosa), lance leaf coreopsis (coreopsis lanceolate), Jack in the pulpit (arisaema triphylum), big bluestem (andropogen gerardii), and wild garlic (allium ursinum).The Jennings Gateway Native Gardens program provides an interactive experience in raising awareness about native plants as well as educating the public on environmental issues.Dr. Thomas Stewart and Vicki Stewart have been Penn State Master Gardeners in Butler County since 2015.
