Cradle of Forestry in America

This project involves comprehensive landscape renovation and native plant installation across designated planting zones, beginning with vegetation removal and soil preparation to create optimal growing conditions. The main installation work will establish defined planting zones with appropriate edging, followed by strategic placement of native and indigenous plants to create sustainable, low-maintenance landscaping.

Native plants for this project were selected for the specific environment and will enhance ecological processes, support pollinators, and serve as an educational garden all while enhancing aesthetics within the park.

The Main Garden project is a women-led project with work being completed in collaboration with Appalachian Ecological Consulting, a science-driven ecological stewardship independent contractor. Our partner specializes in consulting for land managers, agencies, and scientific organizations working in Eastern US landscapes including botanical expertise, botanical survey & inventory, GIS & remote sensing, & management planning services.

Main Garden Project

Significant progress has been made on the landscape renovation. The team has successfully removed invasive species from the planting beds, including Vinca minor and Pachysandra japonica, making way for native plants to thrive. During removal, an exciting discovery was made! Pachysandra procumbens (Allegheny spurge) was uncovered in the space and unlike its invasive Asian counterpart, this species is a rare and native woodland groundcover, making its presence a special find and a testament to the ecological value of this site.

Mulch has been added to all planting beds to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and protect establishing native species. The first phase of native plantings is now in the ground, with each species chosen for the unique role it plays in the ecosystem:

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.): A powerhouse for pollinators, goldenrod supports over 100 species of bees and countless butterflies and moths, making it one of the most ecologically valuable native wildflowers.
Native Aster (Symphyotrichum sp.): Blooming late into the season, native asters provide a critical nectar source for migrating monarchs and other pollinators when few other flowers remain.
Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia): A native evergreen shrub that offers year-round structure and shelter for wildlife while its spring blooms support native bees with a unique pollen-dispersal mechanism.
Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea): One of the first plants to bloom in spring, serviceberry provides early nectar for pollinators and nutrient-rich berries that are a vital food source for migratory birds.
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida): A keystone understory tree that produces berries high in fat content, critical for fueling songbirds during fall migration, while also supporting over 100 species of moths and butterflies.
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis): Its large, night-blooming flowers are specially adapted to attract sphinx moths, filling an important ecological niche for nocturnal pollinators.
Pinxterbloom Azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides): A native azalea that provides one of the earliest spring nectar sources for long-tongued bumblebees and hummingbirds emerging from winter.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta): A prolific bloomer that attracts a wide range of bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects, while its seed heads feed goldfinches and other songbirds through winter.
Sweet Shrub (Calycanthus floridus): Its uniquely fragrant flowers attract specialist pollinators, and its dense branching provides excellent nesting cover and habitat for small wildlife.

The Second Phase:

American Holly (Ilex opaca): A vital native evergreen that produces bright red berries persisting through winter, providing a critical food source for over 20 species of birds including bluebirds, robins, and cedar waxwings during the leanest months of the year.
Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea): A magnet for native bees and butterflies throughout summer, coneflower's seed heads remain standing into winter to feed goldfinches and other songbirds, making it one of the most multi-season beneficial natives in any garden.
Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum): A towering late-summer native that draws monarch butterflies, native bees, and swallowtails in extraordinary numbers, serving as one of the most important nectar plants of the migration season.
Spiked Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba): A deep-rooted native that fixes nitrogen in the soil while its white flower spikes support specialist bumblebees, some of which depend on Baptisia as a primary pollen source, and its inflated seed pods provide winter interest and small mammal forage.
Purple Love Grass (Eragrostis spectabilis): A native grass that erupts into a haze of reddish-purple seed heads in late summer, providing fine-textured seeds for ground-feeding birds while its low, dense tufts offer important overwintering habitat for ground-nesting insects.
Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra): A fast-spreading native shrub whose dense fruit clusters feed over 300 species of birds through winter, while its flowers support native bees in summer and its thicket-forming habit creates irreplaceable nesting and escape cover for wildlife.
Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium): Consistently ranked among the top plants for native bees, mountain mint attracts an astonishing diversity of pollinators, often dozens of species simultaneously, with blooms that last six to eight weeks through the height of summer.
Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium): A striking prairie native whose globular flower heads attract a highly diverse array of native bees, wasps, and beetles, while its bold, architectural foliage provides year-round structure and its deep taproot improves soil health and drought resilience.
Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum): A native succulent groundcover that fills shaded, rocky niches few plants can occupy, offering early spring nectar to emerging bees and forming dense mats that stabilize soil and shelter ground-dwelling invertebrates.
Yucca (Yucca filamentosa): Sharing an extraordinary co-evolved relationship with the yucca moth, its only native pollinator, yucca is a testament to ecological specialization, while its bold evergreen rosettes provide year-round cover and its flowers offer nectar to hummingbirds and large bees.
Doghobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana): A native evergreen shrub of streamside and shaded slopes whose arching stems create dense, layered cover for nesting birds and small mammals, while its spring flowers provide early-season nectar for bumblebee queens emerging from winter dormancy.

The Cradle of Forestry in America has long been a place where conservation and education come to life, and this garden is the newest chapter in that legacy. As the plants take root and the seasons unfold, this space will transform into a living, breathing showcase of the Southern Appalachian ecosystem. Whether you're a lifelong naturalist or simply someone who appreciates the beauty of the natural world, there has never been a better reason to come experience the Cradle. Come walk the grounds, discover what's blooming, and witness this landscape come alive — we can't wait to share it with y'all!

Tree & Pollinator Educational Garden Project

The Tree & Pollinator Garden represents a living, ever-changing classroom that will grow in ecological complexity and educational richness for decades to come. Featuring 7 native tree species and native pollinator plants selected to provide sequential bloom from early summer through hard frost, this space offers students hands-on opportunities to observe real ecological relationships unfolding across every season. Young learners can track monarch butterfly migration as it intersects with the blooming cycles of milkweed and goldenrod, witness the extraordinary diversity of native bees working mountain mint and coneflower, and watch the canopy trees grow year over year. This will help them in developing an intuitive understanding of long-term ecological change that no textbook can replicate. As the tree layer matures, students will be able to study multi-layered habitat structure, observe cavity-nesting birds and bark-foraging insects, and engage directly with concepts like wildlife corridors, carbon sequestration, and watershed health. The garden's deliberately varied plant sizes and establishment timelines also give educators a powerful tool for teaching patience and ecological process. Students who visit in year one and return in year three will witness firsthand how nature builds complexity over time, fostering a sense of stewardship and long-term connection to place that is the foundation of genuine environmental literacy.

Pollinator Space

Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida): A tireless late-summer bloomer that supports a remarkable range of native bees, beetles, and butterflies, while its persistent seed heads become a reliable winter food source for goldfinches and chickadees long after the flowers have faded.
New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae): One of the most ecologically critical fall-blooming natives, providing a last major nectar source for monarch butterflies fueling up for migration and dozens of bee species building fat reserves before winter.
New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis): A bold, late-summer giant whose deep purple flower clusters are irresistible to monarchs, swallowtails, and native bees, making it one of the most visually dramatic and ecologically productive plants of the August garden.
Eastern Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa): The only larval host plant for monarch butterflies, milkweed is irreplaceable in any pollinator garden — its brilliant orange blooms also attract an exceptional diversity of native bees, beetles, and hummingbirds throughout summer.
Wrinkleleaf Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa): A late-season ecological powerhouse that serves as one of the single most important nectar sources for native bees storing winter fat reserves and for migrating monarchs, supporting hundreds of insect species across its long bloom period.
River Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium): A graceful native grass whose broad, shade-tolerant foliage provides important larval habitat for skippers and other grass-feeding insects, while its ornamental seed heads persist through winter offering food for ground-feeding birds and structural beauty in the dormant garden.

Tree Space

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera): One of the most important nectar trees in eastern North America, tulip poplar produces abundant high-sugar nectar that fuels hummingbirds, native bees, and countless other insects, while its canopy supports hundreds of caterpillar species that form the backbone of the songbird food chain.
Red Maple (Acer rubrum): Among the very first trees to flower each spring, red maple provides a critical early nectar and pollen source for queen bumblebees and other pollinators emerging before almost anything else is in bloom, and its seeds and buds feed squirrels, finches, and waterfowl.
White Oak (Quercus alba): The single most ecologically important tree in eastern North America, white oak supports over 500 species of caterpillars alone — the primary food source for nesting songbirds — while its acorns sustain deer, turkeys, wood ducks, and dozens of other wildlife species through fall and winter.
Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum): Celebrated for producing some of the finest honey in North America, sourwood's midsummer flower clusters are a premium nectar source for honeybees and native bees alike, while its exceptional fall foliage and persistent seed capsules provide late-season wildlife interest.
Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus): A keystone conifer whose dense, year-round canopy provides critical thermal cover for roosting and nesting birds in winter, while its seeds feed crossbills, nuthatches, and chickadees and its bark and needles support a wide community of native moths and beetles.
Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata): A regionally significant native pine and one of the primary habitat trees for the red-cockaded woodpecker, shortleaf pine also supports a rich community of bark-foraging birds and insects while its open, fire-adapted canopy maintains the sunny understory conditions that many native wildflowers and grasses depend on.
Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) & Carolina Hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana): The only native conifers capable of thriving in deep shade, hemlocks create dense, cool microclimates along streams that are essential for cold-water fish, nesting birds, and moisture-dependent invertebrates, making their protection from Hemlock Woolly Adelgid one of the most urgent conservation priorities in the eastern United States.

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