Sanja Jennings, the stewardship specialist with the Wood County Park District, holds a prickly pear cactus, a native Wood County plant that will be available for purchase at the Native Plant Sale on May 7.
Zeb Albert, a restoration specialist with the Wood County Park District, shows off the seed bank, which includes native species that are also endangered.
PERRYSBURG – Endangered plants in Wood County are being repopulated, thanks to work with the greenhouses at J.C. Reuthinger Memorial Preserve.
The park stewardship staff gave tours after the board meeting on Tuesday.
Chris Smalley, Wood County Park District director, started the tours. Long before becoming director, he was a member of the Friends of Wood County Parks. He points out that they are always looking for volunteers, with plenty of training available.
“The stewardship staff, they have taken (the growing projects) to new heights. It’s incredible,” Smalley said. “Here they are growing native plant species, species that were here back before mankind decided to claim Northwest Ohio.”
With more than 150 plants in the nursery, part of the park district conservation goal is repopulation of native plant species, especially the endangered species.
Two native plant species growing projects are taking place simultaneously in the greenhouses. Side by side are the endangered species with the non-endangered native plants.
The ones that are not endangered will be sold during the annual spring Native Plant Sale on May 7 at the fairgrounds. The endangered native plants will be taken out of their pots and planted in the parks that are best suited for them.
“We will have blue lobelia, asters and milkweeds. It’s impossible to list all of the plants we will have available for the sale. There will be 75 to 80 different species,” said Sanja Jennings, the stewardship specialist. “We are one of the rare places that offers native trees and shrubs. We kind of try to increase the number of species growing here, and all the species are from Wood County.”
Jennings manages the greenhouses and nursery production.
“My main goal is growing the native species. They are important to protect. They are all native. Basically, they are all hardy plants from this region. They were here for hundreds and hundreds of years before us,” Jennings said.
A former supervisor from the Toledo Botanical Gardens, she is very excited about her new job.
Jennings said that most of the plants are either prairie or wetland plants, but all are native to Northwest Ohio.
“They are in our area. We collect the seeds from our prairies and parks. We clean the seeds here, collect, store and start everything new in November,” Jennings said.
The seeds are then germinated at a special table with its own enclosure, and a heated mat beneath the plants.
“We do it to protect the species and bring the plants back to the community. The goal is actually to bring the plants back to the original places, so we can remove the invasive species and return the species that were originally there,” Jennings said.
All of the growing is being done with the most natural methods possible.
Some of the endangered plants include lupine, a purple flowering plant. The dotted horsemint and June grass are also grown there, for propagation, but not sold.
Prickly pear cactus is one of the non-endangered plants native to the area.
“It is a North American cold-hardy cactus,” Jennings said.
In the greenhouse with the “woodies,” which is the comical name the stewardship staff have given for the larger shrubs, can be found silky and gray dogwood, elderberry, sumac, ninebark, black chokeberry and buttonbush.
They also work in as positive a way possible for the environment. The aphid quarantine area is a good example.
There is a section with small flags in the pots. Those plants have aphids.
There are chemicals which could be used to get rid of the aphids, but they are instead bringing in ladybugs. The ladybugs will deal with the aphids on the woodies and when they leave the greenhouses, they will continue to do their good work on the outside.
If attending an event, ask the stewards about uses for the various plants.
Jennings said that the black chokeberry is a flowering bush that attracts a lot of birds. She likes to add the black chokeberries to pies and to smoothies, because they are an antioxidant that has a tart taste.
“They are not very tasty, but they are very healthy.”
The Friends of the Wood County Parks will have their spring membership meeting April 24, at 1 p.m. at Otsego Park. It will be catered and free to the members.
