History of the Native Plants at 4157 Bellaire

 Long before it was popular, Dr. May Wright put on the ground at her home here in White Bear Township, MN what she learned in the 1920’s at the University of Chicago, School of Botany; the concept of plant communities. She understood in theory and practice the importance of diversity for the long term health of an area ecologically. During her 30-year development/expansion/maintenance of these native plant gardens she researched ways to propagate many by seed. When she passed on in 1995 the gardens boasted over 250 Minnesota native plant species. In the 12+ years since then I have worked to maintain as best I could these native plant gardens though no where near the variety May was able to tend.

This part of Minnesota is at the confluence of three large ecological communities; the prairie, the deciduous forest and the coniferous forest and for the past 5,000 years the area has experienced the give and take as these three communities overlap and recede from each other creating the now familiar patchwork of landscapes.

What’s here now at 4157 Bellaire

The wonderful sandy loam soil and oak savanna grove at 4157 Bellaire have been and continue to be great aids to keep a wide variety of native plants happy and thriving with little effort. All are shade gardens and as such their big splash of beauty arrives early in the year. Here are just a few of the many jewels