06/16/2026
No, it’s not the most colourful garden. Most people likely walk or drive right by. There are things I’d go back and do differently, but in spite of that this is one of the most interesting projects I’ve been involved in. A collaboration with .associates and for in Cambridge, this is a truly resilient plant community in a public space. Planted into a mixture of recycled concrete, sand and compost (directly informed by my trial garden work), what’s emerged over the past few seasons, with what appears to be very little management (although I don’t know the details), is a site specific and climate-adapted novel ecosystem.
The palette is entirely native species or nativars, and essentially what we’ve created is an urban alvar. Some areas are especially thin and gappy, others are more lush, but as a whole it holds together. Prairie smoke in abundance, although just finished, Penstemon digitalis, Baptisia ‘Twilite’, Asclepias tuberosa, Hypericum kalmianum, Ratibida pinnata, Ruellia humilis, Solidago ptarmicoides along with a bumper crop of Solidago nemoralis and prairie dropseed and sideoats grama as the matrix grasses. Some planted species have disappeared and other spontaneous plants (Queen Anne’s lace, chicory, birds foot trefoil etc.) have intermingled. Some are harmless, others (Canada thistle, Canada goldenrod, sweet clover) may have been weeded out by a mysterious garden visitor… (it only took 45 minutes).
It’s not perfect, but I think we’ve made something really good here. Especially when compared to the adjacent “traditional” alternative.
