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Owen Brown Interfaith Center - Native Gardens

The Owen Brown Interfaith Center is being Bayscaped.  That means most plants around the property are native to the area and are helping retain water so it soaks into the water table instead of running into the storm sewers and then to Lake Elkhorn.  This runoff water collects toxic oils and nutrients, which are then transported to the Chesapeake Bay where they contribute to algae bloom and fish death. When water soaks into the ground, organisms in the soil remove toxins, and the water is absorbed by plant and tree roots.

If you look at the building, you will notice that drainage from the roofs flows into garden areas.  On the east, this water, as well as that from the ground around the northeast corner of the property, enters a large “bioretention facility” (also called a raingarden) which was engineered to absorb it and also to channel any overflow into the storm water system.  In the years since its construction, little water has been sent to that overflow drain. The garden has been able to absorb the runoff.  By the west entrance, the garden in front of the landscape timbers is also a raingarden, dug to absorb water from the porch roof.

The plants in these beds are native to the Piedmont area of the Chesapeake Bay, and were chosen because they evolved in this environment and grow well here without much care.  And, as these were grown in Maryland, they are more hardy here than those of the same species from, say, Pennsylvania or North Carolina. Aside from ease of care, however, they were planted here to preserve them.  We are losing our native species.  Airports, housing developments, malls, and roads cover what was once open land; those plants that survived the improvements were pulled as weeds. In addition, aggressive invasive species are replacing the natives -  kudzu, daylily, Bradford pear, Japanese honeysuckle, vinca, butterfly bush, multiflora rose, garlic mustard, lamium, ajuga, crown vetch and cut thumb are just a few examples.  Some were brought here intentionally and some were accidental, but all are crowding out the plants that evolved in this environment because they have no enemies to keep them in check. Consequently, as native plants support native wildlife, we lose other species as well. When one group - the plants in this case - is removed, the wildlife that depends on it cannot survive.  Many native songbirds and butterflies are disappearing because of the loss of habitat and food here and in South America.

We chose to grow native plants around the Interfaith Center to provide food and shelter for the other native species here, and also to show visitors that these plants are as attractive as cultivars and exotic imports.  Take a walk around the building and look at the gardens. Among the flowering perennials are purple liatris, native geranium, and monarda; white native strawberry, Allegheny stonecrop, foxglove beardtongue, Philadelphia fleabane, narrow leafed mountain mint, rose mallow, and field chickweed; pink pasture rose; yellow coreopsis, black eyed susan, sneezeweed, goldenrod, and senna; blue lobelia, blue eyed grass, bottle gentian, creeping phlox, and hyssop skullcap; red cardinal flower; orange trumpet vine, columbine, and butterfly milkweed; and golden orange coneflower.  Among the native shrubs and trees are silky dogwood, inkberry, native hydrangia, red chokeberry, holly and river birch.  Switchgrass, bottlebrush grass, oatgrass, and Indian grass provide background and dried winter interest.  You will also see butterflies, caterpillars, birds and other animals.  The children in the daycare center enjoy them.  We hope you will too.