Released: February 27, 2004

Master Gardener Demonstration Earns Wildlife Federation’s Nod

WICHITA, Kan. – The National Wildlife Federation this month certified part of the grounds at the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center in urban Wichita as an official Backyard Wildlife Habitat.

Extension Master Gardener (EMG) Trish Bajaj was crew leader for the project that led to certification for the Wild Wings Garden. The idea of developing a habitat “demonstration garden” emerged from the current Sedgwick County EMG president, Dick Rumsey, plus last year’s EMG Tree Committee.

The area already had a slough, as well as a small water garden that wildlife could access for a drink, Bajaj said. It had some mature shade trees and a small grove of young redbud trees for roosting.

To provide food and cover, the gardeners did as many state wildlife lovers do. They ordered additional bareroot seedlings from the Kansas Forest Service’s annual Conservation Tree Planting Program. For less than $50, they got 50 Sand Hill plum shrubs, as well as the forest service’s Songbird Bundle of three Eastern redcedar, three Peking cotoneaster, five hazelnut, five fragrant sumac and four golden currant seedlings.

“The seedlings are only about a foot tall. Even in our rocky soil, it didn’t take much work to plant them,” Bajaj said. “We had a crew of four people to do the planting and fertilizing. We followed that with a mulching day and then had a watering crew through the summer. For bareroot seedlings, we had a pretty good survival rate, and the plants grew quite a bit last year.”

Within just a few years, the Sand Hill plums will form a thicket that surrounds the mature shade trees, she said. Grouped plantings from the Songbird Bundle will circle the maturing redbud trees. And, prairie grasses will take back the areas now covered with mulch.

Sedgwick’s EMGs are still deciding whether to create a walking path with plant tags and other education material on the fringe of the wildlife habitat. Because part of the area is close to the Extension center’s “overflow” gravel parking lot, visitors can get a glimpse of the burgeoning habitat now.

“Wild Wings is a wonderful addition to our demonstration gardens, which already include a raised-bed plan that can even accommodate a wheelchair-bound person who wants to continue growing things. Our Master Gardeners are literally surrounding the center with educational plantings that anyone can visit,” said Bob Neier, Sedgwick County’s Kansas State University Research and Extension horticulturist.

The center is at 7001 W. 21st St. N. – at the corner of 21st and Ridge Road. But interested persons can learn more about creating wildlife habitats and the forest service’s conservation planting program at any local Extension office, Neier said.

“Even a good-sized urban backyard can become a welcoming place for birds,” he said.

Neier thinks Bajaj was a natural for the EMGs to choose as their habitat project leader.

She admits that her own 2.5-acre lakeside property is rapidly becoming a wildlife sanctuary, with shrubs and trees grown for their berries, as much as their beauty.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Kathleen Ward
kward@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News