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Norwalk Clean & Green
Flowers gone wild:
After planting is done, a meadow blossoms along I-95 exit ramp in Norwalk
Lisa Chamoff, Staff Writer
NORWALK - A few weeks ago, a former dumping ground and unofficial truck parking area began to blossom. The small patch of land, just before the first stop sign on Exit 14 of Interstate 95 north, was once filled with big piles of trash. It is now an array of blues and snowy whites in a wildflower meadow, thanks to the work of a resident of the nearby Golden Hill neighborhood.
Norwalk Clean and Green, which organizes nearly 40 adopt-a-spots around the city, sponsored by local groups and businesses, decided it was time to transform the small area.
In April, landscape architect Michael Mushak, who owns an antique home in Golden Hill, seeded the ground with a northeast wildflower mix of bright blue chicory and white yarrow, along with black-eyed Susans and goldenrod that are expected to bloom in a few weeks.
Mushak had designed a more manicured Golden Hill adopt-a-spot on the opposite side of the road, but believed the area to the north would be better as a big open, grassy area. By using wildflowers, it negated the need for mowing - Clean and Green placed a sign asking the state Department of Transportation, which owns the property, not to mow it.
The flowers thrive under poor soil conditions, and the soil at the spot was very compacted, Mushak said. The flowers require no maintenance, aside from Mushak's plans to reseed the spot in September.
The concept is unusual for the area around I-95. Though the DOT doesn't plant wildflowers, the agency does take special precautions not to mow areas with wildflowers and certain other vegetation, such as cattails, a wetland plant, as long as motorists can get off the highway safely, a DOT spokesman said.
"If you've got a section on the side of the highway with wildflowers and (they) are in bloom in the spring . . . we might not mow them," DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said. "If there's a sensitive area, we're obviously going to take precautions."
Mushak, who often plants wildflower meadows for clients with large lawns who may not want to mow it all, said he has visited the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. He was inspired by the former first lady having persuaded the state to plant wildflowers on its highways.
The concept is rare in this area, though Mushak said he has seen wildflowers along roads in upstate New York.
Wildflower meadows often contribute to the surrounding environment, Mushak said.
"There's also a lot of songbirds that like to utilize the meadow," he said. "They feed in there."
Copyright (c) 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. |
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