Volunteers Needed for East Side Park Community Growing Program
Through the new Community Growing Program, we are calling on residents across Jefferson County to grow and share native plants that will help transform East Side Park into a living showcase of Alabama’s natural ecosystems.
A Park Designed Around Alabama’s Native Ecoregions
The award-winning landscape plan for East Side Park includes trails that wind through five native habitats found among Alabama’s multiple ecoregions:
- Wet Meadow
- Prairie
- Savannah
- Woodlands
- Mixed Hardwood-Pine Forest
Each habitat will be 100% planted with plants native to Alabama, supporting pollinators like moths, butterflies, birds, and other local wildlife while creating an immersive opportunity for visitors to fall in love with the native plants that make our community special.
Approximately 60,000 native plants, including over 200 species, are needed for the park, with a proposed cost estimate of over $1 million for plants and installation. Through our in-house propagation efforts, we are growing 30 to 40 percent of the required plants — but we’re asking residents, gardeners, schools, and plant enthusiasts to join our effort through the new Community Growing Program.
Building a Native Plant Movement in Jefferson County
Growing Interest in Native Plants
For 15 years, we’ve cultivated interest in native gardening through our biannual Native Plant Sale, held every Saturday in April and October at Ruffner Mountain. We’ve propagated and sold thousands of awesome native plants, contributing to a healthy local ecosystem in private yards and gardens, as well as public spaces. Community partners such as Birmingham Botanical Gardens and a few local nurseries have also helped expand awareness and access to native plant species.
So many people are interested in planting and growing native plants that it presents a terrific opportunity to help support the East Side Park Community Growing Program.
Jefferson County Greenways Native Plant Propagation
Through a grant partnership with Cool Green Trees, we’ve been able to expand our plant propagation program with a full-time propagation specialist, Dylan Rowan. Dylan is growing trees to be planted in heat deserts throughout Jefferson County by the team at Cool Green Trees, and is working on sowing seeds, propagating, and salvaging plants for East Side Park. Although over 8,000 plants are currently reserved for East Side Park, with many more seedlings and plants continually being added, our resources of both time and space are already stretched thin and we need your help.
Join the Community Growing Program
The East Side Park Community Growing Program invites gardeners, garden clubs, schools, and plant enthusiasts to contribute native plants to the park. Although sharing plants for a park may not be a new idea, it presents unique challenges due to the sheer number of plants needed and the planting timeline for the park.
Most of the plants needed through the Community Growing Program are understory plants like perennial flowers, ferns, grasses, and sedges — you may already have these growing in your garden. If you have plants that have outgrown their space and need to be divided or a collection of seeds sown in pots, and would like to pass them along, pass-along plants can be valuable to the ecology of the park.
By joining the Community Growing Program, you will:
- Support biodiversity in Jefferson County
- Help establish over 200 native plant species
- Contribute directly to ecological restoration
- Receive plant propagation guidance and support
- Contribute to a unique Alabama nature experience for everyone to enjoy
Imagine spotting a cardinal flower blooming, attracting hummingbirds to the wet meadow of the park, and knowing you helped plant it.
How to Get Involved
- Complete the Community Growing Program interest form:[https://forms.gle/14QyrARcwTL1ziWdA].
- Indicate which native plants you’d like to grow or share
Once we have commitments from members to grow specific plants, we can set expectations of planting timelines. We can also offer propagation knowledge and support to everyone in the program.
If you have any questions or need more information for your garden club or organization, please email Jamie Nobles, JCG Conservation Director, at jamie@jeffcogreenways.org.
Thank you in advance for your support. We hope to see you at our Spring Native Plant Sale in April.
Find the latest news about East Side Park
Jamie Nobles, Conservation Director