We are building model native landscapes to demonstrate to homeowners how native plants can both beautify and increase biodiversity in our yards.

Earthplace Demonstration Garden

Completed September 2019

An inspirational garden filled with native plants was created at Earthplace in Westport with generous support from the Westport Women’s Club 2019 Ruegg Grant. Aspetuck Land Trust, with the help of Earthplace, built a garden to inspire the community to re-think our lawns. This garden is an example of how landowners can take care of their yards in a more sustainable, pollinator-friendly way. It will create a non-toxic space for children and pets, and the native plants will increase the variety of native birds and wildlife that are attracted. 80% of the plants are natives.

Watch a time lapse video of the garden being created.

Video credit: Aspetuck Land Trust supporter Adam Goodman.

Design by Jay Petrow, Petrow Gardens Landscape Design
PetrowGardens.com

Southport Wildflower Preserve
Demonstration Garden

Completed spring 2021.

We are transforming this already charming 0.3 acre property into a native oasis that was featured on the Pequot Library Southport Garden Stroll on June 4, 2021. 65% of this property was planted this spring and the remaining plants will be installed this fall pending plant availability. Learn more about this property.

Photos by Anna Sorgie

Design by Debra De Vries-Dalton, Land Canvas Landscape Architecture
www.landcanvasla.com

Southport Beach Demonstration Garden

Native Coastal Design

Planted 2020. Will be completed 2021.

We are creating a truly native coastal garden at our small 3/4 acre Southport Beach Open Space on Pequot Avenue across from Southport Beach. Debra De Vries-Dalton, who designed our Wildflower Preserve also in Southport worked with a team of coastal plant experts to design an exhibit of our most important native plants for the dry, sandy, coastal ecosystem. The goal is to educate the public on some of the most important seaside native plants . By reintroducing what nature intended for our Connecticut coast we will improve biodiversity on this site, attracting key insects and birds searching for food and shelter.

Haskins Preserve Demonstration Garden

New England Native Plant Landscape
Pollinator Toolkit

Exciting plans are underway to begin a 20,000 square foot interconnected landscape exhibiting multiple native New England ecosystems including a meadow, bee lawn, courtyard garden, woodland edge garden (aka ecotone transition planting), waterside garden, and a shady ground cover garden. The Haskins Demonstration Garden will be more than a garden of earthly delights, it will be part of a 3 year ecological study with Massachusetts based Landscape Interactions LLC to measure the impact that the introduction of native plants can have on enhancing the diversity of our critical native bee populations.

A baseline measurement of current bee species was done by bee ecologist Dr. Robert Gegear in the spring of 2020, then we will plant the diverse pallet of native plants, trees, and shrubs, and continue measuring the bee species that show up over time. The goal is to prove that “if you plant it, they will come!” Through this project, ecological designer Evan Abramson is encouraging all of us to introduce these plant species into our yards to provide the nourishment and nesting sites that our native bees have been looking for. Sadly, pollinator numbers have been in decline because our landscape has become inhospitable for not only our bees, but all of the creatures in our New England web of life. We want to show that we can fix this!

The Haskins Preserve study is one of the first of its kind in the State of Connecticut and we are so proud that Aspetuck Land Trust has embarked on this important research. Not only are we encouraging people to make their yards into stepping stones along the Green Corridor, we are actually supporting the research to prove that it really works. Stay tuned as we take this scientific journey together! Caryl and Edna Haskins who donated this property to Aspetuck Land Trust in 2003 were world renowned scientists who pioneered the field of ant biology. We think they would be proud that we are carrying on their scientific legacy on the property they donated for public benefit. Learn more and watch the video we made about Caryl and Edna’s life to honor their legacy: https://www.aspetucklandtrust.org/caryl-edna-haskins-preserve