Little Lake Planting Day
Free admission to the sculpture garden for volunteer gardeners!
Weather note: If it looks rainy, please check in with us at 414-446-8794 to find out if we'll be planting.
Bring your spade and your green thumb. Join aquatic-biologist-in-residence Christine Kozik as she completes Phase III of the shoreline restoration project for Little Lake. We will be planting a variety of native plants along the southern edge of Little Lake. All plants are raised locally to maintain the ecological integrity of Little Lake.
Plants that grow along the shoreline are adapted to wet or moist soils. Like emergent aquatic plants, shoreline plants encourage wildlife (birds and butterflies), stabilize the shoreline (they have deeper root systems than lawn turf) and help to block terrestrial organic matter. Moreover, geese are less likely to "hang out" by a shoreline where predators lurk.
More about the Little Lake Restoration Project
We are now in the third year of our restoration project. Christine has been working on the shallow pond, coming up with sustainable ways to control the algae blooms without obscuring the original design. At Lynden, we are constantly balancing the aesthetic imperative—our desire to maintain the landscape that Harry and Peg Bradley created—with our commitment to sustainability. Under Christine’s direction, the pond was excavated and filled with new gravel and a recirculation pump was installed (which allows us to run the waterfall regularly). In the first two phases of the shoreline restoration, several volunteers pitched in to help by planting native aquatic flora. These plants trap nutrients while shading the lake bottom, reducing the surface area on which bottom-loving algae can grow. They not only provide essential habitat for wildlife (frogs, turtles, some birds), but also stabilize the shoreline and provide a barrier to the organic matter that blows in from the lawn.