Botanical Belonging
Botanical Belonging
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Volunteer Registration: Native Plant Garden at KC Farm School

Help us maintain a native plant garden — in Kansas City!


KC Farm School at Gibbs Road

4223 Gibbs Rd, Kansas City, KS 66106


At our volunteer workdays, participants work alongside an educator as they perform native garden maintenance. Our hope is that these hands-on experiences will result in more knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the native plant garden than traditional education and discussions would normally foster. No experience is necessary!


KC Farm School at Gibbs Road’s Native Garden 

[You'll hear Patti call it the "berms and swales garden"]

Year established: 2019

Category: Professionally managed with volunteer assistance


The KC Farm School native garden is built atop a berm and swale system to capture water and minimize erosion in an urban/peri-urban area. The garden is a mix of mostly forbs and grasses, with some shrubs, combined in an arrangement with a wild feel. The area is mostly sun with some partial shade and also includes a raingarden. Butterflies, bees and birds are daily visitors to the garden, and groundhogs, rabbits, and deer travel through as well. Botanical Belonging, Tonganoxie, KS, helped select natives and guides maintenance for the Berms and Swales garden and David Dods designed and planted the raingarden positioned near the greenhouse.


The farm crew and apprentices perform quarterly maintenance of the gardens, supplemented by weekly maintenance by dedicated volunteers, including weed control and use of leaf mulch and wood chips on paths along with judicious use elsewhere.


What Makes this Garden Excellent: This native garden on the grounds of a working urban farm demonstrates native plants co-existing with agriculture. The farm draws visitors with an apprenticeship program, an onsite farm market, a farm camp for youth, and other activities, and educates them regarding the many benefits of native plants including for pollinators and stormwater control.


Ten Great Native Plants to See Here:

Baptisia australis (Blue wild indigo)

Carex grayi (Globe sedge)

Carex stricta (Tussock sedge)

Diarrhena obovata (American beakgrain)

Eutrochium purpureum (Sweet Joe Pye weed)

Fragaria virginiana (Wild strawberry)

Iris virginiana var. shrevei (Southern blue flag iris)

Lobelia siphilitica (Great blue lobelia)

Rudbeckia subtomentosa (Sweet coneflower)

Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant)


Accessibility: The rain garden is located on the edge of a driveway/parking lot and the larger garden is approximately 175 feet from pavement, accessible by a wood chip path.


Parking: Please park across the street at the adjacent property, Common Ground. The entrance to the parking lot is at 2447 S 42nd St, Kansas City, KS. After parking, cross 42nd St to enter the KC Farm School. Please do not cut across any rows of crops! The native garden is toward the southwest corner of the property.


Garden profile from Grow Native!

Photo by Alicia Ellingsworth, KC Farm School, 2021.

Volunteer
Free
Click "More details" under the photo to learn more about this volunteer opportunity. Thank you!

Did you know? We fundraise with Zeffy to ensure 100% of your purchase goes to our mission!