UPDATE: MCC-Longview's Grow Native campus project is in full bloom

You can't miss the field of blooming yellow and red flowers that opened up this past week at MCC-Longview. The first big bloom of the Grow Native project on campus is well under way.

The field, which was originally a grass field, was plowed and reseeded with native Missouri flowers and plants last fall as part of a collaboration with the Missouri Department of Conservation.  The field spent most of the winter barren. This spring say a lot of green vegetation started to sprout, but this is the first full bloom to appear from the project.



Here is what Steven Greife, facilities services superintendent, wrote to campus faculty and staff after the flowers made their appearance:

I’m sure some of you have been wondering about the “weeds” in the area between the main entrance to the campus and the Longview Chapel. Me too. Last week I made a tour of the area only to see what I thought were weeds.

 Well a lot can change in just a few days. Yesterday I was told that the “Black-eyed Susan’s were coming out so I went to see. Sure enough we have quite a few and a closer look revealed that the Lance Leaf Coreopsis will be in bloom very soon. And not just a few, I expect that in the next week or two the area will be a sea of yellow.

Be sure to check out more photos from the Grow Native project over on the MCC Longview photo blog.

Video update from MCC-Longview, Missouri Department of Conservation's Grow Native workshop

Several weeks ago, MCC-Longview's agribusiness/grounds & turf program hosted the Missouri Department of Conservation's Grow Native workshop.

Experts, authors and speakers from Powell Gardens, the Missouri Department of Conservation and Shaw Nature Center spent two days showing professional landscapers and home gardeners how to use native Missouri plants in their own plantings.

The MCC-Longview campus joined the MDC's Grow Native program last fall and seeded the south-east corner of campus with native grass seed and flowers in an effort to join the native plant program.

MCC and MDC teach others how to Grow Native

The Missouri Department of Conservation, in partnership with the MCC-Longview Agribusiness/Grounds and Turf department, is encouraging residents to Grow Native.

On Friday and Saturday, gardening professionals, landscaping experts and plant enthusiast came to campus to teach professionals and hobbyists alike how to use native Missouri plants, flowers and trees in their own yards.

"It is important for people to understand how they can participate in their own local ecosystem by using native Missouri plants that will not only look beautiful, but also become a benefit to the surrounding area," MDC spokeswoman Barbra Fairchild said.



Both days of the conference were filled with detailed lectures and demonstrations on how to use the wide variety of flowering plants and shrubs.