Over the last six months, Pease Park Conservancy has been working diligently to plan and construct the new Pease Park greenhouse!
At its core the project will be a vital resource in Pease Park Conservancy’s vision to steward the 84-acres in a sustainable way. The freestanding greenhouse will be the site for seed and cutting propagation of native plants. It will be the designated area for protecting our young plants from the elements as they develop into mature plants that can then be transplanted to the ground in Pease Park. The plants that are cultivated and installed throughout the park will play a fundamental role in erosion control along riparian and hillside areas, and will therefore ensure safety for park goers and an overall healthier, more robust ecosystem.
“We hope that the greenhouse can serve not only as a local source of plants for use in restoration work, but also as an educational tool for teaching people of all ages the importance of native plants and their role in a healthy environment.”
The greenhouse will allow the Conservancy to increase the biodiversity found within the park more efficiently. Currently, any plants incorporated into the 84-acres are outsourced and purchased from vendors. This is incredibly limiting to native landscaping efforts as selections and costs vary based on what nurseries have available at any given time. The greenhouse will allow PPC to cultivate many more native plants to diversify the species found within the park. In the long run this will also help create a sense of placemaking as community members and park goers will be able to further connect and immerse themselves with the immense diversity of the Central Texas Ecoregion that has more often than not been excluded from residential and urban landscaping.
rOOted in community
Along with a growing array of native plants, the greenhouse will help grow our team! With the new structure comes the Native Horticulture Coordinator role. Our new Native Horticulture Coordinator will be responsible for the care of native gardens, pollinator beds, lawns, bioswales, savanna and riparian environments, and you guessed it - the greenhouse!
The greenhouse will serve as a community feature. Caring for this structure will not be a one person job and will involve help from other PPC staff members, as well as community volunteers. It will be a place for future volunteer and environmental learning opportunities and will allow Pease Park Conservancy to lead more planting events throughout the park.
from seed to tree
Fore-dog Sandy supervising construction.
PPC has supervised the project “from seed to tree” as our Conservation and Park Operations teams planned and submitted the CAPP (Community Activated Park Project) that was approved by the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department in early December.
Since then, our team has built the structure and will manage it going forward. Our Conservation Coordinator, Nick Boysen’s dog, Sandy (our Bark-Ranger), has been in the park supervising the process every step of the way.
Our Park Operations and Conservation Teams finished excavating and leveling the foundation of the structure in February. This portion of the project included packing soil and laying a layer of crushed gravel. Shortly after a frame was built, was then laid on top of pavers, and finally staked into the ground using rebar.
This greenhouse is a freestanding gabled structure and has been installed like a giant puzzle. The project has not always been smooth sailing, but construction has powered through. The structure’s skeleton was completed in early May and the installation of the roof and panels wrapped up just last week.
In the coming months PPC plans to add an irrigation network as well as a fence for safe keeping, with the hopes of beginning plant cultivation soon.