August 6, 2007

LIVINGSTON, Ala.--With the construction of the Black Belt Garden, the University is creating a peaceful, pleasant retreat for all who visit. The only garden in the South devoted to celebrating the flora of this region, the Black Belt Garden, located on University Drive, will feature native plants unique to our area.

“Because Black Belt soil is so limey and calcareous, the plants that live here tend to be different than the plants that grow north or south of here,” explained Dr. John Hall, who consulted on the garden’s design. “The Black Belt is a unique biological province, and we want to present representative species throughout the garden.”

The 15-acre garden is one of many projects managed by the Center for the Study of the Black Belt, which was founded in 2005 to foster greater appreciation and understanding of the region and its culture. According to Hall, the garden will feature endemic plants found only in the Black Belt, such as native sunflowers and orchids; those found in this region and in surrounding areas; and exotics plants that have been here so long that you cannot tell the story of the flora of the region without them. These exotics include chinaberries and crepe myrtles.

With wildflower areas, two ponds full of water lilies and cattails and Grandma’s Garden featuring formal plantings of exotics, the garden will extend to the Duck Pond and the Vaughan Tennis Complex. Native prairie fields will also play a prominent role in the garden.

“While the Black Belt is diverse in harboring several habitats which range from deciduous woods to wetlands, the prairies are probably the most distinctive community found in the Black Belt,” said Dr. Brian Keener, assistant biology professor and the garden’s director. “These prairies are not as expansive as the Midwestern prairies, but they are characterized by smaller open areas within woods most often dominated by Eastern Red Cedar. Many of the plant species of these Black Belt prairies are common in the midwestern or western United States but are very rare or even absent from the rest of Alabama.”    

For example, the Prairie Celestial Lily (Nemastylis geminiflora), a striking prairie species common in Texas and Oklahoma, reaches its natural eastern range limit in the Black Belt of Alabama. This flower served as the inspiration for the Black Belt Garden logo. The Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea), with its bright purple spikes of flowers, is another common Midwestern species scarcely found in Alabama except for in the Black Belt.

With the garden’s design in place, irrigation, trail building and paving are underway. An old home will serve as the visitor’s center, housing classroom and office space and restrooms. The Black Belt Garden will soon come to life as Keener and University horticulturist Sam Ledbetter begin collecting and growing a variety of plants.

“The garden will be very family-friendly and accessible,” Hall said. “Offering group or self-guided tours or serving as a beautiful place for our students to study, the Black Belt Garden is a lovely, relaxing addition to campus that everyone can enjoy.”