Colton Leitzle of Ridgeline Turf LLC hydroseeds the hillside by Carr’s Hill Field with a variety of native plants, including yarrow, milkweed, eastern columbine, aromatic aster, blue false indigo and sensitive pea. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)
The hillside above Carr’s Hill Field will change from a backdrop to a centerpiece.
University of Virginia landscapers, working with J.W. Townsend Landscapes, are changing the hillside from an undisciplined mess of foliage to a native wildflower meadow, replacing invasive species with a variety of native plants that include yarrow, milkweed, eastern columbine, aromatic aster, blue false indigo and sensitive pea.
The hillside had been controlled for years through mowing and trimming, but then fell victim to improvements at Carr’s Hill Field.
“When the artificial turf field came in, we put a fence at the bottom of the hill which eliminated sledding and our keeping it frequently mowed,” said Rich Hopkins, associate director of grounds at UVA, who said landscapers fell trying to work the steep hillside.
“It just became unsafe for us to be on it. We started cutting it once a year, and some years we didn’t cut it at all. When you don’t cut an area frequently enough, the other things from your neighbors start to creep in.”
That neighbor was the nearby railroad tracks, with trains carrying seeds from near and far.
Colton Leitzle of Ridgeline Turf mixes seeds, paper pulp and water in preparation to hydroseed the hillside by Carr’s Hill Field with a variety of native plants. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)
“Everything’s hitching a ride,” Hopkins said. “The wild seeds just blow and migrate and that area became the conduit for the non-desirables to get on the hillside. We ended up just being able to bush hog once a year.”
The collection of invasive plants included “bittersweet, undesirable trees just in the wrong place, grape vine, poison ivy and fescue,” Hopkins said.
Maintaining the hillside was labor intensive, requiring the periodic use of chainsaws. But with the development of the nearby Emmet/Ivy corridor, the hillside became more of an issue.
Native plant seeds are combined with water and paper pulp in the sprayer tank before being applied to the hillside. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)
“If you were to stand at the top of the hill next to the proposed hotel, and you’re looking down through the stream channel, what you see in the distance is that ugly hill,” Hopkins said. “It was really an internal decision. It was just our own people and the architects who thought it would be nice to do something different.”
Landscapers sprayed the invasive species with a herbicide with a short-term effect.
“It will naturally decompose,” said Em Ford, a landscape plant health specialist and co-chair of Bee Grounds UVA. “The herbicide itself, when exposed to the elements, is biodegradable, not in the most literal sense, but it does break apart and become less harmful in the environment.”
Hopkins said the herbicide would only be broadcast once on the whole hillside, though some spot application may be required in the future. Landscapers then hydro-seeded the hill with the native plant seeds, and will reapply more seeds next year because not all of it will take root in the first round.
The mixture of seed, paper pulp and water appears greenish-grey once it has been sprayed on the hillside. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)
“The seed will germinate and then be dormant for the winter and start coming up next year,” Hopkins said. “There will be a cover crop of zinnias annual rye grass for this year that will stabilize the hillside.”
The native plants will have to outcompete the invasive species for their place on the hillside and then simple maintenance can return.
“If it’s growing well and there are no issues, it’s just mowing with a radio-controlled mower so we don’t have to put people on it again,” Hopkins said. “But it’s going to take a couple of years to really get rid of that seed bank of things we don’t want.”
If it’s successful, Hopkins said landscapers would repeat the process in other places on Grounds.
Colton Leitzle reviews a list of the native plant seeds that are being applied to the hillside. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)
“We are imaging being able to walk across Grounds and always walking in sections of meadow,” Hopkins said. “We could have a ribbon of meadow that could encircle the University, so as you walk you go from manicured, established landscape to a native meadow as you progress.”
Hopkins said Townsend Landscapes and the University would work together for several years on the project.
“It really won’t look like a meadow for about three seasons,” Hopkins said. “It’ll take a little while. It will look undone next year and then the following year it’ll start to grow.”
Ford said the plan has positive impacts on the insect population.
Colton Leitzle hefts a handful of combined seeds from native plants that hopefully will supplant the invasive species on the hillside adjacent to Carr’s Hill Field. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Ford said. “It will be really good for the insects and pollinators, from teeny, tiny little sweat bees to the largest butterfly – for us, the tiger swallowtail. These areas are really going to help their safety and lifecycle and provide food for birds, which eat the bees and everything else. I think it will be incredibly impactful to have it on such a large and visible scale.”
Ford said the native plants were selected because they are hardy, but also because of their flowering cycle.
“Blooming spring, summer and fall will provide food for pollinators when they come out from overwintering and will sustain them through the season,” Ford said. “I’m also seeing several different host plants for several different butterfly species. A plant is considered a host when it supports both the larval caterpillar stage and adult butterfly.”
