This site is located on the south end of the Longhouse, adjacent to the parking lot
Map of Longhouse Garden
Prairie Garden Site Front
Prairie Garden Site Side
Prairie Forest Edge
Bench and Pathway
Southern Exposure With Branch
Ecological Features of this Site:
This site fits pretty well with the rest of the Longhouse Ethnobotanical Garden, but a few features have marked it for its potential for mimicking a prairie area. First, not very many trees or stumps are in the immediate area of the garden, and it probably used to be just grass. Second, it has a fair exposure to the southern sky.
However, the soil of this site is of the same type that pervades the whole Lonhouse garden area. It is not particularly sandy or gravelly, and should be ammended.
Past Use and Development of this Site
I have been told that Common Camas (Cammasia quamash) has been planted in this area, but they are not evident right now. I have not discovered whether there was any info about this area in the previous journals. I do not know whether other plants were planted or where they should be expected to emerge in the spring. Nor do I know what kind of treatment this soil was given when the Longhouse was constructed.
Current plant types currently living in this site:
There are three types of plants growing here: native plants that occur in Camas prairies, native plants that do not occur on Camas prairies, and non-native or invasive plant species. This subject is further detailed in the section: "Plants of the Camas Prairies Garden Site"
