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St. Jude Medical -- Restoration and Prairie Gardens on a Corporate Site Page 6 of 7 receives water from the building and parking lots. The parking lot islands have depressions which enable much of the island runoff to drain slowly into the soil rather than into the parking lot. 3. Uses predominantly native plant materials. The gardens are not intended to be prairie restorations. Thus, it seems appropriate to take liberties in these areas and include non - native species. The prairie, however, contains only plants native to this area. For example, Echinacea purpurea, while used in the gardens, is not found in the prairie since its natural range does not extend this far north. 4. Encourages biodiversity. The plant list includes many species of native trees, shrubs, grasses, and herbaceous fortis. Many of the plants are not commonly available and approximately ten different nurseries were needed to obtain the quantities and types of plants required by the design. More animal species are beginning to inhabit the site. Butterflies, in particular, have been a pleasant surprise to company employees. 5. Invests in healthy soil (no fertilizer and pesticides). In the gardens a shredded bark mulch helps prevent the loss of soil. As the mulch decomposes it acts as a slow release fertilizer. Since most of the garden plants used can flourish in infertile soil, Hagstrom anticipates there will be no need to fertilize the garden areas in the future. No fertilizer is used in the natural areas. The lawn receives an organic fertilizer. 6. Minimizes or eliminates bluegrass lawns. The design has less turf than is typical in most corporate landscapes. It is used in strips and swaths, not in large expanses, and probably covers about one -half acre. For people interested in seeing prairie restorations on these sites, this may still be too much bluegrass. A corporate site provides wonderful opportunities for monitoring and evaluating a restoration. Companies can capitalize on employees' interest and the simple fact that there are many people on site daily to participate in observation and monitoring. An employee -run monitoring program at St. Jude Medical would enable the company to evaluate the ecological success of the natural areas. For example, to track the botanical progress of the restoration, permanant plots could be marked in the prairie and savanna. Inventories of native and exotic plant species could be conducted in these plots and compared over time. Programs to track animal species might also be initiated. For instance, employees and their families could conduct a butterfly count two or three times during the growing season. Once this program is underway, the company could expand it to the immediate neighborhood. It would be interesting to compare the species and numbers of butterflies at St. Jude Medical with nearby yards and parks. There are many possibilities for monitoring. With guidance and training, interested employees can collect data that will help refine management strategies and ensure the success of the natural areas. CRITIQUE The landscape at St. Jude Medical is a wonderful bridge to the natural world. It uses the traditional cues of a formal garden to introduce the prairie plants and then leads one out to the prairie in all its informality. Some may feel this is making unnecessary concessions, that we do not need to shield people from nature. But Hagstrom understands that while most people enjoy plants and gardens, many people are uncomfortable with nature on its own terms. His design capitalizes on peoples' pleasure in plants and encourages them to explore the prairie. This does not mean that a prairie cannot stand alone on a corporate site. It is simply one approach. If one considers only aesthetics, most people will agree that a prairie restoration appears "weedy" and is not terribly attractive the first few years after seeding. The design of this site buys the prairie the years it needs to become spectacular in its own right. The lines of the currant hedge and http: / /www.hort. agri. umn .edu /h5015 /96papers /gayner.htm 2/22/01