A Meadow for Green Acres

The Green Acres Habitat Restoration project is located along the Little Falls Branch between Yorktown and Wakefield Roads in Bethesda.  It was started in 2016 by when a group of Green Acres residents, lead by Jane Gomes, approached LFWA about restoring the area. The goal is to return native trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers to the area, creating a haven for native pollinators and song birds.  We are pleased to be collaborating with the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (DOT), Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and the Aqua Eagles from Westbrook Elementary School on this restoration.  

Plant Lists and Landscape Plan

The initial plant lists and landscape plan can be seen in the links below.

Wildflowers and Grasses List is HERE

Landscape Plan of the Meadow is HERE.

Tree List is HERE.

The Landscape Tree Plan is HERE

Know that these list are not the complete list of what has been planted as we have been adding more and more plants every year. Visit the garden to see what is growing now.

Updates from Green Acres

building the Meadow:

Step One: Clearing invasives. 

Although there is a large grassy area on the DOT "paper road", there was a huge need to clear invasive vines and shrubs from the area.  Thanks to Accenture who spent over 120 man hours in 2016, the area was mostly cleared.  Three more work days with neighbors finished the bulk of the removal. There have been four work days to clear non-native plants, which have included removing weeds and vines, specifically non-native, invasive plant species (NNIs) and planting a pollinator meadow.  

A site survey in June 2017 found 13 species of native trees and wildflowers which were freed from vines or self-seeded after NNIs were removed.

Step Two: Planting native wildflowers and grasses

Students from Westbrook Elementary School after school club - The Aqua Eagles - cleared sod and planted more than 50 plants along the fence line on the "paper road" between Wakefield and Yorktown.  Neighbors spent two more work days and 150 plants were planted in total.  More plants will be installed in the spring of 2018.  

Step Three:  Plant Trees

LFWA is working with the Montgomery County Department of Transportation to plant trees along the bank.  DOT will be responsible for planting and maintaining the trees.

UPDATE October 4, 2018.  The trees are in!  Nine trees were planted the first week of October including American Elm, Swamp Oaks, White Oaks, Red Cedar and River Birches. 

This project is part of a larger effort by Montgomery County to conserve forests and riparian buffers through native tree and wildflower planting. 

Special thanks to the Aqua Eagles from Westbrook Elementary School for adopting the site as their special project.  They have done site prep, planting and weeding.

Special thank you to Jane Gomes the inspiration and driving force behind the project - designing the area and organizing the work days.

We are grateful to have the support of local businesses.  Thank you to: 

Strosniders Hardware
Pineapple Landscaping
Outdoor Illumination