Growing a Meadow Near Crabtree Creek

A blue sign explaining why we're growing a meadow with green trees and plants behind the sign — You'll see these signs along the greenway trail while we grow the meadow.

Have you noticed longer grass along Crabtree Creek near the greenway trail on Glenwood Avenue and Crabtree Valley Avenue?

We are transforming this area into a meadow. To do this correctly, we will be keeping the grass long. Then, we’ll mow and overseed the meadow to maintain it. We'll do this each spring.

Meadow Mix

The seed for the meadow is tailored to the site.

Good for areas along waterways.
All plants naturally grow in Wake County, NC, and nearby counties (except the purple coneflower).
Flowers are shorter so that the meadow doesn't impact drivers and greenway users.

Meadow Benefits

Meadows have many benefits, including preserving the floodplain. Here are a few others:

Native grass and wildflowers help protect the local ecosystem and provide good habitat for wildlife.
The grassy area and plants soaks up water when it rains and help protect creeks from water pollution.
Seeds from these plants are also a good source of food for birds and small mammals during the winter.
Meadows also help keep our air clean and are beautiful to look at too.

We started this process in connection with the Floodplain Creative Education Installation.