Long Island's Garden Girl ~: BIG House on the Prairie

Before there was Roosevelt Field and the Coliseum, Adelphi and Hofstra, or even Levittown and Garden City, there was once a prairie. Yes, a prairie! Long Island was once home to the only true tall-grass prairie east of the Mississippi River – a prairie that was called the Hempstead Plains. 40,000 – 60,000 acres of uninterrupted grasslands once covered a huge swath of Nassau County, all the way from the Queens border to the Suffolk border. Surprising as it is, it’s true that the view from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s little house on the Kansas prairie would not have been very different had she built her house on the Hempstead Plains instead.

Photo: Little Bluestem (Schizachryium scoparium) was a common grass of Long Island's prairie. Garden City

Amber waves of 6 ft. tall grasses blowing gently in the breeze were home to all sorts of insects and wildlife. Imagine an endless sea of Little (Schizachryium scoparium) and Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), and Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) with Karner Blue Butterflies (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) dancing in and out of Blue Lupine flowers (Lupinus perrennis). Today, the view from our big houses is vastly different, as we gaze upon an endless sea of green manicured lawns, traffic, and shopping malls.

It turns out that flat prairies (especially ones next to New York City), with few trees to get in the way and readily workable soil, are some of the most desirable pieces of land for development. Worldwide, grassland – not rainforest, nor tundra, nor wetland – is one of the most critically endangered ecosystems. The endangered Sandplain Gerardia plant (Agalinis acuta), and the threatened Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) and Henslow’s Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) are just a few species that are dependent on the shrinking prairie grasslands.

Photo: A small parcel of the Hempstead Plains at the Garden City Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum with Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis).

Yet we can still experience the beauty of our home-grown prairie in the few fragments that are left. One of the largest remnants of the Hempstead Plains is located on the campus of Nassau Community College in Garden City. Near the looming shadows of the Nassau Coliseum and the Long Island Marriot, lies the 19 acres of natural grasslands. The site is actively managed by the non-profit Friends of the Hempstead Plains at Nassau Community College, Inc. (Check out www.friendsofhp.org). Through the dedication of emeritus faculty and volunteers, the site has been maintained as a biological time-capsule of what most of Nassau County looked like centuries ago. By collecting seeds, removing invasive plants, and cataloguing the vegetation, the Friends group has been working hard to restore the ecological integrity of the site. The site is open to the public and volunteers many Friday afternoons and Saturdays throughout the growing season. In the next few years, an interpretive center and children’s garden will be created adjacent to the grassland. This outdoor classroom will be used to educate school groups and volunteers about the unique environment of Long Island’s Hempstead Plains.

Photo: Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) makes a great accent in the garden. Riverhead

Below is a short list of some NY native prairie plants that you may want to grow and create your own backyard meadow. Many of these plants can be purchased through the Long Island Native Grass Initiative (Contact Polly.Weigand@co.suffolk.ny.us) and conservation seed catalogs.

Grasses

Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)

Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus)

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)

Little Bluestem (Schizachryium scoparium)

Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans)

Wildflowers

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria)

Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)

Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium fistulosum)