Habitat plantings | Great Lakes Center | SUNY Buffalo State College

A person pushes a tilling machine around a tree by the waterfront, leaving a dirt path.

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In 2018, the Field Station added three plantings to improve the habitat for migrating birds and insects. Landscapers used rototillers to define three new plant beds.

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Two trees near the waterfront with a ring of exposed soil surrounding both of them.

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Landscapers used rototillers to define three new plant beds. One is in the lawn under some trees.

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A person pushes a machine in a rectangular area along a fence to remove the grass. There are piles of dirt on a roadway nearby.

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Landscapers used rototillers to define three new plant beds. One is along a fence by the boat barn.

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A person pushes a tilling machine in an area of dirt in a lawn near the waterfront by a telephone pole and a boat ramp.

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Landscapers used rototillers to define three new plant beds. One is near the boat launch and osprey pole.

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A dump truck pours a pile of dirt onto a roadway.

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Loads of top soil were trucked in to make the new plant beds.

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Landscapers work near a line of piles of top soil.

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Loads of top soil were trucked in to make the new plant beds.

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A worker spreads top soil with a rake on a large rectangular plant bed near a fence. There are piles of top soil on the roadway nearby.

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Top soil was spread on top of the new plant bed by the fence.

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A large patch of top soil surrounds a tree. There is a front loader in the background.

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Top soil was spread on top of the new plant bed under the trees.

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A large patch of dirt on the ground by the waterfront.

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Top soil was spread on top of the new plant bed by the osprey pole.

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A flat bed truck with a variety of plants and trees on it, as well as two workers.

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The trees and plants arrived.

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Landscapers arrange potted plants in the middle of a lawn near the waterfront.

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Landscapers sorted the plants for the three plant beds based on plans.

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Several people work in a bed of plants, arranging potted plants and trees in burlap sacks or using shovels.

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Landscapers arranged plants on the beds before planting them.

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A worker uses a machine with an auger to drill a hole. There are several trees and bushes nearby, ready to be planted.

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An auger was used to drill holes for trees and bushes.

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A newly planted tree and some unused stakes along with other small plants and shrubs in a fresh plant bed under some trees.

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A small tree and some plants in the planting under the trees in the yard.

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A plant bed with mulch near the waterfront.

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After the plants were put in, mulch was spread over each bed for water retention and weed prevention. Some of the mulch came from mulched ash trees that were on Buffalo State campus before they were destroyed by emerald ash borers.

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A plant bed with plants and shrubs near a one-story building with some outbuildings.

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The osprey pole garden looking toward the Field Station building.

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A plant bed near a building. There is a sign next to the bed that says, "Great Lakes Center."

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The osprey pole garden.

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A plant bed along a fence with several smaller plants and a few trees.

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The finished bed by the fence had several trees in it.

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A long rectangular mulched bed with plants and trees between a fence and a roadway.

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The bed by the fence from a different angle.

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A long rectangular plant bed with trees and smaller plants between a fence and a roadway.

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The planting by the fence was green the following spring!

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A plant bed with plants and a couple small trees under some larger trees in a yard.

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The finished plant bed under the trees.

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A hand holding a bundle of tall grass planted in mulch. There is a tag on the plant.

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One of the plants chosen for the bed by the osprey pole is switchgrass (Panicum virgatum).

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Tall grass that has gone to seed, planted in mulch.

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Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)

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A hand holding a tag that is attached to a branch so it can be read. In handwriting it says "Amelanchier"

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Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)

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A hand holding out an ovate serrated leaf attached to a nearly barren bush.

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Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)

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A hand holding out a tag attached to a plant with ovate glossy leaves. In handwriting it says "Myrica."

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Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)

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A finger pointing to a tag by a plant, but the tag is out of focus. The plant is small and has jagged textured leaves.

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Joe pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum)

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A tag with flowers on it next to a plant that has no leaves on it. The tag says "Asclepias tuberosa."

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Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). Unfortunately, deer ate these before the landscapers were even done! Hopefully they spring back next season (edit: they did!).

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A finger pointing to a tag in a grassy plant. The text reads "Sorghastrum nutans."

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Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans)

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A person holds a tag attached to the branch of a shrub with green leaves with red veins. The handwritten tag says "Aronia Aut Mag."

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Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa var. Autumn Magic)

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A hand holds out a leaf attached to a bush. The leaf is a reddish green with serrated margins, and there are red parts elsewhere on the plant.

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Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa var. Autumn Magic)

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A small frilly-leafed plant with a tag next to it that reads "Achillea m. Summer Pastels."

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Yarrow (Achillea millefolium var. Summer Pastels)

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A small frilly-leafed plant with an umbel of white flowers.

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Yarrow (Achillea millefolium var. Summer Pastels)

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A hand holding a spray of pink flowers from a small frilly-leafed plant.

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Yarrow (Achillea millefolium var. Summer Pastels)

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A hand holding a tag attached to a bush with small leaves. The handwritten tag says "Symphocarpos alb."

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Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)

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A hand holding a leaf on a small bush. The leaf is whitish green.

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Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)

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A tag with a plant on it that says "Black Tower Elder, part shade" next to a plant with purplish green leaves.

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Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis var. Black Tower Elder)

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A woody plant with purplish green leaves.

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Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis var. Black Tower Elder)

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A woody plant with broad leaves. A handwritten tag says "Hamamelis virg."

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American witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)

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A hand holding a tag attached to a woody plant with glossy leaves that are dark on one side and light on the other. The handwritten tag says "Little Goblin Ilex."

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Winterberry (Ilex vertilicata var. Little Goblin). Winterberry is dioecious, so plants from two different varieties are needed to produce fruits.

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A hand holding out a leaf from a woody plant. The leaf is a glossy dark green with serrated margins.

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Winterberry (Ilex vertilicata var. Little Goblin). Winterberry is dioecious, so plants from two different varieties are needed to produce fruits.

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A hand holding a tag from a woody plant. The handwritten tag says "Ilex Jim Dandy."

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Winterberry (Ilex vertilicata var. Jim Dandy). Winterberry is dioecious, so plants from two different varieties are needed to produce fruits.

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A hand holding out a leaf from a woody plant. The leaves are small and yellowish green.

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Winterberry (Ilex vertilicata var. Jim Dandy). Winterberry is dioecious, so plants from two different varieties are needed to produce fruits.

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A person holding a tag attached to a small tree. The handwritten tag says "Quercus muehlenbergii."

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Chinkapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii)

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A person pulls down a leaf from a small tree. The leaf is long, thin, and has wavy margins.

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Chinkapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii)

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A small tree in with most of it's leaves fallen off. There are several tags on the tree, one which says "Pin Oak."

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Pin oak (Quercus palustris)

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White spruce (Picea glauca)

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A small barren tree in a plant bed with a tag that says "Populus tremuloides" in handwriting.

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Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides)

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A gloved hand holding a tag from a woody plant. The handwritten tag says "Lindera benzoin, spicebush."

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Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)

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A gloved hand holding a handwritten tag from a small bare tree with reddish bark. The tag says "Cornus alternifolia."

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Alternate-leaved dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)

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A glimpse through the bare branches of a small barren tree. The branches are purplish.

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Alternate-leaved dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)

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A group of students planting small plants in a mulched bed with trees by a roadway.

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In May 2019, a group of students from a local high school helped plant black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta).

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Showy flowers in a garden that are remiscent of sunflowers but much smaller.

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Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

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A plant with flowers made up of flower clusters with wispy petals.

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Joe pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum)

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A close-up of a plant with clusters of small bright flowers. There is a large striped caterpillar on a stalk of the plant.

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Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), with a monarch butterfly caterpillar.

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A small shrub in a garden with a few delicate pink flowers.

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Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)

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A small shrub in a garden that is covered in round bright red berries.

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Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)

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A shrub in a garden by the water's edge. The shrub has dark round berries all over it.

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Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

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Cockspur hawthorn (Crataegus crus-galli)

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A garden with three young trees with dark red leaves and bright showy flowers in the foreground.

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Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), red variety

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A vine growing on a chain-link fence in front of two evergreen trees. The vine has five-leaf leaflets and is starting to change colors for autumn.

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Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)

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Close-up of a young tree with four-lobed leaves.

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Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

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A small shrub with dark-colored leaves. The picture is taken from above the shrub and the branches form spiral with tufts of leaves on the end as opposed to a rounded shape like many other shrubs.

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Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis var. Black Tower Elder)

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A leafy shrub with some showy flowers showing behind it. The garden is near a driveway and a lawn with a big tree in it.

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Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)

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Flowers in a garden. There are several bunches of upright plants with white tube-shaped flowers.

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White turtlehead (Chelone glabra)

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A long narrow garden planted along a driveway. The garden has a mixture of flowers and young trees.

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The bed by the boat house in summer 2019.

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