FLOWERS ARE FLOURISHING: Thanks to the joint effort of neighbors, Caldwell Park is now home to a meadow of native plants.

By Anne Levin

A relatively forgotten patch of lawn in a park surrounded by Caldwell Drive, Bertrand Drive, and Herrontown Road is a newly flourishing meadow of colorful, native plants. A group of residents who participated in Sustainable Princeton’s STAR (Sustainable Together and Resilient) Neighborhood program spent the past three years transforming the grassy area in Caldwell Park into something that is visibly pleasing and helpful in battling flooding issues.

“It was a field of grass when we moved here about 11 or 12 years ago, and it wasn’t used for much,” said Jenny Ludmer, who lives in the neighborhood and is the program manager for Sustainable Princeton. “The municipality would mow it, but not all the time. It was kind of a forgotten area. So because I care about sustainability and my downstream neighbors, I started thinking about what we could do.”

Ludmer’s house is on a hill. Her neighbors on lower ground are not so lucky, because stormwater drains into their homes on its way to the Millstone River, often flooding River Road in the process. “I brought out The Watershed Institute, and they walked the grounds,” Ludmer said. “They suggested planting more trees around the perimeter, and a meadow in the center.”

Because she wanted to lobby the town, Ludmer asked neighbors to get involved. “I wanted it to not be just me,” she said. “Some of the neighbors had concerns about a meadow, because of ticks and creatures that might move in like raccoons and possums. They were also worried about long-term maintenance. These were all valid concerns.”

In the end, the group agreed to plant the meadow in a smaller area than Ludmer had envisioned — 25 feet by 75 feet. “I accept that, because we learned a lot in the past few years trying to do this,” she said.

The neighbors proposed their idea to Princeton Council, which approved the meadow project in March 2021. At least 12 different residents have participated in the project. “Sometimes it would just be two people working there, other times it was 12,” said Ludmer.

In the summer of 2021, the residents began by rolling out a plastic tarp to prepare the area for a meadow. They removed the tarp in the fall and smoothed out a layer of compost. Seedlings and seeds of purple cornflowers, blazing stars, and coreopsis were planted.

The following spring, the neighbors “pulled up an invasion of the non-native pennycress and waited for the previously planted native plants to arrive,” reads a post on sustainableprinceton.org. “In the fall of 2022, in one half of the meadow, neighbors pulled out grass that had taken over, and planted a variety of plugs provided by the municipality. They also seeded heavily with purple cornflower and some black-eyed Susan.”

About half of the area is currently in bloom. “We’re going to work to get the grass pulled and seeded next,” said Ludmer. “Then hopefully, it will get back to being in full bloom.”

Establishing the meadow had its challenges. Deer and other animals ripped sheeting that had been put down for soil solarization, which is a non-chemical way to control pests and weeds by capturing energy from the sun. The wind scattered the pieces, creating a mess to clean up.

“Our second initiative to rid the area of grass, which was to smother the grass with compost, also had its challenges, as it brought an invasion of pennycress and other weeds,” reads the website. “After pulling out the pennycress, grass flourished and took over. In retrospect, a cover crop such as rye or another early grower would’ve been most beneficial. Last summer, seeding aggressively after pulling up grass appears to be the trick that worked, and that is how we will proceed.”

The goal of the STAR program “is to get neighbors to look around their little area of the world, and think about what they can do together to make it more sustainable,” Ludmer said. “This is just one way to do it. We have a whole list of ideas of things you can be doing with your neighborhood.”

Residents in other areas of town have organized talks with the town’s municipal arborist, attended seminars together on how to build rain gardens, and hosted mini-festivals on their lawns devoted to green energy.

Sustainable Princeton urges the public to stop by and see the meadow. “It’s amazing what you can do when you work with your neighbors,” Ludmer said. “You get to know them while doing something good.”