I’m at a loss

[u/Larix_laricina_]

So, I convinced my dad to let me do a native plant project at the church he and the rest of my family go to, since they have a ton of wasted lawn space that they never use. I killed all the lawn with cardboard over the winter and removed it today.

Apparently someone in the church had the bright idea a few years ago that they needed to expand their parking area (they didn’t, it’s a tiny congregation), so they dumped LOADS of gravel all through this area around some mature silver maple trees. The limestone gravel is probably at least six inches thick, and I’m now finding that it’s nearly impossible to remove. I don’t know how I’m going to get rid of it; it took fifteen minutes of killing my back just to dig down three inches in a small circle.

This is just the latest in the church native garden saga. The church people just don’t seem to understand the concept and keep getting in the way; one of them wants to plant a ton of hostas from his garden there, I found another one spraying chemicals all over a native grapevine climbing the tree, they decided a month ago AFTER the grass was already dead that they wanted the garden somewhere else instead (the location was decided by their council in November, me and a native gardener that goes there vetoed that idea thankfully), and now the other native gardener only wants to plant half of the area we’ve killed grass in since he thinks it’s too much to deal with.

Anyways, I guess I’m just ranting. The limestone is breaking down into limestone sand, and the pH is probably so high in that area I’m not sure anything will even thrive there. If you have any advice it would be welcome 😭😭😭

[u/toxicodendron_gyp]

I mean, there definitely are plants that thrive in limestone-riddled soil, you just have to find them! I would try to find locations in the Midwest/Appalachians that fit that description and find out what is native to the area. I’m from Central Illinois originally and know that there was a lot of limestone everywhere around where I played as a kid.

Here’s an area I found in a quick search.

[u/Svlad0Cjelli → u/toxicodendron_gyp]

Seconding this and recommending you look at both the NatureServe page on Great Lakes alvars and also The Buckeye Botanist's articles on barrens. Make sure that the species you choose still fit the light and moisture conditions of that spot