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GreenScapes Helps Green the National Mall
EPA's GreenScapes program is making the National Mall in Washington, DC, a little greener through a summertime exhibit at the US Botanic Gardens and by working with the National Park Service to improve the grass on the National Mall.
Open from Memorial Weekend through Columbus Day, the GreenScapes exhibit at the US Botanic Garden will showcase environmentally-friendly lawn and garden care practices for homeowners. GreenScapes partnered with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to build the exhibit, which shows a model home and its front and back yard. NWF took the lead in re-creating the backyard setting, showing the many ways to make your outdoors friendly for wildlife, such as including flowering plants for bees and water for birds. GreenScapes focused on the front yard, demonstrating five easy steps homeowners can take to "go green" in their front yard:
- Build and maintain healthy soil
- Plant right for your site
- Practice smart watering
- Adopt a holistic approach to pest management
- Practice natural lawn care
By following these steps, homeowners can save time and money, and improve the health and appearance of their lawn and gardens.
Families are encouraged to visit the USBG exhibition during one of the four scheduled 'Family Days,' when there are activities for children and live demonstrations. The Family Days will be held on June 21st, July 19th, August 16th, and September 27th from 10 am to 4:30 pm.
In addition, SafeLawns.org, a GreenScapes partner, is collaborating with the National Park Service and GreenScapes to complete a pilot project on a section of the National Mall. To help grow grass on the extremely compacted National Mall soil, SafeLawns.org plowed a four-acre section, applied organic compost and other natural soil amendments, then reseeded the area. Over the next two years, Safelawns.org and NPS will continue to organically maintain the re-seeded sections. They will investigate whether environmentally friendly soil treatments, such as compost tea, can improve the soil enough to make grass more viable under the extreme compaction conditions of the National Mall.
