In December 2025, Archewild, a PA-based ecology firm, seeded a 21-acre native meadow. The meadow was designed specifically to attract all 14 of the most endangered Pennsylvania songbirds. The meadow consists of:

• Purpletop, Tridens flavus

• Indiangrass, Sorghastrum nutans

• Path Rush, Juncus tenuis

• Fox Sedge, Carex vulpinoidea

• Soft Rush, Juncus effusus

• Plains Oval Sedge, Carex brevior

• Tufted Hairgrass, Deschampsia cespitosa

• Broomsedge, Andropogon virginicus

• Blunt Broom Sedge, Carex scoparia

• Golden Alexander, Zizia aurea

• River Oats, Chasmanthium latifolium

• Purple Lovegrass, Eragrostis spectabilis

• Canadian Anemone, Anemone canadensis

• Butterfly Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa

• Bigleaf Aster, Aster macrophyllus

• Roughleaf Goldenrod, Solidago patula

• Common Sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale

• Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata

• Flat Topped White Aster, Aster umbellatus

Each year of the four-year meadow establishment period presents changing landscapes, highlights different plants, and models a critical step in the evolution of the meadow. 

In Year One, the nurse crop--a quick to establish annual oat or rye grass--dominates the tapestry, forcing out undesirable invasive species growth, stabilizing the soil, and granting the slower growing wildflower seeds a moment to germinate.  The meadow looks like a green, semi-mowed field, and should be mowed whenever the growth reaches 12 inches high. This mowing schedule impedes weed growth and ensures the slower growing perennial wildflowers receive the sunlight necessary for germination. 

In Year Two, the annual nurse crop should begin to phase out, as the biennial and shorter-lived perennials and forbs burst into life. This year, these species, such as Zizia aurea, should bloom vigorously and freely throughout the growing season. Although such species will begin to diminish as the longer-term grasses and perennials take root,  they are self-seeders and will appear sporadically throughout the life of the meadow as bare patches appear from time to time. This season, the meadow should only be mowed once, and the meadow should remain standing until the following spring providing both aesthetic interest and serving as an important vegetation source and habitat for overwintering wildlife. 

In Years Three and Four,  the principal meadow stars, the long-term native grasses and perennial wildflowers begin to appear and dominate. The meadow should now feature a dense mosaic of vegetation that suppresses new annual or perennial invasive species or weed growth, and the meadow should be humming and dancing with the pollinators and birdlife found throughout. From this point on, the principal species will remain, but the meadow will never appear different each year, depending on weather, wildlife, and ecological disturbance.