Revitalizing Urban Woodlands

The Olmsted Parks Conservancy (OPC) is committed to preserving and enhancing the 18 parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, including Cherokee Park in Louisville, KY. In 2004, the Olmsted Parks Conservancy began a campaign to revitalize the natural areas of this park by first removing all of the invasive non-native Lonicer maackii (Amur Honeysuckle) from the woodlands understory. Once this task was completed, many native plants that had not been recorded in the park for years began to appear. Included on this list were two very uncommon to rare plants Hexalectris spicata (Crested Coral Root Orchid) and Perideridia americanain (Wild Dill) neither of which was on any historic plant lists for the park.

Both plants grow in thin soils underlain by limestone outcrops. In 2014 the Glenview Garden Club was awarded a grant which enabled OPC to protect these two rare populations of plants utilizing both Conservancy field staff and Glenview Garden Club volunteers by first removing the Honeysuckle and then cataloging the numbers and location of each plant when the plants emerged. Additionally, there was a popular multi-use trail that passed right through the plant populations which was re-routed away from the plants. ( I have photos which we are happy to share of the orchid as well as Club members hard at work. Please advise how to submit.)

In 2023, OPC was able to secure 25 acres adjacent to Cherokee Park to further protect populations of these plants from invasive species, habitat degradation, and development. This project seeks to protect and encourage the growth of about 250 individuals of Hexalectris spicata and a growing population of about 50 individuals of Perideridia americana, on the recently acquired land adjoining Cherokee Park. Work done in this area ten years ago to remove invasive species has allowed both species to expand their populations and has led to the discovery of other rare native plants including Campanula americana (Tall Bell Flower) and Aquilegia canadensis (Columbine). This project will continue to manage invasive species in this area to protect this sensitive limestone cliff area and continue to monitor biodiversity and plant populations at this site.