Native plants taking root around famed T&H statue

Kristy Trevathan, along with volunteers from the “Clean Green Hannibal Team,”

 added 56 native plants to the landscape around the Tom and Huck Statue this week. The native plants are well suited to the rocky, hillside environment. Contributed photo.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

As of Tuesday, a total of 56 native plants, in 13 different varieties, grace the landscape of the time-honored Tom and Huck Statue, located at the north end of Hannibal’s Main Street.

The perennials, obtained from the Missouri Wildflower Nursery south of Jefferson City, were specially selected for Hannibal’s climate, and the rocky hillside upon which they will grow.

They money for the landscaping plants was donated by Kristy Trevathan, who had funds left over following her unsuccessful bid for mayor a few years ago.

She decided this would be a good use for those untapped dollars.

Kristy, who now serves on the Hannibal Parks Board, is also a Master Naturalist, which is joint venture between the University of Missouri and the Missouri Department of Conservation. 

The design work for the rock garden was done by Grow Native, part of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. “They are helping people understand the importance of native plants and the benefit they are to pollinators.” The native plants “don’t take as much water, and they are suited for our environment,” Kristy said.

The plants range from butterfly milkweed to grasses, to cone flowers, and different native plants, including the blazing star.

On Tuesday, Kristy was joined by 11 volunteers, many of whom are members of Hannibal’s new betterment group “Clean Green Hannibal Team.”

By the time the volunteers arrived to plant, Kristy had the flower pots in place according to the design plan. “We picked them up and got them in the ground within 24 hours,” she said.

The area around the statue is “not the easiest place to maneuver,” she said. “Some of the area  had water around it.  None of us are spring chickens, but we got it done in an hour and a half. The city brought us mulch, and there is a new water spigot, so we had water. It was a wonderful project and I’m happy we have something planted there.”

For those interested in the landscape project, she offered a little warning. “It’s won’t be like popping with color this year. It takes a while to get these plants established.”

The plants include the Missouri Primrose, and purple beardtongue. “These are native plants that pollinators love, bees, hummingbirds, and insects that then feed our birds.”

“There has been an emergence of interest,” in native plants, Kristy said. “Plant things that we know were here years and years ago. Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma all used to be prairie; there is a real push to re-establish prairies.”

The garden layout was designed by Scott Woodbury. “He used to be the gardener from Shaw Nature Preserves, west of St. Louis and part of St. Louis Botanical Garden. He is semi-retired. We actually had him come to Hannibal to speak at our naturalist meeting.”

He offers free design plans on the website,  “Grownative.org.”

“His plans are free, part of the mission to encourage people to plant things that are beneficial to wildlife and don’t take lots of rain or need fertilizer. They are suited for climate that we have.”

“This project was dear to me,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about doing it for two years.

“I love it because it certainly is a worthy thing to educate people. These (plants) won’t look the same as plants that you buy in box stores, but when you get them” established, “they will return year after year.”

She hopes Hannibal will take pride in the fact that there are people from all over the world who come to Hannibal to witness the landscape that Sam Clemens made famous in his writings.

“The Tom and Huck statue is so popular for picture taking,” she said.

During the last few years, when work was under way to repair the storm sewers along the North Main and North Street area, the landscaping around the statue had been somewhat neglected, she admits.

Now that the sewer repairs are complete, it is time to rejuvenate the statue’s landscape.

"This was a rock garden, the soil is pretty dry and gummy all the time. These plants are suited for that kind of environment.”