Resources

Native grasses, black-eyed Susans, pale purple coneflowers and blazingstars sway in the wind, while butterflies and hummingbirds hover above the flowers. Cardinal and turtlehead flowers planted in scenic ponds send up tall spikes of red and pink as their roots cleanse the water.
Although this may call up visions of provincial park, it actually describes the new face of Canada's golf course's aesthetic qualities, as well as providing a multitude of benefits to its ecosystem.

Changing times

• With all of their added benefits, introducing these plants and wildflowers to your course, will prepare you for what are considered to be some of the greatest challenges to golf course maintenance over the next five years.
• Environmental regulations will become increasingly stringent (reduction in chemical and nutrient applications).
• Water use will become regulated.
• Environmental monitoring and reporting will become a requirement (minimize and control runoff and improve groundwater quality).

By dedicating increasingly larger areas of golf course real estate to native prairie, wetland, woodland and savanna plants, you can cost-effectively meet these challenges.

Adapting to the Environment

Everyone seems to have tried the "wildflowers in a can" approach - where seeds were sprinkled onto bare soil, which then exploded into colour - but its popularity, like its effects, quickly fizzled.

What are now being planted are the long-lived native perennials that would have originally lived on the land before it had been cleared for agricultural or commercial use. These plants have survived for thousands of years and have adapted to variable weather conditions, pests, soils and abuse by grazing animals, allowing the species to persevere current conditions, including those of the golf course.

Added benefits

• Plants can provide an array of benefits for golf courses, including:
• Erosion control and stabilization of stream banks and pond shorelines.
• Control of algae growth and reduced nutrient levels in ponds.
• Creation of a visual separation and division between tees and greens.
• Creation of colourful gardens and wildlife oases.
• Reduction of areas requiring maintenance and irrigation.

Erosion control
Erosion of stream banks and pond shorelines can become a nuisance for you and an eye-sore for club members. An effective approach to remedy this problem is to install native plant species, which create dense fibrous root systems, to stabilize the soils and prevent further loss of banks or slopes. Cord grass, switch grass, riverbank wild rye and blue joint grass will protect banks and shorelines with their roots and shoots.

Pond care
Algae growth and high nutrient levels in ponds are a common complaint, but there is now a wide selection of aquatic plants available that can significantly reduce nutrient and algae growth. Torry's rush, hardstem bulrush, woolgrass, great bulrush and path rush can effectively absorb and lock up excess nutrients in ponds. Typically, they are planted in combination with cardinal flowers, turtleheads, blue flag irises, white water lilies and monkey flowers, which are also effective at breaking down nutrients.

Colourful barriers
The addition of a colourful garden oasis may be necessary to create a division between tees and greens, as well as enhancing the landscape with an alternative to turfgrass.

This can be achieved through the planting of native prairie species. These perennials are deep-rooted, drought tolerant and include brown-eyed Susan, blazingstar, butterfly milkweed, wild bergamot, grey-headed coneflower, spiderwort, big bluestem, little bluestem and northern dropseed.

Since there are thousands of native plant species available, in addition to those mentioned, and each golf course may require a specific combination of plants to meet site conditions, as well as your goals and objectives, it is best to speak with a local nursery grower prior to selecting an array of species.

Care and maintenance
Native plants and the self-sustaining communities they create are ideal for uncertainties inherent in the turf industry. Those uncontrollable and unpredictable weather patterns can increase maintenance and repair costs tremendously. For example, a 2000 Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) survey found that during the last El Nino 44 percent of golf course superintendents indicated an increase in management costs by an average of 15 percent. However, planting native species can decrease water expenses by reducing the areas dedicated to turf, while erosion-prone areas (as discussed above) will acquire less repair costs.

Education

Education is key to making successful changes to your golf course. It is important to ensure decision makers, maintenance staff and golfers are kept informed of the purposes and benefits of future course changes. At times, this may involve contributing an article to the club newsletter on planting or gardening projects or setting up demonstration areas with signs explaining future plans. These demonstration plots will attract attention, promote discussion and create a level of understanding of the project across the board, which can become critical to the success of future projects.

Environmentally friendly

The use of pesticides and herbicides continues to be a hot item in the media and the golf course industry has been unable to escape criticism over their use. Although the industry embraces Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies (each with their own significant environmental benefits), the average golfer and the critical public are unable to readily experience such benefits.

What better way to reinforce your efforts than with an eye-popping display of colour either in the form of a well-placed prairie meadow or a colourful fringe along the edge of a water hazard. These displays are not only visually appealing, but they will also attract wildlife such as birds, butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects.

It is difficult to deny that the golf experience is richer when the line drive is cheered by a song sparrow or a well-placed putt is watched by a monarch butterfly hovering nearby. With native plants, golfers are now benefiting from cleaner ponds, stable stream channels and brilliantly coloured gardens and prairies along the fairways. As for you, these plants can help improve your golf course's ecosystem, while reducing maintenance and irrigation costs.

Published in the Green Master, the Official Publication of CGSA
(Golf Course Superintendents Association)
in the February 2003 issue