By Paul Kwiatkowski
Mount Auburn Cemetery walks the line between ornamental landscape and natural or wild terrain . Subtlety is required to make this work . The property is a 175-acre urban greenspace that has functioned as an active cemetery and arboretum for nearly 190 years . Very deliberate planning to incorporate desirable plant specimens from across the globe , while not disrupting the functionality of native plantings that support wildlife biodiversity has been part of the cemetery ’ s master plan since it ’ s consecration in 1831 . Significant emphasis on combining traditional gardenscapes with more wild areas creates spaces that are beautiful , provide habitat and enhance the visitor experience . In short , Mount Auburn has been heavily manipulated and intensely managed for a very long time , but in recent years we have been driven by a strong desire to find the right balance between ornamental and natural areas .
Small-scale wildflower meadows and butterfly gardens , along with curbed and / or fenced burial lot gardens have been planted with an emphasis on including native plant species to create habitat that provides food , cover and breeding opportunities for pollinators and other native wildlife . These garden spaces are also desirable to beneficial insects . In addition , emergent plant zones have been created that provide much needed habitat for aquatic species in our water bodies . Carefully planned landscape editing and new planting efforts have established corridors connecting water bodies and wild spaces that provide lanes for wildlife movement throughout the Cemetery .
Turf is not a sustainable feature in the landscape . While it may meet the expectations of some lot owners and visitors , it does not provide much by way of habitat value and the constant maintenance requirements make turf very unsustainable . Mount Auburn has implemented strategies to remove turf and replace it with fescue mixes that require less mowing and irrigation . Replacing turf areas with ground covers also provides greater sustainable options . Fescues and ground covers increase cover for wildlife as well .
Figure 1 - The seed heads of many flowering plants provide winter food sources to a variety of wildlife .
Monitoring by staff , academic research collaborators , and citizen scientists has been implemented to evaluate habitat creation efforts , including observing how biodiversity has been
Mount Auburn Cemetery | Climate Action & Sustainability Plan 40