Marcia Goodrich photo Ian Klein, who does maintenance for Canterbury House, waters the newly planted native plant garden.

HOUGHTON — Wild Ones Keweenaw (WOK) has planted its first free native plant garden in front of Canterbury House Episcopal Campus Ministry on the Michigan Tech campus. WOK is donating five free native plant gardens to area residents in honor of Houghton’s designation as a Bird City.

The organization is a chapter of the national nonprofit Wild Ones, which promotes native landscapes through education, advocacy and collaborative action.

The goal of the garden giveaway project is to raise awareness of the value of native plants, both as beautiful additions to gardens and as essential habitat for America’s birds, said Marcia Goodrich, WOK president.

“We thought this would be a way for Wild Ones to get more native gardens into the community and raise awareness of the fact that birds rely on a healthy ecosystem, and native plants are fundamental to a healthy ecosystem,” Goodrich explained. “We chose Canterbury House for our first installation because they do important outreach with international students and their families, so it’s nice to support them.”

The native plant gardens will be installed in front yards or boulevard strips between the sidewalk and street, so that everyone can appreciate their beauty and value to birds and other wildlife.

Locations for the native plant gardens include one in Baraga, one in Laurium, two in Houghton, and one in Hancock.

The Canterbury House garden was planted directly underneath the Canterbury House sign, so passing traffic and pedestrians will be able to enjoy the native plants. Ian Klein, who handles maintenance for Canterbury House, prepared the site and installed plants in late June. The garden features prairie dropseed and a 38-plant garden for sandy soils from U.P. Native Plants in Marquette.

Volunteers are working to help install the four remaining free gardens in Houghton and surrounding communities by the end of the summer.