Landscape-Recreation
Description of Botanical Gardens
 A four and one-half acre garden spans most of the grassy landscape at Savoy. The colorful garden is along a twelve-hundred foot walking path meandering through eleven featured planting areas that are comprised of more than 1,200 plants. The path is lined with resting benches, interpretive signs, and an octagonal interpretive kiosk with eight story boards explaining the several hundred different native species found in the garden.
Many of the species were transplanted from the forest. Other species were obtained from a number of regional nurseries specializing in native vegetation who supply local mining companies with their reclamation planting needs.
The purpose of the botanical gardens is to encourage the anticipated two-hundred thousand annual visitors to use native vegetation at their home and business landscapes to conserve drinking water, reduce the use of chemicals, and enhance wildlife habitat. Native vegetation is accustomed to normal precipitation requiring much less irrigation, and is weed tolerant to infestation.
 One of the eleven special planting areas is the 'Berry Patch.' The Patch contains twenty-one species of native berries including Bearberry, Bunchberry, Wild Strawberry, Snowberry, Mountain Huckleberry, Grouseberry, Gooseberry, Chokecherry, Buffaloberry, Serviceberry, Elderberry, Thimbleberry, Holly Grape, and Cranberry Highbush.
Other planting areas feature Sunny Wildflower, Shaded Wildflower, Ornamental Grasses, Aspen/Birch Grove, Sunny Stream, Shaded Stream, Rocky Cliff, Noxious Weeds, Shrubs/Forbs, and Hardwood Trees/Shrubs.
The $65,000 gardens project was funded with a $14,500 grant from the Andrea and Norman Waitt Jr. Foundation, $22,000 from the Foundation including donations from the "Friends of Spearfish Canyon" members, and $25,000 from voluntary services. Volunteers include ten members from the national NCCC-AmeriCorp project, Wyss Landscape Architects of Rapid City, and fourteen members of the garden advisory panel.
Complete Native Botanical List
Numbers indicated next to species are page reference to the following field guide:
Plants of the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains
Gary E. Larson and James R. Johnson
1999, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota
Forest Shaded Wildflowers
Various Asters |
Aster spp (64) |
Pasque Flower |
Anemone patens (314) |
Bee Balm |
Monarda fistulosa (246) |
Arrowleaf Balsamroot |
Balsamorhiza sagittata (90) |
Small Leaf Pussytoes |
Antennaria parvifolia (74) |
Pearly Everlasting |
Anaphalis margaritacea (70) |
Smooth Beard Tongue |
Penstemon glaber (352) |
Shell-leaf Penstemon |
Penstemon grandiflorus (354) |
Mountain Meadowsweet |
Spiraea betulifolia (552) |
Harebell |
Campanula rotundifolia (180) |
Heartleaf Arnica |
Arnica cordifolia (74) |
Slender Penstemon |
Pensteman gracilis (352) |
Aspen/Birch Grove
Quaking Aspen |
Populus tremuloides (556) |
Paper Birch |
Betula papyrifera (490) |
Thimbleberry |
Rubus parviflorus (548) |
Buffalo Currant |
Ribes odoratum (518)) |
Meadowrue |
Thalictrum dasycarpum (322) |
Sunny Stream
Iron Wood |
Ostrya virginiana (494) |
White Spruce |
Picea glauca (524) |
Shrubby Ciniquefoil |
Potentilla fruticosa (538) |
Serviceberry |
Amelanchier alnifolila (532) |
Hawthorn |
Crataegus succulenta (536) |
Red Raspberry |
Rubus idaeus (548) |
Chokecherry |
Prunus virginiana (542) |
Snowberry |
Symphoricarpos occidentalis(498) |
Nannyberry |
Viburnum lentago (500) |
Low Serviceberry |
Amelanchier humilis (534) |
Northwest Ciniquefoil |
Potentilla gracilis (532) |
Lanceleaf Bluebell |
Mertensia lanceolata (158) |
Viscid Cranesbill |
Geranium viscosissimum (238) |
Blue-eyed Grass |
Sisyrinchium montanum (240) |
Nodding Onion |
Allium cernuum (254) |
Wild Strawberry |
Fragaria virginiana (326) |
Hearleaf Alexanders |
Zizia aptera (56) |
Cutleaf Alexanders |
Rudbekia laciniata (134) |
Western Blue Flag |
Iris missouriensis (240) |
Smooth Scouring Rush |
Equisetum laevigatum (42) |
Bearberry |
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (510) |
Wild Plum |
Prunus Americana (540) |
Shaded Stream
Box Elder |
Acer Negundo (480) |
Willows |
Salix spp. (558) |
River Birch |
Betula occidentalis (490) |
Elderberry |
Sambucus racemosa (496) |
Red Osier Dogwood |
Cornus Stolonifera (504) |
Wild Plum |
Prunus Americana (540) |
Forget-me-not |
Myosotis scorpioides (158) |
Riverbank Wild Grape |
Vitis riparia (574) |
Meadow Anemone |
Anemone canadensis (312) |
Joe-pye Weed |
Eupatorium maculatum (110) |
Bracted Spiderwort |
Tradescantia bracteata (190) |
Bunchberry |
Cornus candensis (192) |
Retrosa Sedge |
Carex rostrata (466) |
Reed Manna Grass |
Glyceria grandis (412) |
Canada Wildrye |
Elymus canadensis (402) |
Downy Phlox |
Phlox pilosa (294) |
Birdsfoot Violet |
Viola pedatifida (372) |
Bearberry |
Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi (510) |
Nebraska Sedge |
Carex nebrascensis (458) |
Prairie Cordgrass |
Spartina pectinata (436) |
Ornamental Tall Grasses
Mountain Timothy |
Phleum alpinum (424) |
Oatgrass |
Danthonia intermedia (400) |
Hairgrass |
Deschampsia caespitosa (400) |
Indiangrass |
Sorghastrum nutans (434) |
Littlebluestem |
Andropogon scorparius (434) |
Bigbluestem |
Andropogon gerardii (382) |
Porcupine Grass |
Stipa spartea (442) |
Switch Grass |
Panicum virgatum (420) |
Western Wheat Grass |
Agropyron smithii (422) |
Green Needle Grass |
Stipa Viridula (444) |
Rocky Cliff
Ponderosa Pine |
Pinus ponderosa (528) |
Rocky Mountain Cedar |
Juniperus scopulorum (506) |
Creeping Juniper |
Juniperus horizontalis (506) |
Common Juniper |
Juniperus communis (504) |
Wild Rose |
Rosa arkansana (546) |
Shrubby Ciniquefoil |
Potentilla fruticosa (538) |
Western Red Current |
Ribes cereum (520) |
Wormleaf Stonecrop |
Sedum lanceolatum (194) |
Leafy Phlox |
Phlox alyssifolia (296) |
Prairie Chickweed |
Cirastium arvense (184) |
Rose Pussytoes |
Antennaria microphylla (72) |
Blue Grama |
Bouteloua gracilis (386) |
Bottlebrush Squirreltail |
Sitanion hystrix (404) |
June Grass |
Koeleria macrantha (414) |
Hairy Grama |
Bouteloua hirsuta (386) |
Noxious Weeds
Tansy |
Tanacetum vulgare (146) |
Hounds Tongue |
Cynoglossum officinale (154) |
Common St. Johnswort |
Hypericum perforatum (188) |
Butter-and-eggs |
Linaria vulgaris (346) |
Canada Thistle |
Cirsium arvense (96 |
Mullein |
Verbascum thapsus (356) |
Burdock |
Arctium minus |
Sunny Wildflowers
Wild Geranium |
Geranium spp (238) |
Shooting Star |
Dodecatheon pulchellum (306) |
Wild Strawberry |
Fragaria vesca (326) |
Cutleaf Fleabane |
Erigeron compositus (106) |
Trailing Fleabane |
Erigeron flagellaris (104) |
Hoary Fleabane |
Erigeron canus (104) |
Stemless Hymenoxys |
Hymenoxys acaulis (122) |
Purple Coneflower |
Echinacea angustifolia (102) |
Tufted Evening Primrose |
Oenothera caespitosa (278) |
Prairie Smoke |
Geum triflorum (326) |
Dotted Gayfeather |
Liatris punctata (126) |
Maximilian Sunflower |
Helianthus maximiliani (116) |
Stiff Goldrod |
Solidago rigida (144) |
Aromatic Aster |
Aster oblongifolius (88) |
Hairy Goldaster |
Chrysopsis villosa (94) |
Purple Prairie Clover |
Dalea purpurea (214) |
Shell-leaf Penstemon |
Penstemon grandiflorus (354) |
Silvery Lupine |
Lupinus argenteus (218) |
White Crazyweed |
Oxytropis sericea (224) |
White Beardtongue |
Penstemon albidus (350) |
Shrubs
Skunkbush |
Rhus trilobata (482) |
Smooth Sumac |
Rhus glabra (482) |
Yucca |
Yucca glauca (44) |
Buffaloberry |
Shepherdia canadensis (510) |
Mount Mahogany |
Cercocarpus montanus (534) |
Leadplant |
Amorpha canescens (514) |
Northern Gooseberry |
Ribes oxyacanthoides (522) |
Forbs
Prickly Pear |
Opuntia fragilis (178) |
Blanket |
Gallardia aristata (112) |
Blackeyed Susan |
Rudbeckia hirta (132) |
White Sage |
Artemisia ludoviciana (82) |
Fringed Sage |
Artemisia frigida (80) |
Wooly Verbena |
Verbena stricta (366) |
Yellow Prairie Coneflower |
Ratibida Columnifera (132) |
Goldenpea |
Thermopsis rhombifolia (228) |
Lawn Grasses
Blue Grama |
Bouteloua gracilis (386) |
Sideoats Grama |
Bouteloua curtipendula (384) |
Buffalo |
Buchloe dactyloides (392) |
Hardwood Trees and Shrubs
Bur Oak |
Quercus macrocarpa (516) |
Green Ash |
Fraxinus pennsylvanica (524) |
Balsam Popular |
Populus balsamifera (554) |
Gamble Oak |
Quercus gambelii (516) |
Highbush Cranberry |
Viburnum opulus (500) |
Elderberry |
Sambucus canadensis (496) |
Chokecherry |
Prunus virginiana (542) |
Wild Plum |
Purnus americana (540) |
Fleabane |
Erigeron speciosus |
Berry Patch
Grouse Berry |
Vaccinium scoparium (512) |
Bearberry |
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (510) |
Bunchberry |
Cornus canadensis (192) |
Buffaloberry |
Shepherdia argentea (508) |
Snowberry |
Symphoricarpos occidentalis (498) |
Wolfberry Chokecherry |
Sympharicarpos albus (498) |
Elderberry - Red |
Sambucus canadensis |
Elderberry - Stinking |
Sambucus racemosa (496) |
Oregon Grape Holly |
Mahonia repens (488) |
Highbush Craneberry |
Viburnum opulus (500) |
Serviceberry |
Amelanchier alnifolia (532) |
Wild Strawberry |
Fragaria virginiana (326) |
Blackberry |
Rubus pubescens (550) |
Red Raspberry |
Rubus idaeus (548) |
Gooseberry |
Ribes missouriense (517) |
Thimbleberry |
Rubus parviflorus (548) |
Golden Current |
Ribes aureum (518) |
American Plum |
Prunus americana (540) |
Juniper |
Juniperus horizontalis (506) |
Box Elder |
Acer negundo (480) |
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