The Flowers that Keep on Giving

By Mallory Helmes | Published by December 5, 2021

Pop Quiz: 

When looking around at Kean University’s campus what do you see?

1. Grass
2. Trees
3. Flowers
4. Buildings

According to Kean University professor William Heyniger, the correct answer is none of the above.  

“As I look across campus I see nothing, I see a desert, an ecological desert,” said Heyniger. 

His solution to bringing life to this desert? A native wildflower meadow. 

Heyniger is responsible for teaching courses like Intro to Meteorology, Introduction to Environmental Science, Introduction to Sustainability, and Earth Science. 

“He’s very passionate about habitats and earth’s creatures and how they reside here and how impactful humans are,” said Amanda Manresa, a senior studying Special Education with a concentration in Earth Science, vice president of the Earth Science club, president of Nu Theta Chi, and one of Heyniger’s students. 

Manresa explained that it was Heyniger’s passion that drove her to become a part of his passion project to bring a native wildflower meadow onto campus. 

“It’s probably been about seven years that I’ve been sitting on this,” said Heyniger. “I’ve always wondered how we could do it as a project and this year seemed to just be synthesizing and synchronizing with new administration, a reawakening of the campus, and I even put it out there as a volunteer effort for the students and I said look there’s no credit for this, it’s an idea I have, you guys seem pretty energized, do you wanna do it? And about 11 people between two sections came up and said, ‘hey this is something that I like to do and we’re trying to get it going’.” 

When trying to grasp a better understanding of what exactly a native wildflower meadow is, Heyniger explained them as “the flower that keeps on giving all year long”.

He compared the way in which these flowers bloom to a seasonal fireworks show where the flowers that react to the warmer weather will come out while the other flowers remain dormant, and then the flowers who react to the cooler weather will come out in the fall while the others remain dormant. 

“So it’s this firework of seasonality where from spring through summer through the fall you have this continual explosion of different flowers with different colors and different petals and different types, it’s really amazing to watch,” said Heyniger.

He said the reason we are able to see this fireworks show for the majority of the year is because the way native wildflowers grow, corresponds to what is already native to their environment.

“A native flower is meant to be here and it thrives here and it has the right composition competition and the right support and all these correct relationships that other flowers that we tend to plant don’t have,” said Heyniger. 

If these flowers are so beneficial to the environment and last throughout the majority of the year then why aren’t more native wildflowers planted? Heyniger explained that it has to do with appearances and human nature.  

“Typically wildflowers grow a little more floppyish and wildish — that’s the term, it’s in the name wildflower –so you see this butting up against what people perceive to be flowers, versus what could be beneficial for the environment and you get this substitution, of what people think are flowers…it’s a psychological thing that humans have to address,” said Heyniger. 

Heyniger and Mansera believe that this problem is something that can be addressed on campus while simultaneously bringing awareness to the lack of ecological diversity on campus.

“When you walk around campus you usually see trees and flowers and stuff, they all look the same and as a Kean University student, the one thing you always hear is how diverse we are so if we say we are so diverse let’s also be diverse in what grows here and is native to our area,” said Manresa. 

In order for this idea to become a reality, Heyniger explained some of the steps that must be taken. 

Before seeking the president’s approval on this project, they must first talk to campus facilities, the police and fire departments, and then send out survey questionnaires to students.

These survey questions are important not only for them but also to students. The survey asks students to give feedback on the project, express any concerns in terms of allergies or fear of bugs, and also voice what this project could look like and where it could be located on campus. 

“We even have had some ideas of how students would like the meadow to be displayed. Like we have the idea of a wildflower meadow in the shape of a Kean paw or a KU logo or even like a regular meadow so they feel like they have a voice in it as well,” Manresa continued. “We’re looking forward to hearing from the students because we really do want to hear what they have to say, they matter.”

Heyniger believes that they will be ready to talk to the president at some point in the spring and begin working on the project during the next fall semester because in the colder months most weeds have been killed off for the year. But the timeline is not definite. 

Heyniger explained that once you plant the seeds you can pretty much sit back and watch the flowers do their thing because they require little to no maintenance, which not only saves time but money.   

“I think it will bring a richness to Kean in terms of variety to Kean, you know?” He said, “People of color seeing things of color, and white is a color too, all colors, can look at this and say hey this a pretty cool campus, were pretty different but also the same and that gives us a strength.” 

If you are interested in being apart of this project contact William Heyniger at wheynige@kean.edu

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