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Mountaintop Discovery GardensA student-led garden plan

Planning phase. An independent plan; nothing is funded or built yet. Not an official project of, or endorsed by, Lehigh University. What “planning phase” means

Biodiversity & sustainability

Habitat first, lawn second

Most of the pilot would be native meadow, not lawn or beds. The garden would use rainwater, recycle its own waste and stay dark at night, building on the 2021 meadow pilot Lehigh has reported on Mountaintop.

Ideas, not commitments

Meadow, water, compost and monitoring come from the plan PDF; the plant list and other details were added afterwards. Nothing here exists yet, and every item would depend on the university's written permission, soil and utility studies, and funding.

Native pollinator meadow

Native Pennsylvania meadow, with its borders and mown margins, would cover about 18,400 sq ft of the pilot, inside and around the accessible loop. Meadow needs far less mowing than lawn and feeds pollinators and birds through the season.

  • Ground preparation, then dormant-season seeding, as set out in Phase 1 of the plan.
  • Mown edges keep paths and margins tidy so the meadow reads as cared-for.
  • Stems left standing over winter shelter insects and feed birds, with a late-winter mow.
  • A native berry hedge (optional) adds food and cover along the edible garden.

Possible plants, to be confirmed

Commonly recommended Pennsylvania natives that could be considered. The final plant list would be confirmed with Penn State Extension and Lehigh staff.

  • Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
  • Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
  • Mountain mints (Pycnanthemum species)
  • Goldenrods (Solidago species)
  • New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
  • Little bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium)

Water: slow it, catch it, reuse it

  • A rain garden of about 55 × 24 ft (about 1,040 sq ft) would slow and soak up runoff from the paths and lawn.
  • A cistern would store rainwater for drip irrigation of the edible beds.
  • A water point with a bottle filler would serve visitors, if a water connection can be confirmed with Facilities.
  • The size of the rain garden would depend on drainage and soil studies.

Compost and pest management

  • Enclosed, rodent-resistant compost bins in a yard of about 20 × 30 ft.
  • Garden waste and plant scraps only: no meat or dairy.
  • Integrated pest management and a deer fence about 8 ft high around the edible garden.

Later idea: recycling, compost and reuse

A later idea, not in the plan PDF, except composting on site, which the plan already includes.

  • Sorting points for recycling, compost and reuse could stand at the garden and at any event there, with clear signs.
  • Beds, seating and signs could use reused or salvaged materials where safe. Anything near food beds would need to be food-safe.
  • Garden and food scraps would be composted on site in the enclosed bins above, with no meat or dairy.

Dark skies

There is no lighting by default, so night skies and nocturnal wildlife are left undisturbed. The garden would be a daytime place.

Watching what changes

  • A baseline biodiversity survey before anything is planted (Phase 0).
  • Student-run monitoring: pollinator counts, bird surveys and iNaturalist observations.
  • Results could be shared openly so others can learn from what works and what doesn't.

Protecting the woodland

The plateau is surrounded by Lehigh's South Mountain woodland, part of the Forest Park initiative (about 760 acres), and a Lehigh lab maintains 16 long-term forest research plots on Mountaintop. (These Lehigh facts were checked through search results; see the site study.) The plan uses existing open lawn only and proposes no tree removal.

Four seasons

  • Spring and summer: meadow bloom, planting and harvest, classes outdoors.
  • Autumn: seed heads, late harvests and seed collecting.
  • Winter: standing stems and seed heads for birds, and season extension in the high tunnel (optional). The loop would be cleared of snow or closed for the season, a decision for Facilities.