Spencer Fenceline Garden

The Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students offers a rigorous educational curriculum for Cincinnati students in grades 3 through 12. A group of involved parents identified an opportunity to beautify the new campus on Kellogg Avenue and support biodiversity in the historic East End. Through collaboration with CPS and Duke Energy, the Civic Garden Center has created a unique wildlife corridor that stretches for 300 feet along the Ohio River Trail. The plants in this garden evolved in the floodplains and are adapted to handle both wet and dry conditions. As they grow, they will do double-duty: blocking a chain-link fence to make the view from the Spencer Center cafeteria more attractive while providing food and habitat to local birds, pollinators, and other wildlife.

Site Plan

Project Photos

Plant List

Aronia melanocarpa ‘Autumn Magic’ - Autumn Magic Chokeberry
Asclepias incarnata - Swamp Milkweed
Carex vulpinoides - Fox Sedge
Cephalanthus occidentalis - Buttonbush
Eutrochium purpureum - Joe Pye Weed
Iris versicolor - Blue Flag Iris
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium - Slender Mountain Mint
Senna hebacarapa - Prairie Senna
Silphium perfoliatum - Cup Plant
Symphyotrichum novae-anglea - New England Aster