Boyce Park’s Indian Meadow wows with flowers

On the day of our visit, people were swarming over the wide, grassy pathways, taking selfies against backgrounds of black- and brown-eyed Susans — the dominant flower at this point. One group picnicked under a tree at the top of the hill. Two little girls scampered along a path, one saying to the other, “All these pretty flowers!”

The whole scene reminded me of TV commercials back in the day when people cavorted in flowered meadows to make you think your life could be that lovely if you used a certain margarine or shampoo.

Seven women, four in straw hats, waded into the flowers that reached their torsos and lined up for a photograph. They introduced themselves as sisters, but not biological sisters. They all live in the area and formed a sisterhood of sorts because of their Indonesian roots.

Betty Pribadi of Monroeville said she saw the meadow two days before and called the others to join her for a picnic.

“We saw a sunflower field in Washington, D.C., but this is closer,” she said.

The meadow will gradually fill in with dapples of purples, reds, pinks and whites as more flowers bloom.

The mix of seeds are wildflowers and grasses native to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. They include little bluestem, wild rye, beardtongue, partridge pea, purple coneflower, lance-leaf coreopsis, blue aster, spiderwort, wild bergamot, blue false indigo and hoary mountainmint.

Indian Meadow is a halfmile from the ski lodge at Boyce Park.

This landscape, though created, mimics natural growth in a natural order that creates a harmony of benefits, one being that meadow plants loved by birds and insects grow better than weeds do in soil that is not fertilized.

Several years ago, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy conducted an environmental assessment of county parks and recommended that steep areas be turned into meadows to reduce maintenance and manage stormwater.

Four acres in South Park will be turned into a meadow with $6,900 from the Pittsburgh Foundation. The meadow is expected to be planted later this summer. The Charity Randall Foundation provided $6,000 for a 5-acre meadow at Hartwood, the site and date of which remain to be decided.

Two years ago, when Indian Meadow was an expanse of crabgrass and wild violet, it seemed so much steeper to climb than it does now. That surely has to do with its beauty, which can’t be measured by any research. The wow factor, the delight, is what will affect people the most, and that is the ultimate selling point.