BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A vacant lot has received lots of love after being empty for more than a year.
7 News' Pheben Kassahun headed over to the "Lots of Clover" once overgrown with high grass but with the help of some high school students, the lot was seeded with clover and now only needs minimal mowing throughout the year.
It is creating a healthy environment for wildlife and the community alike.
At the corner of Saratoga and Tonawanda Street sits a flourishing lot that was once an eye sore more than a year ago.
"Eighteen months ago, this was just high grasses and weeds throughout the entire lot. One of our environmentally and aware friendly neighbors came to me and said this lot gets terrible and the grass gets higher than our knees before it gets cut and then it lays there and it's dry straw," Brralliance, Inc. executive director, Anne McCooey said.
McCooey said someone suggested planting the clover seeds in order to guarantee clovers would overtake the grass, and well, it did!
"For the community, it does a couple of things, one beautification first. This is so much prettier looking at fields of always green clover rather than looking at tall, drying grasses and weeds," McCooey said.
It is not only great for the community but also for bees and a healthier environment, even Charlie the rescue is enjoying the greenery.
"It's always green, it's low mow, it's much more attractive than what it had been. The neighbors love it, the community loves it. It's easier to do cleanups," McCooey said.
"It would get overgrown, it would look terrible and so, Anne McCooey, Alissa Hamilton, and some other friends of mine had done some research and said, 'You know, clovers are really good for the environment.' And there's an economic impact as well. You don't have to cut it as much," City of Buffalo North District Councilmember, Joseph Golombek said.
Golombek said this is a demonstration project, and plans for other empty lots in his district to get the same beautification.
"It's been reasonably successful. So far, I think they've only had to come out here twice this season to cut the grass because while the clover hasn't taken 100%, it has stopped it from growing as much as it had in the past," Golombek said.
