tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8667038893953880462024-03-13T07:40:18.806-04:00Going Native - My Journey from Traditional to Native Plant Suburban LandscapingThis blog chronicles my journey of converting our suburban yard to a native plant landscape.the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-8562354268049665862016-07-13T14:22:00.001-04:002016-07-13T14:37:19.640-04:00A Rain Garden is Born<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Wow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been a while since I last scribed some
words here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just realized I never
wrote about the rain garden I installed in the fall of 2014.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So let’s jump back to then. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">I’m
proud to report I lived up to the <a href="http://nativeplantconvert.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-great-compromise.html"><span style="color: blue;">promise
I made my wife</span></a> to keep the front yard native garden tidy, deadheaded, and
weeded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately that work resulted
in </span><a href="http://nativeplantconvert.blogspot.com/2014/08/not-even-ant.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="color: blue;">permission to expand the garden</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that expansion, can you imagine my
surprise when my wife said, “Why don’t you add more space to that garden?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She saw how long it takes for a native
planting to fill in and start looking good. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She didn’t want to lose another year waiting
for a project to beautify itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But of
course she reminded me the same rules would apply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tidy, deadheaded, weeded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No problem!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Within mere milliseconds I was out there laying out the new bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">As I
looked at the space, I thought I’d try to be a landscape designer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A winding path between the old bed and this
new one would like nice and make it pleasant and comfortable to walk among the
plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would also make it much
easier to photograph pollinators and flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Knowing I wanted to eliminate as much lawn as possible and maximize the
garden space, I measured the width of the lawnmower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lawnmower was 19.663456 inches wide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s how wide I would make the path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ok . . . I reluctantly rounded it to 20
inches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtz7G1H8T1pJ6ssw6wWzAwE25X84Z1YdoaBLgQNTdj7KswHxpnCTL1k0izVRmDMdd9SJcz_GJg9Hzn6sy99hygwKUxZbvxH1Yx9_LjgFnV_nvKBi3gAshDaOhB0f94c5-jf8QEf5g2MX2z/s1600/rain+garden-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtz7G1H8T1pJ6ssw6wWzAwE25X84Z1YdoaBLgQNTdj7KswHxpnCTL1k0izVRmDMdd9SJcz_GJg9Hzn6sy99hygwKUxZbvxH1Yx9_LjgFnV_nvKBi3gAshDaOhB0f94c5-jf8QEf5g2MX2z/s320/rain+garden-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Sod removed from the new garden</strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">With the
age-old trick of using a hose to outline the edge of the bed, I marked the
border and began removing sod.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mind
now having totally converted to reducing the ecological wasteland of lawn, I
was thrilled as each square inch of turf grass came up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was using a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattock"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="color: blue;">mattock</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> to strip the grass out of the
rock hard clay and that was hard work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My plan was to shake off as much dirt from the grass roots as possible,
and then invert the clumps of sod to use as mulch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With this in mind, I piled all these clods of
grass on a large tarp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Over the
course of several days I continued to prepare this 25 x 7 foot space for
planting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once I got down to bare dirt,
I drew up a plan to group each of 7 species for a dramatic succession of blooms
through the seasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Butterfly Milkweed,
Blue Vervain, Wild Bergamot, Little Bluestem, Virginia Mountain Mint, New
England Aster, and Swamp Milkweed were the plants I chose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then it rained and the space became too muddy
for me to plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN-ZAoScBqbaumb0Xo6_fQREmq9z0O2ai1v8Zu1vv1mMLa4K52RqkKQJRJlFHYw11hq4L5YIlv5k0xImrb3N81JwV6YTHFV6Ia9BIOxrreqiugCCBm8HI8bG7xRJPHZ_nC6hWwKvekGiWn/s1600/rain+garden-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN-ZAoScBqbaumb0Xo6_fQREmq9z0O2ai1v8Zu1vv1mMLa4K52RqkKQJRJlFHYw11hq4L5YIlv5k0xImrb3N81JwV6YTHFV6Ia9BIOxrreqiugCCBm8HI8bG7xRJPHZ_nC6hWwKvekGiWn/s320/rain+garden-5.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Rainwater flows down the driveway</strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">During
one of the downpours I noticed the water ran down the driveway and pooled in
one spot at the edge in front of this new garden space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the small pool got filled enough, the
overflow moved on down the drive and into the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hmmm . . . I wondered if a small trench at
the edge of the driveway could capture this rainwater and move it into the
garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could I make part of this space
into a rain garden?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">This is
too exciting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t wait until the
rain stopped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ll remember how
impatient I am in things like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
in a raincoat and armed with an umbrella and a small shovel I marched out and
dug a tiny 3 inch trench through the grass border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hokey smokes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The water moved from
the driveway depression into the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Any neighbors observing this must have thought I was trying to recreate </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZYhVpdXbQ"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="color: blue;">Gene Kelly’s dance scene from “Singing in the Rain”</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> as I moved back into the
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Reading
up on rain gardens and suitable native plants for this lower section of the new
garden and with some guidance from my friends at the </span><a href="http://www.raingardeninitiative.org/initiative.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="color: blue;">Rain Garden Initiative</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">, I chose to add some more Swamp
Milkweed, and Blue Flag Iris, Dense Blazing Star, and Obedient Plant to the
plant list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI2vOiaJZkb1aCBPrfSvIiCuR9wHtRWYY6IJxh7kaIMosotXIS83liVkDrHFIN-Cw8HcspeWo2A3QdKkmVUno5PE3pW6Qnn3UcQzXyN0sOFcRf3W3qa1qyOs87dR7i70yYNF6UY21fHPyd/s1600/rain+garden-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI2vOiaJZkb1aCBPrfSvIiCuR9wHtRWYY6IJxh7kaIMosotXIS83liVkDrHFIN-Cw8HcspeWo2A3QdKkmVUno5PE3pW6Qnn3UcQzXyN0sOFcRf3W3qa1qyOs87dR7i70yYNF6UY21fHPyd/s320/rain+garden-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Percolation testing</strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">To
determine how deep to make this area, I performed the recommended percolation
tests by digging three 8 inch deep holes and filling them with water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the water was totally absorbed, I again filled
the holes with more water and started measuring the time and drop in water
level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that dense clay, it took 12
hours for the water to disappear from the holes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was sufficient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned the idea is to collect the water
and let the deep-rooted native plants facilitate absorption into the ground
thereby filtering the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin432wNVoSyFIGiU0Gr8soV1pUQANOULHydh4neK2crXKRenHTsPbomzqppXqWDyZEZEXTR2utdu226ytuY5eFwyuSjQP2Ibz9FyQLx8i7FFPbHE2KPl5AJPUSjBIlQ4TVkCflIEGyHwwF/s1600/rain+garden-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin432wNVoSyFIGiU0Gr8soV1pUQANOULHydh4neK2crXKRenHTsPbomzqppXqWDyZEZEXTR2utdu226ytuY5eFwyuSjQP2Ibz9FyQLx8i7FFPbHE2KPl5AJPUSjBIlQ4TVkCflIEGyHwwF/s320/rain+garden-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>String level helps determine depth of garden</strong></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">With
percolation data collected, I scooped out a sloping depression of 8 inches deep
by 6 feet by 7 feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since this entire
bed was in a sloping area, I used a string level to determine how deep I should
dig at various parts of the space to get my 8 inch depth.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtD5j5hBwCmwXru2faR_h_8sRKFQJ3WL4I0HweQbnDKbLb82h5K-CP96c26mVZczA5cjPfa1Y38pzEtmC6aLJ3-6F6aSLhL2UYduzPEqSK8sDfeEUrY9wQUOCST-y-atYFioay2kjLqwS/s1600/rain+garden-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLtD5j5hBwCmwXru2faR_h_8sRKFQJ3WL4I0HweQbnDKbLb82h5K-CP96c26mVZczA5cjPfa1Y38pzEtmC6aLJ3-6F6aSLhL2UYduzPEqSK8sDfeEUrY9wQUOCST-y-atYFioay2kjLqwS/s320/rain+garden-4.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Sign indicates this is a rain garden in progress</strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Plants
in place, I put my upside down turf to cover all the bare ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ah . . . this really didn’t look good at
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew the neighborhood association
would start getting complaints about the unsightly patch in my yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To tell the truth, it was UGLY.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It came to me in my dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put a
sign up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I put together a small sign
indicating this was a Rain Garden in progress and included a QR code pointing
people to a the Rain Garden Initiative web site that explained rain
gardens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">A few
years ago toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie gained us undesirable national
attention when our region of half a million people was without water for 3 days
while the water authorities wrestled with fixing the situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the dramatic impact this water quality
issue had on all of us getting our water from the City of Toledo, I imagined
I’d be busy answering the doorbell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d
be fielding questions from neighbors about how they too could put a rain garden
in and thereby help filter the algae producing chemicals from our
stormwater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well it’s a good thing I
didn’t set up my desk by the front door because that didn’t happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the sign did produce questions from
neighbors who saw me as I worked in the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">The next
summer the garden had started to fill in and was looking ok.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The number of butterflies, skippers, bees,
and wasps was incredible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already the
deep rooted native plants were doing their work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A friend of mine who deals with stupefying
mathematical equations, figured the rain garden portion of this planting holds
209 gallons of water and a one inch rainfall on our driveway produces 582
gallons of runoff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During a slow to
modest rainfall event, all the water goes into the rain garden and it never
overflows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only twice, in major
downpours, have I witnessed the water flow out into the street and then only in
a trickle. This 16 second video clip shows the water flow. </span><br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxoiac3VCU07cvbsDAFdqJNdwV9D2iTHBA-M38_XyZ6eDhkfttpzJf9wopM4GxJXdp4Lf5FJ6Go_wdb5mMxsA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">This
totally fascinates me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">One day my wife
couldn’t find me in the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
raining and she suddenly realized looking out at the front of the drive would
solve the mystery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure enough, there I
was with an umbrella, watching the rainwater move into the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">What
used to take 12 hours for 8 inches of water to be absorbed into the ground, now
takes only 2 hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Incredible!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the water that used to quickly run off
into the Maumee River laden with pollutants, is now filtered before it makes
its way to the waterway, before it reaches Lake Erie, before it’s reclaimed at
the Toledo water intake, and before it returns to our tap for cooking and
drinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NEtNAvDfYrF4MCNa8ADONmRH9vRtpsGy66AGsWWnITIaHmULefnsv_Xo_jMQZIwFyxp258qTqAEnf5qEVYUJecT-KyLeG517BMoXCtc8eMb3cil8CjifaabFnGn6ZkGgKkM4nza-nD8I/s1600/garden+in+bloom-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NEtNAvDfYrF4MCNa8ADONmRH9vRtpsGy66AGsWWnITIaHmULefnsv_Xo_jMQZIwFyxp258qTqAEnf5qEVYUJecT-KyLeG517BMoXCtc8eMb3cil8CjifaabFnGn6ZkGgKkM4nza-nD8I/s320/garden+in+bloom-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Garden as it looks today - 1 1/2 yrs after starting</strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Last
summer we had an overabundance of rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I spent a lot of time under an umbrella at the end of our driveway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year we’re in a major drought and everyone
is praying for rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bare ground is
cracking and trees are dropping their leaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Neighbors are watering their gardens and some their lawns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This 1½ year old native garden is doing fine
with only two minor applications from the hose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nonetheless, I wouldn’t mind spending some time under the umbrella
marveling at the efficiency of this garden’s natural processes that our
disappearing wetlands once provided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3LgCxA5nNOtoZ_JbfAoBjZeS2fjf_2XJQoK03E_HZ3_GbSkCIM-KRdiAkcFcoNm2adOD9CM44neSVLkAE6919SytM7AmjU537bzfieMj10GboC5Rn5Ve2S03w3uDy4Lc5NZtZIiKMcaL/s1600/hummingbird+moth-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3LgCxA5nNOtoZ_JbfAoBjZeS2fjf_2XJQoK03E_HZ3_GbSkCIM-KRdiAkcFcoNm2adOD9CM44neSVLkAE6919SytM7AmjU537bzfieMj10GboC5Rn5Ve2S03w3uDy4Lc5NZtZIiKMcaL/s400/hummingbird+moth-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Hummingbird Moth on Wild Bergamot</strong></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOGkdEds_v088m8kq9P8OxQDmZJauOX1vOpif4McrYuxFYAkW7O8gR7RYv1NfULaPW9Usr_wFU69Q3BGk2VjK_uBaqWvbcsTaguzZNM5iDbwI6ArI0jxB7_MT65MpNvBFw3rPvDFkDkE9/s1600/skippers-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOGkdEds_v088m8kq9P8OxQDmZJauOX1vOpif4McrYuxFYAkW7O8gR7RYv1NfULaPW9Usr_wFU69Q3BGk2VjK_uBaqWvbcsTaguzZNM5iDbwI6ArI0jxB7_MT65MpNvBFw3rPvDFkDkE9/s200/skippers-1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Northern Broken Dash skipper</strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The rain garden is
loaded with life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Friends have helped me
identify Meadow Fritillary butterflies, Northern Broken Dash and Delaware
skippers none of which have I seen here before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Numerous species of bumblebees, other native bees, and hover flies are
always present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Wild Bergamot seems
to be a favorite of the day flying Hummingbird moth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clean water, pollinators, and an abundance of
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t understand why everyone
doesn’t have a rain garden filled with native plants.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdpQUJeJd1i7vkLBAcOtIEn_JNDID1A5nDCovtiq9un2GX3U9DPNQyHecakGcEDxHx9yA1SagutgZcVGbJU8piGvqZtNamX7Y3HHGHFesoyVS5zg4tV7br0Q7JcIBaI_L5VxnEoH8qBpr/s1600/skippers-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLdpQUJeJd1i7vkLBAcOtIEn_JNDID1A5nDCovtiq9un2GX3U9DPNQyHecakGcEDxHx9yA1SagutgZcVGbJU8piGvqZtNamX7Y3HHGHFesoyVS5zg4tV7br0Q7JcIBaI_L5VxnEoH8qBpr/s400/skippers-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Delaware Skipper</strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-22813632086293332592015-04-22T14:28:00.001-04:002015-04-22T14:49:03.449-04:00A Flush of Spring<div class="MsoNormal">
Last week the temperatures rose to 70 degrees and the sun
beckoned me to do some yard work which I had been putting off. However as I started to assess the needed work
I was gladly distracted by numerous spring wildflowers which had suddenly burst
into bloom. Enthusiastically putting
aside the rake in favor of my camera I threw myself into trying to capture some
images. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ9qcSadoOcfj6J6oo6rdFun5mS5NIY-BG5OhKYcd8VHBgSFGnJKkPq0zxqb-4SnRXJDop9nbl4FxGZeHyD-jq7_zDjdnDYj4krCpjBUs_JXPAAg-Zh1xpuc2bHKF378CWCgFYsoF-dUe7/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(2%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ9qcSadoOcfj6J6oo6rdFun5mS5NIY-BG5OhKYcd8VHBgSFGnJKkPq0zxqb-4SnRXJDop9nbl4FxGZeHyD-jq7_zDjdnDYj4krCpjBUs_JXPAAg-Zh1xpuc2bHKF378CWCgFYsoF-dUe7/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(2%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spicebush in full bloom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMwFM861xJFQjSMFIjtgu8xfwyMcm0kAJc2ziYjdJEnK-0YAvdZdllREYoykAyfkMiWFpMUE2r9hVFycAOejMGh13qckh2B8O4BpqCFRWnqpMuMC2zGoHZZlF0t2trUJNBhtJsVOLh5J3/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(1%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMwFM861xJFQjSMFIjtgu8xfwyMcm0kAJc2ziYjdJEnK-0YAvdZdllREYoykAyfkMiWFpMUE2r9hVFycAOejMGh13qckh2B8O4BpqCFRWnqpMuMC2zGoHZZlF0t2trUJNBhtJsVOLh5J3/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(1%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spicebush blossom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A Spicebush we planted 3 years ago had escaped
winter browsing by the ever growing deer herd.
While several smaller Spicebush specimens had been pruned by these large,
white-tailed herbivores, this larger shrub exhibited a full load of yellow blooms
nicely contrasted against the darker background of the ravine. My goal this year will be to harvest some
seed for growing next year. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh – what’s that small flash of purple just behind the Spicebush? Ah, it’s the Common Violet I once </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPEST_9qIITI6dC21Ycjji_m3AtSAlDqXEtzNzEcwzj-d-5i4WK14q5rstvDMfZKc5jcLHaOIDfNPAGqKlfhVv9kibwjesRX7CLqXffqgFgzkYIaB8xCO19sQGYsheYqKHiXFiApcDmbdm/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(4%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPEST_9qIITI6dC21Ycjji_m3AtSAlDqXEtzNzEcwzj-d-5i4WK14q5rstvDMfZKc5jcLHaOIDfNPAGqKlfhVv9kibwjesRX7CLqXffqgFgzkYIaB8xCO19sQGYsheYqKHiXFiApcDmbdm/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(4%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common Blue Violet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
thought was
a weed and tried to rid from our property.
Fortunately I was able to see the beauty in this common native plant and
furthermore last year when we saw a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly in the
yard we learned the Violet is the butterfly’s only host plant. Now we get to enjoy both the plant and the
butterfly. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSB34xxBcVOZQa99O0qBI0t3MoPSlCy8lLDKbwkHnGR9R4g9qWxjyvFL5qrZVtBVjdo0m5O2rwd6s6FMgwcwKeExZrC9faWeauWpCH4jY7xXg7YrKixNbUzqppa9fI_5BMvIIvr5XDLY9k/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(8%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSB34xxBcVOZQa99O0qBI0t3MoPSlCy8lLDKbwkHnGR9R4g9qWxjyvFL5qrZVtBVjdo0m5O2rwd6s6FMgwcwKeExZrC9faWeauWpCH4jY7xXg7YrKixNbUzqppa9fI_5BMvIIvr5XDLY9k/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(8%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downy Yellow Violet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In another section of our yard, the Downy Yellow Violet is proudly
showing its color. How’s a person to do
any work when there is such beauty </div>
everywhere I turn?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphen3HmOxxuadGRnVZzL5ZX5WT-lTPrtPM4UZulkC5v8JEdOTl0PVl1HaQ4O1JO6vwXfVbwEZqcMQHDit-TsmOGVbdMYMfZX_oYI-GfBP2pJ8j8upzoE05QHl9SSKy29gORSl8fLfXjISfT/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(10%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphen3HmOxxuadGRnVZzL5ZX5WT-lTPrtPM4UZulkC5v8JEdOTl0PVl1HaQ4O1JO6vwXfVbwEZqcMQHDit-TsmOGVbdMYMfZX_oYI-GfBP2pJ8j8upzoE05QHl9SSKy29gORSl8fLfXjISfT/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(10%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Bloodroot found a home in an old tree stump</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The river of Bloodroot that bloomed last week has now let go
of its pure white petals and unfurled its large green leaves. These will absorb the sun’s rays before the
trees leaf out, blocking that source of energy.
The leaves will carpet the shaded ground until late June or July when
they’ll gradually die back, waiting until next spring’s warming soil to again release
the annual showcase. Wait; off in a
corner of the yard, right in the center of a long decaying tree stump is a
Bloodroot in full bloom. What a sweet
flash of brightness in this already shady area.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7QP_oLX1vouDOHhhD3ZR0i-orCS7fvLKcaJKN6f_YgUvhESgfpJtERXuZWf4J2Gb8DESyrBl74MlUh2JFw23xejcKuU_BFw1FCvzIII-n4cbEGLPyuN_y7yjIyVgqehRgcuH0JDNnSM8/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(3%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7QP_oLX1vouDOHhhD3ZR0i-orCS7fvLKcaJKN6f_YgUvhESgfpJtERXuZWf4J2Gb8DESyrBl74MlUh2JFw23xejcKuU_BFw1FCvzIII-n4cbEGLPyuN_y7yjIyVgqehRgcuH0JDNnSM8/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(3%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring Beauty</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now another long awaited blossom grabs my attention –
Spring Beauty, aptly named for its gorgeous, small white to lavender
flowers. The petals sport pinkish lines
often called “nectar guides”. These
contrasting lines point numerous native pollinators to the available rewards. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzlSyfYFZVWJ1KG86RqvJlcXUww-gIuh0BwnQFKn9-pN8wX8MQOs0yOZw3-7TAbYQZhm5wcooYe6KwsUyccdPvIr3zSA4kPrAlz3bfg5UuiMYKTfBdRznwsxIHAvTmReLLkY6PQRWzftCi/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(5%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzlSyfYFZVWJ1KG86RqvJlcXUww-gIuh0BwnQFKn9-pN8wX8MQOs0yOZw3-7TAbYQZhm5wcooYe6KwsUyccdPvIr3zSA4kPrAlz3bfg5UuiMYKTfBdRznwsxIHAvTmReLLkY6PQRWzftCi/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(5%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow Trout Lily</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_7TXUH4xBe7puPnBkEK9ytx7EDBho2Z3UdCPtQTcokx2IqHPzVj2GYZQ3MWav7kDyyzQiUaqs41EUVYamD3InKTk9xoCJtugDPmVFFkot5FPydA5XzV5d1YN_O7MJsaS8tZJyap6FbrxD/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(7%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_7TXUH4xBe7puPnBkEK9ytx7EDBho2Z3UdCPtQTcokx2IqHPzVj2GYZQ3MWav7kDyyzQiUaqs41EUVYamD3InKTk9xoCJtugDPmVFFkot5FPydA5XzV5d1YN_O7MJsaS8tZJyap6FbrxD/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(7%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Trout Lily</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV2x1klch9sYmlJdYI0sX77uxTs1GMKKpDHZ1JI9EzqUtyLk6GF4qidQiTvw2vij3iq2oN_vLt0nqK2id8cM0pcQSdIv-jnvv2Gix3d4KbvLsUkORv0eHIjRK17dOFw0TCKdRGNS5VMQv3/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(6%2Bof%2B12).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV2x1klch9sYmlJdYI0sX77uxTs1GMKKpDHZ1JI9EzqUtyLk6GF4qidQiTvw2vij3iq2oN_vLt0nqK2id8cM0pcQSdIv-jnvv2Gix3d4KbvLsUkORv0eHIjRK17dOFw0TCKdRGNS5VMQv3/s1600/spring+brittany+20150418+(6%2Bof%2B12).jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trout Lily leaves</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh my – scads of Trout Lily show interesting white and
yellow flowers. I’m told that it’s
pretty unusual to have both white and yellow Trout lilies in the same area. So we consider ourselves blessed to have a
lot of each. I understand like the
Spring Beauty, it takes 7 years for a plant to bloom after the seed
germinates. Each year the tiny bulb pulls
itself deeper into the ground. Back in
the day when I wanted a luscious green lawn, I tilled this ground sowing grass seed. Year after year I used a power
thatcher to rip apart the ground urging grass to grow. Now that I've shunned a lawn in this area and
left nature to resume its work, dozens and dozens of Trout lily</div>
leaves poke up
through the remaining grass. Thank
goodness they had to persistence to put up with my abuse.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today is Earth Day and there’s a hint of<span style="color: blue;"> </span>mixed rain/snow in the falling temperatures. I had to put on a warm jacket to walk the
yard, looking for the remnants of last week’s spring blossoms. While these flowers may have buttoned up like
it did, I know the next surge of sunshine and warmth will bring another flush
of native blooms to enjoy. </div>
the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-88874331178425268662014-11-02T20:41:00.000-05:002014-11-02T20:42:31.847-05:00Leaf It Alone<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the reasons I’m so interested in using native plants
in our landscaping is to restore life to our property. The insects that can only live on the native
plants are a major part of the food web, bringing in birds which eat these
protein morsels and feed them to their young.
Like many I've learned that the fall generation of Monarch butterflies
migrates to Mexico. I never thought
about what other butterflies and insects do during our cold winter months. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5HWnfzmF69YJ9lj-F_fysmvsLFFPIYyInk_IxnjOIY02utYGv7OnlYHh1YB2G4r3EAkeSL4r1V3_SsJL7nGrVVS-HOEx6NGM8uFVKewPZP42NDJ5zti-slv6EGKD1HHNOjwl6PB15oHkp/s1600/kids+in+the+leaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5HWnfzmF69YJ9lj-F_fysmvsLFFPIYyInk_IxnjOIY02utYGv7OnlYHh1YB2G4r3EAkeSL4r1V3_SsJL7nGrVVS-HOEx6NGM8uFVKewPZP42NDJ5zti-slv6EGKD1HHNOjwl6PB15oHkp/s1600/kids+in+the+leaves.jpg" height="400" width="398" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Children Playing in the Leaves</b><br />
<i>(photo by Susan Bibler)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>When I was a youngster and the fall bounty of multicolored leaves
started to fall, I had such great fun jumping in and out of the leaves raked into
large piles by my parents. As I grew a
little, it became part of my chores to perform this fall cleanup. Somehow it just wasn’t as much fun playing in
the leaves when I had to rake them up over and over again. For years in the fall I used to rake all the
leaves to the street where the city picked them up and took them away. Later I learned the soil could really use this
organic matter that I was sending away.
Early in the fall when the leaf drop wasn’t too much, I’d run the mower
over them, shredding them into small pieces and letting this organic material
work its way into the ground and decompose.
When the fallen leaf cover got too thick for that, I’d shred them with a
leaf blower attachment and use them for mulch or put them into the compost
pile. But things changed for me this
past year. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0EVF1pJaRrYVVcZtCg_EPEKH8ebd9zEpTc6JWx0Gq_5Faci6UdsKRSjTBoVRwTYqsRfrCbKR1h-nXkN4BVwImMAoNEyidTRFfhfSQq2AAPQgkkhnuCRmk1keWGGv6GjYNdGE0n4gRz3tL/s1600/IMG_1666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0EVF1pJaRrYVVcZtCg_EPEKH8ebd9zEpTc6JWx0Gq_5Faci6UdsKRSjTBoVRwTYqsRfrCbKR1h-nXkN4BVwImMAoNEyidTRFfhfSQq2AAPQgkkhnuCRmk1keWGGv6GjYNdGE0n4gRz3tL/s1600/IMG_1666.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Polyphemus Moth</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4" o:spid="_x0000_s1027" style="height: 121.5pt; margin-left: 283.5pt; margin-top: 4.5pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; visibility: visible; width: 180pt; z-index: -3;" type="#_x0000_t75" wrapcoords="-180 0 -180 21333 21600 21333 21600 0 -180 0">
<v:imagedata o:title="poylphemus moth-1" src="file:///C:\Users\Hal\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg">
<w:wrap type="tight">
</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>Two years ago I had fun raising some Polyphemus moths from eggs Candy
Sarikonda had given me. When they
hatched, I pulled some leaves from each of their native larval host plants and
let the little guys and gals decide what they liked best. This sample included oak, black cherry, elm,
locust, and maple. Overwhelmingly they
chose oak as their food of choice. Over
the course of the summer and early fall, they grew. Wow did they grow! They became
total eating machines for a good part of the summer. These caterpillars ate and ate. Five times they outgrew their skins, and shedding
them to allow for more growth.
Eventually they decided they were ready for the next phase of their
lives and they spun cocoons (moths made cocoons, butterflies make chrysalis). As part of this process, they wrapped leaves
around themselves, providing an excellent hiding place. Most of them emerged within a month. After letting their wings expand and dry for
24 hours we released them. Although they
were able to fly within several hours after emergence, allowing this extra time
to let their wings become strong gave them a better chance of evading
predators. Since these moths have no
mouth parts, they only live three to five days.
Their sole purpose at this point is to mate and propagate. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Several of the cocoon-wrapped pupas showed signs of emerging
but the weather got cold and they didn’t emerge. Candy told me they would overwinter in their
cocoons and I should expect them to merge in the spring around Easter time. And on one bright warming spring day, there
was a flutter of wings in the cage. They
had successful survived that brutally cold winter. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" style="height: 120pt; margin-left: 294pt; margin-top: 1.85pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; visibility: visible; width: 158.4pt; z-index: -2;" type="#_x0000_t75" wrapcoords="-205 0 -205 21330 21682 21330 21682 0 -205 0">
<v:imagedata o:title="2013-09-27 16.48.28" src="file:///C:\Users\Hal\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image003.jpg">
<w:wrap type="tight">
</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>Like many of the Giant silkmoths (the group to which the Polyphemus,
Cecropia, and Luna moths<br />
belong) and many other insects, they wrap themselves
up in leaves for a good winter’s nap.
Take a look at this group of leaves.
Only by turning them over and carefully looking would you be able to see
the well hidden Polyphemus cocoon. (See
a larger photo essay about these stunning moths at <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/w6bilvu8mx9wi2e/Polyphemus%20Moth%20-%20leaves.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/w6bilvu8mx9wi2e/Polyphemus%20Moth%20-%20leaves.pdf?dl=0</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9D9MJVmat1WEQf3P1dvdN9GmnvEfAY9g31F4Q7LG2QepoO8p4dBtXNxHLMkPWNuGieNoOMvS2Meo64PnwLSR1PYhZkTw38yxqmhwxXV3YJf5xrEAYyG1so73UYyOg8l4hq9bSx7egLy1/s1600/polyphemus+cocoon+-+leaves-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9D9MJVmat1WEQf3P1dvdN9GmnvEfAY9g31F4Q7LG2QepoO8p4dBtXNxHLMkPWNuGieNoOMvS2Meo64PnwLSR1PYhZkTw38yxqmhwxXV3YJf5xrEAYyG1so73UYyOg8l4hq9bSx7egLy1/s1600/polyphemus+cocoon+-+leaves-1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Polyphemus Cocoons hidden in Leaves</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Without careful inspection you’d never even notice these
overwintering creatures hidden in your leaves.
You can imagine what shredding the leaves would do to these
creatures. If you rake your leaves into
your garden, or loosely arrange them around your trees and shrubs you’ll be
saving these fascinating moths from certain death.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This year as leaves start to coat my yard, I’m raking them
into the garden beds and forgoing shredding.
And now that I think about it, it’s
a whole lot less work for me. Good for the
moths, good for me. </div>
the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-80813604678057132132014-08-07T14:01:00.001-04:002014-08-08T18:57:50.003-04:00Not even an Ant<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3oAkfceCk4PBrvjQ433WVCBPQ9aCa_Tlj9oJQpz61d5Nz8K4SWNEkrqUmsVhRJMxJfXGPU2jOCMio0E8bXGvTHPjTaTG6c89fyz145LfpAmJSnV7HeVYqhfDuYz02qWtyPsoGhhQFUfD/s1600/2014-08-07+08.38.56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3oAkfceCk4PBrvjQ433WVCBPQ9aCa_Tlj9oJQpz61d5Nz8K4SWNEkrqUmsVhRJMxJfXGPU2jOCMio0E8bXGvTHPjTaTG6c89fyz145LfpAmJSnV7HeVYqhfDuYz02qWtyPsoGhhQFUfD/s1600/2014-08-07+08.38.56.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Existing Native Garden Bed installed last year</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Recently someone wrote and asked how
our native plant gardens fared over this record breaking winter in Northwest Ohio. Oh my gosh, double gosh even. I knew I was tardy in posting here but didn’t
realize how negligent I’ve been. My extreme
apologies and to answer your question Matt, the gardens came through the deep
snow and cold temperatures without a second thought. This is yet another reminder that these native
plants are perfectly adapted to conditions here. They evolved here over thousands and
thousands and thousands of years with their roots in these soils, coping with
fluctuating temperatures, and seasonal water variations that make me uncertain what
to wear from day to day. In fact, our
gardens performed so well that several weeks ago we expanded the native plant
garden in the front of our house close to the street. I was delighted to remove some more lawn from
the yard. I want to say in Perrysburg we
like to use dynamite to get weeds extracted from the rock hard clay soil but
that’s probably somewhat of an exaggeration.
In this case an hour with a pick mattock enabled me to strip the turf
grass from the designated 3 foot x 10 foot area. I was going to use the removed turf as mulch so
I set about shaking the soil from the short roots of the extracted grass. As I knelt there playing with the dirt, I
watched some ants working to repair the disturbance I had made to the adjacent
garden bed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6urVNHLNbyHjQIrOp_ZVAm7fvv2bi8iEyexfjzsRcQmm01Wk0vsxtis8ht1kBntMWF_wbtuGS7h37FE_yPog0v6IzHkq0T_2ysHQ-3uslf1RN3b_hstyyWvD0Ls5K5l7U2Vzl2dgqvBpl/s1600/2014-07-20+10.33.18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6urVNHLNbyHjQIrOp_ZVAm7fvv2bi8iEyexfjzsRcQmm01Wk0vsxtis8ht1kBntMWF_wbtuGS7h37FE_yPog0v6IzHkq0T_2ysHQ-3uslf1RN3b_hstyyWvD0Ls5K5l7U2Vzl2dgqvBpl/s1600/2014-07-20+10.33.18.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Preparing the additional space</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">And then it hit me. I’ve had<a href="http://nativeplantconvert.blogspot.com/2011/10/6-hours-later.html" target="_blank"> this experience before </a></span><span style="font-size: 15px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">but this “in
my face” reminder was still a thought provoking incident. This grass harbored NO life, at least none
that I could see with my naked eye.
There were no earthworms, spiders, millipedes, or pill bugs. There wasn’t even an ant. Nothing moved. And this was a lawn without chemicals. We had switched to organic lawn care a few
years back and never looked back. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVBuuE1RJIunbbv8POlJVdFwB5gA2jdhSaw3O5FD2QKzggc44LiASShNbTtkqoCRKu9oEQ31cUL6t2jeeZZZxOq_WNTu1L39fYRwsCNtet0l3SqRmwlhuj19Rl4cf-ZdjCv53AnHTyIUp/s1600/bee+on+bergamot++(1+of+1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVBuuE1RJIunbbv8POlJVdFwB5gA2jdhSaw3O5FD2QKzggc44LiASShNbTtkqoCRKu9oEQ31cUL6t2jeeZZZxOq_WNTu1L39fYRwsCNtet0l3SqRmwlhuj19Rl4cf-ZdjCv53AnHTyIUp/s1600/bee+on+bergamot++(1+of+1).jpg" height="244" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Native Bumblebee on Wild Bergamot</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Yet just a few inches away, inside
the border of the existing native garden, those ants seemed focused on clearing
out the entrance to their home on which I had unceremoniously scattered some
dirt. At least three species of native
bumblebees were feverishly working over the nearby fading blossoms of the Wild
Bergamot. A small Katydid was perched on
the underside of a Sneezeweed leaf, and numerous other winged insects were
going about making a living amongst the foliage of the Swamp Milkweed, New
England Aster, and Smooth Aster. A
hummingbird scooted in for a quick sip of nectar at the newly blooming Cardinal
Flower. A Silver-spotted Skipper elbowed
its way into all the activity. A foot to
the right tiny bees seemed excited the Partridge Pea was now blooming, and some
other insects watched from the relative safety of the Virginia Mountain
Mint. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEise8TmxUEOCfI4GceutXVj5gDSgEY4YOhUTmgq2uhIL1RcJzRuXqplJdH27mMj266NmVrCnf87Ia4MsTrzP_z0P_4IWeUJ_JpKZ9ELFTrW5iwcZt0dQIWSIefORo00o0JbV-uuSTpDBX0S/s1600/2014-08-06+08.21.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEise8TmxUEOCfI4GceutXVj5gDSgEY4YOhUTmgq2uhIL1RcJzRuXqplJdH27mMj266NmVrCnf87Ia4MsTrzP_z0P_4IWeUJ_JpKZ9ELFTrW5iwcZt0dQIWSIefORo00o0JbV-uuSTpDBX0S/s1600/2014-08-06+08.21.50.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>New Addition Area to Native Garden</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Sure.
The eye appeal of many of our native plants is alone worth our efforts
and the aspect of lower maintenance certainly appeals to many of us. But for me, my feelings have evolved and I’ve
come to believe it’s all about life. And
we certainly get that with our native gardens.
Not only are the gardens full of life.
They make our lives better too. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-89751394580224037872014-03-03T13:28:00.001-05:002014-03-03T13:43:38.561-05:00Ever Learning<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHw7h4su9xql6_En_EHJuRgCFFmukJH2Iz3LnrS6aU1wHaR08GxlIX3J72wiuYBrZ3Lecy8h5e3MQUMM_UMCR_5Vm51hWol11yaMeQR0fDopqU4r4qWFEmk9MwjHRok4uz3hc-LVlG_FYB/s1600/office+sunrise-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHw7h4su9xql6_En_EHJuRgCFFmukJH2Iz3LnrS6aU1wHaR08GxlIX3J72wiuYBrZ3Lecy8h5e3MQUMM_UMCR_5Vm51hWol11yaMeQR0fDopqU4r4qWFEmk9MwjHRok4uz3hc-LVlG_FYB/s1600/office+sunrise-1.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>The snow was up to my nose and
the temperatures hovered around a balmy 10 degrees Fahrenheit. In our area the winter sun rises and arcs low
enough through the sky to shine directly into my home office window. Without leaves from the backyard woods to
intercept the bright rays, the light is just too strong to keep the blinds
open. The direct sunlight along with the
reflection from the snow makes it impossible to see my </div>
computer screen. So on most days now, I’m reluctantly closing
the blinds and burying my nose in my work.
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On one particular day a few weeks
ago while clicking away at my keyboard and squinting at a bunch of tiny little
numbers moving across my screen, I heard a fluttering on the windowsill, on the
other side of my light barrier. The
sound went away quickly, and I returned to my work. Moments later the sound returned. OK, that’s it. I had to know what it was. Slowly rotating the louvers, I was able to
glimpse a bird I’d never seen before at our home, yet alone elsewhere. On noticing a small patch of yellow on this
smallish bird, I thought “oh, it’s a goldfinch”. But huh, it’s winter and the male goldfinches
couldn’t even be close to start putting on their brilliant yellow summer
plumage. Well, it’s certainly not a
warbler. But no one will ever confuse me
with a knowledgeable birder. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We live within a half hour drive of
the famed <a href="http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/mageemarsh">Magee Marsh</a>,
home to <a href="http://www.bsbobird.org/">Black Swamp Bird Observatory</a>
(BSBO). Magee Marsh, and the adjacent <a href="http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Ottawa/wildlife_and_habitat/index.html">Ottawa
National Wildlife Refuge</a> sit on the southern shore of Lake Erie, the
shallowest but most bio-diverse of the Great Lakes. Legions of fantastic avian creatures stop
here in large numbers on their long and arduous northward migration from their
winter homes in the tropics. The
protected ecosystems here provide just the right mixture of shelter and food to
enable the feathered songsters to rest and refuel on the abundant insect life. Once they’ve renewed their energy and winds
are right, they take off on the journey northward across the vast lake. Thousands of birders from all over the
country, and even some from other countries flock here to experience the annual
gathering of dozens and dozens of different songbirds. For many years only a weekend event, the bird
watching community has expanded the official festivities into “<a href="http://biggestweekinamericanbirding.com/">The Biggest Week in American
Birding.</a>” Throngs of serious and
merely curious birders have had a most welcome impact on the local tourism
industry. There is so much publicity surrounding
this annual natural event a person can’t help but learn or think they’ve
learned about the celebrated birds. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cPHi-NLaUdAnjid4qNERA5ybOvuYAcJ0Y-mfz7CWjvUSdmUQLRXxySw7F05Had91B_kcxNPBqz5kBux_VepTd58abkPL3cEhrBUtGULsLo4Af74mCqonq5DiDBZKn2ND-kjFSFtclHuv/s1600/winter+yellow-rumped+warbler-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cPHi-NLaUdAnjid4qNERA5ybOvuYAcJ0Y-mfz7CWjvUSdmUQLRXxySw7F05Had91B_kcxNPBqz5kBux_VepTd58abkPL3cEhrBUtGULsLo4Af74mCqonq5DiDBZKn2ND-kjFSFtclHuv/s1600/winter+yellow-rumped+warbler-2.jpg" height="215" width="320" /></a>And that’s where I now realize I
fall into that category of “thought I learned”.
As I looked again at our small bird with yellow patches, I kept thinking
it’s a warbler but always came back to “it cannot be a warbler.” I had listened, admittedly distracted by all
the surrounding activity, to several area ornithologists while they identified,
banded, and counted scads of different species during the celebrated week of
birding. I was under the impression the
warblers all go way south to the tropics for a nice winter of sitting on the
beach, sipping margaritas and enjoying other good time activities. Oops -I guess that’s what I’d do if I was in
the tropics for the winter. Well
whatever the birds do down south, in spring they head north in three waves to
hit the Lake Erie shore between late April and late May.
Given my confidence of having “learned” from the experts. I was sure this
backyard bird was no warbler. Or hey
–maybe this was one of those rare cases that gets birders all atwitter with excitement
and they would flock by the carloads to observe the unusual sighting in my
backyard. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
OK –I pulled out my Peterson’s
Field Guide to Eastern Birds. Yikes,
this creature sure had all the field <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-rumped_Warbler/id">Yellow-rumped
Warbler</a>. I surmised it had to be
incredibly rare at this time of the year.
Posting a few pictures and asking for verification, my friends confirmed
it was indeed the winged vertebrate shown in the field guide. </div>
markings of a <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS1ibnc7CB4ct1mT_BsbZeHpH_Usz0rgq6W7QnO9Qo3VN4CsI0O4AK6U5_xOUdRiX5MREPc9vh9Po7yawyNmmmUYT9zn1sg9kYaiM-Aodgi5GYd1vPagMSJ44UqrbzJqbVvsTnsRkZbH4Z/s1600/winter+yellow-rumped+warbler-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS1ibnc7CB4ct1mT_BsbZeHpH_Usz0rgq6W7QnO9Qo3VN4CsI0O4AK6U5_xOUdRiX5MREPc9vh9Po7yawyNmmmUYT9zn1sg9kYaiM-Aodgi5GYd1vPagMSJ44UqrbzJqbVvsTnsRkZbH4Z/s1600/winter+yellow-rumped+warbler-3.jpg" height="320" width="289" /></a>During the week, the bird
continued pecking into the crevices on the windowsill and the corners of the
outdoor deck rafters jutting out above my lower level office. There must have been some tasty insects
camped out there trying to hide out from predators. As the week progressed, this cheerful bird continued
to distract me from my work. Fortunately
before I posted the sighting to some rare bird network, I learned not all
warblers go to the sunny south. This
particular species does winter in our area.
Whew – embarrassment averted. It
turns out this is perhaps the northernmost part of its overwintering area, but
by no means was the bird’s presence rare, or even uncommon. So don’t look for my name in the rare
sightings journals. </div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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For approximately two weeks I
didn’t get much work done while I enjoyed the chirps, fluttering, and antics of
this little Yellow-rumped Warbler. Fortunately
my boss wasn’t terribly upset (I’m self-employed). Without a green sprout in sight, this
distracting visitor reinforced my understanding that our conversion to landscaping
with native plants has enriched my life.
In the past several years as we’ve continued the journey, gradually
replacing our landscaping with native plants, we’ve stopped feeding the birds
with store-bought birdseed. Yet, we
have more birds with a greater variety of species than we had before. The native plants, unlike the old non-native
ones, are providing the</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4OZaxaD7a3jUZGuU_ojahcRpiWXgbVTg3F8xJzsGTYC6xLFC-KhCDic44pNkRV9rHWLqwABCzMo2qgwW5Rt32uCKHTehXCXN2RgMe8AtkDulrmlSie9MllxVbsIEziVBvUJFLxNjFfPNV/s1600/winter+yellow-rumped+warbler-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4OZaxaD7a3jUZGuU_ojahcRpiWXgbVTg3F8xJzsGTYC6xLFC-KhCDic44pNkRV9rHWLqwABCzMo2qgwW5Rt32uCKHTehXCXN2RgMe8AtkDulrmlSie9MllxVbsIEziVBvUJFLxNjFfPNV/s1600/winter+yellow-rumped+warbler-1.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
habitat and food sources for this greater biodiversity. While enjoying this little wild bundle of
feathers, I’m sure my blood pressure was down and on retrospection I realized I
slept better at night. I’ve been reading
lately about how important nature is in our lives. Like the native plants that bring wildlife such
as this bird into our yards, we’ve evolved over thousands and thousands and
thousands of years intricately woven into the rest of nature around us. It’s only in recent history where the number
of people living in cities has surpassed those living in the country. Studies are disclosing that stress, disease,
and poor mental health, among other human problems are exacerbated when we live
and work in areas devoid of nature. Welcome
little warbler and safe travels until we meet again.the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-45253885741524877642013-12-11T19:25:00.000-05:002013-12-11T19:25:11.735-05:00The Reminder
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrfN7gC3-d03MHV5zANFfDEPcObAAOFw-pvVKqcJQ4NDSkrcpv5OksvgQc22rUWWDpyLZWtKv-jd0QdNX8ZM0R8TVbudXUot5S4C0d9V-snR-FHHEKMEJ961TNvZgE6k-yTDg7rBx8D6a/s1600/reminder-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrfN7gC3-d03MHV5zANFfDEPcObAAOFw-pvVKqcJQ4NDSkrcpv5OksvgQc22rUWWDpyLZWtKv-jd0QdNX8ZM0R8TVbudXUot5S4C0d9V-snR-FHHEKMEJ961TNvZgE6k-yTDg7rBx8D6a/s400/reminder-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today
I was reminded why I’m passionate about landscaping with native plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the blustery 20 degree temperatures with
a minor snow storm underway, it looks like everything is buttoned up for the
winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The few leaves refusing to let
go of their woody origins are all a bronzy brown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The leaves on the ground poking up through
the gathering snow are shriveled and creating interesting patterns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
looks pretty barren.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even inside looking
through the window, I’m thinking a little hot chocolate would feel good.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2zMdbFLEaAwHixZek9X9tuUGQoQD3_psaIJ3Ag5q2yMUbA5ut0i-yf8w7BsVKC7cYalz4CIzHh9oyfZfg3Ew3Q_hKubI662h5P3snjsWkwunBePhYOj8vcycYJktrzR-oB8M1ZblDaTqQ/s1600/reminder-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2zMdbFLEaAwHixZek9X9tuUGQoQD3_psaIJ3Ag5q2yMUbA5ut0i-yf8w7BsVKC7cYalz4CIzHh9oyfZfg3Ew3Q_hKubI662h5P3snjsWkwunBePhYOj8vcycYJktrzR-oB8M1ZblDaTqQ/s200/reminder-2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEfTdBGans7x9lXYoK_bwJh8kFHbjtGv7do7wOD4lNCntbytOmQMlccjTXqgVfy_qs7oL1KByMoD_SXX88II7PAoQ2wUOn9KswQLx_S6vWmhWhuAgoh2_IJqZ6sVuo0mCw0ZZOIG5RSJg/s1600/reminder-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEfTdBGans7x9lXYoK_bwJh8kFHbjtGv7do7wOD4lNCntbytOmQMlccjTXqgVfy_qs7oL1KByMoD_SXX88II7PAoQ2wUOn9KswQLx_S6vWmhWhuAgoh2_IJqZ6sVuo0mCw0ZZOIG5RSJg/s400/reminder-3.jpg" width="226" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And
then a movement on the scarred <a href="http://www.plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_gltr.pdf" target="_blank">Honey locust</a> tree catches my eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost perfectly camouflaged, a small
creature peeks underneath some loose bark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Working its way slowly up the tree trunk, it examines every little
fissure and occasionally finds something interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This little <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Creeper/id" target="_blank">Brown creeper</a> isn’t looking for
birdseed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like over 90 percent of all
terrestrial birds, he’s after what he was genetically programmed to eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was born to live on insects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he appears to be making a healthy living
even in these frigid temperatures and blowing snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently there are enough protein laden insects
and larvae holed up in nearly invisible hiding spots for him to find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How amazing!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So…..what’s that got to do with native plants?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you’ve followed along on this never ending journey of mine, we’ve learned
together that these insects too have to have something to eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And their food is native plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything eats plants or eats things that
eat plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our insect friends as I’ve
come to now label them, are, like our little avian explorer, genetically
programmed to only eat native plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So….I
love native plants because I love nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And to me, nature means clean air, clean water, healthy food, and a
wondrous world where all life is connected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I love being just a small part of this incredible web of life.</span></div>
</div>
the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-63776962535423089822013-10-17T21:03:00.000-04:002013-10-18T10:17:32.450-04:00The Great Compromise<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Over the past two years of this journey, I’ve come to
hate lawns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We live in a suburban
neighborhood with great expanses of turf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve learned these green spaces I once thought the <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGWLPf19y6B0JmgbyO740D0dsFDrtX9XCMifXaiL9i4VHKzrFeuH7D-H4Th5Jot69EsfhMzuzbZxUnTAIDA8FuJArMBMfcpyZo8N3SyyrvH7wmMV38o2hvOzPRBnxMMxvyg0srjMEHBLp/s1600/Great+Compromise-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGWLPf19y6B0JmgbyO740D0dsFDrtX9XCMifXaiL9i4VHKzrFeuH7D-H4Th5Jot69EsfhMzuzbZxUnTAIDA8FuJArMBMfcpyZo8N3SyyrvH7wmMV38o2hvOzPRBnxMMxvyg0srjMEHBLp/s320/Great+Compromise-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front lawn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
epitome of good
suburban landscaping are in fact, an ecological wasteland, often the source of much air
and water pollution, and a huge waste of the opportunity to do good with the land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’ve wanted to rip out the front lawn and
put in a native wildflower meadow. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my
wife was concerned the neighborhood would complain about a wild looking garden
and see it as a weed patch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was
adamant; no front yard meadow for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we compromised
and struck a bargain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would be an
experiment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could put in a small
butterfly/pollinator garden in the front near the street, bordering our
neighbor’s yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I would agree to
deadhead the plants and keep things looking tidy and formal, she would go along
with a trial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If successful, then I could
create a larger butterfly garden on the other side of the driveway eliminating
more lawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fully understanding it might
take three years for the plants to get established, and experimenting with
different ways to make this a formal garden that met her appearance criteria,
we struck the deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Late last summer I carved out an area approximately 13 feet
x 8 feet set back about 5 feet off the road and bordering our neighbor’s front
yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a desire to create as much
biodiversity as <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MjAAgJkJxKdinTtJXz_wgzmmATnvcJyrm9VUvx3o3EiHtzLk1kt0BRH4yW5rMt0nCahb6e_LU7Zz8lpiM2UdEA_BX_miTcVBsxwhsLJnXIqwpr4pzEkJJqcgCxRA7yBSCz86qvZrNHY3/s1600/Great+Compromise-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MjAAgJkJxKdinTtJXz_wgzmmATnvcJyrm9VUvx3o3EiHtzLk1kt0BRH4yW5rMt0nCahb6e_LU7Zz8lpiM2UdEA_BX_miTcVBsxwhsLJnXIqwpr4pzEkJJqcgCxRA7yBSCz86qvZrNHY3/s320/Great+Compromise-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fall 2012 new butterfly garden</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
possible and having something blooming throughout the growing
season, I bought 13 species of native perennials suitable to the clay soil and
partial shade of the site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To save money
I bought plugs, the smallest size of plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Two of these, Purple coneflower and Smooth aster were already growing in
an adjoining area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the idea was that
these two would extend down into the new garden helping to tie the two areas together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The late summer morphed into fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As was expected from first year seedlings,
none of the new plants bloomed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fall
came and headed for winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then winter
came and off and on covered the plot with snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When spring made itself known, the seedlings showed they had taken last
year to set their roots and rewarded me with vigorous growth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They spread out to fill in what looked last
fall like a pretty sparse planting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOkKa7kbAz-nl67YYXzB6gChAwsSw10CMGt9Mb_3PWuNTDc7oOeTwAxEoADW8dDh2EIARmbQMqGOclSV1BIrJks4bfkFrGykcIQ5zQ4XNPjG_R6BS7ePJZeoeuOIhXlFLp_bn4Bi9wJG1/s1600/Great+Compromise-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOkKa7kbAz-nl67YYXzB6gChAwsSw10CMGt9Mb_3PWuNTDc7oOeTwAxEoADW8dDh2EIARmbQMqGOclSV1BIrJks4bfkFrGykcIQ5zQ4XNPjG_R6BS7ePJZeoeuOIhXlFLp_bn4Bi9wJG1/s320/Great+Compromise-7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foxglove Beardtongue (<em>Penstemon digitalis</em>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PEDI" target="_blank">Foxglove Beardtongue</a> was the first to bloom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The little towers of light lavender and white
blooms attracted many bees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As those
flowers faded, several transplanted <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=TROH" target="_blank">Ohio Spiderwort</a> opened up with a few colorful
blooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ECPU" target="_blank">Purple coneflowers</a> had taken
hold and over several weeks opened into their normal eye-catching display.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While they were still blooming the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ASTU" target="_blank">Butterfly milkweed</a> transplants started to show signs of blooming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This species of milkweed with its deep
tuberous root sometimes doesn’t take well to transplanting, but last summer I
thought I’d give it a go anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
did produce a couple of very small blossoms but quickly shed them possibly in
an effort to better establish their roots in the hard clay soil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-1eDOnznRvmMDVNa1Ei5fbiL83pbgc2g4tGQRGvcjG0GqAwKmeSSaGy7V7K0ANwwui5fN335iXRdTPNllvKo5oAslLWOSbKTfr29FMQzThjvFPlrpLHULFPy9pM4Kl-OOab-zMFI4e2Ft/s1600/Great+Compromise-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-1eDOnznRvmMDVNa1Ei5fbiL83pbgc2g4tGQRGvcjG0GqAwKmeSSaGy7V7K0ANwwui5fN335iXRdTPNllvKo5oAslLWOSbKTfr29FMQzThjvFPlrpLHULFPy9pM4Kl-OOab-zMFI4e2Ft/s320/Great+Compromise-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sand coreopsis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=COLA5" target="_blank">Sand coreopsis</a> burst into a huge splash of yellow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watching the numerous species of native bees
and other pollinators vigorously working over the flowers was a daily delight
for several weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These plants
produced so many blossoms and were so full of life. Nonetheless I became concerned when all
the flower stalks fell over and lay on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They continued to bloom but didn’t help give
the appearance of a nicely tended garden that I needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next
the Black –eyed susans opened their bright yellow petals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those faded pretty quickly and the plants
looked pretty sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was only then
that I learned that this species is a fairly short lived perennial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pondered what to do with the sketchy
looking Black-eyed susans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Each morning I was eager to check out the garden and see how
it was looking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My early morning visits would flush out a small flock of <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Goldfinch/id" target="_blank">American goldfinch</a> feasting on the Sand coreopsis seed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And that’s when trouble began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> While I thought the seed heads just looked natural, </span>to
my wife the spent blossoms looked unsightly and she felt the birds had plenty to
eat from the numerous native plants in the backyard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
struggled with my vow to keep the plants deadheaded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Purple coneflower blooms had now
also finished and gone to seed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Goldfinch and other birds also liked to harvest these little pieces of protein.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several spirited discussions ensued and it
was hard for me to realize my wife was really trying to live up to her side of the
agreement while I was struggling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
offered to help me cut the seed heads off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So we did it together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to
reluctantly admit that this trimming made the garden look more tended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But ouch! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were losing a part of the benefits these
native plants provide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My wife wasn’t
pleased as I mumbled unhappily during our deadheading sessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1f74PpYuJnf9hk250KtzRkkDkuE9MCddpTZtYca0rRan5GOy1XClcZi-HGtMQ8_8Qd6_KK3_G6xKtgRwtO368GYR1bowXEycwHspwQvpvBDNQ9uu3EXRfiNTUxukXSvDJNe111n1EbiXa/s1600/Great+Compromise-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1f74PpYuJnf9hk250KtzRkkDkuE9MCddpTZtYca0rRan5GOy1XClcZi-HGtMQ8_8Qd6_KK3_G6xKtgRwtO368GYR1bowXEycwHspwQvpvBDNQ9uu3EXRfiNTUxukXSvDJNe111n1EbiXa/s200/Great+Compromise-3.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gray-head coneflower</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ohco_SCfBKkrSAoKS8xd8oZvwAixF_TSkBcCGsk-lO1jO4FFhQsR4LjwSoxKlWCFWZhWEqJ4TbsPgaRcSRL8FP7weyFs8hyre3_sPd_SgHYhEU7s38TXrqaJACWYi10b8NvmQpl3eGFX/s1600/Great+Compromise-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ohco_SCfBKkrSAoKS8xd8oZvwAixF_TSkBcCGsk-lO1jO4FFhQsR4LjwSoxKlWCFWZhWEqJ4TbsPgaRcSRL8FP7weyFs8hyre3_sPd_SgHYhEU7s38TXrqaJACWYi10b8NvmQpl3eGFX/s200/Great+Compromise-9.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild bergamot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RAPI" target="_blank">Gray-head coneflower</a> and <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MOFI" target="_blank">Wild bergamot</a> were blooming. And my gosh, I’ve never seen so much life, so
concentrated in one little patch of land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At least 5 different species of bees, several different butterflies, and
skippers worked over this small but colorful group of plants from morning until
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in the windiest conditions,
I’d see pollinators eagerly harvesting the bounty these native plants provided <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(1 min video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNNXfPAUg1E"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNNXfPAUg1E</span></a>)</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But these plants too went to seed and more “discussions”
ensued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again my wife had to remind me
of our pact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I harvested some seed to
donate for use in our Wild Ones events and the winter seed swap program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then begrudgingly I went about cutting off seed
heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My better half was aggravated and asked why I
was so reluctant to honor our bargain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
really made me stop and think<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>about
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew the native planting was good
for the pollinators, birds, and the planet and I didn’t want to give up any of
the many benefits these plants provided. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time I was also disappointed the
way the garden was looking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It certainly
wasn’t the grand showcase I had imagined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I spent time reluctantly removing the dead flower
blossoms per our agreement, I noticed that the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ASSU3" target="_blank">Sullivant's milkweed</a> had not done
well at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Gray-head coneflower
was flopping over like the coreopsis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Virginia Mountain mint was struggling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
only plant that was truly thriving was the Sneezeweed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In spite of all the life that flocked to the
year old garden, the whole space didn’t look very good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huh?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6UjnHWknxCuDk5Gbssb4cL7i7WvM9t3GDKapUTHdVW_XGAJ_u0sr13SBswyPcaVo5Zqv7vgVqinjWCDXVWjZz597Qb3hBKW7Ui2d8s6GQ0xpWHPApXOdMpdqLBam7JRrEwq45ZgFLvUJQ/s1600/Great+Compromise-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6UjnHWknxCuDk5Gbssb4cL7i7WvM9t3GDKapUTHdVW_XGAJ_u0sr13SBswyPcaVo5Zqv7vgVqinjWCDXVWjZz597Qb3hBKW7Ui2d8s6GQ0xpWHPApXOdMpdqLBam7JRrEwq45ZgFLvUJQ/s320/Great+Compromise-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sneezeweed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On my early morning inspections I wear a pair of slip on
boots to get me through the dew laden grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One early fall morning I found the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HEAU" target="_blank">Sneezeweed</a> had bloomed
magnificently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bright yellow flowers
were already alive with the bees and a few butterflies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This plant had grown to about 4 feet tall and
showed no signs of falling over even with the heavy burden of the flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I walked to the edge of the bed bordering
the neighbor’s yard, I heard the sound I hadn’t paid any attention to all
summer long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Squish, Squish,
Squish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh my gosh!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ground was soaking wet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s going on here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was puzzled but had to leave for an
appointment and solve this some other time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The next morning I went out earlier than usual and found the
answer to the soggy ground puzzlement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Apparently all summer long </span>my neighbors
had their underground sprinkler come on for a short time early
every single morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yikes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that’s why the Sneezeweed was so
happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really likes moist conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why most of the rest of the plants were
not doing well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the most part all
these were prairie plants with deep root systems, well suited to the dry soil where
they evolved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I’ve got
several problems to solve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why can’t I
happily tend this garden as my wife and I agreed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, it’s better than the ecologically
dead zone that used to be here in this 100 square foot of lawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even without the benefit of seed for the
birds, it’s still way better than lawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And furthermore, if I meet the tidiness and formal appearance criteria
needed for a continued happy marriage, I get to make a bigger garden on the
other side of the driveway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even less
lawn, more nature, pollinators, and butterflies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now I’ve got my head into the game and vow I’ll spend the time to do
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The second problem is that I populated this garden mostly
with plants that don’t like having wet feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can’t get the next door gardener to change his watering regimen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their lawn’s roots are only a couple inches
deep and need a lot of water in the hot dry summers we’ve been having.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they like their lawn green and lush all
summer long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not ready to turn this
garden back to lawn so I’ll replace the plants with ones that like a lot of
moisture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I dug out the plants and relocated them to other areas
until I figure out where they should go permanently, I realized I had crammed
way too many species into this small area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had gone for biodiversity and placed 14 different types of plants here.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grudgingly I had to admit there is no
way that would have created the stunning garden that caught the neighborhood’s
attention in a favorable way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the crowded
species necessarily growing through each other, it was a far way from a formal
design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK, I’ll limit the new
arrangement to no more than six species.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With a tape measure, paper and pencil I measured and roughly sketched
out a new design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FhXost-hyhnQXXr4I5EXT7dhm2Wzus6WzZlD1eV1S03NVfA0P8qHtR0v8vx4-rDSqXysc3k80JIS4BdeKw2-9HvbmbxYdu8bEVOZ0JukIYvtjaR8ARHzSCGF79988Bmk0TfJw3htbSPV/s1600/Great+Compromise-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FhXost-hyhnQXXr4I5EXT7dhm2Wzus6WzZlD1eV1S03NVfA0P8qHtR0v8vx4-rDSqXysc3k80JIS4BdeKw2-9HvbmbxYdu8bEVOZ0JukIYvtjaR8ARHzSCGF79988Bmk0TfJw3htbSPV/s320/Great+Compromise-10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eastern black swallowtail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now excited to get this right, I knew I needed to get plants
that like the moisture, and a variety that would provide color all season
long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t find a way to get an
assortment of colors for each season without growing the list to seven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with that there was only one spring
bloomer, the Foxglove beardtongue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Armed
with the design and plant list, I headed down to the native nursery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately it is nearby and the owner, Jan
Hunter, has been rigorous in preventing me from buying plants that won’t do
well in my clay soil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She advised adding
one more spring plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ZIAU" target="_blank">Golden Alexanders</a>
bloom in the spring, like the moisture, and is a larval host plant for
the <a href="http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-polyxenes" target="_blank">Eastern black swallowtail</a> butterfly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwgsCwofa66vb5l_U5I03qgwrYgtDbuN-denNqzDZiM9fGSQsTbsYL2dtJnZHi8jq2ZpHkbPNIfglKYm_gRtxnN-6u4sqIYJpBuIQ5ye7Jq9yo6kquQ9bub3BFhP9nzcjPUWK_SG78wze/s1600/Great+Compromise-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwgsCwofa66vb5l_U5I03qgwrYgtDbuN-denNqzDZiM9fGSQsTbsYL2dtJnZHi8jq2ZpHkbPNIfglKYm_gRtxnN-6u4sqIYJpBuIQ5ye7Jq9yo6kquQ9bub3BFhP9nzcjPUWK_SG78wze/s200/Great+Compromise-11.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The revamped garden awaits<br />
next years growth</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'm frustrated because I'm starting over and have lost a whole year
and a half in developing this garden. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’ve learned a lot about garden design (I
hope), and something about myself as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now all the new plants are in and I’m enthused about how this should
turn out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, dear neighbors, please
don’t turn off your watering system next year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-44452309520165671842013-08-07T22:42:00.002-04:002013-08-07T22:42:43.113-04:00From Natives to Butterflies<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the wonderful results of having lots of native plants
in the yard is the arrival of many colorful winged creatures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vast majority of butterflies exclusively
use native plants on which to lay their eggs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The caterpillars can only eat the leaves of these native plants; the
plants with which they evolved over thousands and thousands of years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While this year’s butterfly populations have
been notably low, I’ve been particularly anxious to see which of these Lepidoptera
(butterflies, moths) we’d see here this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGmuWH5yTB-40e0fCuLoecZ82zRdYewlZAhYRCp8wfPBhad115Kr2-xEDD6ELlNQ3WQzWejfYx3oFTlvA_MXf1mvEPc4HNXRwJMu-MCKy1cj6DHYthikmR0d9U072_INsVg7vC2TwcckZ/s1600/giant+swallowtail-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGmuWH5yTB-40e0fCuLoecZ82zRdYewlZAhYRCp8wfPBhad115Kr2-xEDD6ELlNQ3WQzWejfYx3oFTlvA_MXf1mvEPc4HNXRwJMu-MCKy1cj6DHYthikmR0d9U072_INsVg7vC2TwcckZ/s400/giant+swallowtail-1.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Giant Swallowtail nectars on Swamp milkweed</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Giant swallowtails
have been frequent visitors to our numerous blooming plants this summer. Our bloomers are alive with all sorts of pollinators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet I found these Giant swallowtail ignored
all but the pale pink flowers of the Swamp milkweed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike the other butterflies, this large butterfly
never rested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even while perched on the
blossom, sipping nectar through its unfurled proboscis, it continually flapped
its wings (</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEyxOmU3BIc"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5 second video</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every creature has adapted special behaviors
to help it survive and populate the next generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder why this frenetic flapping when
other butterflies don’t indulge in this action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You have to wonder if the energy gained from the nectar is enough to offset
that consumed by the winged workout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps the flapping enables it to make quicker getaways from would be
predators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prickly ash is one of only a
few host plants for this butterfly’s caterpillars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Jan Hunter identified a patch of this
thorny shrub in our woods, I never imagined that I’d really get to see such a
lively result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I think I should find
a Kevlar suit and check for eggs amongst the thorns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4YjazP3UxSzvZCpPUtDm69zHASaztHjAakwWZ0F_Cu9Po_fs-9pgm6sUiZXrSTptpGHzDu8F6vIzPfk8ROIMyV5FMEpYgzT_tj5LqDWxNEDuYo7Hca62T-tTElYllC3KJkFiToQSfDxOs/s1600/Common+blue+violet-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4YjazP3UxSzvZCpPUtDm69zHASaztHjAakwWZ0F_Cu9Po_fs-9pgm6sUiZXrSTptpGHzDu8F6vIzPfk8ROIMyV5FMEpYgzT_tj5LqDWxNEDuYo7Hca62T-tTElYllC3KJkFiToQSfDxOs/s320/Common+blue+violet-1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Common blue violet</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year I was
pleased to see that we had several good size populations of violets growing in
the side yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are the native
Common Blue violet, and Downy yellow violet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I really liked them and was particularly pleased to discover they are
native to Northwest Ohio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many told me
to get rid of them:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They are a weed and
will take over everything.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t
care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I vowed I’d watch them and if they
threatened to knock down our house, then I would remove some of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little research and I found they are the
host plant for a group of butterflies, the fritillaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d only seen pictures of fritillaries, never
one “in person”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the violet
opponents would raise their “weed” issue, I’d respond that these vibrant plants
were crucial to the survival of whole group of butterflies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely that would quell the naysayers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This spring Jim McCormac, a legendary Ohio naturalist
and author who works for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, posted an inspiring
piece about a field of Common blue violets he discovered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(</span><a href="http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/2013/04/an-amazing-field-of-purple.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/2013/04/an-amazing-field-of-purple.html</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my quest to further validate
keeping my violets, I dutifully searched through the numerous leaves for signs
of butterfly eggs or caterpillars. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
to no avail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, the flowers are
reason enough to keep them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday
while diligently working at my home office, a movement outside the window caught
my attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ah, a butterfly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This looked a little different than the ones I’m
used to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked at it a little bit and
told myself to get back to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
what could I do anyway. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My camera was in
its case, my tripod all folded up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
little while later I noticed the butterfly was still hanging around in the
backyard. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It came to gather some more
nectar from the Swamp milkweed again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well
I should take a picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My cell phone
camera just wouldn’t zoom in close enough to make it worthwhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A few moments later I looked up and again the butterfly was sipping
away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well darn it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll be mad if I don’t make the effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfold the <!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_3"
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<w:wrap type="tight"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->tripod, extract the
camera from its case, take off the lens cap, put on the lens shade, and mount
the camera to the tripod.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then out the
back door I went.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As predicted, the
creature was gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now at least I wouldn’t
be mad at myself for not trying. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey,
there it is again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is one thirsty little
critter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the next half hour I chased
this unidentified butterfly around the yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally I gave up with the tripod, cranked up the camera speed and hand
held my picture machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From Joe-pye
weed, to Swamp Milkweed, to Purple coneflower blooms I followed this tenacious
flyer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several times when I thought I’d
scared it away for good; it would reappear and land on a blossom so close I
could see its eyeballs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later that
night, </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXHlVzeW1Ut-sVvU-ZctOP5cWq2CmlVxDG8yMNE8T_2N5BflRp0JwayTLUtJKCVtFlz8zv1FPqgIKfc4t3ke3H6ymetKR-RaMU0qm3Z8x-5i5xpP-kITXdEr4VfJRY1VzSkkLrFRyNtak/s1600/Great+spangled+fritillary-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXHlVzeW1Ut-sVvU-ZctOP5cWq2CmlVxDG8yMNE8T_2N5BflRp0JwayTLUtJKCVtFlz8zv1FPqgIKfc4t3ke3H6ymetKR-RaMU0qm3Z8x-5i5xpP-kITXdEr4VfJRY1VzSkkLrFRyNtak/s320/Great+spangled+fritillary-2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unidentified butterfly on Purple coneflower</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I discarded all but a handful of the digital images and went on a quest
to identify this wondrous creature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Without a clue as to how to go about this, I just opened to the
butterfly section of Kaufmann’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Field
Guide to Insects of North America</i> and started paging through the
images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One really caught my attention
and I compared it to the pixels <!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4"
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->on my screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both pictures looked the same to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well I sure didn’t want to embarrass myself
by posting this online and then having to make a correction. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I called out to Wood County’s bug queen,
Sherri Doust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the one picture I
sent, she was pretty sure of the identification, but said a yellow band on the
underside of the hind wing would nail it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I sent her another view and the verdict was in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a Great spangled fritillary whose host
plant is the oft maligned violet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks
Sherri, and long live the Violets.</span></div>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibefH39VnZ61tLPx0t9Cic2-fozKLvGuHZKpF9bFChodPxuYGS2DrR0F_POeUlfnhCBHMpukXO2uE1eqzFN7itpH7KMfJj_aTaNet97OunLPBQVXlrO1fsHRfmGQtzMnrSlCxdlfU-8QyK/s1600/Great+spangled+fritillary-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibefH39VnZ61tLPx0t9Cic2-fozKLvGuHZKpF9bFChodPxuYGS2DrR0F_POeUlfnhCBHMpukXO2uE1eqzFN7itpH7KMfJj_aTaNet97OunLPBQVXlrO1fsHRfmGQtzMnrSlCxdlfU-8QyK/s400/Great+spangled+fritillary-3.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great spangled fritillary </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nectaring on Swamp milkweed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Note the yellow band between the two rows of white spots on the underside of the hind wing</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-69379271696457412202013-04-29T21:17:00.000-04:002013-04-30T08:08:30.349-04:00Duh!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPiaAE0PBSTVdaYWEl7AvpV6JgahiiUTO-CUrSV-KiSXQyygFQjBPt5EqFkWkxR6aGScvZsueWl2qIR9JuGFPXWtnJI_x5kYS1X8skr79pViGh5f1fALrgyy-H-skMAqAqU-uI_uz6-5nn/s1600/1024px-NOAA_Portage_Glacier_1958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPiaAE0PBSTVdaYWEl7AvpV6JgahiiUTO-CUrSV-KiSXQyygFQjBPt5EqFkWkxR6aGScvZsueWl2qIR9JuGFPXWtnJI_x5kYS1X8skr79pViGh5f1fALrgyy-H-skMAqAqU-uI_uz6-5nn/s1600/1024px-NOAA_Portage_Glacier_1958.jpg" height="113" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Glacier</b><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">courtesy Wiki Commons</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<w:wrap type="tight">
</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>It seems like for the longest time I wanted what I didn’t or couldn’t
have. As a child I wished I could
sing. But I was tone deaf and grade
school teachers had me be quiet when my 2<sup>nd</sup> grade class sang “Row, Row,
Row Your Boat”. I wanted to dance but I
ain’t got no rhythm. When I grew up and
we had our own house in the city; we had clay soil, rock hard clay. I always thought we should dig it up and sell
it to brick factories. I wanted loam
for landscape plants and a vegetable garden.
OK, tons and tons of compost, horse manure, and sweat later, the clay
eventually became usable enough for a vegetable garden and getting some
hybridized landscape plants to grow. We
moved to suburbia outside the city and now we not only had clay, but shade; lots
and lots of shade. Most of our yard was
wooded. In search of making the perfect
lawn I went to seminar after seminar, talked to the grass experts in our area,
became a Master Gardener and talked to more lawn experts. All the experts said “ah, shade and clay, that’s
really tough”. What’s a person to do? As long time readers know, I eventually and
slowly converted to exclusive use of native plants for our landscape. But now I was always looking at the native plants
with the bold colorful blooms. Of course, these are all sun loving plants. Living near to the unique <a href="http://www.oakopen.org/" target="_blank">Oak OpeningsRegion</a>, I wanted lots of the plants from that area. Yet they are mostly sand loving plants. And I’m clay.
As my local native nursery owner says “No Lupine for you”. She will not sell me a plant that needs sand.
When the glacier receded some 12,000 years ago it formed the Oak Openings Region where all the neat stuff grows and left us on the opposite side of the Maumee River with clay. It seemed to me there were no native plants
that grew in clay and shade. What? What did I just say? Wait a darn second. Does that make any sense? If I remember my history right, there were at
least some plants growing here in this clay after the ice melted. There certainly was shade well before we cut
down forests and built homes. Did I miss
something? My layman research seemed to indicate
there was abundant plant life in this clay.
And of course there was lots of wildlife dependant on these plants eons
before we decided to “tame the wilderness”.
So DUH! Yes Hal, there are plenty
of native plants that grow in shade and clay.
And to a large extent, that is what my conversion to loving native
plants is all about. They grow here in
the clay and shade without any fussing from me. Over thousands of years they’ve evolved to
thrive in the local conditions and don’t need soil amendment, watering, and artificial
fertilizer. The native insects use them
for food. In turn other insects, birds,
and wildlife eat those insects. I’ve come to learn, this biodiversity is what makes the ecosystems
that are essential for our very existence. </div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEFZ_dWzjyaKVTHYnsUvg-iiZuzVZzgwQ4uBWtbw3-y9A61-bO0s26ee7llsIrNnX4Df56ksrU7zocjjv38WsBMC3Uj7rmQ09jaG13ehkd-RHeLub4LoqrFsiTFxwv7yAcQGuXj7fLF2R/s1600/Bloodroot+group+(1+of+1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEFZ_dWzjyaKVTHYnsUvg-iiZuzVZzgwQ4uBWtbw3-y9A61-bO0s26ee7llsIrNnX4Df56ksrU7zocjjv38WsBMC3Uj7rmQ09jaG13ehkd-RHeLub4LoqrFsiTFxwv7yAcQGuXj7fLF2R/s1600/Bloodroot+group+(1+of+1).JPG" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Bloodroot</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is the 2<sup>nd</sup> spring after my rebirth as a
native plant gardener. As I start to see
spring making its presence visible, I realize I’ve now begun to embrace the
conditions I have here. This isn’t a
shady clay wasteland. It’s an
environment full of life and providing the essentials for a healthy
ecosystem. Hundreds of Bloodroot didn’t
care a hoot about the clay and burst
into bloom on an unusually warm day.
The bees quickly honed in on the snow white blossoms as the ever so
slight markings on the petals pointed the way to the pollen. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsCsOda5HwKJbbBojmFs-U5CtGSbf-6guvMLhudgTUFFWol0EjkrYyKfbPRXx_FPFbvBw4M9uTuNdLyvjNL8JnS0LRYGvytQ_nGsXxBaExX8Oft5zWmIcy18qNX2Ff42iPBNy6SmI3XCnc/s1600/Yellow+Trout+lily+drift+(1+of+1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsCsOda5HwKJbbBojmFs-U5CtGSbf-6guvMLhudgTUFFWol0EjkrYyKfbPRXx_FPFbvBw4M9uTuNdLyvjNL8JnS0LRYGvytQ_nGsXxBaExX8Oft5zWmIcy18qNX2Ff42iPBNy6SmI3XCnc/s1600/Yellow+Trout+lily+drift+(1+of+1).JPG" height="200" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Yellow Trout lily</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<v:imagedata o:title="Yellow Trout lily drift (1 of 1)" src="file:///C:\Users\Hal\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image003.jpg">
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</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>Well into their short blooming period, the white and yellow Trout
lily pushed up through 10 inches or so of clay and carpeted the ground with
their mottled leaves. Recently I learned
that these plants take 5 years to bloom after germination. In spite of all the damage done to this site
back when our home was built in 1977, in spite of all my ill begotten efforts
at breaking up the soil with tillers, in spite of all the chemicals I used to
spread on this ground, in spite of all the abuse with lawn equipment, still
this tenacious woodland plant lets me know it is here to stay if I just let it. They’re down right happy in the shady clay. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbehLCum6yPJrTY6hCH42E7bmT9Z9CrV7JiocyavWBJacR4ZVBw4zHGo4OgEA1U33_GRZ2ISE0gWC-ea6Di-MMvkfkuRIyzRJ3ZuzAGB_FfBVUZ2F96PWc7yNUPcItUGE2YbBHahGTmCN/s1600/2013-04-27+14.26.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbehLCum6yPJrTY6hCH42E7bmT9Z9CrV7JiocyavWBJacR4ZVBw4zHGo4OgEA1U33_GRZ2ISE0gWC-ea6Di-MMvkfkuRIyzRJ3ZuzAGB_FfBVUZ2F96PWc7yNUPcItUGE2YbBHahGTmCN/s1600/2013-04-27+14.26.09.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Spring Cress</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<v:shape alt="Spring Cress (1 of 1).JPG" id="Picture_x0020_3" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" style="height: 160.5pt; margin-left: 179.25pt; margin-top: 1.55pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; visibility: visible; width: 120pt; z-index: -1;" type="#_x0000_t75" wrapcoords="-270 0 -270 21398 21600 21398 21600 0 -270 0">
<v:imagedata o:title="Spring Cress (1 of 1)" src="file:///C:\Users\Hal\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image004.jpg">
<w:wrap type="tight">
</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>And yet another large bunch of flowers catches my eye. Remarkably subtle, the Spring Cress beat
almost all the other spring woodland wildflowers into bloom. Clay and shade, who’s worried about that? Ever since we pulled out the invasive
honeysuckle and Garlic mustard from one area, this once small group has spread
tremendously. Today the blooms were host
for at least four different native bee species, all of which were way too fast
for me to capture their portraits. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9EgI089U7c686jXwJSM0cCRJv8_bhd8iRfDQAymntGL__2cStWJhtVAG6Th49HBAQ12seJF-y3Focny-h-90PNDLvjRhp9bX2ciWing4xYTGQB4aodAcBENhTWgoQd_fEk-mOAski_Vfc/s1600/Spring+Beauty+(1+of+1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9EgI089U7c686jXwJSM0cCRJv8_bhd8iRfDQAymntGL__2cStWJhtVAG6Th49HBAQ12seJF-y3Focny-h-90PNDLvjRhp9bX2ciWing4xYTGQB4aodAcBENhTWgoQd_fEk-mOAski_Vfc/s1600/Spring+Beauty+(1+of+1).JPG" height="132" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Spring Beauty</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I worried about clay.
I was stymied by shade. Hah. The drifts of the Spring Beauty again show me
that these are conditions they’ve evolved with.
They don’t begin to ask for anything else. They’re beautiful and most content just where
and how they’ve been for eons. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These spring <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeral" target="_blank">ephemerals</a> making their home in our shady clay
are happy soaking up the spring sun. The
trees are just beginning to leaf out and this group of woodland wildflowers
must make the most of all the remaining rays they can catch while they can. In another week or so, the sun won’t reach
through the upper canopy of leaves. It
will be the trees’ turn to absorb the sunshine, make food, and clean the air
and water. The pollination of the wildflowers
will be complete, the seeds will form and drop, and the leaves will disappear
for another season. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So apparently I have evolved some. I no longer despise my clay and cast
aspersions on the shade. I’m thrilled now
recognizing the life that surrounds my senses here. I’m good with this. And I’m mostly through wanting things I can’t
have. Well actually I would like to
replace the front yard lawn with a prairie.
But that’s probably not going to happen unless I develop some super powers of persuasion. I can dream can’t I? </div>
the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-74109269663260228872013-03-23T17:03:00.001-04:002013-03-23T17:03:07.231-04:00In Search of Spring<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a child I’d frequently say things like “I wish Christmas
was here”; “I wish school was out”; “I wish it was time for us to go on
vacation”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mother would gently tell
me “All in its own time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t wish your
life away.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find myself recalling
those words of wisdom now as I catch myself saying “I wish spring was
here.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t help it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to see the earth awakening from the uncertain
winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the days when the sun is
shining and temperatures rise above freezing I take little walks around our
yard looking for signs of spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
senses aren’t yet attuned to the subtle transition to this season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know the signs are there but I don’t see
them easily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyo6RpsqlXPOYDdO3d8iaZO1SmhH7b4F55QPhPD-1uogrBmWcAybvOiKFvhgilvDHPkpYSfDwKnEvTJsFiGNFXVVzXWK2ULBV7cZrUW-rzK65et5mFGkhWiLyUJhDcBTP3tHWNGym8q9ih/s1600/IMG_4453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyo6RpsqlXPOYDdO3d8iaZO1SmhH7b4F55QPhPD-1uogrBmWcAybvOiKFvhgilvDHPkpYSfDwKnEvTJsFiGNFXVVzXWK2ULBV7cZrUW-rzK65et5mFGkhWiLyUJhDcBTP3tHWNGym8q9ih/s200/IMG_4453.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chokeberry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the day before an overnight freezing rain was forecast I
saw bright red buds on the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PHPY4" target="_blank">Chokeberry</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
took a picture thinking the next day would provide the opportunity to digitally
immortalize that deep red growth in a case of ice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It got cold for sure, but the ice didn’t come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe this is a telltale sign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhY4v5yCEfLIgZ9wm38vyKdb7_G2pF10mc6ZomogBB1FrlTlObbCmmah8eHBTIJBPK1gJeLU6_qVV7r1a2RshWtcO1parz5uD2mKEWSLQY_VW76qjg3eKqCfl_7ZM2UwbtK1mP1Fzq6nyr/s1600/IMG_4554.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhY4v5yCEfLIgZ9wm38vyKdb7_G2pF10mc6ZomogBB1FrlTlObbCmmah8eHBTIJBPK1gJeLU6_qVV7r1a2RshWtcO1parz5uD2mKEWSLQY_VW76qjg3eKqCfl_7ZM2UwbtK1mP1Fzq6nyr/s200/IMG_4554.JPG" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I continue my search I see numerous divots in the yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually I find the reason for the soil disturbance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The squirrels are cashing in on last fall’s
winter preparation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How they are able to
find the exact spot they buried those walnuts will forever remain a wonder to
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the coming year I know I’ll find
small <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=JUNI" target="_blank">Walnut</a>, <a href="http://www.cirrusimage.com/tree_shagbark_hickory.htm" target="_blank">Hickory</a>, <a href="http://www.ohiodnr.com/forestry/trees/buckeye_oh/tabid/5343/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Buckeye</a>, and <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GLTR" target="_blank">Honey locust</a> seedlings marking the bounty
they didn’t need or couldn’t find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
chuckle as I wonder if I could ever guide them to bury their unwanted seed
where I want new trees to grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
doesn’t seem like a signal of impending springtime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyLPkDkReqJoyaEFpxKq6CZ9r1pw6tFZcEKdqUGA7jUPtPMzBIG4AlNuGMVgBbTwEJy6UPAy5fHqVgsYePZSxgAIVjFfIfdxBSSO3EwvhdEQBLIuCUQICvdurk5kPXsopu5p4Hn0ZrHFT/s1600/IMG_4583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyLPkDkReqJoyaEFpxKq6CZ9r1pw6tFZcEKdqUGA7jUPtPMzBIG4AlNuGMVgBbTwEJy6UPAy5fHqVgsYePZSxgAIVjFfIfdxBSSO3EwvhdEQBLIuCUQICvdurk5kPXsopu5p4Hn0ZrHFT/s200/IMG_4583.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I continue my trek through the landscape and see signs that
the deer enjoy their short stay on our suburban wooded lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These intriguing herbivores must have awfully
sharp teeth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shrubs have been more
cleanly trimmed than if I had used a sharp pruning tool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It becomes more and more frequent that we see
deer in our small backyard woodland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
never tire watching them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nonetheless I
can’t help but cringe whenever I see them browsing on the native shrubs I’ve
purchased and planted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To protect the
plantings until they’re better established I’ll have to put small fences around
the remaining <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HAVI4" target="_blank">Witch Hazel</a> and <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LIBE3" target="_blank">Spicebush</a> shrubs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The deer have obviously enjoyed munching these down to the nubbins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe their presence is due to the recent flood
of fisherman wading into the nearby Maumee River in hopes of catching
Walleye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely this is a sign of
spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoV8WqPEeOhadyv98IMKwlYggnbIuax3KHXqxUFpEFI2zvQozKCu16qQcmBpD44C9KGfd8Ez3IwmS7BNbL0tm-O5RihjSVj4eRjXNxiqO9egCEgNcZGUOBpIobQLo5KZpJ49gl2QRAwyr/s1600/2013-03-20+08.26.44.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoV8WqPEeOhadyv98IMKwlYggnbIuax3KHXqxUFpEFI2zvQozKCu16qQcmBpD44C9KGfd8Ez3IwmS7BNbL0tm-O5RihjSVj4eRjXNxiqO9egCEgNcZGUOBpIobQLo5KZpJ49gl2QRAwyr/s200/2013-03-20+08.26.44.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First growth of Bloodroot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One morning I walk out to a sunny but cold 27 degrees
Fahrenheit wondering if spring will ever come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Today ceretainly won’t be the day I see anything to keep me from wishing
time would temporarily speed up just a little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On a whim I crouch low to the ground in the front entrance bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of eaten acorns and hickory nut shells
lay on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The squirrels have
been busy here too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few acorns have
small holes where insects had made an entrance and perhaps camped out for the
winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait, what’s this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can see my breath for Pete’s sake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But there it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A small shoot of
a <a href="http://www.2bnthewild.com/plants/H261.htm" target="_blank">Bloodroot</a> has poked above the frozen ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And there’s another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this
right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s dang cold and the ground is
frozen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there’s a few more little
spits of Bloodroot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My records indicate
that last year was a freakishly unusual 80 degrees around this date and these
gorgeous plants had already bloomed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
newly discovered growth will keep emerging, bloom with large snow white flowers
for a short week or so, and then spread large scalloped leaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The banner to this blog is a summertime
picture of the resulting greenery from years past.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But today, this is my first true sign of
spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span> </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMmt9l_7byAovmh_99gqoVPyJvyEvIlwfz4xVAO78DfCD4pHRSY985tVsEFAJUV2qPr7lEvv-QDMP6VC0ul6VshEg0EfouZIAhZVqCPbsdygGOzJ0EfbKrd_8YCKQVZE_pgUNDh4xG_Q7t/s1600/2013-03-20+18.49.15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMmt9l_7byAovmh_99gqoVPyJvyEvIlwfz4xVAO78DfCD4pHRSY985tVsEFAJUV2qPr7lEvv-QDMP6VC0ul6VshEg0EfouZIAhZVqCPbsdygGOzJ0EfbKrd_8YCKQVZE_pgUNDh4xG_Q7t/s320/2013-03-20+18.49.15.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Searching for Skunk Cabbage</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A few days later, I joined a small group of fellow <a href="http://www.wildones.org/" target="_blank">Wild Ones</a>
members on a spring wildflower walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
were led by our chapter president, Denise Gehring, and a colleague of hers, Kim
High, an extraordinary naturalist with the <a href="http://www.metroparkstoledo.com/metro/" target="_blank">Toledo Area Metroparks</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were out to find signs of spring; namely
<a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SYFO" target="_blank">Skunk cabbage</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=COAM3" target="_blank">Hazelnut</a>, <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/id" target="_blank">Bluebirds</a>, and <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Woodcock/id.aspx?spp=American_Woodcock" target="_blank">Woodcocks</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s so nice to walk with knowledgeable
people who are so eager and willing to share their knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t go into the wonders of the Skunk
cabbage plant that creates its own heat; enough warmth to melt snow and ice around
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can read about it in a
wonderfully written <a href="http://www.natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic4/skunkcabbage.htm" target="_blank">Nature Institute article written by Craig Holdrege</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He describes the technical details of this
amazing plant in such easy to read prose that even a scientifically challenged
layman like me couldn’t put it down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
this particularly cold evening on the first official day of spring, we find the
Skunk cabbage in a small ravine among the crunchy dry leaves covering the ground .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’ve undoubtedly been up for
at least a few weeks; but yes, this is a most certainly a sign of spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Adjacent to a paved park trail Kim points out a thicket of
American hazelnut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone takes a close
look and points out tiny red flowers on the bare stems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shrub is in bloom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a nearby branch, the male catkins are
getting ready to open and make their pollen available to the wind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kim says it would be fun having a table in
front of the plants with Nutella and Hazelnut coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would help people easily connect with
this native shrub.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even without the
tasty offerings, this early flowering event is yet another sign of spring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It quickly got colder and dusk began to set in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several Bluebirds flew across the trail and
perched in some taller shrubs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked
a little way to a raised viewing platform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The scene over the restored prairie was striking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several deer made their way into the
surrounding thicket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an ode to spring
we took turns reading a small excerpt from <a href="http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/about/leopold" target="_blank">Aldo Leopold’s</a> <em><a href="http://www.aldoleopold.org/AldoLeopold/almanac.shtml" target="_blank">Sand County Almanac</a></em>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was poetically describing
the spring courtship ritual of the American woodcock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tiny “peent” sound of the male is to be
followed by the “sky dance”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Leopold
says:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Suddenly
the peenting ceases and the bird flutters skyward in a series of wide spirals,
emitting a musical twitter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Up and up he
goes, the spirals steeper and smaller, the twittering louder and louder, until
the performer is only a speck in the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then, without warning, he tumbles like a crippled plane, giving voice in
a soft liquid warble that a March bluebird might envy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At a few feet from the ground he levels off
and returns to his peenting ground, usually to the exact spot where the performance
began, and there resumes his peenting.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was getting colder and darker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several people had to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few of us remained, carefully listening to
every little sound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a peent was
heard. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started heading back to the
parking lot and stopped at the end of the prairie for one last listen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Peent”, “Peent”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the woodcocks!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was almost totally dark then and very
windy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A bird glided in to land close
by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a woodcock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another glided in from the darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More “peents” and more birds quietly landed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Squinting into the darkness we never saw the
spiraling “sky dance” that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
probably was just too cold and windy for them to rocket up, rolling into the
night sky to perform the ritual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
we would return in a few days when it becomes a little warmer and still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is spring!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t have to wish my time away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is spring!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span>the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-73476481966927930052013-01-31T19:24:00.000-05:002013-01-31T19:24:09.061-05:00Thanks SantaThanks to Santa Claus and tips from a local award winning, nature photographer, <a href="http://www.georgesydlowski.com/" target="_blank">George Sydlowski</a>, I was able to capture a surprise event that took place outside my home office window. For a long time now I've been wanting to photographically document the increased wildlife activity in our yard. After all, one of the big reasons we're converting our landscape to native plantings is to attract and support the declining wildlife populations. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGXdOR-zfg-hyKOEkRwHs4PtGX7nYA3QTLVyVhw2dNG_-ksUREP1GrI0R8_46S6F4l0dDmZEHUbJQWgPdqKNldLK5QurTeU1skkpLi4hpcbVy7y9vW2kjKW9TAyuYO3Y-hinPzeJNlrDld/s1600/Wow+-+It+is+really+purple+out+there+-+Banded+Longhorn+Beetle+on+Purple+Coneflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGXdOR-zfg-hyKOEkRwHs4PtGX7nYA3QTLVyVhw2dNG_-ksUREP1GrI0R8_46S6F4l0dDmZEHUbJQWgPdqKNldLK5QurTeU1skkpLi4hpcbVy7y9vW2kjKW9TAyuYO3Y-hinPzeJNlrDld/s320/Wow+-+It+is+really+purple+out+there+-+Banded+Longhorn+Beetle+on+Purple+Coneflower.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banded Longhorn Beetle on Purple Coneflower</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Birds have long been an interest of ours. For eons we've bought tons of birdseed to attract our feathered friends. It was only a couple of years ago I learned that almost all birds require insects to feed their young. So even the seed eating birds like <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/id" target="_blank">Cardinals</a> and <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Goldfinch/id" target="_blank">Goldfinches</a> must have insects to nourish their nestlings. Performing rigorous scientific studies, <a href="http://udel.edu/~dtallamy/" target="_blank">Dr. Douglas Tallamy</a> found that over 95% of all terrestial birds require insects. Even the nectar loving birds like our energetic <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ruby-throated_hummingbird/id" target="_blank">Ruby-throated hummingbirds</a> need insects to feed their hungry offspring. Birds build their nests where this food is available. That's where the native plants come into the picture. Insects have to something to eat too. Tallamy documented that insects only eat the plants that they evolved with. Native plants. <br />
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I thought I'd start my nature photography with this cornerstone of the avian diet - the insects. Last year my birthday present was a macro lens to help link me to the small sized element of the food chain. This lens has allowed me to get up close and personal with my subjects. Fortunately for me, a lot of these protein-packed, bite-sized critters seemed to enjoy having their pictures taken. They agreed to hold still long enough for me to fumble around with setting up the tripod and focusing. In one of my first experiments with the macro lens, I kept finding a striped, long antennaed, beetle kind of character walking all over the Purple Coneflower blooms. If I started shooting back a little distance from this subject, I found I sometimes got a usable picture. With an image in the bag, I became more confident to sneak up a little closer. Snap, better yet. Inching closer, the wavy antennaed animal didn't care. Snap, still better. Closer yet and this guy (gal?) didn't even bother to turn and look at me. I sure figured it would say "OK - enough is enough" and flit off to a less crowded venue. But not so. I was able to tire myself out seeking better and better compositions. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPP_-XTGixI4gaeEXSyCXH2vsSm46-eda3rP9lQNALr_E7eho2dc9CEJoq1Ch7WqBINvroWlYSv3SPLOjM6vuye96kMH74bj__aM4TZL0Bw90_5kjCQPGOuWtQgbq4i_SVA05UkZ7259IU/s1600/IMG_1928+cropped+compressed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPP_-XTGixI4gaeEXSyCXH2vsSm46-eda3rP9lQNALr_E7eho2dc9CEJoq1Ch7WqBINvroWlYSv3SPLOjM6vuye96kMH74bj__aM4TZL0Bw90_5kjCQPGOuWtQgbq4i_SVA05UkZ7259IU/s320/IMG_1928+cropped+compressed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jagged Ambush Bug on Daisy Fleabane</td></tr>
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The view through this lens really opened my eyes and disclosed some most interesting creatures. I didn't know who these patient critters were. Fortunately the good folks at <a href="http://bugguide.net/">bugguide.net</a> were quick to help. After uploading tight snapshots to their website I received a very quick reply. It turns out that there at least two hundred gazillion species of insects and they seem to be able to identify them all. There's no way this layman can begin to sort them out. <br />
<br />
<br />
Guided with identification from the bug folks, I was eager to find out more about these six legged curiosities. A little googling and wow. Many of these are not only tasty morsels for the winged crowd but are themselves predators of other insects. The <a href="http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/08/27/jagged-ambush-bug-3/" target="_blank">Jagged Ambush Bug</a> quietly lies strategically in wait on an aromatic flower head. When an unwary pollinator comes along, BANG! This efficient predator can apparently snack on fellow insects much larger than itself. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZl46DycQ_FxI0Cg8LQKSpDzFLy9MVhFm5xTuqLuyZYiQSmmEYebg01x4LVOK8I78zr0UpA3sFIEtz0kqfccjTs3J52shZLw5LhFw-xkpdrRDpENkWl2ilI-8OeoWuBxiX_wfhT5qYmbfZ/s1600/My+-+What+Big+Eyes+You+Have.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZl46DycQ_FxI0Cg8LQKSpDzFLy9MVhFm5xTuqLuyZYiQSmmEYebg01x4LVOK8I78zr0UpA3sFIEtz0kqfccjTs3J52shZLw5LhFw-xkpdrRDpENkWl2ilI-8OeoWuBxiX_wfhT5qYmbfZ/s320/My+-+What+Big+Eyes+You+Have.jpg" style="cursor: move;" unselectable="on" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robber Fly</td></tr>
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<br />
One particular subject with big eyes looked like what I used to call a fly. Along the way I've found out that many animals are world class mimics of other creatures. They have developed amazing behaviors and colorations to confuse predators. <a href="http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/insects-masters-of-disguise/" target="_blank">Some flies look like bees, some bees look like wasps, some wasps look like bees</a>. It makes me dizzy. So what was this wondrous insect? Again the bugguide.net crew provided the answer: a <a href="https://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg228.html" target="_blank">Robber Fly</a>, one of over 1,000 species of Robber Flies in North America alone. What? Over 1,000? Seriously? What's a new and puzzled nature lover to do? Seeking guidance from <a href="http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jim McCormac, an entertaining and tireless naturalist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, author, and blogger extraordinaire</a>, I asked where to start. Jim guided me to "<a href="http://www.kaufmanfieldguides.com/Insects.htm" target="_blank">Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America</a>." Now I can refer to this book and perhaps get into the right pew when trying to identify these critters. Maybe I won't look like a complete dunce when bugging the bugguide team. Oh yes, back to the Robber Fly. Kaufman say this group of aerial insects is "to other insects what falcons are to other birds." Thus this big-eyed bug eats other insects (as well as being consumed by others). I never tire learning and witnessing how the web of life keeps things in balance. Each organism is important to all the others, even us of the homo sapiens variety. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLpNjFGpDiAAwshXyON3FiZTeegW7e41NVRFmDgw9wR474yZB9a6M_tk1f049rbDA1c8Q8nWcgu24oSOT0Ej0-7NmcnzEzKOmOLYoPk9jLebTyq3ZzICS-_O9J0MWOC0VlkhZmTp2gEEl/s1600/Cleared+to+Land+-+Carpenter+bee+and+Daisy+Fleabane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLpNjFGpDiAAwshXyON3FiZTeegW7e41NVRFmDgw9wR474yZB9a6M_tk1f049rbDA1c8Q8nWcgu24oSOT0Ej0-7NmcnzEzKOmOLYoPk9jLebTyq3ZzICS-_O9J0MWOC0VlkhZmTp2gEEl/s320/Cleared+to+Land+-+Carpenter+bee+and+Daisy+Fleabane.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carpenter Bee headed for Daisy Fleabane flower</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Now that we'd been raising our own bird food, I really wanted to photograph this avian part of the food chain that is flourishing here courtesy of the native plants. Try as I might, I couldn't get close enough to our feathered friends. They certainly didn't sit still for this stumbling photographer to stick a camera in their faces. <br />
<br />
Enter Santa Claus with a telephoto lens. Then at one of our local <a href="http://wildones.org/" target="_blank">Wild Ones</a> meetings George Sydlowski gave me some quick tips on using it. Several weeks ago a motion at the birdbath caught my attention. Hmm...that bird looks different than I'm used to seeing. Wow - it's a <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/id" target="_blank">Bluebird</a>, a female Bluebird. Nanoseconds later another landed next to it. Then another, then a more brightly colored male, then a few more. We haven't seen Bluebirds at our house in over 12 years. While the temperatures were well below freezing, the heated birdbath provided a nice hydration source for this flock. In my excitement, it was all I could do to grab the camera and try to hold this heavy lens steady. Fortunately George's tip of cranking up the ISO so I could snap with higher shutter speeds proved fruitful. Eventually the flock moved on. The following day found a large flock of <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/id" target="_blank">American Robins</a> perched on the birdbath. Closer inspection disclosed a smaller, bluish bird squeezed into the group. Ah hah. A female Bluebird had elbowed its way into the throng of raucous Robins. Sadly I wasn't able to snap a shot before the elegant feathered aviator decided it had better birds to hang with. Nonetheless I now have the first pictures for the bird section of my backyard wildlife album. Thanks George. Thanks Santa. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu9fVjChCLOi7xJ20Croecgss7OllV3d8f17nDJc3uxwOApJ50GIXiywz0a2BG29v3RNOFPClqIiN58ZcTJ01onxfFLo57gxN9Ni09kUr2x0-RFqTnMk4phRPYlBBQT0rII8KFtELUWFuj/s1600/IMG_4014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu9fVjChCLOi7xJ20Croecgss7OllV3d8f17nDJc3uxwOApJ50GIXiywz0a2BG29v3RNOFPClqIiN58ZcTJ01onxfFLo57gxN9Ni09kUr2x0-RFqTnMk4phRPYlBBQT0rII8KFtELUWFuj/s400/IMG_4014.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bluebirds</td></tr>
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<img height="63" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZl46DycQ_FxI0Cg8LQKSpDzFLy9MVhFm5xTuqLuyZYiQSmmEYebg01x4LVOK8I78zr0UpA3sFIEtz0kqfccjTs3J52shZLw5LhFw-xkpdrRDpENkWl2ilI-8OeoWuBxiX_wfhT5qYmbfZ/s320/My+-+What+Big+Eyes+You+Have.jpg" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 182px; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 1114px;" width="96" />the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-39862847229310115432012-12-07T22:16:00.001-05:002012-12-08T11:01:21.625-05:00Why?They say I do a lot of volunteer work. I guess I do. The vast majority of it is spent promoting the use of native plants. Why? There are some volunteer activities I do face to face, one on one, with people in need. And this always gives me an immediate and rewarding satisfaction. And yet I find most of my efforts are in an area where progress seems slow, is often frustrating, and on the surface seems disconnected from larger issues. Sometimes I wonder why I spend so much time this way? Everyday I realize the need to help people is huge. Everyday in watching the news or reading the paper, I see the faces of people devastated by war, hunger, homelessness, natural disasters, and on and on. So why spend my time on native plant education, my own included? I struggle when faced with these seemingly much larger needs. Am I spending my time wisely?<br />
<br />
As I wrestle with the question of how to spend my time, here's what I've come to believe. It seems to me much of the world's woes are self inflicted. We've squandered, unwittingly perhaps, the treasures we've been given. We've thought we were owners of these natural resources instead of stewards. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyQFCHL8ZtBqFYXd-rAkrEDRR1fbqDdWtoMG6m0T_CHXFDzifBsg0sxsA8gQEPK_BKQ68TBeJzZBUo01kF_xE3s7SNlm0tBYJmE2m4EWQz8kdUlslSPZsr8tHkFSLHxyt-zzx-MNb7vfkU/s1600/Wetland-marshall-county-indiana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyQFCHL8ZtBqFYXd-rAkrEDRR1fbqDdWtoMG6m0T_CHXFDzifBsg0sxsA8gQEPK_BKQ68TBeJzZBUo01kF_xE3s7SNlm0tBYJmE2m4EWQz8kdUlslSPZsr8tHkFSLHxyt-zzx-MNb7vfkU/s320/Wetland-marshall-county-indiana.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small wetland in Marshall County, Indiana<br />
<em>photo courtesy of Wiki Commons</em></td></tr>
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Literally millions of people across the globe don't have clean water to drink. We are constantly polluting our water with farm and residential chemical runoff among other things. We've been digging up wetlands which are nature's technique of purifying water that eventually becomes our drinking water and the environment in which all aquatic life lives. The <a href="http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2012/dec/01/wetlands-plan-boosts-hopes-troubled-ohio-lake-ar-1260448/" target="_blank">wetland restoration at Grand Lake St. Marys</a> is a good example of returning to nature to protect an essential resource. Using deep rooted native plants in rain gardens and wetlands helps to filter the pollution, recharge the aquifers, and trap the sediment that runs into our waterways from these sources. Native plants are important for clean water.<br />
<br />
It is absolutely incredible how many people don't have enough food to eat. The large numbers of children who go to bed hungry every night is shameful. Manos Community Garden <a href="http://www.toledoblade.com/gallery/Manos-Community-Garden">http://www.toledoblade.com/gallery/Manos-Community-Garden</a> on the edge of downtown Toledo and situated in a extremely poor area of the city, encourages passersby to pick the fresh tomatoes and take home green beans, squash, and other fresh vegetables. They have also made this into a bird sanctuary and wildlife habitat by introducing some native plants. This past summer they asked our <a href="http://wildones.org/chapters/toledo/" target="_blank">local Wild Ones chapter</a> to help design and recommend more native plantings. This will not only help make a serene peaceful setting, but also increase the populations of native pollinators. These native insects are highly efficient and will improve the productivity of the vegetable gardens. On a larger scale, research is showing benefits to farm production in <a href="http://www.pollinator.org/ecosystem_science.htm" target="_blank">utilizing native plants to increase native pollinator populations</a>. Native plants help produce food to feed the world. <br />
<br />
Health care costs are escalating out of sight, diagnoses of autism and other childhood developmental disorders seem to be on a meteoric rise, and cancer is on an unrelenting march forward. Arguably, but with growing evidence, the <a href="http://www.pesticidewatch.org/" target="_blank">lawn and agricultural chemicals we are so addicted to use are linked to the increase in these maladies</a>. Native plants are integral to a balanced ecosystem that doesn't require these expensive chemicals that lure us into believing we can redesign nature for a better outcome. The use and restoration of native plant communities helps to stop the destruction of biodiversity. Native plants are the cornerstone to healthy ecosystems and diverse biological systems. Noted Entomologist, <a href="http://udel.edu/~dtallamy/" target="_blank">Dr. Doug Tallamy</a> says:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Centennial-Roman; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Centennial-Roman; font-size: xx-small;"><em><span style="font-size: small;">"The ecosystems t</span><span style="font-size: small;">hat support us - that determine the carrying </span><span style="font-size: small;">capacity of the earth and our local spaces - are run </span><span style="font-size: small;">by biodiversity. It is biodiversity that generates oxygen </span><span style="font-size: small;">and cleans water, creates topsoil out of rock, </span><span style="font-size: small;">buffers extreme weather events like droughts and </span><span style="font-size: small;">floods, pollinates our crops, and recycles the mountains </span></em><span style="font-size: small;"><em>of garbage we create every day."</em> </span></span></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKTIXyXTIQxqIgbDW4o67jFMtg1KwRSTak3UlQwKKWmeY-I5SZGlI0RbNhxyQBTWnKXNFbeBcN1hz8jW8Qh8PCnqCn8CTOu8uJAW2PtzVaXYvu42hqfSXil-k-Ek7VIlKwGIJgKgDXCyf/s1600/IMG_1160+web+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnKTIXyXTIQxqIgbDW4o67jFMtg1KwRSTak3UlQwKKWmeY-I5SZGlI0RbNhxyQBTWnKXNFbeBcN1hz8jW8Qh8PCnqCn8CTOu8uJAW2PtzVaXYvu42hqfSXil-k-Ek7VIlKwGIJgKgDXCyf/s320/IMG_1160+web+large.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow Trout Lily<br />
<em>Erythronium americanum</em> </td></tr>
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Do native plants cure all the major ills of the world. Certainly not. But in my time spent on learning about and promoting the use of native plants I've come to believe that our long term survival has to come from <a href="http://www.wildones.org/download/guidebook/0050OriginalForms/In_Harmony_Brochure_(pre-printed).pdf" target="_blank">living in harmony with nature</a> rather than fighting it. And that's why I'm now comfortable spending most of my efforts working to save and restore ecological systems with the use of native plants. Besides, walking in the woods, hearing leaves rustling under my feet, seeing the <a href="http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/wh_troutlily.htm" target="_blank">Trout lilies</a> rise to greet the spring sun, listening to the friendly chirp of the <a href="http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?sortBy=has+audio&curFamilyID=264&curGroupID=1&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=5" target="_blank">Black-capped Chickadees</a>, hearing the katydids at night, watching the Monarch butterfly lay her eggs on the Milkweed plants, being tickled by the upside down march of the <a href="http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?allSpecies=y&searchText=white%20breasted%20nuthatch&curGroupID=1&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=1" target="_blank">White-breasted Nuthatch</a>, marveling at the hovering nectar-thirsty <a href="http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?allSpecies=y&searchText=ruby%20throat%20hummingbird&curGroupID=1&lgfromWhere=&curPageNum=1" target="_blank">Ruby-throated Hummingbird</a>, these all energize my own soul and help me realize that what we do as individuals ultimately impacts the health and vitality of us all. I'm good with spending so much time on this. the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-1612119642581469972012-09-14T18:37:00.004-04:002012-09-14T18:37:42.730-04:00It was Dead - but Now....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4RC6fYlZj6taS0myGssyLJGcjeRFFODa2QIN7LrYOcnThFek3aNWjdxx8GoGRocnsDJRHy-zGXujQ4ZIpDC2YJ0Eq_xLQEleTGFDSfj55WKb4WCi238gpRQSnKHbnaI4MZN87vLfE8-SX/s1600/IMG_2669+web+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4RC6fYlZj6taS0myGssyLJGcjeRFFODa2QIN7LrYOcnThFek3aNWjdxx8GoGRocnsDJRHy-zGXujQ4ZIpDC2YJ0Eq_xLQEleTGFDSfj55WKb4WCi238gpRQSnKHbnaI4MZN87vLfE8-SX/s200/IMG_2669+web+large.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Former dead Pachysandra area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This morning my new friend Sanja and I were working on our new <a href="http://www.wildones.org/" target="_blank">Wild One's</a> chapter display. Naturally we talked about why we like native plants. Her thoughtful questions reminded me that just one year ago I pulled several trash bags of Pachysandra from a lush evergreen garden bed just outside my office window. <a href="http://nativeplantconvert.blogspot.com/2011/10/6-hours-later.html" target="_blank">You might remember</a> how I struggled with wiping this area clean and digging up the specimen Bleeding Heart. I recall how astonished I was at the time. There was absolutely no life in this spot. No spiders, earthworms, millipedes, caterpillars, nothing. It was a dead zone. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmz0FVJ5Rzjh4PmLy_DRmn-VZzFtmpKzSnTedLCN7Fy6QrbnyugZChGdnbtS6hYztd9eXn13LOLaJffwp5P7Mtu83rHgqsWU8EZP-8Z0uY_MrC2VLoOxZiF6e86Zvr3XWyY_xsrA2J4vo4/s1600/Giant+Swallowtail+on+Swamp+Milkweed+Web+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmz0FVJ5Rzjh4PmLy_DRmn-VZzFtmpKzSnTedLCN7Fy6QrbnyugZChGdnbtS6hYztd9eXn13LOLaJffwp5P7Mtu83rHgqsWU8EZP-8Z0uY_MrC2VLoOxZiF6e86Zvr3XWyY_xsrA2J4vo4/s200/Giant+Swallowtail+on+Swamp+Milkweed+Web+large.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant Swallowtail on<br />
Swamp Milkweed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As I sit here writing this piece I'm looking out my home office window. I wonder how I ever get any work done now. The <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LOCA2" target="_blank">Cardinal flower</a> have just finished blooming while the Blue Lobelia are still working on producing a few more flowers. For weeks now as the wave of color cycled from the brilliant red of the Cardinal flower to the purple of the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LOSI" target="_blank">Blue Lobelia</a>, the hummingbirds have come by all day long to work over the nectar rich blossoms of these plants. They much prefer the flowers over the nearby hummingbird feeder. (As curious as these little birds are, often buzzing up to my face as I sit on the back porch, they just won't sit still long enough for me to snap a picture.) This same patch of ground now sports some nice bright yellow from the <a href="http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/br_susanx.htm" target="_blank">Brown eyed Susan</a> in the shadier part just as the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SYLAL3" target="_blank">Smooth Asters</a> are starting to come into bloom. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTlNSxrInPpcIU9322LG_I9Z6GP8ZOtwntX31GNjQ4cZO0KGqcIyfSdpgu1eeJ52LhRSp5hgmYNz5okuqYR4Yi2H-vnEd64rXPzXVwX-BVVb2pf8NZfVUKoHJWLLC0zF_rCuJvSZQqWl3/s1600/054+cropped+Web+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTlNSxrInPpcIU9322LG_I9Z6GP8ZOtwntX31GNjQ4cZO0KGqcIyfSdpgu1eeJ52LhRSp5hgmYNz5okuqYR4Yi2H-vnEd64rXPzXVwX-BVVb2pf8NZfVUKoHJWLLC0zF_rCuJvSZQqWl3/s200/054+cropped+Web+large.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Male Monarch about to be<br />
released for the fall <br />
migration to Mexico</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Looking back to yesterday when we released a male Monarch butterfly, I realize the <a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ASIN" target="_blank">Swamp milkweed</a> that provided nectar for multiple species of butterflies this season were the same plants several female Monarchs laid their eggs on earlier this summer. <br />
The transformation is wondrous. This area was dead last year, and now it's alive! That's why I like native plants. <br />
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the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-32764385214285701952012-08-21T22:25:00.000-04:002012-08-22T10:00:41.182-04:00The Journey So FarA little more than a year ago, our first native plants went in. Since then as you probably already know, we've decided to totally replace all our landscaping with native plants. This endeavor still seems overwhelming as I walk through our suburban residential lot and see all the non natives that remain. Two months ago, as I started to write about all the things I've learned, I got a painful attack of writer's block. (Don't worry - the doctor said it's not contagious.) With every new thing I learned, I discovered twelve more related things I wanted to know. The list of lessons is pretty darn large now. So I'm just highlighting three major lessons from the year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2Kzq4oYxrDvOft-vDYAiI_ucrpvPH5kM21IInnGv8dcSn6KmhpQnYvk6s9ZrrHw2fz4r55qiPQCENeJFkOcOePgJNPoUCcFHElGcQVPQ0EAJAjKvcwAI4tLXDesd_H6oXVaM0sqiiFcl/s1600/IMG_1575+web+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2Kzq4oYxrDvOft-vDYAiI_ucrpvPH5kM21IInnGv8dcSn6KmhpQnYvk6s9ZrrHw2fz4r55qiPQCENeJFkOcOePgJNPoUCcFHElGcQVPQ0EAJAjKvcwAI4tLXDesd_H6oXVaM0sqiiFcl/s200/IMG_1575+web+large.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common Blue Eyed<br />
Grass</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong><u>PATIENCE</u></strong><br />
First is patience. Actually I haven't learned patience. I've learned I need patience. (Lord, give me patience, and do it right now!) Some of our first plants were young native prairie plants. They evolved long ago to suit the environment they lived in. These guys become <a href="http://www.bedminsterlandconservancy.org/Root%20System%20Grass%20&%20Natives%20Comparison%20.pdf" target="_blank">deep rooted</a>, often 15 feet or more to help create the water reservoirs and drainage routes necessary for a healthy environment.. They also take time to get established. I guess that's one of the reasons they are so susceptible to the aggressive nature of non-native invasive plants. The tiny <a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SIMO2" target="_blank">Little Blue-Eyed Grass</a> plugs that worked all last year to get established showed us their stuff this spring with striking, yet delicate blue flowers. On the other hand, the <a href="http://nativeplantconvert.blogspot.com/2011/06/drilling-deep.html" target="_blank">Prairie Smoke I wrote about last year</a> has grown several times larger than the dime I originally compared it to. However working through this year's drought it continued to push those roots down. It did try to bloom and show the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=22633" target="_blank">smoke like fruit</a> but the heat and dryness kept it focused on drilling deeper. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iU6_SmNznoiL6ouF-r9109AFfC4ZZ7yEaoc8k1tgbVhn05iDUof2FKNTcnxBJiCEZQxNEFIV8Y6HsP4Iw0yaeKYLfTuWdjF9M6oGQocPHyAj7hL1rBis2LS6FYthHzU4x4x57wRUUSaC/s1600/IMG_1460+web+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iU6_SmNznoiL6ouF-r9109AFfC4ZZ7yEaoc8k1tgbVhn05iDUof2FKNTcnxBJiCEZQxNEFIV8Y6HsP4Iw0yaeKYLfTuWdjF9M6oGQocPHyAj7hL1rBis2LS6FYthHzU4x4x57wRUUSaC/s200/IMG_1460+web+small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just one load of Honeysuckle<br />
removed from our backyard<br />
in one day</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong><u>INVASIVE PLANTS</u></strong><br />
I've also learned how important it is to stay on top of invasive plant removal. Last year I was more diligent than ever in pulling every Garlic Mustard, Honeysuckle, Buckthorn, and Multi Flora Rose we found. This spring's generous display of woodland wildflowers showed us the effort was worthwhile. The gentle slopes of our woodland ravine were filled with <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ERAL9" target="_blank">Trout Lily</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CLLA2" target="_blank">Spring Beauty</a>, <a href="http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/spring_cress.htm" target="_blank">Spring Cress</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CACO26" target="_blank">Cut Leaf Toothwort</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=THTH2" target="_blank">Rue Anemone</a>, and <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PORE2" target="_blank">Jacob's Ladder</a>. These displays were followed by <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GECA5" target="_blank">Wild Geranium</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HYVI" target="_blank">Virginia Waterleaf</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PAOB6" target="_blank">Round leaf Ragwort</a>, and <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=POPE" target="_blank">May Apple</a>. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsSaOyRDmRr47oFSKkiX7NXfkX9H2LjYVFYNmvFXVBlNtY9I57ulvJGw2SoOkay81DjyJ0365LgykTqFmDilhwRIjqNVEOOdN5HGGhoKYxbX5FySMNviVWzXijMgIDsVI8GVYJRTAJGsw-/s1600/IMG_1160+web+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsSaOyRDmRr47oFSKkiX7NXfkX9H2LjYVFYNmvFXVBlNtY9I57ulvJGw2SoOkay81DjyJ0365LgykTqFmDilhwRIjqNVEOOdN5HGGhoKYxbX5FySMNviVWzXijMgIDsVI8GVYJRTAJGsw-/s400/IMG_1160+web+large.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early Trout Lily nestled at base of decaying log</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong><u>WEB OF LIFE</u></strong><br />
Most importantly, I've learned native plants are a critical part of the great web of life to which we all belong. All life depends on plants. All animals either eat plants directly or eat creatures that eat them. By far, the largest group of these animals is insects. As Doug Tallamy teaches in his book, "<a href="http://bringingnaturehome.net/" target="_blank">Bringing Nature Home</a>", insects can only eat the plants they evolved with - native plants. Without insects flowers wouldn't turn into fruit, birds would have nothing to feed their young, and if we existed at all, the world would be a pretty uninspiring place. A great example of this dependence is the Monarch Butterfly. It has to have Milkweed in order to survive. The female Monarch only lays her eggs on this group of plants. When these eggs hatch, milkweed is the only food the caterpillars can eat. Simple: No Milkweed, no Monarch Butterflies. With the wholesale eradication of Milkweed plants, this stunning creature is in real danger of becoming only a memory. So if you want Monarchs to survive, plant some Milkweed in your yard. The Milkweed we planted last year has produced multiple generations of Monarchs this season while it also provided nectar for many other pollinators and food for scads of other creatures. As the natural landscaping organization <a href="http://www.wildones.org/" target="_blank">Wild Ones</a> says, we are "Healing the Earth one Yard at Time." I think we see this healing going on in our own yard. In just one year's time, we've realized more wildflowers, birds, and butterflies, lower water bills, and life somehow seems more interesting and serene. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHB6nvh3lpetd6spMKduowTLq0-eArUmcEQ083Gg7VFeHyyE15GIDPEvmXrCgeqpfENtmQ4iAm2LakigG9kRKm_mtI_YpNRv0LH2gpeukm_Q3KxzBcBjO0tTpd4xw6sI6SnTorRLxLlqkX/s1600/emerged+monarch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHB6nvh3lpetd6spMKduowTLq0-eArUmcEQ083Gg7VFeHyyE15GIDPEvmXrCgeqpfENtmQ4iAm2LakigG9kRKm_mtI_YpNRv0LH2gpeukm_Q3KxzBcBjO0tTpd4xw6sI6SnTorRLxLlqkX/s400/emerged+monarch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newly emerged Monarch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
(<em>Here's a five second video of a Giant Swallowtail nectaring on one of our Swamp Milkweeds. </em><a href="http://youtu.be/KEyxOmU3BIc" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/KEyxOmU3BIc</a> <em>Three different generations of Monarch used this one plant on which to lay their eggs. The eggs hatched into very tiny caterpillars. These young creatures ate the leaves, molting 4 times while they outgrew their skins. Eventually the caterpillars matured, formed a chrysalis, and later miraculously emerged as Monarch butterflies. Today I found another egg on this plant. In about 28 days a butterfly that started as this egg will hopefully survive and migrate the 3,000 miles to Mexico for the winter. If you listen carefully, you can hear birds in the background. )</em> <br />
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the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-57204677540374255372012-05-25T12:18:00.003-04:002012-06-29T11:28:19.855-04:00Making a Difference<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiau8uAVyfiuVz9-CSuWiyZd64JilbiqSZXVkC_D_mA4aX29StANSy3hjXcIAbWIyLJxICv041HzlyPnQ4ZUby2qX4LoAbuN3Bv1DVEfO5Xep6swmPSqzu1wnFITJf4yETeX9AObFPhQuFO/s1600/IMG_1619+web+size.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiau8uAVyfiuVz9-CSuWiyZd64JilbiqSZXVkC_D_mA4aX29StANSy3hjXcIAbWIyLJxICv041HzlyPnQ4ZUby2qX4LoAbuN3Bv1DVEfO5Xep6swmPSqzu1wnFITJf4yETeX9AObFPhQuFO/s200/IMG_1619+web+size.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Newly planted butterfly</em><br />
<em>garden. By mid summer</em><br />
<em>it will have filled in a lot,</em><br />
<em>attracting butterflies and</em><br />
<em>hummingbirds.</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The other day I met and helped an incredible lady who has a very personal and moving story about using native plants. We planted a butterfly garden at the hospice facility of a large local medical center, and put some additional butterfly host plants at their cancer center.<br />
<br />
I met Candy and a college student neighbor of hers early Saturday morning at the hospice. By the time I got there at 7:30 am, they were already busy digging up weeds, and unloading a large assortment of plants from Candy's van.<br />
<br />
Candy's husband, who is chief of staff at the hospital, showed up a while later in a dress shirt and slacks, with the standard doctor's beeper attached to his belt. He jumped right in digging and planting. Periodically he would leave, walking off to the main hospital building, only to come back a little later to continue working. This soft spoken gentle physician is obviously a total believer and supporter in Candy's mission.<br />
<br />
As we worked, I got to know Candy a little and came to understand why she is this area's go to person on butterflies. I can't possibly tell Candy's story any better than this article that appeared in a local newspaper a little while ago. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://sylvaniaadvantage.com/2012/03/30/butterflies-steal-the-show-at-promedica-flower-staff-dinner/"><span style="color: blue;">http://sylvaniaadvantage.com/2012/03/30/butterflies-steal-the-show-at-promedica-flower-staff-dinner/</span></a></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pUgpAaEsG3PWjwnWhcGB3laxl3xUJlLMxaYmipKHz1tsC_QhGIfxQCVTsTnzFZfx25sTXL1Wa32s_80kKm7mR7RbGtXmYTcNYDvPoUkJIPYtvdckUgSSn1whdpY-C-1iqj6_QuSChL2d/s1600/6929608685_584204119b_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pUgpAaEsG3PWjwnWhcGB3laxl3xUJlLMxaYmipKHz1tsC_QhGIfxQCVTsTnzFZfx25sTXL1Wa32s_80kKm7mR7RbGtXmYTcNYDvPoUkJIPYtvdckUgSSn1whdpY-C-1iqj6_QuSChL2d/s200/6929608685_584204119b_z.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="right">
<em>Candy's first son, now almost </em></div>
<div align="right">
<em>a teenager, holds a live</em><em> Cecropia </em></div>
<div align="right">
<em>Moth. Candy and her son </em><em>will wait</em></div>
<div align="right">
<em> </em><em>until dark to</em><em> release</em><em> it </em><em>since it </em><em>is a</em></div>
<div align="right">
<em> nocturnal</em><em> creature</em><em>. This moth </em></div>
<div align="right">
<em>species</em><em> has no</em><em> </em><em>mouth and will live</em></div>
<div align="right">
<em> </em><em>for</em><em> only </em><em>about</em> <em>a week. During </em><em>that </em></div>
<div align="right">
<em>time it will</em><em> </em><em>mate and lay eggs</em><em> to </em></div>
<div align="right">
<em>start the</em><em> next </em><em>generation</em>.<br />
<em>(photo taken by Candy)</em></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Through Candy's relentless search for help with her young child's autism, she discovered that butterflies had a huge positive impact on her son. Through that connection, she researched, experimented, and found that many of our area's native plants not only attracted butterflies, but allowed them to lay their eggs where the young caterpillar's could eat and in turn transform into the next generation of butterflies. Exotic or hybridized plants don't let that happen. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ever since she experienced that life altering success with her son, she has been a tireless and selfless advocate of bringing life back to our gardens. She doesn't pass up any opportunity to enter a classroom of children dragging cages of live butterflies and caterpillars. The wonder and joy she sees in these kids' eyes when they get to hold a live butterfly is part of what keeps her going. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Through Candy's enthusiastic work, I now more fully realize that native plants are not only good and necessary for our planet's health. They are important for our own health and well being. We always talk about native plants bringing wildlife back to the yard. We talk about birds, bees, and the butterflies. However, really getting to watch butterflies at work in a garden, ahhhhh, that's uplifting. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">To see a butterfly lay an egg on a plant; to see the egg hatch into a caterpillar; to see the caterpillar eat the leaves that became food through the sun's energy; to see the caterpillar molt several times before forming a chrysalis; to see the butterfly emerge from that cocoon and bask in the sun, stretching and drying it's wings; to see that butterfly fly off to drink the nectar of a nearby flower, coincidentally pollinating that flower so it too can fulfill it's mission- now that's food for our souls.</span><br />
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3yqYOj5jKProfWjogD5eModU3fkMXvJBkNr0lXD0uUo6sqadmorQDNLAih-Weev0rxzGNU4WBrGY05WvXli6b7YWEXCSNPIRnU2ifIIgHolyfHe7aUbYjnhWJU9up5SWyoceLR-e1K3A/s1600/IMG_1611+cropped+web+size.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3yqYOj5jKProfWjogD5eModU3fkMXvJBkNr0lXD0uUo6sqadmorQDNLAih-Weev0rxzGNU4WBrGY05WvXli6b7YWEXCSNPIRnU2ifIIgHolyfHe7aUbYjnhWJU9up5SWyoceLR-e1K3A/s200/IMG_1611+cropped+web+size.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Candy introduces her youngest</em><br />
<em>child to a live Luna Moth</em><br />
<em>caterpillar.</em> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">If the time comes when I need help conducting the basic daily requirements of living, I pray I'll get to look out over a butterfly garden that Candy inspired someone to plant. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
--------------------------------------------------<br />
<em><strong>Related material</strong></em>:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/candy__kasey/">Candy's pictures of various caterpillars, butterflies, and cocoons</a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/candy__kasey/sets/72157626618367648/">Luna moth emerging from cocoon</a><br />
<a href="http://sylvaniaadvantage.com/2012/01/06/butterfly-launched-from-franciscan-academy-sighted-in-new-orleans/">Candy's northwest Ohio butterfly shows up in New Orleans</a><br />
<a href="http://livemonarch.com/">LiveMonarch.com</a><br />
<a href="http://monarchwatch.org/">Monarch Watch</a><br />
<a href="http://www.learner.org/jnorth/">Journey North - a great educational site for children and adults alike</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-7930918924435231302012-04-24T22:10:00.003-04:002012-04-25T09:58:08.107-04:00I'm Just Saying<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKW9bKLa1pVXFjeSeUBB4l9jm4g2JSt4dLJ2DcH4dN3KBdzHKNJVP7_mGhHOdMQkGkcfNNJwhsvCJkCZAcv_g7T4DGZEs3SKT53bGgRRoTaW1TSFKZgkQ-KGFQKnbc9SI4kaTux32Futx/s1600/IMG_1507+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKW9bKLa1pVXFjeSeUBB4l9jm4g2JSt4dLJ2DcH4dN3KBdzHKNJVP7_mGhHOdMQkGkcfNNJwhsvCJkCZAcv_g7T4DGZEs3SKT53bGgRRoTaW1TSFKZgkQ-KGFQKnbc9SI4kaTux32Futx/s200/IMG_1507+small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bloodroot seeking life in grass</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve recently learned a new phrase:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m just saying.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the longest time I didn’t know what that
meant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My good wife was kind enough the
other day to “splain” it to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess
it’s a way of gently disagreeing with someone while bringing up a contrary
point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that’s what my
yard has been saying to me for a good long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now it has decided I’m not getting it and
need to be slapped up the side of the head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>More like “Listen up bub, I’m telling you you haven’t been listening,
haven’t been paying attention.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We live
in a “lawn infested” neighborhood and for the past year since I’ve converted to
native plants, I’ve longed for a prairie /meadow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve come to understand that the nice green
lawn isn’t helping the environment, the native wildlife, my health, or my
pocketbook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last summer I thought as
long as I have to have a lawn, I’ll at least make it organic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I embarked on making it so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
nonetheless, I really wanted a prairie, a meadow to largely replace the lawn
and nurture the birds, butterflies, and pollinators that are so essential to a
healthy and productive ecosystem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQouodTfOquGa6nmhaewXf7bkp1X5wPcQzfjRe5dcde9zsSeBWuykjfniBMDUUowCQAEHWYGkqlL4Dou96XtIJonOEeM01kuRCoDH2ecPK626_WtLoJCwVpjVAcud3r5W18uFVAak9P6FY/s1600/IMG_1511+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQouodTfOquGa6nmhaewXf7bkp1X5wPcQzfjRe5dcde9zsSeBWuykjfniBMDUUowCQAEHWYGkqlL4Dou96XtIJonOEeM01kuRCoDH2ecPK626_WtLoJCwVpjVAcud3r5W18uFVAak9P6FY/s200/IMG_1511+small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trout Lily leaves trying to survive in <br />
lawn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFX6bfaA5fMSKi9UpiLflLO8S1iuJ7pbRQk9mwh6IUqBKNf-MpLsw2QTeNJ6DJYds0DCOd9irtZBTqAXUJxpTaUWxfUSpXvvht28s8kXYLaCwZCfl6NWdDK_gI5LMEU4Ko4GKOn1_WGHZ8/s1600/IMG_1518+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFX6bfaA5fMSKi9UpiLflLO8S1iuJ7pbRQk9mwh6IUqBKNf-MpLsw2QTeNJ6DJYds0DCOd9irtZBTqAXUJxpTaUWxfUSpXvvht28s8kXYLaCwZCfl6NWdDK_gI5LMEU4Ko4GKOn1_WGHZ8/s200/IMG_1518+small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Solomon Seal seedlings </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As mother nature has removed the blinders from my eyes, she
tells me to look at what’s growing here already.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In spite of all the organic matter I’ve put
into this clay soil, in spite of all the chemicals I used to heap on this lawn,
in spite of all the core aeration I’ve done over the years, in spite of all
this abuse, she puts <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>billboards up for
me to catch my attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I cut the
grass with my carbon emitting, gas guzzling, noisy lawnmower, I keep muttering “if this was a prairie, I wouldn’t be wasting my money and time doing this.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look just ahead of the mower as I’m cutting
at the front edge of the native beds and BANG.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
"</span>Hey there’s a small <a href="http://www.2bnthewild.com/plants/H261.htm">Bloodroo</a>t growing right out in the
lawn."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Veering the mower around this delightful
find, I say I’ll let this little guy grow here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then just ahead a little more, there are
dozens of <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ERAL9">Trout Lily</a> leaves poking up into the grass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a little bit further, there were three
small <a href="http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/solomon_seal.htm">Solomon’s Seal</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s going on
here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a carefully tended
lawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These wayward native plants can’t
be growing here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait a minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do they just belong here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I wonder </span>what was this land like before the developers
scraped away the topsoil and cut down trees to make room for a house and put a
high maintenance lawn in? Was it a prairie or something else?</span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOdHaBKJLvzgnBSqE3WVFKtddV7xVISjLnSaBTDdLhbeLLL7kjb81XFihZsoymxAJiGvfGq48ACnFgQlpGAZTLjv2U2CdmHDkpF96bglBxfmWqnJTv9_9PocWgxWq7ax5bBmLpCzxfHMd/s1600/Brittany+1964+Soil+and+Water+Aerial+with+home+marked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOdHaBKJLvzgnBSqE3WVFKtddV7xVISjLnSaBTDdLhbeLLL7kjb81XFihZsoymxAJiGvfGq48ACnFgQlpGAZTLjv2U2CdmHDkpF96bglBxfmWqnJTv9_9PocWgxWq7ax5bBmLpCzxfHMd/s200/Brittany+1964+Soil+and+Water+Aerial+with+home+marked.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1964 aerial photo of neighborhood<br />
pre-development</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At a research conference I went to early this year one
conservation manager showed historical aerial photos of the preserve she is
restoring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Playing off that inspiration
I hightailed it down to the Soil and Water office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were kind enough to make copies of the
1964 photos of our area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Low and
behold, our property was fully wooded before the developers came along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was near a farm field, but densely wooded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Duh!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No wonder, these little woodland plants were trying to come back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In spite of all the abuse I’ve heaped on
them, they still want to be all they were designed to be, woodland plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br />
But I wanted a prairie. Finally accepting the fact a prairie would not be well received in this suburban neighborhood, I listened to the yard and the plants that were trying to grow here. Driving around the older wooded section of the development with my wife we saw that some other properties were wooded in their front as well as their back yards. Our front yard should really be a woodland. We could abandon my prairie yearnings and embrace what was once here. Let's plant native trees and make it a wooded front yard. <em>(I wonder how many little tiny Oak seedlings I've run the mower over in these past twelve years?)</em> Slowly but surely we'll expand the trees and native beds in the front. <em>(Can I train the squirrels to plant those acorns where I want the new trees?)</em> Eventually the lawn will be tiny and the front yard a productive part of a healthy ecosystem. No more will my mower attempt to eradicate the Bloodroot, Trout Lily, and Solomon's Seal. Sometime in the near future, the Trout Lilies that were so stunning in producing their spring blossoms in other parts of the yard this year, will once again claim their rightful place in the front. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVjkteQk1nAJJL0QJn-Kphhiet68t5nqPHnMmBQ1IUXL7GPcBy5S8DWTTodOYm-C_elaTuBmE6XQhzTPlUN7Nczeu4uJj-cQ4umbvbs0Z1oXhFlUmspeIMuuVxWRETfpj_ETwVpR0ewWKE/s1600/IMG_1159+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVjkteQk1nAJJL0QJn-Kphhiet68t5nqPHnMmBQ1IUXL7GPcBy5S8DWTTodOYm-C_elaTuBmE6XQhzTPlUN7Nczeu4uJj-cQ4umbvbs0Z1oXhFlUmspeIMuuVxWRETfpj_ETwVpR0ewWKE/s320/IMG_1159+small.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trout Lily</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-83823589362667360262012-03-25T13:50:00.001-04:002012-03-25T13:50:34.096-04:00The Pony has Arrived<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUR8SqgRHE7UtN7S37dfrWkHIWMHEv_pwTmdD66WQ-pNatE_szdC-83r3urOXKB9xkLTERMHT4jFYI-sO4BdzRAG_Jt0erHqlrp3f85yOu42EaRP5atz5OwP6dKyfdwW-tMHbKng2B7kZZ/s1600/Newcomb's+Wildflower+Guide+Cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUR8SqgRHE7UtN7S37dfrWkHIWMHEv_pwTmdD66WQ-pNatE_szdC-83r3urOXKB9xkLTERMHT4jFYI-sO4BdzRAG_Jt0erHqlrp3f85yOu42EaRP5atz5OwP6dKyfdwW-tMHbKng2B7kZZ/s200/Newcomb's+Wildflower+Guide+Cover.JPG" width="121" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover Newcomb's <br />
Wildflower Guide<br />
(see note below)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Did I say the other day that the anticipation of this spring
made me feel like a kid expecting a pony for his birthday? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good news!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The pony came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well … actually it
wasn’t a pony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was even better, the discovery
of five woodland wildflowers I didn’t know we had. And<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> t</span>hey
don’t require me to feed and water them. </span><br />
<div class="MsoTitle" style="border-color: currentColor currentColor rgb(79, 129, 189); border-style: none none solid; border-width: medium medium 1pt; margin: 0in 0in 15pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4pt;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">S</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">o here’s how these discoveries all took place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other day I noticed a patch of flowers in
the woodlands across our small backyard ravine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Knowing I had to learn how to identify these plants on my own, I grabbed
my Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, slipped on my boots, and leapt across the
ravine’s narrow band of running water in a single bound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it was a single bound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eagerly running up the hill, I knelt on the ground,
alongside the small patch of flowering plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>OK, using Newcomb’s Guide and working through the identifying questions:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="border-color: currentColor currentColor rgb(79, 129, 189); border-style: none none solid; border-width: medium medium 1pt; margin: 0in 0in 15pt; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4pt;">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Does it have regular flowers (symmetrical flowers)? Answer: <strong>Yes</strong></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If regular flowers how many distinct parts (petals)? Answer: <strong>4; </strong> This makes it a <strong><u>group 4</u></strong> <strong><u>flower type</u></strong></span></li>
<li>Is the plant type a wildflower, vine, or shrub? Answer: <strong>Wildflower</strong></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If a wildflower, is it without leaves, or if it has leaves, are they all at the base of the plant, or arranged singly on the stem (alternate), or are they opposite one another or whorls? Man, this is getting tough; Answer: it definitely has <strong>leaves</strong>, and they are definitely <strong>alternate, </strong>and that makes this a <strong><u>plant type group 3</u> </strong></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> And finally, are the leaves even (unbroken and even edges) or are they toothed or lobed or divided? Answer: they are certainly not even, leaving answer: <strong>toothed, lobed, or divided</strong>. I don't which, but certainly one of the three. So this makes put it in a <strong><u>leaf type 3.</u></strong></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Combining the groups into <strong>433</strong> and referring to Newcomb's key, he makes me pick among a number of choices. This really gets confusing now. Among the choices, I chose "White,pink or purple flowers, and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leaves
with an arrow-shaped base, which clasp the stem". T</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">herefore the plant is page 136.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dang, page 136 doesn’t have anything like it.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look at page 134, and 138.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well double dang.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK, so now I pull out my secret weapon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take out the cell phone, shoot a picture, and
text it to my native plant mentor, Jan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Hey Jan, need an emergency plant id.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What is this?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reply:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whoa!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With the price of gasoline, I thought I better let her know it wasn’t
really an emergency, just trying to be funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll be near you
anyway.” </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fifteen minutes later, the smiling face says “where’s your
mystery plants”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Follow me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Got your book?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Yep.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Ok, let’s go.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We start down the
hill on the backside of the house and I stop dead in my boots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A flash of white blooms nearby has caught my
attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Hey Jan, look, the Waterleaf
are blooming.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“No they aren’t.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“What?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sure they are.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Got your
book?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s look.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA55ClvFGXwKdQH7lTgsqFanPOEycgEdA2Pbpy4e-S1hbNIiKmUEJQOAn_MZX4F6QgeEwsyyQZ1Bk03oGNhFo1c0j3eo_wZ4HvYFlScp5oalEUayglq9EBoj_tTGE1a8bOGK5ybrJkx7Yq/s1600/IMG_1081+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA55ClvFGXwKdQH7lTgsqFanPOEycgEdA2Pbpy4e-S1hbNIiKmUEJQOAn_MZX4F6QgeEwsyyQZ1Bk03oGNhFo1c0j3eo_wZ4HvYFlScp5oalEUayglq9EBoj_tTGE1a8bOGK5ybrJkx7Yq/s200/IMG_1081+web.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutleaf Toothwort</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Carefully treading over the muddy ground
we arrive at the blooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She says, “What
do you see?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Hmmmm, ahhhh, guess those
aren’t Waterleaf are they?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No they aren’t,
let’s look at your book.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making a long
humiliating story short, I’ll tell you they are <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CACO26">Cutleaf Toothwort</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a new species to list on our
property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pretty cool.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjavc9Hmq9ovrAs7dl-m9XMLin2UCjA9BfBfKwRdin-JEQ-NDOOuurVIqZGPOAaJP4mqLFpB1_Pz1vfGm5CapH6u51vTyGocdaLXlK9iIHJEk52y5a-dtNXl67d_NEts3tzPOY19DCvlhit/s1600/IMG_1098+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjavc9Hmq9ovrAs7dl-m9XMLin2UCjA9BfBfKwRdin-JEQ-NDOOuurVIqZGPOAaJP4mqLFpB1_Pz1vfGm5CapH6u51vTyGocdaLXlK9iIHJEk52y5a-dtNXl67d_NEts3tzPOY19DCvlhit/s200/IMG_1098+small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring Cress</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Picking up my pride, I guide her to the site of my great
discovery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ok, open your book and let’s
start with his identifying questions.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
show her how none of the book’s drawings matched what we saw. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking at my assessment of Newcomb’s characteristics,
she questions me as to whether this is really an arrow shaped leaf, and is it
really clasping the stem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ahhhh, she's right. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The leaves aren’t really arrow shaped, and
on closer look aren't really clasping the stem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that
now probably puts it on page 138.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope
not there either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She grins and says “turn one more page”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And bingo!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is <a href="http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/spring_cress.htm">Spring Cress</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another new one for the property plant list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We revisit Newcomb’s key and I learn some of the identifying
characteristics can overlap a little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So perhaps the key to identification is, when
you don’t find what you’re looking for, turn one more page<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I don’t feel so bad
remembering a talk with a local Park District Naturalist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> She told me </span>when she was a new Naturalist using Newcomb’s
identification guide, no matter what the plant, she always came up with the
same answer – poison ivy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said it took
her a year to get really good at plant identification.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoaojsLeUT_F2l0bjY2L309SD79AdTjS5lYuVQlqophM4IuVaIPVYyREtOxMBKEmOoWYBB_WXhZcB6XpKirbwCrrdRevO5cKtlN42R5nBLn-EvA64OzLRgcxNfHBMupA88WlvHoW1q-Jye/s1600/IMG_1155+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoaojsLeUT_F2l0bjY2L309SD79AdTjS5lYuVQlqophM4IuVaIPVYyREtOxMBKEmOoWYBB_WXhZcB6XpKirbwCrrdRevO5cKtlN42R5nBLn-EvA64OzLRgcxNfHBMupA88WlvHoW1q-Jye/s200/IMG_1155+small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rue Anemone</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></i></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once I get a few pictures, we turn around and start walking
along the ravine on the gently sloping hillside, drawn by an expanse of small
flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She quizzes me on a few and
fortunately, I pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are loads of
<a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ERAL9">Trout Lily</a>, untold numbers of <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CLLA2">Spring Beauty</a>, dotted spots of <a href="http://www.2bnthewild.com/plants/H261.htm">Bloodroot</a>, and of
course now I recognize the Cutleaf Toothwort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then she tosses me the stumper – “What’s this little one?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t recognize it but it sure is
attractive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s pretty easy to key
through the book, but I’ll save you the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can study it later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
<a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=THTH2">Rue Anemone</a>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nice!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add another one to the list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2fzuB0u4cdBA_Q8vSYt_eW0kue1xO9vxxbS2HJZkRI8GJy1YAmkScHXKHh0iGpNMXp-WDKNKlsoO93ioSOfbOWv9rcELv73y-0VyLX5JOqXuPrnbtwQZr56HRvwyOysanmGzV00IV7mrI/s1600/IMG_1156+cropped+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2fzuB0u4cdBA_Q8vSYt_eW0kue1xO9vxxbS2HJZkRI8GJy1YAmkScHXKHh0iGpNMXp-WDKNKlsoO93ioSOfbOWv9rcELv73y-0VyLX5JOqXuPrnbtwQZr56HRvwyOysanmGzV00IV7mrI/s200/IMG_1156+cropped+small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Invasive free Woodland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But there is something unusual about this very serene,
peaceful setting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We look at each other and suddenly realize
there are only a very few Honeysuckle, an occasional Garlic Mustard, and no
Multiflora Rose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Where are </span>the
exotic invasives seen in the rest of this woodlands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turning around a few times,
I realiz we had walked onto a neighbor’s property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing Ray, the gardener who tends our next
door neighbor’s property, I ask him if he had been keeping
this area native.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He tells me no. </span>(Later, he and I
walked both properties talking about the native wildflowers, and the
invasive plants.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of us can come up
with any logical explanation for this anomaly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nonetheless, it is fascinating to see a landscape that is as it should
be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And the fun isn’t over yet as my teacher spies a group of
plants growing nearby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a large,
long dead tree laying on the ground and thoroughly decayed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the base where the rotten wood has spread
out the most, a population of a dozen plants sport leaves that are vaguely
familiar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They aren’t blooming yet and I
don’t know it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Ahhaa. </span><a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GECA5">Wild Geranium</a>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add another one to the property list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Time is up and Jan says she has to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way back to the driveway, she hands me a smashed,
rolled up leaf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The smell has a gentle
onion aroma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=4462">Ramps</a>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are also known as Wild Leek or Wild
Garlic, a vegetable prized by chefs on the culinary food shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Book
another native plant to our list.</span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As she opens the door to her truck, a little butterfly flits
by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the little creature tilts in the
dappled sunlight, it turns a striking iridescent blue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s a <a href="http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Celastrina-ladon">Spring Azure</a>.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We watch for a few minutes as it flits about
the yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It suddenly strikes me that this conversion to
native plants is really working.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s no
longer just a philosophy on gardening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoTitle" style="margin: 0in 0in 15pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m loving my new pony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thanks Jan.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>(Note: Newcomb's Wildflower Guide is probably the first book naturalist's go to for Wildflower identification. If you want to own a copy, consider buying it from Amazon through the <a href="http://www.wildones.org/store/bookstore/">Wild Ones bookstore</a>. By clicking through the Wild Ones bookstore to Amazon, it doesnt' cost you a cent more than otherwise and it gives a very small commission to the national not for profit native plant organization. In fact anything you buy that way (books, electronics, appliances, etc. will help to support <a href="http://www.wildones.org/">Wild Ones</a>.)</em></span></div>the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-25129409121814632342012-03-18T23:14:00.004-04:002012-03-20T09:54:14.045-04:00The First Signs<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUEzskkeidpghdNS1z4wBwGkdvhAhLlpEdHDn3RXVLt8ZArHLRHiH_sXhQbjwJb4MLiWDqT1prtPnPtGB70EZkqMiKKVz_J9DIKUizZ6Infwfz35cOz95pgv0SPQA27hep-N3MEsu-46W/s1600/Jacob%2527s+laddery+trying+to+bloom+early+-+large+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUEzskkeidpghdNS1z4wBwGkdvhAhLlpEdHDn3RXVLt8ZArHLRHiH_sXhQbjwJb4MLiWDqT1prtPnPtGB70EZkqMiKKVz_J9DIKUizZ6Infwfz35cOz95pgv0SPQA27hep-N3MEsu-46W/s200/Jacob%2527s+laddery+trying+to+bloom+early+-+large+web.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacob's Ladder trying to bloom early</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As
in many parts of the country, we haven’t had much of a winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept waiting for it to hit, but temperatures
had moved into the 50’s during the day, even hit 75 one day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Signs of spring (or maybe summer) are
everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do I take down the driveway
markers that show where we can drive without running over the first native beds
put in last year?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I found a <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PORE2">Jacob’s Ladder</a> in the side yard trying to bloom last month, I was certain the weather
would return to normal and frost and a foot of snow would kill the blooms for
this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that hasn’t happened and
the little fellow looks raring to go.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is my first spring with awareness of native
plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I walk around the yard I
feel like a young kid who was promised a pony for his birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will I really get it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m starting to see signs that the promise
Mother Nature made is really going to come true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 4” sprout from the “dead” Eastern Wahooo</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> last year’s fame, is budding up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
floor of the back yard woodlands, well lit without any leaves yet on the trees,
is starting to green up with small plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The tiny little <a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SIMO2">Blue Eyed Grass</a> seedlings are starting to
send up small green shoots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <a href="http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=GEUTRIvTRI">Prairie Smoke</a>, last year looking so insignificant in its first year while it focused on
drilling roots deep into the soil, is definitely showing some vigor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will it have built its foundation enough last
year that it’ll bloom this season?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Small <a href="http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/pycnanthemumvirg.html">Virginia Mountain Mint</a> seedlings are making themselves
known where last year’s first native bed went in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the same area, the <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SYLAL3">Smooth Asters</a> start
to spread out leaves from the prior year’s base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mulch is all gone from this planting area
now, and many, many weeds are starting to sprout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t use chemicals this year, so I spend some
time trying to get as much of this chickweed, and small green onion like plants
pulled up by their roots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to be
careful I don’t mistake the seedlings from last year’s native plants as
weeds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’ll error on the side of
caution until I develop a discerning eye to tell the difference. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquilegia_canadensis">Eastern Red Columbine</a> seeds sowed and sprouted last year
have turned into healthy looking, albeit small sirens of future flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyrzxRamStqaKZe6Ghr5bvO_KsDpSsmfiiUPF-Dl-4-EY99NqI52IPptGWzpW5RJqlmWg7XFu3ypk29TpGi6x5kK3l4_wE6PuMP1g505hyvBxfE8rhyphenhypheneKk_rGOVYOaBLMf7N772Fy_rWt/s1600/IMG_0748+large+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyrzxRamStqaKZe6Ghr5bvO_KsDpSsmfiiUPF-Dl-4-EY99NqI52IPptGWzpW5RJqlmWg7XFu3ypk29TpGi6x5kK3l4_wE6PuMP1g505hyvBxfE8rhyphenhypheneKk_rGOVYOaBLMf7N772Fy_rWt/s200/IMG_0748+large+web.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bloodroot emerging</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Every day I’ve looked for the <a href="http://www.2bnthewild.com/plants/H261.htm">Bloodroot</a> to start
emerging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just last week, a small thumb sized
protuberance poked above the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then the next day there were many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then they continued to reach up, now 2 inches tall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cloak protecting their flowers remained
tightly wrapped around the prize inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On one morning, I carefully photographed the camouflaged stalk. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the afternoon I carried some water to the
tree removal crew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were diligently
removing four more dead Ash trees, and the Norway Maple #2, the dreaded Norway
Maple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey, what’s that!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My gosh, one of the Bloodroot is
blooming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can that be right? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several hours earlier, it looked days away
from show time, and now - Shazam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later
in the afternoon, there were many blooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And now only two more days have gone by, and WOW!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the backyard I
find another surprise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are several
clumps of Bloodroot blooming where I knew I didn’t plant any.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little research on this stunning plant
disclosed an interesting fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Bloodroot seeds have a small fat-rich appendage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ants cherish this “eliasome” and eagerly transport
this and the attached seed into their tunnels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They don’t’ eat the seed, but feast on the fleshy attachment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here
in the ants’ tunnel the seed is protected and eventually sprouts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a terrific way for the plant to
spread beyond its immediate parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s how we end up with free Bloodroot
plants around the yard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nice job ants.</span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOcqfvZ-4jLxCgL_wmage1UrQ1yNNslRjjrzCBX9F3tRHLP3Ak_DEVZSvV3kWgXoKKSagvWAwCdpUjyBJHzNc0O1BUc-Yb8mgx9_qpbnW06UFvc5Hj2_G9OEGQiuVgViVJYB0efzAc6k0/s1600/IMG_0898+-+large+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOcqfvZ-4jLxCgL_wmage1UrQ1yNNslRjjrzCBX9F3tRHLP3Ak_DEVZSvV3kWgXoKKSagvWAwCdpUjyBJHzNc0O1BUc-Yb8mgx9_qpbnW06UFvc5Hj2_G9OEGQiuVgViVJYB0efzAc6k0/s320/IMG_0898+-+large+web.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">group of Bloodroot in full bloom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Later in the day I had a visit from my mentor who wanted to
show her friend what a natural population of Bloodroot looked like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She quickly noted that there were many native
bees actively pollinating the Bloodroot flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After they left, I went about trying to get a
good photo of these bees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kneeling for a
half hour trying to capture this activity on film, I noticed that there were
some brilliantly colored daffodils immediately to my left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Yes, I know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They aren’t native.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My better
half says they are staying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hmmm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t figured out how to get around this
constraint yet.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, these daffodils
had absolutely no visitors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not one,
Nada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, there was a small group
of Bloodroot nestled into a small clearing in the daffodils.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bees were eager to get the Bloodroot
nectar but had no interest in even stopping to look at the daffodils.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What an excellent example of what we’ve been
learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Native plants support wildlife
and non-native plants don’t.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXv6b5b-3pm3dmpbXsBfsBKycWA7lw3OsEkwpExGhVerIAvDHZJ0B6Ysk3tLMAUDpYWUY7xDCl5IIT1_vp1TSUq8ZQGZ_8m_4UkZrcGCw5muA1W7Uz-Wpmq3Fpc2ry3mbsIpcNXlhUbNX/s1600/IMG_0817+-+large+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXv6b5b-3pm3dmpbXsBfsBKycWA7lw3OsEkwpExGhVerIAvDHZJ0B6Ysk3tLMAUDpYWUY7xDCl5IIT1_vp1TSUq8ZQGZ_8m_4UkZrcGCw5muA1W7Uz-Wpmq3Fpc2ry3mbsIpcNXlhUbNX/s400/IMG_0817+-+large+web.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bloodroot Flowers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So here we have stinger less <a href="http://nativepollinator.com/">native bees</a> pollinating the
flowers and ants farming the Bloodroot, making sure they spread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I certainly am glad we stopped the bug
service from spraying outside the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">These flowers will only last about a week before
the leaves unfurl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The leaves will then spread
out to carpet the area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><em>(The banner on
this entire blog is a picture of Bloodroot in the summer taken here last year.)</em><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>My greatest joy now is understanding this is all entirely natural, adding to the
biodiversity of our ecosystems, rather than constraining and diminishing them. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-36016018769686407272012-02-15T19:03:00.003-05:002012-02-15T19:03:54.165-05:00Xray Vision<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkv-kLsJU-bYBrMlSfuX3ecxqi83h6KLa2apzalo6U7vfnnQahMFNnfEUNNW6Lb6gHc0EQ7EIc7-elaVz_VWBXRuG4LjPpK3UPZ6U42Ej8N5_qEY9YOBuSyYDtQASw5F-IO6l0rFV37_A-/s1600/040+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkv-kLsJU-bYBrMlSfuX3ecxqi83h6KLa2apzalo6U7vfnnQahMFNnfEUNNW6Lb6gHc0EQ7EIc7-elaVz_VWBXRuG4LjPpK3UPZ6U42Ej8N5_qEY9YOBuSyYDtQASw5F-IO6l0rFV37_A-/s200/040+small.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ohio Buckeye</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The late fall and winter usually send me indoors to hibernate for the winter. But this year, the seasonal change and a post read on the daily <a href="http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/">Native Plant and Wildlife Garden blog</a>, gave me a great gift. XRAY vision! Yes, I now get to see things I never noticed before through the green foliage of summer. Look at this <a href="http://www.ohiodnr.com/forestry/trees/buckeye_oh/tabid/5343/Default.aspx">Ohio Buckeye tree</a> without its cover coat of leaves. I now laugh every time I see it. The drooping, craggy branches remind me of the iconic Halloween cartoons. Can't you just imagine the decrepit mansion high on a hill in the background. The moon is just peaking through the wispy clouds and there is eerie music playing in our subconscious mind. <br />
<br />
Without the wonderful distraction of foliage, I can now see the woodland architecture. I see the dead skeletons of the Ash trees exterminated by the <a href="http://www.agri.ohio.gov/divs/plant/eab/eab-index.aspx">Emerald Ash Borer</a>. If not removed, they will definitely fall and probably take out some of understory growth. It would be a shame to lose this new growth to falling Ash trees. Many tree saplings and other growth have started to take hold now that we've removed the invasive honeysuckle. I can see one of these Ash trees has fallen into the high branches of a nearby oak. Others are just getting ready to fall all the way to the ground. Should I pay to have them removed, or just let nature bring them down? I don't know. It's expensive to remove them. If left on their own, they will fall and decay, eventually returning their energy to the fertility of the woodland. I'll have to ponder this question, but I see I can't wait too long. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWjX6s90drt7JMWHxXi_42b6bCcJONkWIsnjF3yczeTNofQ19qbxJbNGkFVPrA89z1EJpie2xK3DmSpG7EGA4gILIKSK1JgyKSrxbNHwyuOGsXsoCkFkd_zRqOKWsEelk6uSqTzeirl9_/s1600/010+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWjX6s90drt7JMWHxXi_42b6bCcJONkWIsnjF3yczeTNofQ19qbxJbNGkFVPrA89z1EJpie2xK3DmSpG7EGA4gILIKSK1JgyKSrxbNHwyuOGsXsoCkFkd_zRqOKWsEelk6uSqTzeirl9_/s200/010+small.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gently sloping ravine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another aspect of this Xray vision is getting to clearly see the topography of our small wooded lot. It is now easy to see the gentle slope of some areas, while other sections fall much more sharply into the winding ravine. (I chuckle, realizing this difference in elevation is a massive 15 feet or so. Of course, here in Northwest Ohio, this is the closest thing we have to mountains, except for the mounds of dirt supporting the highway overpasses.) I now realize one of these gently sloping areas is where the drift of <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=POPE">Mayapples</a> shows up every spring. In the summer, the more steeply pitched sections host <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HYVI">Virginia Waterleaf</a>, and <a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RUOC">Black Raspberry</a> plants among others. The steepest sections are nearly cliffs. They were probably started when the neighborhood was developed. Two large concrete pipes jut into the ravine sides, emitting storm water runoff from the streets. As time has gone by these steepest sections have eroded. This spring I'll work on establishing native plantings to stop the erosion. In the meantime, I'll enjoy this superpower of Xray vision to marvel at this natural architecture I've never seen before.the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-35158759837477092052012-01-10T21:28:00.001-05:002012-01-10T21:28:41.284-05:00Goodbye Norway Maple<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBlRDuHHZnY8KBgYdKdGqpGM8SWXSUbK4FxFCtrVF75QUo2WYopdSjOcE8yD71-WhEPM73n9ehBBB9mA8hesMpldQy9KwBORrjxCki29No__7f5wZuGUaRDnykIH-0NbS41q94UeEUO23/s1600/red+trillium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBlRDuHHZnY8KBgYdKdGqpGM8SWXSUbK4FxFCtrVF75QUo2WYopdSjOcE8yD71-WhEPM73n9ehBBB9mA8hesMpldQy9KwBORrjxCki29No__7f5wZuGUaRDnykIH-0NbS41q94UeEUO23/s200/red+trillium.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Trillium<br />
(photo courtesy of Wildflower.org)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When we first moved to this property thirteen years ago we had a local nursery do the landscaping. Being a traditional gardener, I always used the pretty ornamental plants sold in the nurseries. I certainly wasn't aware there were such things as native plants; yet alone their benefits. Walking through the yard with the landscape designer, we ended up in the shady, south side of the property. There were lots of leaves and tons of small maple seedlings growing everywhere. The designer suggested we pull up the maple seedlings and see what came up naturally. So my wife and I spent several hours over a couple of weekends clearing the area of the ubiquitous seedlings. Looking back, I realize her livelihood was selling hybridized, nursery plants and yet she was encouraging us to see what was natural in our side yard. So the summer goes by, followed by fall and winter as is usually does. One late spring day, I was walking through the "south side" and noticed a different plant I had only seen in magazines. "Hey, I think this is a Trillium." I only knew that they were fairly expensive. I had no idea it was a native plant. Over the years since then I've kept a small wire guard around this plant to prevent my mower from destroying it. This spring I'll get a good picture and see what I can do to get it to spread.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0m3XCZd_Q0g0ihnADrl_Ph2giFClbBvVPFRr-AjoZdzmmpjThI4YOvJ2_bmArXEapMbtzIXrMmuI72lWEQDoZ0ASsy45Sd6nDR7k2DzbARENlxIev4C7dHfrpOYpVekCltwzac4JysQT/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0m3XCZd_Q0g0ihnADrl_Ph2giFClbBvVPFRr-AjoZdzmmpjThI4YOvJ2_bmArXEapMbtzIXrMmuI72lWEQDoZ0ASsy45Sd6nDR7k2DzbARENlxIev4C7dHfrpOYpVekCltwzac4JysQT/s200/009.JPG" width="133" /></a>Now thirteen years later after I'd tried to mold this area to my will with exotic plants and grass, I became aware of native plants. Of course, now I don't even want grass at all. But I've come to realize the reason nothing grew there was that Norway Maples release <em>platanoides, </em>chemicals that prevent undergrowth. They won't let other plants grow near them. This is a Norway Maple and I don't want it. First, it's not a native tree, Secondly, it's invasive. Fortunately its invasive nature is becoming more widely acknowledged. Both New Hampshire and Massachusetts have banned its sale. Meijer Garden Centers no longer sells it due to this characteristic. I now know why to this day I'm constantly pulling maple seedlings from all over the yard. For years, this tree species was one of the most popular shade trees sold in America. And with my new found respect for ecology, this tree had to go. This one is down and two more I discovered have to go. So....anyone want firewood?</div>the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-71709146894668850772011-12-26T15:16:00.002-05:002011-12-26T17:27:21.133-05:00Reflections and Anticipation<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FRe-3nPD64M/TvjURYX6QNI/AAAAAAAAALQ/XJbjHU9HvP8/s1600/Christmas+2011+Woods+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FRe-3nPD64M/TvjURYX6QNI/AAAAAAAAALQ/XJbjHU9HvP8/s200/Christmas+2011+Woods+001.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View into Backyard Woods</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now that the shortest day of the year is past and 2012 is only a few days away, I'm looking out at the bare woodlands in our backyard and wondering what new discoveries I'll see this spring. Last spring I wasn't even aware of native plants in our own property. I didn't know what to look for as the woods started to come alive and hide the view of neighbors' houses a mere hundred yards away. Although in the past we had worked religiously on eliminating the invasive garlic mustard plants from the area, this year I became very aware of the overwhelming number of invasive honeysuckle shrubs that choke out the native plants. So this year I concentrated on removing as much of this foreign invader as I could. I can't remember a single walk through the yard or woods that didn't include pulling up at least some small honeysuckle seedlings, if not larger growths. <br />
<br />
Several weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find a <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PORE2">Jacob's Ladder</a> growing at the base of a Honeysuckle I cut down earlier in the year. Further inspection shows a good number of these plants hidden in what was once a honeysuckle forest. They would surely have succumbed to the invasive honeysuckle had I not intervened. In <a class="title" href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Woodland-Garden-Capturing-Deciduous/dp/0881925454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324928503&sr=8-1" jquery1324928504605="87"><span style="color: #004b91;">The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of
the Deciduous Forest</span></a> <span class="ptBrand">by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rick-Darke/e/B001HPEA9E/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1324928503&sr=8-1"><span style="color: #004b91;">Rick
Darke</span></a></span>, I found a marvelous picture of a large group of blooming Jacob's Ladder. Although my mother used to tell me not to wish my life away, I can't wait for spring to see the blooms from these rescued plants.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8C_wDA4nA90/TvjUi-EAllI/AAAAAAAAALc/vay5VbrSsVI/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8C_wDA4nA90/TvjUi-EAllI/AAAAAAAAALc/vay5VbrSsVI/s200/024.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacob's Ladder - winner over<br />
Honeysuckle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I don't know the specific species yet, but I do know our woods are full of many different trees. There are Hickories, Maple, Elms, Walnut, and even one Paw Paw tree. The once abundant Ash have been totally wiped out by the advancing Emerald Ash Borer. These Ash were the tallest trees in the woods. The dead tree trunks are now producing a lot of food for the woodpeckers. Hairy and Downy woodpeckers, along with Red Bellied Woodpeckers and White Breasted Nuthatch are always harvesting beetles and other insects from these decaying poles. Supposedly a little more light will now reach the woodland floor this spring. With the honeysuckle removal, and the loss of the Ash, I wonder what dormant natives will start to make themselves visible in this small Northwest Ohio woodland? I can't wait. It'll certainly be awesome to watch the woods wake up from its winter rest. And best of all I'll get to see this through new eyes; eyes now wakened to and continually amazed by the wonders of our natural world.the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-14071134665126959462011-10-28T10:01:00.001-04:002011-12-04T21:20:01.363-05:00Recent InspirationYou might want to get a cup of coffee or tea. This is much longer than I usually post. I often wonder what percentage of plants used in popular urban and suburban landscaping are natives? In my wanderings around our city and neighborhoods, it seems like there are no native plants whatsoever. Non native evergreens, invasive burning bush, imported cultivars, and domestically hybridized plants are everywhere. I cringe as I see the preponderance of non native plants consuming our yards. Isn't anyone paying attention to what we've done? Isn't it obvious that we've tried to "beautify" our yards at the expense of our vitally important ecosystems? The necessity of using natives is so absolutely logical to me now, I easily become depressed when faced with the sheer magnitude of exotic and hybridized plants used everywhere. Now that I've learned that landscaping with native plants is absolutely essential to our own well being, I get discouraged. But wait a minute. Get a grip. Hey, until only recently I was part of this big problem. It's taken me several years of obsessive study to finally adopt this culture. And still I struggle with giving up some of the non-native plants I've purchased and nurtured. So I've got no right to look askew at other yards and judge. Having been helped by many others to understand and accept the importance of native plants, I have to stand back and realize that education is the key to helping others adopt this philosophy. I've got to help in this education. Still, some recent experiences encourage me. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwvHEC6bG83gJQTGXY5MAQNnITnIyWp-0S4tXW6TsAEDidWDbkw1PCZOP8B84GAzCCkdKnALU1uzcLcvJCO3Q96Pi99bp-DQplym-TjurThARz1YVXVwjXUpOjGUcUQ-eOvXFOEo8FrcfR/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwvHEC6bG83gJQTGXY5MAQNnITnIyWp-0S4tXW6TsAEDidWDbkw1PCZOP8B84GAzCCkdKnALU1uzcLcvJCO3Q96Pi99bp-DQplym-TjurThARz1YVXVwjXUpOjGUcUQ-eOvXFOEo8FrcfR/s200/009.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simpson Garden Native planting<br />
- Phase I</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On my way home from Bowling Green one day, I stopped to check on the native plant bed installed at <a href="http://www.bgohio.org/departments/parks-and-recreation/parks/simpson-garden-park">Simpson Garden Park</a> last year. After only one short year, all the plants had grown and filled in the space allowed for them. I was thrilled to see this rapid progress. I emailed Dan Parrat, a fellow Master Gardener, who works for the BG park system coordinating the volunteer activity at the various city parks. I believe Dan too is a recent convert to the importance of natives. I offered my help to maintain this public display of native plants. He quickly took me up on the offer. A few weeks later, I popped in again to take another look. Dan was there and tossed me into his golf cart. We were off to the back native garden. He physically walked me through the layout of a five year plan to expand the native garden. He and Cinda Stutzman, a Natural Resource Specialist for the City of Bowling Green, had developed a thorough and inspiring plan. This was highly encouraging. Nice! I hadn't met Cinda, but understand she is highly respected in the local area. Now I'm starting to see there are a lot more dedicated people than I knew involved in educating the public locally on native plants and their vital benefits.<br />
<br />
From time to time, I pass by the Bowling Green Community Center on the north edge of town. Recently I noticed signs indicating the natural border landscape was a Prairie Restoration. Wow! This is fantastic. How did this come about and who was responsible? I emailed Cinda and asked her. Turns out she was the driving force behind this remarkable project. Knowing earlier there had been a failed attempt to get the community to accept a small prairie planting at Simpson Garden, I thought there must have some push back before this prairie became a successful effort. Cinda told me that there had been some discontent. Addressing the issues, she published and handed out a small pamphlet speaking about the money savings aspect of this prairie project. No mowing! No costly and harmful chemicals. No CO2 emissions. The community of BG accepted this prairie restoration. Another boost for my hopefulness, a win for the environment, and more public awareness.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXNy759xRI45mohgOtWAhVuJtUdZgK26TKo-qFvXIk8Aj5LA5cmo9X5unF9otZYQpUamOERZUTXhZZMLJG9QCq-MyWHE60paeNyVbYBhFGrLq0ZkUDT2OaRZqhfhH8Jj8ck8vCk_OF6wWN/s1600/Witch+Hazel+-+Nichol%2527s+Arboretum.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXNy759xRI45mohgOtWAhVuJtUdZgK26TKo-qFvXIk8Aj5LA5cmo9X5unF9otZYQpUamOERZUTXhZZMLJG9QCq-MyWHE60paeNyVbYBhFGrLq0ZkUDT2OaRZqhfhH8Jj8ck8vCk_OF6wWN/s200/Witch+Hazel+-+Nichol%2527s+Arboretum.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Native Witch Hazel<br />
Nichol's Arboretum</td></tr>
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A few weeks ago our local chapter of <a href="http://wildones.org/">Wild Ones</a> had a field trip to the <a href="http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mbg/see/NicholsArboretum.asp">University of Michigan's Nichol's Arboretum</a> in Ann Arbor Michigan. For three hours we walked through the dramatically colored fall woods with Matt Ross. Matt is a graduate of UM and teaches the Urban Horticulture and Sustainability class at Owens Community College. He pointed out the various trees, noting the particular environment where they each grew. One of the late blooming shrubs that really caught my attention was the native <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HAVI4">Witch Hazel</a>. We have several nursery cultivated ones in our yard, but they aren't native and as such don't function as wildlife support. I've got to replace our old non-natives with several of these attractive native plants. For me, the real take away from this trip was finding out that our educational institutions realize this subject is so important, they teach classes in the subject. They also preserve large and and conveniently located areas of pristine habitat readily available for all to learn from.<br />
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Jan Hunter told me to check out <a href="https://themeadowproject.com/">Catherine Zimmerman's website</a>. I met Catherine at a talk she gave in Columbus, Ohio several months ago. What an interesting lady. She had been interviewed by Jane Pauly as part of the series Jane did about people who changed careers late in life. Catherine had been a documentary film maker. Going back to school she got a degree in landscape design. This led her to developing an interest in creating meadows in home landscapes. As part of her growing interest in home meadows, she started researching the topic and wrote "Urban & Suburban Meadows". Now using her film making background, she's doing a documentary film to accompany her book. She periodically posts articles to the <a href="http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/">Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens blog</a>. One of her <a href="http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/reviving-abandoned-lots-with-urban-agriculture-and-wildlife-gardens/">recent posts</a> highlights how various cities are using native plants and meadowscaping to overcome blighted areas, return interest to playgrounds, and otherwise put underutilized public land to good use. This was highly encouraging to me to see the numerous public projects utilizing native plants to better our way of life. Seeing these projects take hold in public areas and schools, shows me that education is working. Keep those articles coming Catherine. <br />
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For me, " <a href="http://bringingnaturehome.net/">Bringing Nature Home</a>" by <a href="http://udel.edu/~dtallamy/">Doug Tallamy</a> is the the most important environmental book since "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. Reading Tallamy's book has literally helped to change my life. Prior to reading this, I thought native plants were merely good for the environment because they used less water, required little maintenance, and needed no harmful pesticides. Little did I realize they are absolutely vital for us. So I jumped at the chance to hear him speak in person in nearby Ann Arbor, at the University of Michigan. Inside an hour's presentation, he presented his carefully conducted scientific studies demonstrating the necessity for shunning foreign plants in favor of natives. At the end of the lecture, he stepped out of his role of a scientist. Showing pictures of native wildlife he now finds in his own yard, he made an impassioned and emotional case for using native plants. One study he and some of his graduate students conducted was comparing two neighborhoods. One was a typical suburban neighborhood devoid of native plants. The other neighborhood had started planting natives three years earlier. The data was astounding to me. In only three years time, a significant amount of wildlife, birds, bees, butterflies and others had returned to the native neighborhood. OK! Have I said this before? I'm impatient! But three years I can do. You can't increase your education into the natural world any better than reading and listening to this man. Thanks Dr., Doug Tallamy. .<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPaOyMMwrtpfkpCv083E478t3JBln3yh4jBfx3s2WDzWEjjEZWwDfUycVY8PjPCrZ6vgdBEMbu5aTzS16L-33VOS9568wRnobHJpRaPdi6R_FTokSsNlrjOX_v-1gyaGdWWZFp3UxiDXS/s1600/Deer+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiPaOyMMwrtpfkpCv083E478t3JBln3yh4jBfx3s2WDzWEjjEZWwDfUycVY8PjPCrZ6vgdBEMbu5aTzS16L-33VOS9568wRnobHJpRaPdi6R_FTokSsNlrjOX_v-1gyaGdWWZFp3UxiDXS/s200/Deer+010.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Tailed Deer</td></tr>
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Several weeks ago, I looked out my office window and saw a late migrating <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chipping_Sparrow/id">Chipping Sparrow</a> plucking the last seeds from the <a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=AGALA">Snakeroot</a>. Several <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Goldfinch/id">American Goldfinch</a> were enjoying a quick drink from the birdbath. Winter is coming and the squirrels were busy burying Walnuts and Hickory nuts. A movement to the right caught my attention. Two deer were slowly working their way up the ravine about 20 feet outside my window. Oops. Darn! There went the leaves from that little Oak seedling I was hoping would someday produce acorns. Tallamy says the Oak supports more wildlife than any other tree species. I guess deer are one of those animals. In spite of the colder weather and cloudy skies, I'm encouraged and dream of helping others to realize a way to a richer environment, full of the natural wonders that we once had.the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-87764565968790592952011-10-14T20:00:00.001-04:002011-10-14T20:00:22.567-04:00UGH - Lawns<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MOzTWFQFveIPIYZR8PRuNBjKNuz1jwCfBSaoHNNkd-5zsaTMNuYYiJCnpxyERLl5XlLQKPOg-pfQgrEG2nCE2Q4j1UkTd2D4mxyUq6UdYgq0m-XvJHjtjA8P8u8iyHYK_8fyomRThGx-/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MOzTWFQFveIPIYZR8PRuNBjKNuz1jwCfBSaoHNNkd-5zsaTMNuYYiJCnpxyERLl5XlLQKPOg-pfQgrEG2nCE2Q4j1UkTd2D4mxyUq6UdYgq0m-XvJHjtjA8P8u8iyHYK_8fyomRThGx-/s200/001.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Old Chemical Lawn</td></tr>
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One thing leads to another. The more I learn, the more I want to know. I started this journey drawn to the low maintenance and natural beauty of native plants. Then I found out about the positive and important ecological role of these in our lives. Along the way I learned that most of our turf grasses are not native That led me to learning more about the synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides I've religiously applied to my lawns for most of my adult life. They were part of the regimen necessary to keep these non native lawn grasses lush, weed and pest free. Researching, researching, and finally listening to my own heart, I had to stop the chemicals and go organic on the lawn. As with all non-native plant environments, this chemically treated lawn is devoid of life. The evidence of links between lawn chemicals and cancer in ourselves, and our pets is growing. There is a huge controversy surrounding this issue, but as a cancer surivior, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Now, I'm not going to hijack my own blog on Native Plants and blog on and on about organic lawn care. I promise. Rather, after this one post, I'll put all my organic lawn info on a separate page within this blog. There is an enormous amount of info on the web about this subject. I'll just tell you what I'm doing. <br />
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This started as an experiment. I took three parts of the yard, generally out of sight from the street, and stopped the lawn service from applying the chemicals. After reading numerous books and other papers, I decided that to make this work, I had to get the soil back to the biologically rich environment it once was. In order to compare the before and after results of my organic treatments, I took soil samples from the test area. Instead of the standard nutrient soil tests, I sent these away for a <a href="http://members.accesstoledo.com/hfmann/gardening/biologic%20soil%20test.pdf">biological test </a>to determine what and how much life was in the soil. After a year or two I will compare the organic results visually and scientifically (before and after biological soil test comparisons) with the remaining chemically treated lawn. As suspected, the microbial life in the soil was pretty poor. The chemicals had drastically hurt the "<a href="http://www.soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/soil_food_web.html">soil food web</a>". <br />
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Step one had me stop the lawn service chemical treatment to these three areas. Step two was to spread a thin layer of compost over the test areas. As part of this initial strategy, I also had the <a href="http://members.accesstoledo.com/hfmann/gardening/biologic%20compost%20test.pdf">compost tested for biological life</a>. The free compost available at our city was surprisingly strong with the necessary life. Organic matter in the soil is one of the things that helps to feed the microorganisms. This compost not only adds some organic matter, but also inoculates the soil with the lacking microorganisms. In step three, I sowed grass seed into the existing turf. In step four, I brewed some compost tea and applied to the new organic lawn areas. <a href="http://gardeningwithmicrobes.com/aact.shtml">Actively aerated compost tea</a> (AACT) is easily created and contains high populations of the microorganisms found in the compost. So this really kick starts the whole process of reestablishing the soil life.<br />
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The plan was to apply two thin layers of compost annually, along with four applications of AACT to the test areas. During the summer and into the fall, I kept the lawn service for the rest of the lawn. When mowing I had always left the grass clippings on the lawn. I had known for a long time that this helped to provide the soil with some organic matter and natural nitrogen. But I never considered the counter affect the lawn chemicals would have on this practice. Put organic material on, then kill the microbes that break it down into nutrients the plants use. I guess that doesn't make much sense. DUH!<br />
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Every time I cut the lawn, I kept asking myself if I should really wait the planned two years to see the results in the test sections. As I was struggling with my own impatience, the lawn service did the fall chemical application and posted the required "pets, kids, and people stay off for 24 hours" notice sign. Everyday I see neighbors walk along our neighborhood yards with their kids and pets. I'm a cancer survivor and this time the notice really hit me hard. That did it. I decided to pull the plug and go totally organic. No test. The yard is now totally organic. No more synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Better safe than sorry.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUU0dnXGl_sBZnI4AnCbdI9Hs4Twqp6DuR3sGbn9JRFsgN0dUnaxfroCQPBjrLtXItbmbfDvRZn8Ee7O0lKJGPDbvcE7Iw9U8XhJKTxwOW0vU3CJgov9P4ARFQ2iOwaceuelf8CHY7rVnc/s1600/Compost.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUU0dnXGl_sBZnI4AnCbdI9Hs4Twqp6DuR3sGbn9JRFsgN0dUnaxfroCQPBjrLtXItbmbfDvRZn8Ee7O0lKJGPDbvcE7Iw9U8XhJKTxwOW0vU3CJgov9P4ARFQ2iOwaceuelf8CHY7rVnc/s200/Compost.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6 cubic yards Compost</td></tr>
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With the leaves falling and nighttime temperatures periodically dropping into the 40's, perhaps it's too late in the season to effectively make a big change. Nonetheless, I'm doing what I can. Knowing I've got to start restoring the biological life to the soil, I cancelled the chemical treatments. I did have them do a <a href="http://mercer.osu.edu/top-stories/getting-to-the-core-of-aeration">core aeration</a> right away. Next I've started raking organic compost in a thin layer over the entire lawn. So far it's taken a whole week to get only 2/3 of the lawn done. And there is probably another 2 cubic yards of compost to spread. This has proven to be a lot more work than I ever imagined. I've definitely got to find an easier way to accomplish this in the future. Once the compost is down, I'll spray about 10 gallons of AACT on the lawn. And then if the temperature forecast shows a warm up coming, I'll over seed with a slow growing grass seed mixture. From then on I'll continue spraying AACT perhaps four times a year to help maintain the microorganisms. That soil biology will effectively break down the grass clippings and naturally feed the grass plants. I'll continue to over seed as necessary. <br />
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Here's the goal:<br />
1) Gradually reduce the lawn size to the point where I can comfortably cut it with hand powered push mower.<br />
2) Where I must have grass, it will be maintained exclusively with organic methods. <br />
3) Get more neighbors to do the same.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNWTWJLybWphoW1LzmZqwyb_7PXzbXMauXgeAPqK7Ag0zW401-85qlfkocjGKClbYrmD-_h4r1_hLZgciwquK5J939dD7RxQ2iGVEFggJy8pDWPeKLk5ouwpc6SK6EcKM3QHvfpp08KSaH/s1600/Lawn+chemical+sign+-+redacted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNWTWJLybWphoW1LzmZqwyb_7PXzbXMauXgeAPqK7Ag0zW401-85qlfkocjGKClbYrmD-_h4r1_hLZgciwquK5J939dD7RxQ2iGVEFggJy8pDWPeKLk5ouwpc6SK6EcKM3QHvfpp08KSaH/s200/Lawn+chemical+sign+-+redacted.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No More</td></tr>
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And from now on. I'll update you on my organic lawn on a separate page within this blog. Here's to less work on lawn maintenance, lower water bills, no chemical pollution to the runoff water, less frequent mowing, and best of all, a safer and healthier lawn for the benefit of my family and neighbors.<br />
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<br />the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-86882767788841757462011-10-07T19:57:00.001-04:002011-10-11T08:55:18.651-04:006 Hours Later<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pachysandra Removal in Process</td></tr>
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My back is aching; my legs are cramped, and I'm awfully dirty. I spent 6 hours over two days pulling out the Pachysandra. On the first day, I was totally amazed. At the end of 4 hours, pulling plants and coaxing roots from the soil, I had not seen a single sign of life other than earthworms. Not a single spider, beetle, fly, or other insect. The Pachysandra leaves were untouched by insects or other creatures. How could this be? Not a single insect. I know, I know. This is a non-native plant. And native insects don't generally eat non-native plants. After all, one of the reasons so many of us used Pachysandra in the past was its "pest free" status. But not a single bug! Not even the deer had munched on these plants. I would have thought at least a few insects or creatures would have roamed the dense stand looking for food. But not a single sign of life above the ground. Wow! I didn't expect to experience first hand such dramatic evidence of herbivores shunning non-native plants.</div>
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On day two I continued my eradication of this plant. The roots are shallow but extend far from the green plant. Pulling on a root often created a movement three or four feet away where the "other end" of the plant shook and eventually gave way to my persistent pulling. Although my muscles still ache, this is kind of fun to see some quick results. I run into the large roots of two specimen-sized <a href="http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/perennial/bleeding-heart/">Bleeding Hearts</a>. They are non-native ephemerals, meaning they grow and flower early in the spring and totally die back to the ground in the summer. But what a show they put on in the spring. Decision time! Non-native but magnificent spring specimens, or pull and replace with something native. Over the past 12 years I've nurtured them and watched these two plants grow in size and marveled at their beautiful drooping deep pink and white flowers. Pull or leave? I'll leave them. No, they aren't native and thus don't provide the life I'm trying to reestablish. So they go. I start pulling and the roots break easily in my hands. OK, I'll leave some small pieces. No, no no. I've had to water these for twelve years. They are beautiful but that's all. No other benefit. OK, that's it. OUT! As the roots keep breaking I keep struggling with my decision but finally decide for the wildlife, for conserving water, and my new found respect for the environment. After filling several 5 gallon buckets, finally all the Bleeding Heart roots are gone. <br />
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As I continue pulling pachysandra, I started to see some pill bugs, small spiders, and other small insects. Why the difference from the prior day. There is some life here. I'm thinking "are non-natives not so bad after all?" What's different this day over the prior day. I continued to pull and follow every root I found. These pachysandra roots are everywhere. Ah. Now I see. There are several small areas of decaying wood branches. The insects seem to be concentrated around these piles of woody debris. Microorganisms are working on breaking down the wood, and larger creatures are feeding on them. This small food web is just a tiny example of the new life that will flourish in this area once it's restored to native vegetation.<br />
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Five garbage bags of pachysandra later, now on to the good stuff. On day three I'm at my local native nursery loading up on a variety of plants to replace the Pachysandra. After consulting with Jan, I ended up with <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LOSI">Great Blue Lobelia</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PEDI">Foxglove Beardtongue</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SYLAL3">Smooth Aster</a>, <a href="http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/cm_milkweed.htm">Common</a> and <a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ASIN">Swamp Milkweed</a> plants, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ASTU">Butterflyweed</a>, <a href="http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/br_susanx.htm">Brown-Eyed Susan</a>, <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=IMCA">Jewelweed</a>, and some <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LOCA2">Cardinal Flower</a>. To keep the cost down, most of these purchases were very small, young plants called plugs. However, the Smooth Asters are blooming now, so I got larger quart size ones. I also got a <a href="http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/forestry/trees/dogwood_slky/tabid/5363/Default.aspx">Silky Dogwood</a> to replace the foreign Variegated Red Twig Dogwood that was on far right of this planting area. Jan and I had quite a discussion about the Jewelweed, its wildlife benefits, and how prolific it can be. Jewelweed is the native variety of the common non-native Impatiens used so much in "traditional" gardens. Unlike most of the native plants I'm growing, this is an annual. It lives for only one year. I was stunned as Jan pinched a seed pod on one of these plants. It exploded and sent seed scattering for feet in every direction. What great fun. Jewelweed is also known as Touch-Me-Not. I guess we now know why. As we loaded the Jewelweed onto the cart, we could hear seed pods popping. I expect I'm going to have a lot of Jewelweed next year. While at the nursery, I met an energetic young lady who turns out to be a locally known Monarch butterfly expert. You can see her Monarch pictures at <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/candy__kasey/?saved=1" title="blocked::http://www.flickr.com/photos/candy__kasey/?saved=1"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/candy__kasey/?saved=1</span></a>. </span>She was so enthusiastic about Jewelweed for attracting hummingbirds and butterflies, I wanted to hurry home to get it planted. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Replanted with Native plugs</td></tr>
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Over the next two days I planted all these treasures. I was able to remove 15 pieces of drip irrigation that previously kept the pachysandra, dogwood, and bleeding heart watered. Now this is where I learn patience. You can hardly see the new plants in this patch of dirt. This late in the season with the cold weather setting in, I don't expect any new growth. But the Jewelweed can sow its seed, and the others can start making themselves at home. I know next year they'll start to fill in, and the following year, this will be marvelous. In the meantime, I keep dreaming of a lush bed, alive with bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, a variety of other interesting insects and birds, and a changing palette of colors as the seasons change.the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-866703889395388046.post-46790287367627512362011-09-26T19:42:00.004-04:002011-09-26T19:42:58.034-04:00Oops!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFNlN7w8Za3ebqgKb_IyWPdmDm8YqhPzgGMaDm3iwPwYtFDj8VH9_ZXXw4FMcrV-UVhAI3h8H0YtbYb7WCbkqDA3b62X4nfSQwTly5_ySi13ZR6IY_uJsAcV2JcVrWyIEreA6dpCmbw5cl/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFNlN7w8Za3ebqgKb_IyWPdmDm8YqhPzgGMaDm3iwPwYtFDj8VH9_ZXXw4FMcrV-UVhAI3h8H0YtbYb7WCbkqDA3b62X4nfSQwTly5_ySi13ZR6IY_uJsAcV2JcVrWyIEreA6dpCmbw5cl/s200/013.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Snakeroot Leaves</td></tr>
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Sorry 'bout that folks. I posted some wrong info in my last entry. Thank goodness I've got a good Native Plant Mentor who helps to keep me from spreading misinformation. It turns out that the plants I labeled as <a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=EUSE2">Boneset</a> aren't that at all. They are <a href="http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=AGALA">White Snakeroot</a>. When Jan Hunter saw my error shortly after the posting, she quickly notified me. <em>(jh: <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In your blog: I believe what you are calling Boneset is actually White Snakeroot:</span> </span></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AGALA"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Ageratina altissima var. altissima</span></span></a> ). </span></em>Had I taken the time to check one of the wildflower guides , I might have avoided this embarrassment. Looking closer now, I can clearly see the differences documented in the wildflower guide. For one thing, Boneset leaves have almost no stem if any at all. The leaves go all the way to the main stalk. In some varieties they even wrap around the stalk, making it look like the stalk is growing right through the leaf. In contrast, the White Snakeroot leaf has a stem nearly an inch long. But I sure was puzzled how she was able to easily see the error by looking at that distant, fuzzy picture. I just had to know. Running down to the nursery to get some other plants, I posed the question to her. "Habitat, habitat, habitat" was her answer. She just knew that Boneset doesn't grow in a large group in a shady environment. But White Snakeroot does. Thanks Jan.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83c7hzj192ZFs0Dr_wUvMGRQuJgjkQJg0qC6OSKfhDBWjtKlAL4mLZVybqYYz3BvFTu_2AN-yxb8DWsh20sSOyUBtWLTVPwDfAbKyW-IbLA8x_NVr0clRE42Z-I4vxu_TQqfiq7e7uTT7/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg83c7hzj192ZFs0Dr_wUvMGRQuJgjkQJg0qC6OSKfhDBWjtKlAL4mLZVybqYYz3BvFTu_2AN-yxb8DWsh20sSOyUBtWLTVPwDfAbKyW-IbLA8x_NVr0clRE42Z-I4vxu_TQqfiq7e7uTT7/s200/014.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Snakeroot blooms</td></tr>
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the Native Plant Neophytehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964345056110233269noreply@blogger.com1