My Prairie Path

     When we moved into our new house on Lake Michigan in 1998, I determined that I wanted two patches of native prairie plants, one on each side of the drive back to our house. I lovingly seeded these two areas with a prairie seed mixture I purchased and grey headed coneflower seeds I conned from a neighbor. I also got some plugs of split leaf coneflower and purchased a few other mature potted prairie plants. As recommended by prairie experts, I then overseeded with annual rye, in order to give time for the prairie seedlings to get going without competition from the weeds that would move in otherwise. Initially the area to the north of my drive was the better area with more prairie plant success. The patch on the south side was worse soil, with more clay and less topsoil. It took a lot longer for that side to get going. But the big tall prairie plants there did just exactly what they were supposed to do. They put down their long, long roots (up to 6 feet deep) and multiplied and spread. Now that is the best side. I have some trouble with invasion by thistles and crown vetch on the north side so I need to do some corrections.

"the North Prairie"

"the South Prairie" The drive to the street runs right down between them.

     My husband hates these "wild" areas and calls them "jungles." But he does me the favor of mowing both sides of the driveway every late fall to keep the trees and shrubs from invading. We live in too suburban an area to burn these patches which is what is recommended. I am told that whether you mow or burn determines what plants become the most common in your prairie in the end. So I will have a "mowed" prairie, I guess. I am not clear which plants are in which type of prairie. I do know that the split leaf yellow coneflower, the grey headed coneflower, cup plant, prairie dock, sweet black eyed susan, echinacea, rattlesnake master, Culver's root, Joe Pye Weed, wild bergamot, Monarda (beebalm), Canada golden rod, early golden rod, various asters, vervain, speedwell, evening primrose, yellow flag, Virginia creeper, yarrow, Virginia bluebells, , big blue stem, and little bluestem are my main inhabitants. I do also have some non natives which includes a fair amount of dames rocket. I plan to clean some of that out and have already killed the crown vetch. But it is indeed a tall grass prairie.

      Originally I had put some paths through these two patches, but after some years of neglect, the paths are totally overgrown. I determined this year to reopen those paths and try to do some of those invasive corrections I am talking about. We had a cool June and that allowed me to get into that north patch. I decided to dress up the entrance to the paths, by putting up symetrical white metal arbors, one on each side of the driveway. I had tried an arbor before and planted a trumpet vine next to it, but even that strong grower couldn't break through the clay, never bloomed and slowly succumbed. This year I just seeded some morning glories and sweet peas to climb them.

     To remake this path, I had to start right under the arbor, sat on the ground on my old pillow, and began to cut, pull, and spray growths to start to produce what would appear to be a path. I spread wood chips behind me as I slowly moved forward with my slash and spray technique. I swung the path this way and then that way to go around something of value growing there. I was slathered with sunscreen and insect repellent which as the day wore on made my eyes burn. Several more sessions were required. The hardest was getting through the 8 foot tall split leaf yellow coneflower patch. Those stems are an inch in diameter. As I found the old path ( by the ground fabric I had laid down fully 12 years ago), and followed it around the curves into a wooded area at the front corner of the patch, I found an infestation of buckthorn which I still have to clear. The last time I was back there, this shrubby border was made of native redtwig dogwood. Clearly the non native buckthorn is stronger and has killed out the dogwood. I will have to work on that shrub border. The "woods" consists of a colony of quaking aspen. But there is buckthorn to deal with in there as well. In the spring this woody area is covered with Virginia bluebells. When I created the path originally, the destination was a small cleared area in the "woods" surrounded by spring daffodils. I had put two Adirondack chairs back there and sometimes found this little area just 20 feet from the road but surrounded by the aspen colony a wonderful retreat. That small area still exists; I just couldn't have gotten there. Now I can! The clearing needs a little clean up. But there is a wonderful carpet of Virginia creeper that will turn a lovely red this fall.

My rejuvenated path with Monarda, rattlesnake master, and split leaf coneflowers behind.

     We have had that long drawn out hot spell and I was not able to work out there. I went out to check it out and take these photos yesterday. My path is surviving. The crown vetch has died. The Monarda is flourishing since I removed some of the golden rod that was choking it. As I swatted mosquitoes in yesterday's humidity, a humingbird dive bombed the Monarda and then actually perched on one of the 8 foot tall split leaf cone flowers. Wow! That's why I do these kind of things. My little piece of wildness!

     By the way, you might wonder why these photos have kind of a blurred artsy look to them. This was totally unintentional. As I was taking the photographs, it started to sprinkle. I guess the lens of the camara must have gotten a little moist. I should have really come back in and cleaned the lens and then gone back out after it stopped raining. But by this time, I was bit up by mosquitoes and I decided to use what I had for this blog. I don't know. I think the watercolor somewhat abstract effect is enchanting so I decided to mount them here. What do you think?

Echinacea, wild bergamot, Canada goldenrod, and one plant of "White Swan" Echinacea.

Echinacea, grey headed coneflower, and a single bloom of "Turkey Foot" (big blue stem protruding from the top.)

Echinacea and grey headed coneflower.

Anothere stand of split leaf yellow coneflower.

Flowering rattlesnake master in the center of these Echinacea.

Black eyed susan.

Wild bergamot and some stands of blue vervain.

Culver's Root really likes my south prairie. It is spreading all over the place.

My stand of cup plant.

Entrance to north prarie.

Monarda surrounds my bluebird house.

Entrance to my north prarie. The tree to the very left is a young walnut tree. My mother gave it to me as a seedling. Unfortunately it will eventually shade out much of this prairie planting. But that's OK, because it's a walnut. I have read that walnut trees put some chemical in the soil that prevents some plants from growing beneath it. So far I have not seen this with this young tree. Time will tell.

     I have some plans for these areas again, looking into the fall and into next spring. In addition to the continuation of the paths, and the clean up of invasives, I want to move some lupines from my beds around my house and plant them into a sandy area in the north prairie where a pile of sand was left over from our building. Also I want to add some baptisia (false blue indigo). I have one blooming plant in the south prairie and I love it. It is a beatiful blue color and forms almost a shrub appearance in the border. I want to put several in the north prairie. I have some wild columbine from another area to plant in the somewhat shaded area back near by retreat circle. Also I have red trillium and wild ginger to move to the wooded area. They are now growing on the north side of my house and could be thinned to provide stock plants. I have volunteer spiderwort and wild geranium also to seed and transplant to the north wild shady area. Considerable plans! I will let you know next year if I have managed to carry any of these out.

My favorite wet prairie plant in the center: Joe Pye Weed.

    

Entertaining at Two of my Yearly Gatherings!

     What Else Do You Do When You're Not Blogging?  
     I like to take advantage of my June garden with the perennials: iris, peony, poppy, lupine, and clematis to hold parties for a couple of the groups to which I belong. Last Thursday morning I held the yearly retreat at my home of my Spirit MindBodyGroup. We met at the usual time and meditated for about 20 minutes Several people sat at my dinette table and meditated while looking out over Lake Michigan. This location is certainly transcendental. At 8:00 AM sharp, my "bird clock" went off with the chime for that hour: a cardinal's song, to bring the group out of meditation. Breakfast was served: quiche, bagels with various flavors of cream cheese, cut up fruit, orange juice, crullers, and coffee.  Then I presented a talk about Three Kinds of Spirituality as postulated by Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen, in an article from Enlightenment Next Magazine. I plan to post my talk on this site in the next few days or weeks. Watch for my talk. The first type of Spirituality is called polytheism, or animism, or the idea that spirit is in everything -- we humans, animals and in even in rocks -- much like what Native Americans believe. Therefore I presented several of my collection of camouflage prints which have a Native American theme. tune in to one of the next few posts to read the whole summary of my presentation. After an hour, the group went outside to my property and did some walking meditation along the Lake and among my flower beds. Afterwards, I presented Ken Wilbur's Theory of Everything, from his book by the same name. We closed at about 11 AM -- another successful retreat!
     Last Friday I entertained my water aerobics group, the Water Wonders,  at my home. I had 22 ladies and 3 brave men for a potluck lunch. Everyone brought a dish to share so we had lots and lot of food. I made some punch--one spiked with vodka and the other identical but without vodka- containing blenderized strawberries, frozen lemonade mix, orange juice, club soda, and sliced kiwi for garnish. As I was shopping for condiments for this potluck at MetroMarket, they were giving free tastes of an appetizer that I thought had a great taste combination. If you can believe it, the sample lady was actually stuffing green grapes cut in half with a tiny bit of a Gorgonzola cheese and chopped pistachio mixture. I loved the taste, but hated the idea of the work involved. So I just cut the grapes in half, and combined them with 7 oz of crumbled Gorgonzola, and a similar amount of chopped pistachios, all together in a bowl and added a tablespoon of a sweet orange sesame salad dressing to hold the mixture together. I served it on some pita crackers. This provided that same taste sensation with a lot less work. The mixture of potluck dishes was extraordinary. I had enough seating at the dining room table, the dinette table and the outdoor patio table. At 1 PM sharp I presented my Powerpoint presentation of "La Folia" -- the history of a classical music piece dating from the 1600s, and moving forward to the score of the movie 1492, Conquest of Paradise. This is a very moving presentation that I have presented in various venues. Sometime I might post that presentation on this blog, if I can figure out how to transfer PowerPoint slides to a blog. In the mean time, use the following link to find the music, sung by Dana Winner, that culminated my presentation. I think you will find it very moving. I did!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T9ipPkr6Xo    

What Do You Do When You're Not Blogging?

     This is the month of June. I recall what busy outdoor months May and June were when I was growing up. Both my mother and my grandmother kept huge vegetable gardens, and May June were planting months. When I was a toddler, I know I was involved because I recall a story being told repeatedly. I was in my walker out in the yard next to the garden. Strawberries were coming on and mother had picked some into a pan which sat on the grass next to her large garden. Well, little Ann in her walker, "walked" right through that pan of strawberries. Instant strawberry compote! As I got older, I thought I had a very important job of holding the string taught between the posts as a marker for the straight trench my mother made with the hoe along that string. This made sure that the rows of veggies not only grew well, but the garden looked neat and orderly. Straight rows were very important. When I got still older, I was even allowed to plant the beans because they were large seeds and could be handled by little fingers quite effectively. When I was a preteen, the garden wasn't as much fun. One of my jobs then was weeding which I regarded then and still regard today as pretty tedious.

     Well, I don't plant veggies like my mother and grandmother, but I do plant a lot of flowers. And I have a lot of perennials which often need dividing, weeding, fertilizing and deadheading. So that is what I have been doing with my May and June. This spring has been even colder than it usually is in Wisconsin. I think that the flowering shrubs and bulbs were and still are about 3 weeks behind. On Lake Michigan, the leaves on the trees were not out fully until the first week of June. This is truly a phenological record in my memory. No leaves until May 24 -- ridiculous. Well, that is Wisconsin on the lakefront. I actually regard this year as special for me. I thought I would miss the spring, traveling as we did for the whole month of April. But due to the cold, I didn't miss a thing. Our forsythia bloomed for a full 3 weeks -- as did the magnolia. The daffodils sat fully open also for several weeks. Our flowering pear bloomed in June and so did the apple tree. Lilacs were very late as well. I usually like to find a bush somewhere isolated along the road and steal a few blooms. The only bush I saw in bloom was located on the south wall of a house where no doubt there is a warmer micro climate. In other words, the cold spring though annoying has stretched out some of my favorite flowering periods and allowed me to both travel and then return and enjoy this wonderful season.

     Here are some snapshots of my perennial borders with their current blooms and some of the annuals that I have planted. I think these photos show how much I enjoy getting dirt underneath my fingernails.

Apricot colored scented iris.



An unusual red and white columbine.



On left is a cream colored foxglove; right is iris, and behind, some dame's rocket that I allow to grow in my bed and then removed after they have finished blooming.

Some of my potted plants. I usually go with a color combination of shades of pink, and deep purple, combined with chartreuse potato vine and an occasionally yellow or orange accenting marigold or Osteospermia (African daisy).

This clematis vine went berserk flowering this season. The cold must have made it think that an ice age is coming and it better set seed this year.

Lupine. These nicely seed themselves and allow me to have plants to move around the garden.

Somewhat unusual: white bleeding heart. It blooms a little later and lasts a little longer than the pink and white variety.

A dahlia. I dig up the tubers and overwinter them. Some dry up but I often have some to plant.

Irises also went berserk this year. All of my friends are reporting this as well. Several of these beds last year didn't produce any blooms or very few. I was planning on dividing them this year and then, Wow! There is this huge show this year. Again I don't know what made them bloom so profusely this year. Perhaps the tubers were able to grow and spread beneath the snow cover this year. This is only a guess.

Got quite a nice show this year from a very dark purple, almost black iris I had purchased several years ago.

Here is my wild area; my husband calls it the jungle. I have neglected it for several years. Now I am going to re-establish paths through it. There is a lot of dame's rocket as you can see. But there is also a lot of cone flowers, cup plant, rattle snake master, and Echinacea. I am going to rejuvenate it by adding more echinacea from other places in my garden, some shasta daisy, and some of the baby lupine plants.



Our front door flanted by irises, shastas coming into bloom, and potted rose standards.



My back sidewalk.



Recently Read: "The Hidden Life of Deer" by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

     I found this book in the new non fiction section at Weyenberg Library in Mequon, WI. I hate the deer; they are so very, very destructive on my property. I have always called them gigantic rats  because of their pest status.  But I decided I might be interested in reading this book. Maybe it would help me keep them away from my treasured shrubs, perennials and annuals. But when I began to read this book, my feelings changed somewhat. I had no idea these animals had so much of a social structure. Nor did I appreciate how much they knew about their environment, climate, and each other, and how much they communicated with each other about that knowledge. I learned they communicate with scent, with body language, and with their raised white tail among other methods, but none of these methods are vocal, of course. I learned about their family groups with daughters staying with their mothers for several generations and there possibly even being a grandmother leading this family group. I also learned that the young males gather in small groups as well, often with an older experienced buck from whom the younger males learn. The older buck does not purposely teach them; in fact he protects himself and lets the younger go first if there might be danger. But the young males do learn just by hanging out with the patriarch.

     The author is very dedicated to conservation and to the protection of the animals on her property even down to the flies that take refuge in her barn turned into her office, and to the mice and rats that take refuge in her buildings. After her most active mousing cat leaves her home, she has to resort to some pest removal of some of these rats with poison and experiences terrible guilt as the poison spreads to other animals through the rat carcuses. One year when the oaks failed to produce acorns, she went against the Department of Nautral Resources recommendations of her home state, New Hampshire, and began to feed corn to the deer and by default to a large local flock of turkeys. She spends a lot of time justifying this and countering her justifications with the reasons against it offered by the local experts. In the end, one tends to lean toward the author's feeding decisions even though I still get very put out at these large mammals when they eat my flowers.   

      I enjoyed reading this book and indeed developed a new respect for an animal that I had felt was very dumb. Deer are not dumb nor are the turkeys that the author writes so much about. Now I just have to figure out how to outsmart this ungulate species so that I can coexist without so much frustration. One method is to plant primarily flowers and shrubs that the deer do not usually eat. Following are some pictures that show some of those plantings. Some of the flowers that both the deer and I enjoy will need to be fought for with sprays and barriers and other methods of keeping the deer away. And after reading this book, I now know why nothing that I do lasts for very long. I used to say that the deer got used to a certain spray and learned to eat around it. Now I know indeed that this animal, much smarter than I had appreciated, does indeed learn to outsmart me. The ungulates have survived for millions of years. We are probably a relatively new species on this planet compared to their ancestors. 

The wild bergamot and the white and purple coneflowers in this sunrise picture are not the deer's favorite and grow in borders around my property. Likewise below are daffodils and bleeding heart, also usually ignored by the various mammals around our property.

      

The Year of Biodiversity

     Did you know that the United Nations has declared 2010 The International Year of Biodiversity? According to a short National Geographic article in the May issue, Pp 30-35, Paul Hebert, University of Guelphe in Ontario, spent 5 year in the 1970s barcoding moths and butterflies from New Gunea. Overwhelmed by the 2,000 different species he moved to water fleas where there are only 200 species known. These barcodes are made by coding for the 600 spots on the CO1 gene which codes for ATP, a necessary enzyme in virtually all multicellular lifeforms on this world. Those 600 spots will be occupied by one of 4 different DNA bases. These barcodes are different among all creatures almost universally. This allows every multicellular creature on earth to have a different barcode. Researchers around the world are now attempting to barcode 500,000 species, out of the 1.7 million already named species from around the world. The plan is to have all these 1.7 million species barcoded by the year 2025. There is some controversy with this goal, some scientists feeling we should be working on identifying and naming more species that are unknown at this time. Some scientists, however, think that barcoding will become readily accessible and that DNA readers may allow even non scientists to barcode species that they have in their own backyard, producing more information about known pest species and possibly identifying those unknowns more quickly.

     I would like to have a similar barcoder for people. Wouldn't it  be cool to barcode that person down the bar from you to determine what species he is. Is he an introvert or an extrovert; is she outgoing or shy; are those two honest citizens or are they criminals (or in today's current events) Russian spies? Will that person be my friend or my enemy? Barcoding could certainly help us in these relations.
     Today we have literally thousands of dragonflies flitting around our backyard near Lake Michigan.  I did some research and identified
these large 3 inch green and purple dragonflies as the common green darner. These harmless but impressive dragonflies have a life cycle much like the monarch butterfly. The adults migrate south in the fall. The adults winter over in the south and then start a new line of offspring which slowly work their way north until a generation reproduces in our area. So these adults are no doubt starting their migration. We welcome them for the mosquitoes they are eating as they fly about our backyard.

Female green darner dragonfly

Yellow swallowtail butterfly

Bumble Bee