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| Creek Field, looking west May 13, 2016 |
By mid-May the bunches were still small and bare earth was still visible.
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| Eastern Gamagrass Native perennial. In our seed mix. |
Among those bunches were Eastern Gamagrass, getting ready to flower. . .
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| Eastern Gamagrass Tripsacum dactyloides |
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| Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) Creek Field Native perennial. In our seed mix. |
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| Spiderwort Blooming May 17, 2016 |
Spiderwort,
one of the loveliest of prairie flowers!
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| Sawtooth Sunflowers (Helianthus grosseserratus) Greening up. Native perennial. In our seed mix. |
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| Gray-headed Coneflowers (Ratibida pinnata) Greening up. Native perennial. Volunteer. |
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| Whole-leaf Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) Native perennial. In our seed mix. |
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| Rosinweed is a cousin of Compass Plant and Cup Plant. |
A predacious Soldier Beetle pursues a tiny insect inside this new-leaf "button."
The bunches soon ran together, as shown in the photo below. Bee Balm is in the foreground, with Golden Alexanders next, followed by Tall Thistle, then a sedge, and finally unidentified bunches in the background.
One species, however, appeared not as a bunch but as a lone individual. That was Compass Plant.
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| Compass Plant (Silphium lacinatum) Native perennial. Volunteer. |
He towered above the others, and for awhile, I visited him every day, like a special friend.
Compass Plant was not in our seed mix. I am always admiring of species that plant themselves!
The bare ground between bunches began to fill in.
I was not happy with some of the filler, such as Hedge Parsley, which took advantage of its immense seed stock to sprout anew. The burn had killed off a winter's growth of Hedge Parsley. But with so many seeds in the soil, a few scattered patches of Hedge Parsley reappeared.
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| The burn on March 17 killed off a winter's growth of Hedge Parsley. But this prolific species was able to recruit quite a few seeds to germinate after the burn. |
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| Tall Thistle (Circisium altissimum)Basal leaves. Native biennial. Volunteer. |
I was very happy with some other filler, however: Tall Thistle!
This species can make it hard for a human to walk through the field, but it makes it easy on wildlife in search of seeds, nectar, and pollen. And its late-summer blossoms are gorgeous!
My friend Jeff Hansen, who confirmed for me that these were indeed the basal leaves of Tall Thistle, congratulated me on hosting such a patch. He made me appreciate this species even more when he said he envied me "this thistle life!"
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| Foxglove (Penstemon digitalis) in the midst of Tall Thistles. |
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| Penstemon digitalis was more numerous in the Creek Field this year than last, but it seemed shorter in stature. |
White Avens sprouted in the Creek Field as well as in the Riparian Buffer, a volunteer in both places.
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| White Avens (Geum canadense), pictured here in a part of the Creek Field where Crown Vetch had been removed, is a native perennial. |
Golden Alexanders bloomed gorgeously in both locations, a volunteer in the Riparian Buffer & a planted species in the Creek Field.
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| A row of Golden Alexanders volunteer in the Riparian Buffer. |
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| Indigo Bush (Amorpha fruticosa) Native perennial. In our seed mix. Also a volunteer? |
Indigo Bush was planted in the Creek Field but appeared only in the Riparian Buffer, in 3 times the numbers as last year.
It seemed to me butterflies were fewer in number this year than last. I saw almost no Gorgone Checkerspots, for example, on the Golden Alexanders as I have the previous years. (This may be a result of the strange alternations of warm and cold we had during the late winter & early spring.) So I was especially delighted when this Red Admiral landed on my pant leg as I drove the buggy on the Loop Path, between the Riparian Buffer and the Creek Field.
I've been enjoying Red Admirals for years but it wasn't until this one landed that I realized how gorgeous--and how multi-colored--are their underwings!
Last year I enrolled in Sunflower Studies. This year I'm signing up for Sedge School!
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| Sedges took advantage of the wet May to expand their hold on the Creek Field. |
Sedges have been welcome volunteers in the Creek Field, claiming ever more territory for native perennials. I know we have Woodland Sedge (Carex blanda), but we have other species as well. I don't yet know how to identify them.
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| A sedge in the Creek Field |
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| This mystery sedge has a reproductive structure similar to Woodland Sedge. |
I have so much to learn!!!
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