Front Gardens

I noted the frog pond in the new front yard meadow project.

You can read about that here Meadow Project.

This is what the new Meadow looks like now:

Not exactly what I was going for.

From the seed mixes I used, only Black-eyed Susan has appeared. Disappointing for sure.

They are pretty though.

There were a few volunteer plants like this Cardinal Flower. 

But it appears to be mostly weeds. So I may do a complete reset this fall/winter. We'll see.

But the Japanese Stiltgrass is mostly gone. And that is a good thing.

Now, on the other side of the driveway ...

... is the Mini-Meadow.

Quite the study in contrasts.

We started the Mini-Meadow in 2015, so maybe we just need to wait. 

I don't want to wait. I WANT IT NOW!

Or at least next year. 

Fingers crossed.

This Is Why. ...

... we need that deer fence.

Looking over the Mini-Meadow like it is some kind of smorgasbord.

I do have the wireless deer fence posts around the Mini-Meadow, it may help, but there are just too many deer.

Tiny Fungi

As you might have grokked from the Egg post, or from the Egg post, I notice things.*

Like tiny little fungus.

Eyelash Cup Fungi. If you look closely (bigafy!) you'll see the "eyelash" hairs around the edge of the mushroom cup. 

There is a similar species, the False Eyelash Cup, but it it is found on the ground, while the 'real' Eyelash Cup is found on rotting wood. 

I have several Fungi field guides. My most recent acquisition is the new Peterson Field Guide to Mushrooms, by McKnight, Rohrer, McKnight Ward, and McKnight. And all the guides note the edibility of the species listed. And for this species the edibility note is "Too small to be of interest."

And I concur. Very small, but the color gives it away.

Also small, and on the same rotting log, was this Trumpet Lichen. 

Mushrooms and fungi are difficult to identify. Lichens are even harder (to me anyway, your milage may vary).

🍄  🥚  🍄  🥚  🍄

* Patty clued me into these eggs, showing me the first on a walk. So I was prepared to look for them on subsequent saunters.

Contrast

What must the neighbors think?

Here is a current look at the Mini-Meadow.

Despite the heavy deer pressure in these parts it is doing well.

And a shot with the Mini-Meadow and The Meadow Project.

Hopefully, come this time next year, they'll be twins.

So, what do the neighbors think? That's a trick question, as we don't really have neighbors. And from the house across the street, (no not this place (which is for sale)), you can't see The Meadow Project. It's hidden behind trees.

Bloom Time - Golden Ragwort

This is a view of the Mini-Meadow as it looks today.

Golden Ragwort in full bloom, covering the northern half of the Meadow. An excellent native early spring blooming ground cover.

I like it as it is less for me to mow, it looks nice, and as a native it requires no extra fertilizers nor other chemicals. Nor does it need any more than the rain, barring a drought (for which all bets are off). Plant it and forget it.*

The native bees appreciate it as well.

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* Ok, you'll need to put barriers around it, lest you want it to take over your yard.

Another Invader

Another pretty yellow flower, this one similar to cinquefoils albeit with a habit and foliage reminiscent of Frageria, wild strawberry, species. But the yellow gives it away as a non-native, as the native wild strawberries have white flowers. And cinquefoils have leaves in groups of five, not three as this plant has.

This is Duchesnea indica, "Indian Mock Strawberry" (or just "Mock Strawberry"), which, as the name would suggest, is native to India.

It has started to take over the Mini-Meadow (fortunately it can't colonize the driveway). And while it is a pleasant enough looking ground cover, a primary reason it was introduced, it needs to be dealt with, before it takes over the yard.

And there's no time like the present as I've plenty of time these days for yard work.

As do we all.

I'm fortunate that I've got a nice big yard to keep me occupied.

Another Front ...

... has been opened in the War on Lawn.

The Bench Garden.

(You'll likely need to bigafy the images, done as always by clicking on them, to see the bench.)

The Opening Salvo

The first step is the laying of the cardboard. Patty and I, mostly Patty, were able to bring home cardboard from our respective workplaces. The technique we use to prepare the garden space is referred to as "Lasagna Gardening" due to the use of layers. The cardboard serves to cut off sunlight from the plants beneath, mostly weeds, killing them while at the same time ensuring the nutrients return to the soil below. The cardboard eventually decays away.

You can also see that we've started the border, using landscape timbers that we found around the yard.

Securing the Territory

The next step is to cover the cardboard with dirt, in this case compost we purchased from a local landscape company. This further blocks sunlight while at the same time holding the cardboard in place. Otherwise, with the first strong wind you've cardboard all about the yard. You can also see we've started to place logs and stumps in the garden. These provide shelter for insects such as native bees and for critters such as frogs, toads, and chipmunks. The stumps also make fine platform feeders for birds and butterflies.

Assuming Control

The next step is to mulch. We use Salt Hay as our mulch material. It is relatively cheap, easy to obtain, covers well, looks nice, biodegrades, and doesn't survive in our habit. The last point is significant in that any seeds of the hay, or of any plants mixed in, will not grow in our yard. Thus it adds no weeds and helps to prevent weeds sprouting in the compost layer.

Victory

The final steps were to remove the internal fences, which had been protecting two small trees from the ravages of deer, and redeploy the posts as a perimeter fence. We used fishing line on the redeployed posts to deter deer from entering. The thought is that deer can't see the fishing line, walk into it, and feeling something touch them bolt away in surprise. If you bigafy you'll also see some Wireless Deer Fence posts strategically placed outside the garden.

But to paraphrase the folks on ESPN, when it comes to deer you can't stop them, you can only hope to contain them. We've had good results with the Wireless Deer Fence posts, but they're not perfect. So for this garden we're trying a two prong solution to the deer problem. If only the war on deer was as easy to win as the one on lawn.

🌷🌺🌻🌾🎋🌿🌱🌸🌼

Now that the garden area has been created we'll be slowly adding plants throughout the summer. And come next spring we expect a lush native plant garden. So be sure to check back in a year or so.

Buried Treasure

In the previous post you may have noticed the purple object in the "second front" image. Below is another image of that object.

It is a small aquaria which was a temporary holding tank for the object in the image below.

While de-turfing the area I dug this cocoon up. It was not more than two inches below the surface. Patty suggested we put it in the aquaria, cover it with dirt, and then but it in the ground as shown in the images, to closely mimic the conditions as it was found. We didn't know what it was, so by having it in the tank we would see it once it emerged.

At the same time, I emailed images to some friends who are month and insect aficionados in the hope that they could identify the species which produced this cocoon. I was not disappointed.

It is the little tail at the right end of the cocoon which gives it away.

It is an Imperial Moth, like the two shown below (both images were taken in our yard).

The image above is a male and that below a female.

As we've identified the month to be there was no longer any need to keep the cocoon in the tank. So it has been returned to the ground close to where I found it.

Imperial Moths are active from May to July. Hopefully we see this one fluttering around our yard.

Mini-Meadow Expansion

With the success of the mini-meadow project last year, ...

... we've decide to expand the gardens in the front yard.

Another battle in our War on Lawn.

The battle engaged ...

These two images above show two views of the opening salvo. The strip between the existing mini-meadow and the driveway is being converted from lawn to garden. The turf removal is almost complete, and in the second image there are even a few sedum plants waiting to be put in the ground.

The battle won ...

It was a relatively quick endeavor, with minimal resistance. The three sedums have been planted, and the strip has been mulched with salt hay.

The war rages on ...

In the image above we can see that Patty has opened another front, weeding an area around the tree at the entrance to the driveway.

And in addition to the engagement Patty has commenced ...

... I've opened a second front to further expand the mini-meadow.

Our eventual goal is the complete elimination of mow-able lawn in the front yard. The tricky bit will be the septic mound. But we've got some ideas ...

🌳🌱🌿🍀🎋💐🌷🎄🌾🥀

Of course we'll need plants to fill in these spaces, and hold back the advancing lawn. So if any of our plant friends wish to join the battle and provide ammunition in the form of native plants the armory is open! 🙂

Mini-Meadow

The meadow at the end of day two, and after a night of heavy rain, the first good rain here in over a month.

The plot was expanded, and soil, the first round of plants and mulch added.

Next steps will be the continued expansion of the meadow plot, the transplanting of seedlings currently growing in our garden, the transplanting of other plants from around our yard, and the adding of seeds directly to the meadow plot.

And here is another link on why this is important. It seems that the native pollinators are even more important than I had realized. So go ahead, plant a native wildflower garden. The local farmers will thank you (as will your tummy).

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This post was originally published in 2015. I don't know why it is showing up again. But I hope you enjoyed this rerun!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

While some caterpillars like to eat apples, plums or watermelons, the monarch caterpillars in our yard like to eat the swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate) we planted in the mini-meadow.

You can see they have stripped these milkweeds bare. The caterpillars eat almost non-stop for 10-14 days.  Just a week ago I counted 10 caterpillars munching away.


But not to worry, these milkweeds are hardy.

They are already growing new leaves.

After the very hungry caterpillars have eaten their fill, they must find a sheltered place to make their chrysalises.  Never fear, these little eating machines know where to go.

They move from the swamp milkweed at one end of the meadow ...

... to the goldenrod (solidago sp.) at the other end of the meadow about 10 yards away.  For us that may not be far, but for those who inch their way along it is about ~ 360 inches.

But down the garden they march to make their temporary jeweled home.

Can you find the 2 chrysalises in the photo above?   (click the image to bigafy)

Here is one of them.  

What smart creatures, Goldenrod (solidago) is an important food source for monarch butterflies, and this Goldenrod is just starting to bloom. During the pupal stage the transformation from larva to butterfly is completed in about 14 days.

Once these butterflies emerge, they will begin an epic 4830 mile migration to the Oyamel fir tree forests in Michoacan, Mexico.

Fueled by goldenrod and other fall wildflowers. 

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Thanks to Patty Rehn for guest blogging. All words and images copyright Patty Rehn.

  

Rain Drop Refractions

Swallowtail Caterpillars

Remember these eggs? When I looked for them the past Saturday morning they were gone. But I saw no caterpillars.

This has changed.

"I've got something to show you," said Patty as I arrived home from work, "In the front garden."

This:

A Black Swallowtail Caterpillar.

There were several and of different instars.

All munching away on our dill plants.

As was this one, which I was not able to identify.

I think it is a type of Slug Caterpillar. Perhaps an instar not illustrated in my guide book. Hopefully the birds won't eat it and we'll find out.

Mini-Meadow

In this post I noted how the deer were leaving our Mini-Meadow alone this year.

Well there has been some nibbling. And we have seen a faun about the yard.

But I think we can safely say we've found the solution to our deer problem.