Fall's Second Season

Even though all the blossoms are gone there are still sights to delight the eye in the fall garden.  Rather than the purples and golds of aster and goldenrod flowers, we get whites and silvers from the seeds and seed heads of many of these same plants.  The lower angle of the winter sun magnifies this effect, causing them to nearly glow with reflected light.

This photo was taken on a mid-November morning.  Some of the plants from
left to right are little bluestem, New England aster, purple top (grass) and Canada goldenrod.

Sweet everlasting, Pseudognaphallium obtussifolium, has a particularly long-lasting presence in the garden.  Even after the seeds are dispersed the white, star-like sepals remain intact well into January.  This plant is an annual and depends on this seed finding a spot on the ground to continue its presence in the garden.

The spent flowers of sweet everlasting show off well in front of a dark back ground.
Mixed in here are the seed stalks of the native grass, purple top, Tridens flavus.

Virgin's bower, Clematis virginiana, is one of our native clematises.  It has a very long vining habit, growing to about 20 feet in sunny location in one season.  Many consider it weedy because its thin stems go just about anywhere.  I like it because it does a good job of covering  fences  with foliage without becoming heavy and damaging like the exotic sweet autumn clematis.  The flowers in the second half of summer are small and rather subtle compared to many cultivated clematises.  Where this plant shines (or glows) is in the fall when the feathery seed heads form.  

After the fluffy white seeds of New York ironweed are dispersed
these rust colored capsules will remain for several months.

Another fall star is New York ironweed, Vernonia novebaracensis.  By the end of October the magenta flowers are all gone, replaced with the rust-colored seed heads.  As winter wears on these breakdown and become less fluffy; however the star-like sepals remain into the new year.




Besides all these flowering plants, the grasses also make a graceful contribution to the fall and winter garden.  Last fall I wrote a blog post about fall grasses.  I won't go into a lot of detail again, only to say that some of them really do use the winter light to great effect, such as pink muhly (Muhlenbergia capilaris) and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium).

Little bluestem also takes on a distinct copper hue that makes it easy to spot at a distance.  Northern sea oats (Chasmantheum latifolium) also has a distinctive form with its dangling seed heads and rich brown hues.  Also on the property I have several large patches of deer tongue grass (see last fall's post).  What I noticed this year was that, while not particularly beautiful in form, the stiff dried leaves made a very pleasant rustling sound when there was just a little breeze.

While leaving perennials and grasses standing over the winter offers some visual interest to an otherwise flat landscape, it is also a good practice for the ecologically minded gardener.  Seed heads left standing provide food for migrating and non-migrating birds.  Standing twigs provide winter cover for many small animals and insects.  The larvae of many butterflies over winter in the leaf litter.  Many insect predators overwinter in the ground cover.  By providing space for them you will have a leg up come spring on your pest control.  (There are situations were fall clean up is advised, particularly for plants battling a fungal or bacterial infection where spores can overwinter in the leaf layer.)

Appreciating plants in the fall is not just an outdoor activity.  We brought in a few to enjoy as a table center piece.  While pretty this has proven to get a little messy.  The seeds  on the little bluestem stick quite tightly to the table cloth and the hosta seed head is still shedding seeds.  Our biggest problem is that our cat likes to get in and rearrange things, even the spiny branches of the invasive wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius).

Some of the plants from left to right, Northern sea oats, a wineberry stem, little bluestem,
false indigo pods, tall ornamental garlic, hosta and wild bergamot.

Collecting my own seed

I've been trying to figure out what to plant in the areas where I've been pulling out the Japanese stiltgrass.  I want to use native plants and I'd like them to be as local as possible.  As I was taking some autumn photos, suddenly it hit me.  Why not use the seeds that my native plants are producing right in my own backyard (duh)!!!  This is perfect.  By collecting seed from around my property I'm getting plants that are adapted to the local area.  I can also make a good guess at where the plants will grow well.  Of course not every seed I put out will germinate but the seeds are free and the investment in labor is minimal.  The seed I am collecting now are from late summer and fall blooming plants.

Here's what I've collected so far:

The ripe seed heads of this Sallow Sedge fell apart into individual
seeds when I touched them making them easy to harvest.

Sallow sedge, Carex lurida, is pretty common on my property.  It forms dense clumps that mature to 2-3' tall and wide.  It grows best in moist to wet soils and partial sunlight.  I have small clumps of it growing in the lawn, but these can't reproduce since they are getting mowed down regularly. The leaves are long and have a deep fold along the midrib.  This gives it a stiff texture.

I'll scatter the seeds along the woodland edges where the soil is moist and there are several hours of good sun each day.  It is also an area where I am trying to remove the invasive wineberry bushes, Rubus phoenicolasius.  The dense clumps may make it a little harder for these bushes to spread.

The seeds of bottlebrush grass are easily stripped off from
bottom to top.  Trying to go the other direction leaves most
of the seed still attached to the stem.

Bottlebrush grass, Elymus hystrix, is a common cool season grass of the northeastern quarter of the US.  Most of the plants I have were purchased, however I have seen some growing remotely.  So I may have some indigenous plants, or they are just really good at spreading.  This species is most noted for the flowers and seed heads that resemble a bottle brush.  The flowers appear in early summer and persist until fall.  

The plants grow from 2 to 5 feet tall and do well partial sun and soils with medium moisture levels.  I will plant these along the edge of a path where the soil drops away.  The height of these plants should still make them easy to see.

The seeds are relatively large.  One ounce typically consists of about 7,500 seeds

Ripe seeds are assisted in wind dispersal by the fluffy white appendages.
Some flowers still in bloom are at the lower right in the photo.

Tall Snakeroot, Ageratina altissima, formerly Eupatorium rugosum, is very common in this area.  It is particularly evident in my area along roadsides near the Potomac river.  It grows well in full to partial sunlight and a range of soil moistures.

It is tolerant of soil disturbance, making it a good candidate for an edge habitat where plants are occasionally mowed down.  I'll scatter these in some of the drier woodland edge areas.

The seeds are tiny, typically 150,000 per ounce. They require light for germination.  This is common for disturbance adapted plant species.

Here most of the fluffy seed of the Sweet Everlasting have 
been blown away, leaving the sepals as 'everlasting' flowers.

Sweet everlasting, Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, is a native annual that depends on disturbance for survival.  It is most common recently cleared areas in full sun and dryish soils.  I have a recently cleared meadow area that will be perfect for these.

This plant is evident in a border because the fine hairs on the leaves and stems catch the sunlight and make it look like the plant is glowing.  The tiny white flowers never fully open but form white clusters of buds that show well.  After blooming long-lasting bracts remain giving the effect of an everlasting flower.

The seeds of this species are really tiny, coming in at 500,000 per ounce.  It is hard to find the actual seed, there is so much fluff attached. These seeds are quickly wind dispersed, so I need stay on top of harvesting them.

Short's Aster, Symphyotrichum shortii, is found in the mid-Atlantic and mid-western states.  This aster is the latest blooming species that I have growing.  It starts in about mid-September and continues to the end of October.  Besides its long and late blooming cycle, it is also tolerant of dry shade and alkaline soils.  This makes it an excellent candidate for deeper into the woodland areas where it can compete with the stiltgrass for patches of light and openings in the canopy.

Each seed of Small's Aster has an attached pappus that looks like a little umbrella that catches the wind.  The actual seeds are larger than the previous two species, with about 60,000 per ounce.

In the center are some ripe seeds with their fluffy pappus.
In the background you can see some or the lavender
flowers still in bloom.

So these are some of the later blooming species that I will try to 'seed' into the stiltgrass infected areas.  There no reason I shouldn't harvest some of my spring and early summer species and do the same.

Stiltgrass management, part 2

After trying to remove as much Japanese stiltgrass as possible in late summer, the next step is to fill in the gaps with more desirable plants. My approach last year of seeding in native grasses like Canada and Virginia ryes did not work out too well.  There were some good reasons for my disappointing results.  I needed to plant  these relatively large seeds more deeply to get better germination.  Also these new grass seedlings need 2-3 years to establish before mowing back, or using as pasture.  It would be better to use these big perennial grasses in a meadow planting where mowing is done only once a season.

This year I am trying a more conventional route with the filler grasses.  I will be using commercial turf grasses that are selected for rapid growth and formation of a dense turf layer.  This is what I need to exclude the stiltgrass.  By planting these cool season grasses in the fall they have a chance to germinate and fill in before the stiltgrass starts growing in mid-spring.

I divided up the stiltgrass infected areas into full sun, part sun and mostly shade and selected a seed mixture appropriate for each condition.  For full sun I selected a blend of tall fescues with just a little Kentucky bluegrass.  For the part-sun areas I have a blend or both tall and fine fescues with a little perennial rye and Kentucky blue grass.  For the shade areas I am using a blend of fine fescues selected for low maintenance.  This year I am using Eco-Grass from Prairie Moon, but there are other blends such as No-Mow from Prairie Nursery and Eco-lawn from Wildflower Farm that should work as well.

Most commercially available cool-season turf grasses are not native to North America with the exception of some of the fine fescues, in particular red fescue (Festuca rubra).  You can find detailed information about which turf grasses are appropriate for your region from your state's cooperative extension.  For example the Maryland Extension Service has a listing of recommended grass cultivars that were tested locally.

Before buying seed this year I shopped around to see what specific seed cultivars were used in each of the blends.  There is usually a tag with the detailed seed composition somewhere on the bag. When I went out to buy the one I liked, I found that that specific blend was no longer available even though the product name on the bag was the same.  Frustrating!!!  I imagine that the retailers are still trying the produce an equivalent performing product, but it still, that was a frustrating experience.

The first step in the reseeding process is to remove the stiltgrass thatch in the lawn.  This opens up spaces for the new seed and may help remove some undispersed sitltgrass seed.  Since late in the season much of the remaining stiltgrass has had a chance to set seed, this thatch needs to be segregated from regular compost and the regular brush piles.  I have a couple of piles dedicated to stiltgrass so that it does not get mixed up with the regular yard waste and I can monitor it for spreading.  Another option would be to landfill it in thick plastic bags.  You do not want to let the stiltgrass get out and spread its seed.

Late September is when the stiltgrass begins to die back.  The brownish areas are easy to spot.

Once the area was clear of thatch I applied the new seed.  I used the back side of a bow rake to press the seed into the soil.  The nice thing about the conventional turf seeds is that they do not need to be planted deeply.  After sowing, it is necessary to keep the new seed bed moist until the new seedlings are established. I usually try to time my seed sowing with coming rains.  That way I don't need to water it in (I'm really lazy in that way).  Besides the cooler temperatures, autumn is a good time for lawn seeding because it is usually a rainier then too.   I usually see good levels of germination in 10-14 days for the Eco-grass.  This year is working out well (so far).  The soaking rains in early October saturated the soil and I have only needed to add a little additional water to keep the soil moist.

The area between the piles has been (mostly) cleared of stilt grass and is ready for seeding.
I used a leaf rake for this, but a stiff garden rake would have been
more effective for tearing out the stiltgrass plants.

While the standard instructions on the seed bag recommends fertilization at the time of seeding, it is best to do a soil test to determine if added fertilizer is needed.  If you use a mulching mower to return your grass clippings and leaves to the soil your fertilizer needs will be much lower (or non-existent). The risk of over-using fertilizer is that it will stimulate weed growth and that run off of excess nutrients will damage the environment.  Since we are in the Chesapeake watershed I try to use the minimum of fertilizer possible.  That usually means none.  In fact, for the fine fescues fertilization is not recommended.  If fertilization is needed, fall is the best time for cool season grasses.  Spring fertilization will stimulate growth of warm season weeds (and stiltgrass) as well as the cool season grasses.  In the fall only the cool season plants are actively taking up nutrients.

In this full sun area tearing out the stiltgrass exposed a lot of bare ground.
This spot was seeded with the full sun blend.  Just to the back left
 is a full shade area where I planted the Eco-grass mix.

One new thing I learned about tall fescue, Lolium arundinaceum, is that some cultivars are infected with an endophytic fungus that produces loline alkaloids that are toxic to many insects and mammals that feed on the grass.  This endophytic fungus also reduces biodiversity around the infected fescue.  while this is great for the fescue it is bad for the wider plant and animal communities.  The widely used and inexpensive cultivar K-31 has a high rate of infection.  So far I have not been able to find out which cultivar have low infection rates, however this may be more common in southern states.  One way to lower the effects of infected fescue on the environment is to keep it mowed so that it stays in a vegetative state, i.e., not going to seed.  Hopefully its ability to form a good turf and exclude the stiltgrass will outweigh it negative environmental effects.
..

White Flowers of Fall

Late summer and early fall is when the asters and goldenrods dominate the the landscape.  These are beautiful plants and provide tons of food for pollinators, but I was trying to think of other native plants that were actively blooming at this time.  I was especially interested in plants that are not too tall, ones that could be used near the front of a garden border.  One beautiful native that comes in late summer is Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum), but it seems to be winding down now in my gardens.  I had hoped to have some sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), but this is the first year for the plants and something ate off the tops (deer?).

Then, as I was walking through a meadow area some ideas literally hit me.  There at my knees was a clump of Sweet Everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium) and around the bend was some tall snakeroot (Ageratina altissima).  Both of these plants stood out because of the large clusters of small white flowers.

The woolly hairs on Sweet Everlasting can catch
the light and brighten up the whole plant.

Sweet Everlasting is a native annual that grows well on medium to dry well drained soils.  Like many native annuals they grow well on disturbed sites, especially those will few other plants established.  Those growing in my yard are along the edges of mowed paths and in some of the drier planting beds.  The flowers consist of tightly bunched disk flowers only, no petals (ray flowers).  The narrow leaves are medium to light green on top and white-woolly on the bottom,  The stems are also covered with woolly hairs. As the name implies, the stems and flowers will last for a long time and can be used in dried flower arrangements.  When crushed the stems and leaves have a curry-like fragrance.

Ripe seeds have a fuzzy appendage that will catch the wind, helping with seed dispersal.  I have had some difficulty starting these from seed indoors.  They seem to do much better growing outdoors.  The tiny seeds need light to germinate so they should be sown on the soil surface and pressed in, not buried.

The leaves of Tall Snakeroot are held on long petioles, 1/2  to 2" and are disposed on
opposite sides of the stem.  The length of the petiole and the relatively
broad leaves distinguish it from related bonesets and other snakeroots.

I first noticed Tall Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima, formerly Eupatorium rugosum) growing in a shady area as I was clearing stiltgrass last year.  This year I am seeing it in multiple locations.  I don't know if it is spreading, or I am just getting better at finding it.  Similar to sweet everlasting, these flowers have only disk florets.  The bright white flowers are clustered together in broad heads, making them easy to spot at a distance.  While not a favorite plant for deer, I have noticed some nibbling of the leaves and flowers.

Normally growing 3' tall or more this may be a little tall for the front of a border, but some of mine have flopped over and they look fine at 8-12".  There is a selection named 'Chocolate', identified and developed at the Mt. Cuba Center.  It has burgundy toned foliage.

The 'deer-pruned' turtleheads are bushy and just the right height for the front of a border.

The last non-aster, white flower I came across this past week was White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra).  There grow well in medium to moist soils and part sun.  Under ideal conditions these will grow to about 3' tall.  This is a great plant for use in a rain garden.  It is generally deer resistant, but like with the snakeroot, my deer nibble on them a bit.  This was actually a benefit, after first flush of flowers had been chewed off, the plant came back lower and bushier, with more flowers.

Stiltgrass is in bloom - The time to act is now!

The flower heads of Japanese stiltgrass are just opening up.
The weedy plants have just had a growth spurt
bringing some of them to nearly 4' tall.

I am in midst of a multi-year battle to get rid of, or at least control, the Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum, on our property.  Last year I came up with a plan to bring this invasive species under control.  The key element is to prevent this annual grass from setting seed.  Eventually (5-7 years) the seed bank will be depleted.  Also I am encouraging the existing native plant population to back fill the gaps to suppress re-invasion.

In late August stiltgrass goes into a growth spurt as the flower heads develop.  It is critical to cut it down or pull it out before seed set begins.  By killing the plant before the seeds can mature, you can dispose of the plants by composting.  Otherwise the plants would need to be segregated (e.g. bagged and sent to landfill) to prevent another generation of seed from spreading.  The taller stiltgrass is easier to find and pull than it is earlier in the season.  You should try to remove the plant close to the ground since it also produces a second hidden (cleistogamous) flower in the lower stem.


The following two photos show a moist shady area just before I removed the stiltgrass.

One year after close cutting stiltgrass in late August (2103) the growth is still rather dense.

After two years of cutting there appears to be more gaps in the stiltgrass converage.

In a couple of areas I was weed whacking and composting in place.  After 2 years of this I am seeing some minor decreases in the density of the stiltgrass coverage.  This year I raked the cut grass off and into a pile.  By removing the dense thatch I am hoping to seed some other species move in.  I have another large area where I will leave the cut grass in place.  We'll see if that makes a difference.

American germander blooms in late July and the seed is still maturing,
so I'd like to keep these standing a little longer.

One of my challenges is to remove the stiltgrass while leaving as much native vegetation in place.  Many of the earlier blooming natives, such as the beebalms (Monarda sp.) and tick trefoils (Desmodium sp.) have already gone to seed.  However, there are a number of later blooming species that I'm trying to preserve by carefully hand-pulling around them.  These include American germander, (Teucrium canadense), Virginia knotweed (Persicaria virginiana), white vervain (Verbena urticifolia), white avens (Geum canadense), and the native annual, clearweed (Pilea pumila).  While not beautiful plants on their own these species do fill the woodland edge with a variety of colors and textures largely obscured by the invasive stilt grass.

Clearweed is a fairly common native annual found in shady moist sites.
Currently in bloom, the flowers are yellow tassels in the leaf axils.

Here I'm halfway done with a section revealing some American germander (center).  To the left is my new grass whip.

I recently got a double edged grass whip which does a great job of ripping stiltgrass out of the ground while leaving single bladed grasses largely intact.

This low-growing sedge was hardly disturbed as the weed whip tore out the stiltgrass.

I am also finding a number of native grass species under and within the stiltgrass.  These include the evergreen, spreading sedge (Carex laciculmis) and deer-tongue grass (Dichanthelium clandestinum).

Botanizing Weverton Cliffs

I am very fortunate to live close to the Appalachian Trail.  One of the nearby highlights is Weverton cliffs.  At  about 850 ft elevation they stand over 500 ft above the Potomac River and provide beautiful views toward Short Hill Mountain in Virginia to the south and west.  I took the easy way and parked at the trailhead in Weverton so the climb was only about 400 ft.  The hill side was heavily forested and there were not many long views until you make it to the actual cliffs so I focused on trying to recognize the variety of plants along the trail.

View from Weverton cliffs to the southwest overlooking the Potomac river.  At the far right is the Shenandoah river.

Most of the lower slopes are moist with rich soil. As you climb the soil gets rockier and drier.  This is reflected in the type of vegetation you see along the zig-zag trail.  Being mid-July there were not a lot of flowers in bloom.  On the way up I passed by patches of bellwort, Jack-in-the-pulpit, and false Solomon's seal.  There were also a surprising variety of ferns, a few I figured out and some that remain a mystery to me.

There were many clumps of lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) along the way.  One of the first ferns I need to look up was a Massachusetts fern (Thelypteris simulata).  One ID clue is that the blade is broadest in the center and slightly taperd at the base.  The other fern here was harder to ID.  I think it is mountain woodsia (Woodia scopulina).    

A Massachusetts fern (right) and possibly mountain woodsia (left) growing next to the trail.

Here is the back side of what I believed to be a Woodsia.  

On further checking and finding more of these I'm pretty 

sure that this is log fern, Dryopteris celsa.

I would need to go back with a fern ID book in hand to be more certain about this one.  (I would appreciate any help on figuring this one out.)

In some of the sunnier openings there were large masses of a coarse leafy plant.  It looked like an invasive species the way it monopolized the space.  Each large leaf was divided into 5 coarse lobes and the flowers  had no petals to speak of, though there were 5 green sepals around each one.  I was able to key this out as Small-flowered leafcup, Polymnia canadensis, a woodland native found in much of the East and Mid-West.

The small-flowered leaf cup appear to have no petals on the flowers.
It may have been a little early as the buds were just opening up.

 As I approached the top of the ridge the soil became thinner and rockier.  The plant population began to change in response.  I noticed some ericaceous plants like low bush blueberries and mountain laurel.  At the top of cliffs the dominant tree is the Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens).  This is a two-needle pine with short, slightly twisty needles.  This Appalachian native is a beautiful, sculptural tree.  Its twisted form is enhanced by the weather at the top of the ridge.  Although, I have seen one in a protected location that shared some of this sculptural character.

Table Mountain Pine is adapted for growing in thin, rocky acidic soils.

One of my favorite plants is the native annual false pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides).  I was pleased to find some growing up at the top of the cliffs.  It is often found in disturbed areas, such as along paths, where you can pick out its intense sharply minty scent when it is disturbed.

False pennyroyal, a member of the mint family,
has opposite leaves and an intense smell when touched.

I didn't think I would find anything new on the way back down, but I was wrong.  The change in perspective revealed almost as many new plants as on the way up.  The first one I noticed was narrow-leaved Houstonia (Houstonia tenuifolia).  What I noticed were the bright little flowers seemingly floating in space.  The leaves are so narrow you could easily miss seeing them.

Narrow-leaved Houstonia has white to pale lavender flowers.
The broad leaves on the ground belong to a different plant.

Another plant that revealed itself on the way down was fringed loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata). The most noticeable flowers were on a long panicle held above the foliage.  

Each of the yellow flowers were nodding, defying an easy photo op.

Back at the trail head I continued on toward the river to see what was growing in this more 'civilized' environment.  There were many more non-native and invasive species like Japanese stilt grass, tree of heaven and rose of Sharon.  Mixed in were a some native species.  On a large rock near the US 340 underpass was a large patch of common polypody (Polypodium virginianum).

Common polypody is an evergreen fern commonly found growing on rocks,
particularly in shaded, north-facing areas.

Since my first vist there was so productive, I will make a point of going back in a couple of months to see how it has changed.  I'm pretty sure I saw a number of goldenrods and asters.  these are hard to distinguish when not in bloom.

Green Milkweed

I've been planting more milkweeds (Asclepias sp,) around our property with mixed success.  Butterfly milkweed, A. tuberosa, has done well and looks great with its showy orange flowers.  Swamp or rose milkweed, A. incarnata, has had trouble.  My deer, for some reason, seen to like to eat up the young plants I put in.  I've resorted to putting wire cages around them so the have a change to get established.  On the wild side we have a small patch of common milkweed, A. syriaca, which are ignored by the deer and doing quite well.

The other day while mowing I was surprised to find a different species of milkweed.  Not as tall as common milkweed and with drooping green flower clusters, I was sure this was something new (to me).

Green milkweed is noted for it's thick oval leaves and
green nodding flower clusters that hang from the leaf axils.

I checked a couple of guide books and am pretty sure what I found is Green Milkweed, A. viridiflora.  This is a fairly common species, usually found in dry lightly shaded locations, including roadsides, prairies and clearings.  My plant is near the edge of a wooded are, mostly in the open with average moisture soil.

While not showy for us, it does attract pollinators, particularly bees to its sweetly scented flowers and it does provide food for the monarch butterfly caterpillars.  So far I've only seen this one, but I'm watching for more.

A Surprise Bug

A few weeks ago a deer broke off a branch from one of the smooth sumac that I have been trying to establish on my property.  Rather than tossing it out I put it in some water to see if it would root.  After two weeks, I inspected it closely for any growth and found none.  This is no surprise, stem cuttings are not recommended for propagating smooth sumac.  What I did find was what looked like a new bud, but it was facing the wrong way.  On closer examination I saw that it was a small insect.

If this bug were turned around on the branch, I may not have distinguished it from the sumac's leaf bud.

The general shape of this insect brought leafhoppers to mind.  Looking at similar insects on the web brought me to conclude that this was the nymph of a two-striped planthopper, Acanalonia bivittata.  

The white plume coming from the rear of this insect is a waxy compound that helps prevent desiccation
 and may protect it from predators.

While I really love my plants, there are some pretty amazing looking insects out there.  All them with a role to play in a healthy ecosystem.

Wildflowers on the Potomac

Way back in late April I set aside some time to see some of the nearby native species on a guided walk with the Maryland Native Plant Society (MNPS).  We visited the limestone cliffs along the Potomac river near Sharpsburg, MD.  In this area are a number of plants rare to Maryland, such as northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) and bulbet fern (Cystopteris bulbifera).  Our leader that day was Christol Fleming (co-author of Finding Wildflowers in the Washington-Baltimore area), who really knew the area inside and out.

Following are some of the many photos I took that day (roughly in the order seen moving downstream from Snyder's landing):

Coarse foliage of Virginia waterleaf is spotted with white.
Its blooming period is a little later in May.

It's difficult to tell Dutchman's breeches and Squirrel corn (Dicentra cucullaria and  D. canadense)
apart when not in bloom.  Here, side-by-side, you can see that Squirrel corm has a blue-green cast.

These blue cohosh were not in bloom yet, but the layered foliage of this mass
created the effect of a green mist coming down the hillside. 

Up on a limestone cliff  we saw this lyre-leaf arabis (Arabis lyrata) and
 wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) on a rock outcrop.
These two species are well adapted to growing in thin soiled habitats.

Shooting star is a species found in rich calcareous soils
prevalent in this area along the Potomac.

Many Virginia bluebells were in bloom at this time throughout the region.  

Mixed in here are some of the rarer white ones.

In some places the floor of shady woods were covered with the white flowers of meadow rue.
It was formally of the genus Anemonella.

There were two kinds of trillium in bloom at this time. The red trillium (T. erectum),
shown here, and toadshade (T. sessile).

When I think of violets, shades of blue and purple come to mind.
This downy yellow violet, though common, really caught my eye.

There were many more species growing there than I've shown here, some like the hepatica had already bloomed out, and others like the dwarf larkspur and mayapples had not yet popped.

I would like to pay a visit to this area in early summer to see the massive banks of the native smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) in bloom; however Cristol warns in her book that this area has been overrun with garlic mustard and Japanese honeysuckle at that time of year.

A Busy Spring

It's been awhile since I have taken some time out for blogging.  Besides getting the vegetable garden cleaned up and planted and pulling out garlic mustard, a major distraction this spring has been dealing with 'our' groundhog.

'Our' groundhog climbing a 3" diameter hackberry tree in one of our gardens.  

Last year I tried compromise, but that has been pointless, since we never actually entered into dialog. I tolerated it nipping down the New England aster and black-eyed susan seedlings and the occasional visits to the vegetable garden.  The tipping point was when it ate my newly planted Liatris and Amsonia plants.

My first approach was to use used cat litter and sudsy ammonia to stink up the burrows.  I think this was only slightly annoying and after a short time the ground hog returned.  Right now I am trying a castor oil solution.  This seems to be longer lasting, but I will need to keep up the treatments for a while longer to encourage a permanent move away from my garden.  In addition to using repellents in and around its burrows, I did complete a buried fence around the vegetable garden.  Hopefully this will remove another attraction from the area.

Securing the Garden Perimeter

Now that all sorts of plants are springing back to life any number of outdoor chores are available, some fun and interesting, others, not so much.  One of the major challenges in last year's vegetable garden was near daily incursions by a plump groundhog.  While we can hope that our resident fox does his/her job, I decided to take steps to modify the perimeter fence to make it more difficult to dig under.

Of course I had read that a good garden fence needs to go below the surface to keep out rabbits and groundhogs, I took the easy way out and only buried  few inches of the chicken wire fence under the mulch.  This was actually partially effective the first year, but last year there were several shallow entrances all around.  One article I read, says to dig a trench 2 feet deep and a foot wide and line the bottom and side closest the fence line with chicken wire.That sounds pretty impressive.  I got started, but hand digging a trench that size was beyond my limits of fun.  I backed off a little and when with 12-16" deep and 6" wide.

Here's some photos of my project:

First, dig a trench.  I used a narrow trenching shovel
to make a narrow hole with pretty straight walls.
This trench was only 14" deep and about 6" wide.

Push in the chicken wire and bend it outwards at the bottom
 so that about 6" covers the bottom of the trench.  This way
if the critter tries to go deeper, it will be frustrated.

Fill in the trench and compact the soil.  Connect the buried chicken wire
with the above ground fencing.  I bent about 6" of the above ground portion
outward to create another digging barrier.

Cover the base of the above ground wire with soil and then
 mulch the area between the inner and outer fence.

So with the inner fence secured against the small mammals I'll need to tighten up the outer wire fence to deflect the deer.  

One of the features of my garden is a pollinator border consisting mostly of native plant species. Since many of these plants are vigorous seeders, I have an abundance of seedlings to move from the garden out to the border.  Before I got started with trench digging I took a close look at the plants I would be digging up to determine with they were keepers or 'weeds'.  Here are some photos of the ones I encountered:

This is an over-wintered rosette of Black-eyed Susan.
It can be recognized, in part, by the soft fuzzy leaves

Black-eyed Susans produce a lot of seed and each plant lives only 2-3 years.  To keep a good supply of these in the border I have been transplanting them out from the inner garden.

At first glance the rosette of the weedy English plantain is similar to the Black-eyed Susan.  

This English plantain has lance-shaped, deeply veined leaves

This clump of common yarrow was dug out of the path of the new trench.

Common yarrow, Achellia millefolium, is a cosmopolitan plant, meaning is occurs in similar habitats on a global basis, not just a single region.  Though not always considered a native species it is very good at attracting pollinators and beneficial insects.

These leaves did not break ground until the last week of March.

Wild columbine, Aquilegia canadensis, is another short lived native perennial and is dependent on reseeding for its long term presence in the garden.  The new leaves are a dark, purplish green and can be difficult to spot until they open up some.  Before the leaves develop they could be mistaken for red clover.

There are a  number of native Cardamine sp.
around but they do not resemble this one

Hairy winter cress, Cardamine hirsuta, is a introduced winter annual.  It develops its foliage in late winter or early spring and is in full bloom by April here.





There are many wild garlics, both native and introduced out in the garden.  Since these have a tendency to deter small mammals, I have not been targeting them for removal.  I planted nodding onion, Allium cernuum, in the garden border a year and a half ago.  I have seen several resprouting, some are already about 6 inches tall.

The foliage of nodding onion is a flattened blade.  The
 weedy field garlic, Allium vineale, found in many lawns
 has darker green tubular leaves

Sheep sorrel spreads rapidly by shallow runners.

The last weed I was tossing out was sheep sorrel, Rumex acetosella.  The leaves of this plant can be used as a tart, lemony flavoring in soups and salads.  The plant concentrates oxalic acid giving them a tart flavor; however, it can be toxic in high concentrations.  I should probably consider trying it in a salad, in moderation.