Getting Ready for Stiltgrass 2021

My battle against Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum, is a nearly year round effort.  To help me focus my efforts I’ve prepared the following table to remind me of where I will get the most for each hour of work in each season.

Japanese Stiltgrass Control

Season	Actions	Pros	Cons	Comments
Late Winter Early Spring	Pre-emergent treatment	Effective in lawns and smoother (even) surfaces with access to soil surface.  Allows lawns and perennials to get a head start.	Will affect all germinating seeds for several months.  Uneven coverage on rough surfaces.  Application needs to be at the right time.	Takes at least 2 years to knock down seed bank to see significant progress.  More time to complete elimination, if ever.
Late spring-Summer	Herbicide	Grass selective herbicide leaves broad leaf plants and some sedges intact. Try products containing Fluazifop-p-butyl	Difficult to control collateral damage, especially with non-selective herbicides	Targeted application and use of selective materials may limit side effects.
Late spring-Summer	Pulling	Non-toxic and selective.  Opens space for other species.	Labor intensive; left over stilt grass will expand to fill gaps.	If removal is not complete this will need to be repeated at the end of summer
Late summer/Early fall	Cutting/ pulling/ burning	All methods to reduce the amount of seed	Need to complete actions before seed begins to ripen.	Copious amounts of seed being produced, need to be thorough and avoid spreading any ripened seed.

 Because Japanese stiltgrass is an annual there are two points of vulnerability based on its life cycle.  As an annual all plants start new from seed each spring.  If you can disrupt germination you can make a significant dent in how much stiltgrass you will have to deal with.  This is where I have found preemergent herbicides to be very useful.  Products labeled for control of crabgrass have proven effective.  The other weak spot is seed production in early fall.  More on that below.

On the left you can see the effect of a single treatment with
a preemergent crabgrass herbicide.  The right side is thick with
bright green Japanese stiltgrass.  Photo taken in early July.

Springtime

An important part of using a preemergent is getting it applied at the proper time, neither too early or too late in the spring.  There are tools on the internet that track growing degree days, such as GDD Tracker 4.0.  The idea is that plants will develop at a rate controlled by how much heat they receive over time.  For germination, the soil temperature is particularly important.  It is important to realize with a preemergent it is critical to have the material well distributed on the soil prior to the onset of germination.  That’s why I like a really like the calculator, it builds in the time when you should actually apply the product.  Another way to time the application is to watch for when forsythia are in bloom.  In my limited experience just before peak bloom is a good time to do the preemergent application.

I have found that preemergent use on the lawn is very effective.  There was a significant reduction in stiltgrass in the lawn after treatment for two consecutive years.  Also the red fescue that I overseeded is really starting to knit together.  I should do a test this year to see if I can skip treating a portion of the lawn for a year without a resurgence of stiltgrass?  Maybe for a small area.  I'd hate to lose the progress I've made so far.

I have also experimented with preemergent treatments in a meadow area.  Here the ground is much coarser and there is a lot of debris on the ground.  It is very difficult to get an even application of the granular herbicide.  I have seen a decrease in the amount of stiltgrass seedlings in areas where the preemergent was applied.  But there are also patches where the stiltgrass still comes in densely.  I assume that these are due to uneven application.    

Another concern I have with this meadow area is that the preemergent treatments will inhibit the germination of other desirable plants.  The meadow area I have is dominated by wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia), wild blackberry, smartweed and a variety of sedges.  In addition there are the usual invasives: Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), Oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora rose.  Besides reducing the amount of Japanese stiltgrass I have also noticed a significant reduction in the amount of bull thistle, Cirsium vulgare, a non-native species.  (Of course having a thick layer of JSG will also inhibit or kill anything that is not well established, so one needs to balance the effects of the herbicide with not doing anything.)  Last spring I transplanted in a number of black- and brown-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta and R. triloba) and some wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) in the gaps that opened up.  It is particularly important for the ‘Susans’ that they be allowed to reseed.  For this year (2021) I will not do the preemergent treatment in the areas with these reseeding perennials.  Instead I will focus on some areas that have not been treated before.

Last year I did experiment with surface burning of stiltgrass seedlings.  While it did provide some temporary control, more seedlings appeared a week or two later.  For me burning with a torch is a maintenance activity and it’s easier than bending over to pick out seedlings.  Spring fire does not work as a one-time treatment in my hands.

Mid-Season

I have been reading more about grass specific herbicides and how they would fit into a plan for eliminating Japanese stiltgrass.  I can see using them as a tool in maintaining a perennial bed or in a well defined, designed landscape.  For me I don’t expect to be using them because most of my landscape is more like managed wildlands.  I generally welcome any native species that pops up annual, perennial, shrub or grass.  So I don't want to run the risk of killing something new and unexpected.

This patch of unmown grass has benefited from both regular pulling
of stiltgrass and a single treatment with a preemergent. 
As I've opened spaces I've planted in natives such as switch grass
and wild bergamot (taller plants to the back right).  The yellow flowers
are wingstem and goldenrods that have come in naturally.

Most of my mid-season activity is focused on pulling and back-filling with desirable, native species.  This year I will be moving many of my excess plants from the vegetable garden, Rudbeckias and Monarda, as well as some overgrown New England asters and goldenrods into spots where I will have weeded out the stiltgrass.  Native species that are competing well against stiltgrass include golden ragwort, mayapple, wild bergamot and grasses and sedges such as river oats, deertongue grass, Virginia wild oats, and rosey and sallow sedges (Carex rosea and C. lurida).

 

This patch of golden ragwort, seen here in mid-April, started from a
single clump planted 2 years earlier.  This species is very effective
at excluding both Japanese stiltgrass and garlic mustard.

6 years ago I seeded in Virginia wild rye.  It is particularly evident
in unmown, shady areas around trees.  This cool season grass gets
started early in the season, well before stiltgrass, and grows 2-4 feet tall.

If pulling is not complete, the remaining stiltgrass will refill newly created voids.  One thing I learned last year was that it can put down roots anywhere a node comes in contact with the soil.  I will try to limit my efforts on mid-season pulling and burning to when I have something to fill back into the open space or where there are new natives trying to get established.  I will store up my energy for late summer when there is less time for the stiltgrass to regenerate and have enough energy to produce flowers and seeds.

Late Summer and Fall

This is a time when you can make a significant dent in the amount of seed that is produced for next year with the least effort.  Pulling stiltgrass that is 3+ feet tall in late summer will remove a huge amount of potential seed.  It’s also easier on the back than pulling shorter plants.  Timing is important.  It should be done early enough that any seed present on the plants will not be able to mature and late enough that and remaining fragments of plants won’t have time to recover and put up additional flowers.  Here in the mid-Atlantic August is about the right time for that. 

If you find yourself pulling stiltgrass later in the season after seeds have started to form you will need to be more careful about disposing the pulled grass.  You don’t want to risk spreading any seed around.  While I knew that stiltgrass has flowers hidden within the stem, I had not realized until last year that there may be flower stalks buried in nearly every leaf node of a healthy stiltgrass stem.  That is a lot of potential seed!

By my index finger you can see one of the flower spikes
 that was hidden within the stem.  These are able to
self pollinate and produce seed without ever opening up.

Cutting or mowing close to ground level is most effective at this time, too.  Burning with a torch at ground level (when safe and where allowed) is also effective.  I’m not certain, but there is a possibility that some cuttings or unburned stem parts may reroot if they contact the soil under favorable conditions.  I will often rake up the cuttings and put them in a separate pile where they can decompose without mixing in with other materials.

In years past I have spent a lot of time in the late summer and early fall raking stiltgrass out of the lawn.  This was probably of little use since much of the stiltgrass had probably developed seed by then.  Last year I combined raking with overseeding with cool season turf grasses.  The hope was that the cool season grasses would germinate quickly and fill in the gaps left from the stiltgrass.  That should work, in theory, but I can't comment on the results.

So the plans are in place and it's almost time to get started!

Japanese Stiltgrass Spring 2020. Time to get started!

Woodland edge inundated with Japanese stiltgrass in 2014.  This was my starting point

Japanese Stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum, is an invasive annual grass that has taken over many natural woodland areas as well as suburban lawns.  Infestations are particularly bad in the Eastern US from Connecticut, south to Florida and Texas.  I have been posting blogs on my progress battling this grass a couple of times a year for the last 7 years.  Now that spring is rolling around it’s time to get into action.  Here a link to my initial post.

Stiltgrass germinates around the time of annual crabgrass and several pre-emergent herbicides used for crabgrass are effective at controlling stiltgrass.  I have been using a product containing Dimension™ (dithiopyr) on my lawn for 3 years now and it has significantly reduced the amount of stiltgrass present.

This is a comparison of treated and untreated areas in 2019 when the
pre-emergent was applied late.  The stiltgrass seedlings are about
an inch tall at this time.

Last year I tested this product in a mowed meadow area, but the application was at the end of the recommended application time (about 2 weeks late).  I saw a slight reduction in stiltgrass.  I was also concerned that the treatment would affect other plants growing in the meadow, but most of them are perennial species and not as strongly affected as annuals.  On casual inspection last year I didn’t see much difference in the types of plants growing in the treated and untreated areas.  This year I expanded the coverage treating both the lawn and the meadow at the same time at the beginning of the recommended treatment window.  (The meadow was mowed several days before treatment so that the treatment could have direct contact with the soil.)

Here's the mowed meadow after the pre-emergent was applied.  Lots of bare soil now. 
Various grass and sedges are starting to grow.  The wingstem, Verbesina alternfolia,
which dominates this area, has not started growing yet.

I use a website called GDD Tracker 4.0 to tell me when to apply the treatment.  It tracks the days that the average temperature is above 32F.  250 degree-days is the trigger for crabgrass pre-emergent treatment.  Here at my home we hit that on March 10 and I applied the treatment March 12.  (Optimum application time is projected to last through at least 3/21 in my zip code.  Watch out, time is running out!)

Wild Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, that I planted last year is starting
 to sprout in the meadow with its purple-tinged leaves.  

Goals for 2016 season

As spring is rapidly approaching I'm finishing up my plans for what I'd like to accomplish this season.  One of my primary goals is to continue to control and eventually eliminate the invasives.  Most management strategies call for eliminating to satellite  populations first to control spread and then work toward the center.  Based on published guidelines such as from the US Forest service, I'm using the following techniques:

• Stilt grass, Microstegium vinineum, by managed mowings, timed pulling in late July or August and displacement with natives/manageable species.
• Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) and autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) by mowing or cutting then treating the stumps with glyphosate at 20% concentration.  (Herbicide treatment is more effective in late summer and fall.)
• Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) by pulling, or cutting back and treating the stubs with glyphosate.
• Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) mostly by pulling when the ground is soft, making spring a good time to work on this.  However, I will do a foliar spray with something like glyphosate for massive infestations.  Later in the season remaining plants will get cut and bagged to prevent seed dispersal.

If I can't get into the base of the plant to kill it, I will cut them back to keep them from setting seed.  Check for local restrictions on pesticide use and follow published instructions for proper use.

Here's how that area looked last September.  The dominant plant here is wingstem, 
Verbesina alternifolia. which is a very common native in this area.

I am managing a meadow conversion with early mowing and adding more native shrubs to the back edges, like Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa).  Invasives to target in this area are oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle and wineberry.  This is an area that I also seeded with some native annuals and perennials I had growing elsewhere on our property.

I initially cleared this area in spring 2014 and have
been cutting back undesired shrubs each spring.

Of the small trees and shrubs I added in previous years the elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) and American plum (Prunus americana) are doing well.  The chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) will still need some protection and nurturing, but they seem to be surviving in this minimally managed area.

At the beginning of March the elderberries are beginning to leaf out.

In the middle of an open lawn we have a mature butternut tree (Juglans cinerea).  It has a nice upright form and open canopy that works well in the middle ground.  It's easy to walk under and you can get glimpses of the distance through the branches, even when the leaves are out.  Unfortunately this tree, like many other butternuts in North America, is in decline.  This is likely due to a fungal infection that currently has no treatment.  Since this tree is still producing fruit I will try to keep it for a few more years.  But, since I know it will fail before too long, it's time to look for a replacement.  After considering a number of possibilities, I have settled on trying a Sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum).

Here's the butternut in fall of 2013,
it's lost a couple of branches since then.

The Sassafras has a similar upright form and is of moderate size (30-40') so it will not monopolize the space.  Also, like the butternut, it has an open canopy.  Instead of nuts, the sassafras is a berry producer.  If I am lucky enough to get a female tree, I should get berry production for the birds, since there is a nearby native population of these trees.  My plan is to put in a small specimen a few feet to the south of the butternut to let it get started before I have to take the butternut down.

Here's a mature Sassafras at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Not only does it have a nice open form, it has great fall color.

Another area that I am focusing on this year is a hedgerow on a steep hillside.  The goal is to remove the invasives without destabilizing slope and to repopulate it with natives.  Japanese honey suckle is the predominate invasive in this area.  Late winter is a good time to spot these vines since they still have green leaves.  The ground is soft and moist so pulling is relatively easy.  For the plants that won't pull out, cutting the stems close to the ground and treating with 20% glyphosate.  This is effective as long as the ground is not frozen and it is less disruptive to the soil.

Other invasives that are easy to spot and pull now include multiflora rose, garlic mustard, wineberrry and Vinca minor.  I've already put in some smooth sumacs and Persimmon trees.  This year I'll add some gray dogwood and bushy St Johnswort, Hypericum densiflorum.  As I fill this area in with native shrubs and perennials that provide full season benefits for the native fauna, I can start eliminating the butterfly bushes that are of limited use to wildlife.

This rather messy area is a tangle of Japanese honeysuckle, wineberry (the red stems)
and butterfly bushes mixed in with desirable plants like wild blackberries and smooth sumac.
There is about a 5' difference in grade between the top and bottom of the slope,
 so I am trying to avoid pulling out all of the existing 'bad' plants.

The green leaves on the Japanese honeysuckle make it easy to target in late winter,
before the other plants begin to leaf out.

It's late August and I'm seeing Red.....and some other colors, too

In direct sun the red of this Lobelia stands in
perfect contrast to the green background.

This is the first year for my Cardinal Flowers, Lobelia cardinalis, to bloom and I must say it really pops on a grass green back ground.  I planted these as seedlings last year and they never got very big.  Part of that was due to deer browsing.  This year the deer ate a little early in the season, but did not come back after the buds began to form.  I don't know if that has to do with a change in the taste of the maturing plant, or if it was due to spraying the plants with a new deer repellent, Bobbex.  Besides delighting the eye, the cardinal flowers are a big hit with the butterflies.

This Scarlet Sage is growing in a partly sunny garden.

Before I had a place with moist soil I relied on this Blood or Scarlet Sage, Salvia coccinea, to get an intense shade of red in late summer.  It grows well in moist to dry soils and will tolerate some shade.  Scarlet sage is usually grown as an annual.  In the past it has reseeded itself in my warm zone 6 garden in Boston.  We'll see how it does in my less protected Maryland garden next year.  I have seen hummingbirds feeding on this sage, as well as many bees. 

This photo taken early in the morning contrasts the yellow of evening primrose,
Oenothera biennis, with the violet of NY ironweed, Veronia noreboracensis.
These two tall plants complement each other toward the back of this planting.

Another major presence in the garden is New York Ironweed, Veronia noveboracensis.  This year they are growing to 8 feet.  I cut one back by 1/3 at the beginning of July and it quickly grew back fuller than before.  This plant is very attractive to butterflies, it has about as many as a nearby exotic butterfly bush.

Wingstem is named for the rough appendages growing along its stems.

The predominant open meadow flower of late summer here is Wingstem, Verbesina alternifolia.   In the full sun they grow straight up to 3 to over 8 feet.   I have allowed a few to grow in the partly sunny gardens near the house.  Under these conditions they still grow tall, but they lean forward to get more sun, eventually flopping over.  Blooming period is about a month long, mid August to late September.

Under the shade of pines I am trying out several species of Goldenrods. The first to bloom is Elm-leaved Goldenrod, Solidago ulmnifolia.  As with the cardinal flower, these were browsed heavily by the deer in their first year, but this year they are reaching bloom (maybe with the help of Bobbex).  Other goldenrods I am trying in the shade are Zigzag, Bluestemmed and Showy Goldenrods.

The little whitish flowers of Jumpseed wiggle their way out of the undergrowth.
The foliage of this plant is tattered since it is often eaten by some as yet unidentified insects.

Another shade-tolerant native that is blooming now is Virginia Jumpseed, Persicaria virginiana.  Not particularly showy by itself, en mass it adds some interesting texture to a shady scene.  There are some forms of this plant with more colorful leaves and red flowers, but those are not in bloom just yet. 

Aromatic Aster is just beginning its long season of bloom.

One of the newer additions to the garden is Aromatic Aster, Symphyotrichum oblongifolius 'October Skies'.  Despite its name it has started blooming in late August (this cultivar is actually named for the flower color, not the bloom time).  This cultivar is compact and densly blooming.  Growing to about 2 feet tall it is a great choice for near the front of a border.  In addition to the good-sized blooms the foliage of this little bush has a pleasing scent.

I just wanted to share this last image of a patriotic color combination of Hibiscus moscheutos, Lobelia cardinalis, and L. siphilitica. It's not a great photographic composition, but it is an example of red, white and blue native flowers blooming at the same time (mid-August).  

This photo could have been improved had I bothered to remove the
chicken wire protection from around the Hardy Hibiscus.  

Experimenting with Penstemon

One of my backyard projects was to recover a meadow area from an overgrown mass of invasive species (Multiflora rose, Japanese honeysuckle, Autumn Olive, Tree of Heaven and Bittersweet with some poison ivy, river grape and horse nettle to boot).  Last fall and early spring I went in with a heavy duty weed whacker and a chain saw to cut down the bushes.  I treated the larger stumps with concentrated glyphosphate to finish the job.  

The most common native plant in this area is Wingstem, Verbesina alternifolia, which is a tall nice looking, if somewhat coarse, perennial flower that blooms in late summer.  Since I created a lot of open ground I needed to help with the regrowth by adding some additional native species.  My main reference for plant selection was Native Plants for Wildlife andConservation Landscaping - Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  Plants that I have put in include American plum (Prunus americana), Tall Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata),  Elderberry (Sambucas canadensis), Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa), New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans).  I also picked up some Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium) since it is supposed to be deer resistant. 

White Foxglove Breadtongue are on the left and purple and
white Small's Beardtongue are at the right center of this view.
Both these flowers show well in part shade.

While flipping through the plant lists I realized that I had very little experience with Penstemons, which are very common in meadows.  With the spring native plant sales coming up, I added these to my list.  There are over 250 species of Penstemon, essentially all of which are native to North America, most of them from the western regions.  I focused on eastern species, particularly those indigenous to the mid-Atlantic. 

These are growing in part sun.  The leaves
are opposite and clasp the stem.

The most readily available eastern Penstemon is Foxglove Beardtongue, Penstemon digitalis.  It is a medium tall plant (2-5') with panicles of intensely white tubular flowers for about a month in late spring.  I grew it equally well in both full and part sun.  The flowers seem to be lasting longer in the sunny location. 

This close-up shows the fine hairs that cover the flowering parts.
 The flower is the perfect size for a bee to climb in.

This Eastern Beardtongue is not as leafy.  This specimen
has leaves with edges that roll inward (involute).

Eastern beardtongue, P.  laevigatus, was harder to find.  I eventually found it on-line from Enchanters Garden a nursery that carries many mid-Atlantic native species. Eastern Beardtongue is not a rare species, but it is not as showy as P. digitalis and I believe it is harder to cultivate.  Its range includes the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states.  It tolerates sun to shade in moist to wet soils.  It has pale lavender to nearly white flowers and at 1-3.5' it is generally shorter than P. digitalis.  Its blooming period is reported to be earlier than P. digitalis, but mine bloomed a little later.  Maybe once these plants are well established the timing will change.

Here you can see the lines down the throat of the flower that act as nectar guides

The leaves of this forest species are broader than
the other two shown here and the stem is leafier. 

The last species that caught my attention was Small's Beardtongue, P. smallii. This plant grows in the mountainous regions of the Southeastern states.  It prefers partly sunny locations.  It is reported to be short lived so I will not dead head it to encourage it to set seed.  The purple flowers are intense and show up well in a shady location.  This is a long blooming species. For me it has been blooming for a month and it looks to go on for a little longer.  I got mine at a plant sale but it is also available from on-line native plant nurseries.

Here the beard on the flower's 'tongue' is very pronounced.

A general problem I'm having with my meadow replanting is deer browsing.  It seems that anything new got chewed on to some extent.  Even the coarse-leaved Wild Quinine got munched.  I have been spraying leaves with hot pepper spray, but the most effective means of protection is to put up a chicken wire cage around the plant.  This is particularly important for the woody plants, once they are large enough they should be safe.  The penstemons were nibbled then left along for a while.  It seems with the appearance of a new generation of fawns everything is being sampled again.  

Late Summer's Larger Blooms

Now that summer is nearly over I thought I would do a run down of some of the showier native plants that I have around the property.  Most of these are found naturally in Maryland.  A few are true wild flowers that have arrived on their own, though most of these have been introduced to this site.

The most common wildflower to this area is Wingstem, Verbesina alternifolia.  It is tall (4-6 ft) in full sun, though shorter in shadier locations.  The bright yellow compound blooms have been evident since the beginning of August.  In this area it is currently the dominant roadside wild flower.

This wildflower was just fading out at the beginning of October last year and I could not figure out what it was.  The northern edge of it range is in New York state, so it would be uncommon in the Boston area.  The form of the plant is similar to Sneezeweed (Helenium) but the shape and quantity of the petals are different.  Sneezeweed has wedge-shaped petals tightly arrayed around the center disk.

The arrows point out the winglike appendages
on the stems, hence the common name.  

Before the Wingstem was in full bloom, Common Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis, was dominating the roadsides.  This is a true biennial.  It spends the first year as a low growing leafy rosette.  The second year the flower stalk shoots up to 6 ft or more with spikes of yellow blooms.  Each flower opens in the evening and only lasts a day (maybe a little longer if it is cloudy).  I have a bunch of these growing around our patio, while the flowers are nice and bright, they have unsightly lower stems.  For this reason I would banish them to the background.  The biennial lifecycle is well adapted to highly disturbed environments.  The seeds need an open sunny area to germinate and for the low-growing rosette to get plenty of sunlight.  So this is a good plant for open roadsides that get cleared once or twice a year.  But not so good for an area with an established dense undergrowth.

Evening Primrose gets way too leggy
to use near the front of a border.

I noticed that the Japanese beetles were eating a lot of the Evening Primrose leaves.  I collected quite a few in my soapy water jug (aka, Jug of Death).  Could these plants be used as a magnet to draw the beetles away from more desirable garden crops?




This next group of wildflowers are native to Maryland, although I am pretty sure they are not indigenous to our little valley.  New York Ironweed, Veronia noveboracensis, is scattered around our house, but I have not seen it growing in the woods or along the roadside.  The deep purple flowers are long lasting and provide a wonderful contrast to all of the yellow flowers that are dominating the gardens at this time.  In protected areas these wildflowers can get quite tall, more than 6 ft.  In open areas the deer have pruned them back to 2-3 ft tall, but they have still managed to bloom.  At this smaller size they actually fit in better to the garden scale.

This Ironweed was not eaten back by deer and
grew to about 5 ft in partial shade.

Speaking of yellow flowers, there are lot of Yellow Cone Flowers, Rudbeckia fulgida, growing in the neighborhood.  Probably most are the 'Goldstrum' cultivar.  They all grow to the same height and bloom at the same time, making a definite statement in the garden.  As a advocate for native annuals and biennials (i.e. short lived, freely seeding plants) I have been using more of the Black-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia hirta.  These have a more relaxed habit and a longer blooming cycle than the more common cone flower cultivars.  (note some variation to the flower shape).

These Black-eyed Susans were raised from seed this year.
They are not all identical, note the double-side blossom on the right.

In the shadier areas of the garden I have added them more demure Brown-eyed Susan, R. triloba, and the shade tolerant Elm-leaved Goldenrod, Solidago ulmifolia.  This is the first year that this goldenrod has bloomed.  It is an early bloomer and really brightened up the shady area, but the color only lasted a couple of weeks.  I just planted in some Bluestemmed Goldenrod, S. caesia, to beef up the appearance.  I just read that these two species can hybridize - so I guess that the bloom times will be similar.

This plant was eaten back once.  If unpruned
it would reach 304 ft tall.

This is an early blooming species of Goldenrod
that does well in shadier locations.

I found that I had problems with the deer and possibly rabbits eating back both the Rudbekia and Solidago.  I gave these plants a little assistance with some hot pepper spray (cayenne pepper) and some scent-based deterrents like 'Repels-All.'  I need to get on a regular application schedule with products because waiting for the plants to be eaten is usually too late.  I have also gone too far with over application on new plants resulting in killing much of the tender foliage with the liquid sprays.  For these plants I am favoring the pelleted products.

Partridge pea, Chamaecrista fasciculata, is a true native annual that I planted this spring.  I had better results with plants started indoors than outdoors, but much of this was due to grazing by unwelcome animals.  After a little hot pepper spray I was rewarded with stems full of loose yellow blooms.  These open blossoms were visited primarily by larger bees.  These peas need a specific symbiotic bacterium to assist with nitrogen fixation.  This was supplied with the seeds I bought.

The leaves of the Partridge Pea will fold up when it is dark or particularly windy.

In the vegetable garden I'm growing the 'Stampede' cultivar of Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus.  Now that they have reached 10-12 ft they are just starting to bloom.  I selected this cultivar for its more easily harvested tubers.  I've seen Jerusalem artichokes recommended for use in edible landscaping; however, to be effective a shorter earlier maturing selection would be more appropriate.  Before I put up the deer fence around the garden these plants were being grazed down to the ground on a regular basis.

These towering blooms are supposed to have a chocolaty scent.
I will need to pull some down to find out.

The color of the bracts ranges from pale green to pink.
On close examination  you can see the black dots
on the yellow flowers between the leafy bracts.

Among the deer resistant plants I put in around the garden were two native species of Bee Balm.  The Wild Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, has been growing larger but has not bloomed this year.  However, the Spotted Bee Balm, M. punctata, has grown and flowered in the first year from seed.  These two plants have been untouched by the deer while the nearby Rudbeckia have been routinely munched.


While not native to the east coast the midwestern Blue Giant Hyssop, Agastache foeniculum, has been an excellent garden plant.  It is long blooming, attractive to pollinators, nicely textured and untouched by deer.  The biggest concern with this plant is its tendency to set a lot a seed.  We'll see what happens over the next couple of years.

There were lots of bluish spikes at the end of July.
These have faded to a mauve color in September,
but have maintained their shape.

In addition to these plants I have observed a number of truly wild flowers including Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris), Maryland Hawkweed (Heiracium marianum), Spanish Needles (Bidens bipinnata) and several goldenrods that I still need to ID.

As we transition into Fall there are a number of asters coming into bloom as well as a variety of goldenrods.  As I walk through the woods I will keep an eye on the ground for anything new