Progress on my Post Oak Savannah Project June 10, 2017

This looks various unimpressive - basically just dirt.  But I thought I would document the progress, and this is where I started, so it has to be part of the pictoral history.

When I walk the area I see about 20 plant varieties.  Yaupon is trying to come up from the roots - I will kill that at some point very soon since this is a grassland.  Beautyberry is also coming up from the roots.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing - I will have to confer with my expert, Amy.  And I have zillions of poke seedlings popping up.  I'm not sure whether to keep them for shade this first year or get rid of most of them.  I've read that the sun shining on the bare land in the dead of summer could kill all the seeds in the seed bank here, so shade is critical this first year.  I can either plant a native cover crop or, I'm hoping, a less expensive option will be to take advantage of the poke for shade.  In addition, there are a half dozen or so vines coming up and several unknown varieties of forbs (weeds).

In the picture below I am standing next to the Vegetable Garden.  The green growth in the picture is squash.  I didn't plant it.  I used to throw my squash plants into a pile in the woods adjacent to the Vegetable Garden.  The bull dozer activity must have activated some growth. 



I was standing just beyond the Vegetable Garden when I took this photo.  The green growth in this picture is also squash. 



In the photo below I am standing at the bottom of the slope next to the Orchard.  The bull dozer is still here, I guess the operator is not in a hurry to begin his next job.





In the photo below I am standing in the middle of the cleared area aiming down the slope.  The Orchard is just to the left.



In the photo below the Orchard is to the left.



In the photo below I am aiming across the middle of the clearing towards the house.  You see my little greenhouse in the distance.

Below, this is a panorama shot at the top of the slope.



Weekend at the Farm June 10 - 11, 2017

This is my Jacob Cline bee balm just beginning to flower.  So pretty.

This was a really good weekend here due to my seed collecting foray with my neighbor, Amy Thomeson.

• I spent most of the morning on Saturday in the Rose Garden.  I watered and fertilized around five or so roses.  Pulled weeds.  I raked in various places.  I cut back more tickseed.  I also worked in the Long Border once the sun got too hot because there is a section of the border that is mostly in shade in the mid morning hours.  I sowed some zinnias in the bed where the Carefree Beauty grows.
• The latter half of the morning I spent in the Star Garden.  I noticed that half of one of my La Marne roses had died.  I never water them individually like I do in the Rose Garden, I just thought they were getting a lot more water. I cut away the dead part and while I was there I weeded and sowed some zinnia seeds.  I dragged a hose over that I usually leave in the back part of the Star Garden, and I watered the La Marne roses on the smallest setting for several hours. 
• I went inside for lunch and then a nap.  I didn't wake up until 4:30.  
• I watered in the Rose Garden for a bit after that, and I sowed zinnia seeds in two spots in the Star Garden.
• Sunday, first thing, I walked my new prairie area observing new growth.  Lots of crabgrass that will have to be eradicated.  It crowds out desirables.
• I staked some Montbretia and iris that were leaning into paths.
• I continued watering in the Rose Garden and fertilizing.  And I cleaned up a bed that looked pretty messy with dead verbena stems.
• Bert took an old cattle gate that had partly rusted out, turned it on its side so that it was quite tall, and positioned it in the Orchard to use as an arbor for my hops vines.  I'm excited about that, it looks really neat. 
• Amy and I went seed collecting.  Hot but absorbing work.  And very rewarding!
• Swam in the pool throughout the day.  
• I weeded in the Star Garden and I raked the paths.  Looks much better in there!
• I sprayed herbicide in the Orchard, the Rose Garden, and the Star Garden.
• I dug up some of my purple skinned potatoes, about 20.  And I picked some tomatoes and eggplants. 
• Transplanted some buttercup turnera from paths in the Rose Garden to the Star Garden and beds in the Rose Garden.
• I staked the Indigo Spires salvia and the cleome in the Star Garden, they are very floppy right now.  I deadheaded the salvia, and I collected cleome seed and threw it in various beds in the Star Garden.  
• Late Sunday afternoon I raked the paths in the Infinity Garden and sprayed herbicide.  I also cut some seed heads of columbine and threw them on the bed next to the banana shrub in the shady part of the Star Garden. 
• Drove in to work on Monday morning.

Observations of the Weekend June 10 - 11, 2017

My dear friend Jack Doran's father passed away.  He was a very sweet, cheerful, happy man.  He will be sorely missed by all those who knew him.

I found a praying mantis egg sac on one of my roses this morning.  It was empty - there was a hole in it which indicates all the babies have left the nest.  They are very recognizable - oval, about two inches long, and made of paper like wasp nests.  And while I was weeding in the Rose Garden I found an abandoned bird nest in one of the Noisettes with two little beige eggs with brown speckles.  It's my weekend for finding cool things I guess.

I noticed there are buds on my Montbretia.  Great!  I dug up many, many of the tiny bulbs last winter and moved them all over the place in the Orchard and in several places in the Star Garden.

This weekend I saw lots of Giant Swallowtails and Tiger Swallowtails.  These two varieties are some of the most beautiful and largest of all the butterflies in North America.  They are common around here, but I never grow tired of watching the pretty things.

On Sunday my neighbor Amy Thomeson invited me to go collecting seeds which I was very happy to do.  She is very knowledgeable about the natives around here, and she identified many things I've been curious about.  She also tells me which plants are invasive and which plants to encourage. We collected seeds along the small roads around here.

I gathered seed from Silver Bluestem, the seed heads are white and fluffy.   The plant is small but the seed heads grow about two feet tall.
Silver Bluestem:

 Below, this is Canada Wild Rye:

Below, this is Indian Tobacco:

Below, this is Illinois Bundleflower - in this picture the seed heads are not yet dried out.  But Amy knew of a big patch where they were all dried out.  The flowers are little puffballs.  This is excellent foraging for wildlife and cattle and is considered one of the most important native legumes.  The seed balls are really interesting-looking.

I also gathered a lot of giant thistle.  They are pink and grow about three feet tall.  They are prickly, but the butterflies love them.
Below, this is a patch of Basket Flower on the side of the road.  But the seed heads weren't quite dry so we left it.

 I also gathered some blanket flower because there were large patches of dried seed heads, but I was mostly looking for seeds from plants that aren't easy to find on seed websites.

What a great morning!  Thank you to Amy who is teaching me so much!


 

Echinacea June 11, 2017

Over multiple seasons echinacea makes bigger and bigger clumps.  The one below began as a little plant and I was thrilled to get one flower.  Look at it now.  Echinacea, or coneflower, is an excellent herb.  Roots that are three years old or older and the primary medicianl part of the plant.  It is antiobiotic that fights infections and is good for lymph and immune systems.  It's also a blood purifier.  I've read that the seeds are very good to eat, but I've also read that they are bad for you - confusing regarding the seeds, but the benefits of the roots are well-established.

This spring I planted two flats of coneflower of various varieties because I love them so much.  I planted them all down in the Orchard.

 Below, this is one of the small plants I put in the ground this spring.

Rolf Fiedler Rain Lilies

The three days of rain last week prompted the rain lilies to bloom.  Last fall I moved some of these bulbs to a couple of places in the Rose Garden.  Those are blooming right now as well.

Zinnias June 10, 2017

Many of the zinnias in these pictures are a variety called Cactus Flower zinnia.

Day Lilies June 10, 2017