Prairie Garden Spring Maintenance

The dead growth in the Prairie Garden is removed each spring.  I used to do an occasional spring burn, but abandoned that management technique because of the potential threat to the overwintering pupae of the state endangered Unexpected Tiger Moth, Cycnia inopinatus.  Now I mow and lightly rake, which greatly reduces the threat to the pupae tucked away in the leaf litter at the base of their larval food plant, Butterflyweed.

Red flags act as warnings to use caution with the mower in certain areas.  I’ve learned not to trust myself to remember every little obstacle hidden in the tall grass.

The plants would grow even if I allowed this dead material to remain.  The reason for removing the top growth is to facilitate observation of the various growth stages of each species.  Getting to know the plants at different times of the year was my primary motivation for creating this garden.

Even though the grass looks impenetrable when viewed from a distance, it actually has many openings that allow sunlight down to low growing plants.

It only takes a few passes with the brush mower to get things cut down.

What’s left looks pretty brown.

A closer look reveals a lot of color being displayed by early season growth.

Western Sunflower, Helianthus occidentalis, begins growth early in the season.  Even though Western Sunflower will grow to a height of six feet or more, most of the leaves remain at ground level, so the plant must make full use of early season sunlight before it becomes shaded by neighboring plants.

This is Hairy Bittercress, a weedy non-native that I first found here about 20 years ago.  It is now everywhere around the yard.

Hairy Bittercress thrives in bare, disturbed earth.  Large ant mounds provide an ideal growing environment.  All of my yard mounds harbor this weed and the plant is beginning to show up on ant mounds in the fields.

Fortunately, most of the greenery in the prairie garden is due to growth of native species.  These are the basal leaves of Gray-headed Coneflower, Ratibida pinnata.

Wild Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, is coming along nicely.  A morning low of 11 degrees doesn’t seem to have done any damage to the leaves.

The population of Round-podded St. Johnswort, Hypericum sphaerocarpum, keeps shifting its position around the garden.  Clumps of plants live for two or three years and then die.  There are always new plants coming up somewhere else to take their place.

Prairie Dock has hardly made it out of the ground, but something has already nipped off the first leaf.  Deer browse heavily on this plant in the early spring, but ignore it later on.  I imagine that more suitable forage becomes available as the season progresses.

I suspect this to be the work of an Eastern Cottontail.  There seems to be a rabbit’s nest in the garden every year.  Usually she digs up some plant that I’m particularly sorry to lose.

Round Podded St. Johnswort

Last week I mentioned the non-native Common St. Johnswort . There are also some natives like this Round-podded St. Johnswort, Hypericum sphaerocarpum, a short growing plant with a vibrant lemon-lime colored bloom. I’m always happy to see this plant.

No dark spots mark these velvety petals. The mass of long stamens tend to stay bunched together until the time of peak pollen set and then they spread out to create an illusion of softness. Spread stamens seem to signal insects that this flower is ready for visitation. I call this little bee a Calf Pincher, because this type always gets on the backs of my legs when I wear shorts and gives me a little pinchy sting when I crouch down.

Once the flower is fertilized, the stamens tend to close back together. The old petals persist for quite a long time after pollination. Their shriveled remains are often still present when the seed filled pod reaches its full size. The sharply pointed bracts seem to stand as a guard around the developing bloom.

Dangling from beneath a flower is not a normal position for a bee. So what could be holding that bee in place?

I was guessing Ambush Bug, but instead, I found this nice chunky crab spider. Many species of crab spiders ambush prey that has come to feed at a flower.

Small bees are probably the most common prey for these spiders. Later in the summer, it often appears that the majority of flowers have crab spiders stalking their petals. It’s the high numbers of flower visitors that makes it at all safe for small insects to search for nectar and pollen. The spiders can only eat so much each day, so the loss of a couple of insects makes it safe for the majority of visitors.