Prairie Garden Anniversary

Twenty years ago, I decided that I needed a place where I could grow some of the interesting plants found at Blue Jay Barrens that would allow me to view them daily and learn something about their growth patterns.  I gathered seed from various places around the property and in the summer of 1995, planted that seed in a front yard location with such poor soil that typical lawn grass had trouble growing.  I thought this would best simulate the stressful conditions found in the barrens from which the seed originated.  The Prairie Garden took off and is now about twice its original size.

In addition to planting seed directly onto the Prairie Garden site, I attempted to grow some of the uncommon species in pots for later transplant.  I had limited success, but managed to get a few plants.  Seed had been collected and stored, and then stratified or scarified as suggested by several texts I consulted.  I soon learned that most seed, such as that from this False Gromwell, Onosmodium molle var. hispidissimum, does best when planted in pots at the time it falls from the plant and then allowed to experience natural weather conditions until its natural germination time.

My original idea was to have each plant species growing in a certain location so it would be easy to find and observe.  This was the case for the first few years, but the plants soon began behaving as they do in the wild.  I had three of these American Aloes, Agave virginica, that survived transplanting and grew to flowering size.  Two are still persisting, but their offspring are scattered around the garden.   With many species, the initial planting has died, but younger plants have taken their place.

Even though my goal was to showcase uncommon species, I included several common species in the mix.  Gray-headed Coneflower, Ratibida pinnata, is a very common prairie species in this area. 

Gray-headed Coneflower was the first prairie species I found on this property after its purchase 30 years ago.  About a month after moving in, I was on my way home from work and passed a small plant growing out of the loose stone on the edge of the road just in front of the house.  At that time, I had not had an opportunity to explore any of my newly acquired property, so I didn’t know that in just a few weeks this species would be blooming everywhere.  Fearing that the plant was in danger of being destroyed by passing traffic, I grabbed a shovel and transplanted the coneflower to a spot near the edge of the yard.  It prospered in its new location and produced many new blooms through the summer.

I planted a single grass species, Side-oats Gramma, in the Prairie Garden.  Besides being a lovely plant, it only grows a few feet tall.  I thought the short stature of the grass would make it easier to keep track of the other plants.

The Side-oats Gramma can still be found in the garden, but it is no longer the only grass.  Indian Grass soon found its way here and now dominates about a third of the garden area.

Some of the wildflowers bloom early in the season while the Indian Grass is still short.  Others, like the Western Sunflower, Helianthus occidentalis, grow along with the grass and later produce tall flower stalks.  In August, these Western Sunflower plants will top out at over six feet.  Their flowers will be held up above the thick mass of grass leaves where they will attract a variety of pollinators.

Allegheny Mound Ants maintain a single residence in the center of the Prairie Garden.  Their appearance was the result of a colony migration, with a three foot diameter mound being created in just a few weeks.  Once the mound was established, the ants proceeded to eliminate selected nearby plant species that apparently posed a threat to the colony.  Spider Milkweed, Asclepias viridis, an uncommon species that I had planted here, was eliminated soon after the ants arrived.  Other species, such as this Round-podded St. Johnswort, Hypericum sphaerocarpum, are allowed to grow right up to the edge of the mound.

An extension to the garden was added a few years ago.  Since I know that grass will eventually colonize this area, no grass was planted in the addition.

Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, was represented by only a few plants when I first discovered it on the property 30 years ago.  Their numbers were so few when I first created the Prairie Garden that I didn’t take any of their seed for that initial planting.  Clearing away cedars and other woody growth allowed to plants to flourish, so there was an abundance of seed available for this recent planting.  The addition of colorful plants makes it more likely that passersby will consider this an intentional creation and not just a random patch of weeds.

Purple Coneflower is also eagerly sought by many pollinator species.  In most years, butterflies are the dominant visitors of these plants.  So far, Bumblebees are outnumbering butterflies by several to one at all of the nectar sources.  Conditions this past winter must have been perfect for Bumblebee queen survival.

The Prairie Garden spawned this patch of prairie vegetation growing along the driveway.  I refer to this as the Prairie Garden Annex.  I am thinking of expanding the garden to tie in with this area.

The Annex grew up around this patch of Northern Fogfruit, Phyla lanceolata.  I found the Fogfruit growing at the edge of the driveway several years ago.  I was curious about its origin, whether it was already on the property or if the seed had been carried in on some visiting vehicle.  I decided to let it grow to see what developed, but people kept running over it.  When the Indian Grass began to grow here, people must have gotten the idea that I wanted those plants to stay, because they stopped driving there.  I allowed the Indian Grass to spread as a further deterrent to vehicular traffic.

My original intent for this project has been realized.  Developing the Prairie Garden has allowed me to observe the growth of plants in a way that was not possible in their natural sites far from the house.  I hope to continue increasing the size of the garden and to establish additional uncommon species to the mix.

Prairie Garden Mowing

The tall grass in the Prairie Garden looks a bit battered from the heavy snows it endured this winter.  The combination of strong west winds, heavy snow, and no support outside the garden boundary, caused much of the grass to be laid on its side.  Even though there are acres of similar habitat very close by, birds and other animals spend a lot of time foraging and hiding in this small plot.  This is one of the reasons I leave the garden untouched through the winter.

The new portion of the Prairie Garden has little prairie grass, so the dead stalks of various wild flowers are easy to see.  Birds have pretty much picked the area clean of seeds.

In the spring, I remove the dead top growth.  The process begins by cutting with the brush mower and raking the cut material from the garden.

The clearing away of dead material is done primarily to give me an unobstructed view of the developing plant life.  I intentionally crowded a large number of species into this small space.  They all grow naturally at Blue Jay Barrens, but it takes a bit of a walk to visit all of the areas where the different species occur.  The Prairie Garden specimens make it possible to easily visit the plants every day and follow the various stages of their development.  The recent heavy snow cover has slowed the emergence of many of the common plants.  Some species, such as this Orange Coneflower, Rudbeckia fulgida, were already green and growing prior to the onset of snow.

Monarda has produced this growth in just the week or so since the snow melted.

The invasive Oxeye Daisy, Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, legally designated as a noxious weed in Ohio, maintains a cluster of green basal leaves through the winter.  This is the only specimen found in the garden this spring.  

I’ve been pulling Oxeye Daisy from the Prairie Garden to evaluate the effectiveness of this method in controlling the weed.  I’ve found that the pulled plant can be killed if all segments of the spreading rhizome are removed from the ground.  Fibrous roots don’t seem capable of regrowing the plant, but any small segment of rhizome will quickly reestablish the infestation.  Pulling isn’t a practical method of dealing with fields already filled with Oxeye Daisy, but it can be effective in dealing with new incursions into previously uninfested areas.

After raking, I go over the garden with a push mower equipped with a grass catching bag.  It’s at this stage in my management efforts that some people get the impression that I’m finally getting rid of the weed patch in my yard in favor of a cleanly mowed look.

It is now easy to see anything growing in the garden area.

The material removed from the Prairie Garden is hauled back to the vegetable garden and used as mulch between the raised growing beds.  By next fall, the material will be well composted and will be incorporated on top of the beds.

Prairie Garden - New Section

This was definitely not the year to be attempting an addition to the Prairie Garden.  Heavy rain redistributed the seed and the spring drought killed many of the seedlings.  The resulting stand was much less than I had expected.

The area may look green, but most of that is undesirable plant growth.

A few spots show more of the prairie plants that I was expecting.  Out of about 40 species of seed scattered on the area, I can find plants for only three of those species.  Many other species were visible as seedlings early in the spring, but most didn’t make it though the hot, dry spring.

Several Purple Coneflowers are present and doing well.  They should all flower next summer.

Gray-headed Coneflower was the most successful at becoming established.  This is a very easy species to get established.  If the Gray-headed Coneflower fails to grow, you’ve had a failure of impressive proportions.

A few places are still bare and covered by the residue of the lawn grass that was killed last fall.  Most of the garden is covered by a mix of native and non-native annual plants commonly thought of as weeds.  I will be spraying glyphosate herbicide on portions of the garden to keep these species from going to seed.  I may also plant some Annual Ryegrass to give the area more cover through the winter.  The grass will die over the winter, so it won’t compete at all with the new seedlings next spring.

I haven’t decided whether I should herbicide the entire new section of the Prairie Garden or if I should try to save the desirable plants.  I’ll most likely cover the Purple Coneflowers and spray everything else.  Gray-headed Coneflower should easily reestablish itself from seed next spring.  Because of the drought, seed is going to be scarce.  I doubt that I can collect a mixture as diverse as what I planted last fall.

At least not all of the undesirable species are non-native.  Common Yellow Wood-sorrel or Sourgrass, Oxalis stricta, is a common native that is competitive enough to create a monoculture in some areas.  It’s an interesting plant, but it’s not what I was hoping for here.

The presence of Japanese Clover, Lespedeza striata, was a surprise to me.  I haven’t seen this non-native species in many years.  It’s another highly competitive plant that can claim large areas to itself.  It’s a pretty flower, but I’ll have it gone before it can produce any more seed.  Hopefully, the second year will prove more successful at developing a new section of Prairie Garden.

Prairie Garden - Old Section

The Prairie Garden has really suffered because of the drought.  Even in normal years, growing in the shallow soil of a steep, south facing slope causes the plants to suffer from moisture stress. The floral display that is supposed to clearly show everyone that this is not a weed patch, never happened this year.

This is the season for the grasses to dominate, but the grasses just aren’t developing.  This scene looks like it was taken in early June instead of August.

Little Bluestem only put up a fraction of the seed stalks normally produced.  This clump is typically thick enough to block out the background.

There was a new blooming plant in the Prairie Garden this year.  Wild Potato Vine, Ipomoea pandurata, is a native member of the Morning Glory family.  It produces a large tuberous root that will carry the plant through the worst drought.  I planted these seeds three years ago.

The Round-podded St. Johnswort has had a rebirth.  It began flowering earlier in the year, but died back as the soil dried out. 

The lack of grass competition has allowed the resurrected St. Johnswort to flourish and produce an abundance of seed.  This plant has managed to fare much better than it does in a typical season.

Butterflyweed has had a similar resurgence.  New growth is emerging from ground level as well as from old stalks.

Gray-headed Coneflower was almost non-existent.  This plant normally creates a cloud of yellow that overtops everything else in the garden.  This year, the species was represented by only a few short plants scattered through the stand.

Wild Petunia has been as vigorous as ever.  The petunia grows in the lawn just as readily as in the garden and seems impervious to drought, flood, mowing or herbicide.  I never had to introduce any seed to get this species growing.

Baptisia was knocked down by the storms, but it seemed to produce a fine crop of seed pods.

Unfortunately, there are few seeds inside and the wet conditions have caused mold to grow inside the pod.

False Aloe flowered, but has failed to produce many seed pods.  I’ll have to wait a few weeks to see if these contain any viable seed.

Very few Purple Coneflowers actually bloomed.  Those that did produced short lived flowers.  I’m not expecting much in the way of seeds from these plants.

False Gromwell only produced about 25 percent of its normal seed crop.  This is going to be a tough year for collecting prairie seed.

Western Sunflower normally produces the last big flash of color for the year.  These flower buds give promise of flowers to come.

The lack of competition from tall grasses is also benefiting the Western Sunflower.  This may be its year to rule the Prairie Garden.