6-7-2020
I am a nature girl interested in all the live things around me. When we moved “out to the country” several years ago, I wanted to create a habitat for the maximum number of wild things. I haven’t found good information on exactly how to manage the meadows for the best habitat, but my thought was to only mow the meadows once a year in the dead of winter. This schedule gives each kind of plant, as well as the critters who depend on them, a chance to go through their whole life cycle including flowering and producing seeds. Coupled with the very careful removal of non-native plants, I hoped to see more and more variety in the plants and animals around here.
Here are some cool things I found today:
Heal-All. I’m so excited to see this plant. It is the first time I’ve found it at our place! This tells me that the native plants are moving in as I had hoped.
Common Milkweed – The is the second type of milkweed I’ve found. This plant is critical for the procreation of endangered Monarch Butterflies.
Butterflyweed – This is another type of milkweed. We were blessed to have these when we bought the property, but they have increased in number over the years. The gorgeous orange flowers, coupled with their critical importance to Monarchs, makes them doubly exciting.
Blackberries – No explanation needed. These were delicious and there were plenty left for the birds and other animals who love them.
Muscadines – A grape native to the southeast, muscadines are in flower now and starting to set fruit. They are another importation food source for wildlife. They are one of the reasons we call our place The Garden of Eatin’.
Elderberry – In flower now with berries soon to follow. Good for wildlife later in the summer.
Skullcap Hyssop – I thought I had missed seeing the hyssop bloom this year, but I found a few flowers left. There are seed stalks all around showing that they are thriving from not being mown before they set seed. That means more of this little lovely in the future.
Meadowbeauty – This flower of the wetlands is just starting to bloom. We’ll enjoy this splash of color all summer along the water’s edge.
Ladies Tresses – This is a terrestrial orchid that stands about 6″ tall. It’s easy to miss the delicate spirals of tiny white flowers. Our meadows are one of the few places I’ve ever seen them grow.
I also saw a couple of areas where deer had bedded down in the meadow. I’ve tried to photograph these areas several times, but the body prints don’t show up in photos. It’s cool to think that deer and their fawns feel comfortable enough to nap at our place for a while.
The clematis known as Pine Hyacinth is in bloom. This, like butterflyweed, is one of those plants I had coveted, and then found growing on our own property after we moved here. What a treat. We’ve also been watching the eagles and osprey, along with the geese, raising the next generation. I’ll post more photos of the wild things as the seasons roll on.
donnablackwrites 