Wild Areas

Our manicured landscape area is surrounded on three sides by wild areas.  This strip of weeds between the Viburnum Thicket and the west driveway is a good example.  It used to be the very edge of the mowed lawn.  After the driveway was put in we used to still take a pass down it a few times a year with the lawnmower.  

Once we actually tried landscaping it.  We planted some daylilies and iris and mulched it heavily.  For a few years I kept the blackberries, wild strawberries, ferns, goldenrod and aster beat back a good three feet.  Then I gave up.  I still whack it down in the fall, otherwise the goldenrod leans over into the driveway.  But areas like this are impossible to landscape.  Its a losing battle.  All woody thicket area need to be bordered by lawn or gravel.  And the gravel may still be a battle.  All natural vegetative species believe in Expansionism and Manifest Destiny.

Before I gave up on it completely I buried some Milkweed roots in there.  I had allowed a volunteer Common Milkweed to grow in the landscape bed along the house.  That's something you don't want to do either.  Common Milkweed spreads by roots and it is difficult impossible to get rid of.  Especially when it finds itself in loose, rich, fertile soil like a garden.  I dug roots for three years before I got it out of there.  But I always buried the roots in an area where I would actually like Milkweed to grow.

The first year three stalks came up and this year I have 20.  

There is a lot of insect activity in there in the morning.  And fresh, young Milkweed is actually pretty attractive.  Later on it will get ugly and I will harvest the pods, throw those somewhere I wouldn't mind Milkweed to grow and whack it down.

There were a lot of tiny snails this morning, and several lady beetles.  I have seen a Monarch Butterfly visit this thicket several times this year already.  Monarchs are very spare with their eggs.  They know that if one hatches, the caterpillar will need plenty of room to munch.  They can't be crowded by many competitive siblings.  There is a little egg there by the lady beetle.  None have hatched yet.  

On my morning walk I thought of a "faith in planting" example to show you.  Three weeks ago when my last perennial plant order arrived, the two Amsonia plants had absolutely fried in shipping.  They were about 8 inches tall and every leaf was brown and crispy.  But the stems were still green so I potted them up and stuck them in the cold frame.  After about a week they began to show growth at the base so I snipped them down and planted them out.   They are doing just fine.

Next year they will look like the one pictured below.  Amsonia is one of the first perennials in my garden to bloom in May.  The flowers are subtle and short lived but afterwards you get a nice shrubby looking plant that is very tough and will add nice texture to any garden.  I started with one plant and now I have six of three different varieties.

Another example of a quick growing, mail order perennial is this Cimicifuga (Bugbane).  This has been in the ground 10 days and look at how quickly it is putting on growth.  I killed my last Cimicifuga because I planted it in an area where it did not get enough sun.

I am looking forward to seeing how this one does.