It’s been an exciting few weeks in my little Wildlife Habitat! I finally saw my wild sundial lupine (Lupinus perennis) bloom, and what a show that was. They are now done for the season, and their opening pods are dropping seeds. Whatever the critters don’t eat will hopefully turn into new plants next year.
Over Memorial Day weekend, I spent some time “shrinking the lawn” by digging up over 100 square feet of non-native grasses and weeds out front. In their place, I am installing species that love dry, sandy, poor soil in full sun. These include sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina), butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata), pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve), spotted bee balm (Monarda punctata), and partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata). In large center planters, I am growing a few sun-loving species that need more moisture, and they are doing great too. A few of these are New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis), coastal Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium dubium), white turtlehead (Chelone glabra), and dense blazing star (Liatris spicata).
My plantain-leaved pussytoes look terrible right now, and that makes me so happy! The leaves were completely decimated by dozens of Painted Lady butterfly caterpillars – which is exactly why I planted them, so… mission accomplished!
My winter sowing experiment is going pretty well too, though not without its setbacks. I am, after all, a new gardener, so when plants look sick, I often don’t know what’s wrong or how to fix it. Sadly, I’ve lost some young plants because of this, but I’m learning little by little. My other is challenge is: chipmunks! Boy, do they love digging in my pots and plug trays! It got tense between us for a few weeks when they dug up a bunch of my babies to bury their own seeds. I got mad. I cried… But ultimately, I just resolved to think creatively to make sure we can get along and coexist peacefully. I mean, this IS a certified Wildlife habitat – it’s their home too. Plus, they are just so freaking cute! So I spent a few days building caged tabletops to protect my plug trays. Now my seedlings are growing undisturbed, and the chipmunks have figured out how to raid my bird feeder instead. Everybody wins?
In the end, despite losing some baby plants to the chipmunks and my own inexperience, I am growing more than 400 native plants this season! I’ll be keeping a little over 300 for my own gardens, and the rest (about 12 species) will be available for purchase in late summer. They were all grown by me here in South Dennis without pesticides – and all from seed, except for one species propagated through rhizomes. A few were even started using peat-free soil and local ecotype seeds. Stay tuned for ordering and pickup details.
I’ll be going off-grid for a bit again. There’s just so much to do and enjoy outside right now that I don’t have the bandwidth to spend time on the computer.
If you are looking for inspiration, I highly recommend walking the Butterfly Mosaic Trail at Mass Audubon’s Long Pasture. I visited last week, and the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) was just starting to bloom. Photos are beautiful, but to get the full experience, you really have to get close and breathe in the scent. It’s truly transformative!
I hope you are all off to a great start to your summer!
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