silver plains project ~ chronicle for 2010 silver plains project ~ chronicle for 2010

we're not alone

While work in the yard didn't start until late March, behind the scenes activities kept us busy since the ringing in of the New Year. In November 2009, Irene Fedun, editor for The Blazing Star — a newsletter from the North American Native Plant Society — invited me to write an article. After a few rewrites it was sent off for publication near the end of January.

Then Shirley Froehlich of Prairie Originals — our first sponsor — invited us to go with her when she drove to Regina for the Annual General Meeting of the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan in early February. Along with getting to know Shirley — she's been growing and selling native plants for twenty years — we met Chet Neufeld, with whom Coleen had been corresponding, and several other native plant enthusiasts. Chet is the paid director for NPSS which has a substantial annual budget, due to its corporate and government sponsors. About 40 people with a keen interest in native plants attended the meeting. Two key presenters were from Manitoba:

John P. Morgan (of Prairie Habitats) and
Doug Cattani (Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives)

We have spoken with John and are familiar with his *talk*. He still brings the enthusiasm he is known for to his presentations on Tallgrass Prairie and native plants in general. He observed, from his perspective as an ecologist, that “McLandscaping” — [conventional Garden Landscaping] — has turned Tallgrass Prairie species into genetic refugees. They once grew in broad communities; now they may be added here and there in people’s gardens [that are mostly foreign plants] or used in larger “native plantings” [that are surrounded by foreign material].
          Doug spoke about a turf grass experiment he had been involved with using native grasses instead of alien species; unfortunately, the natives — except for buffalo grass — didn't do so well as replacements for mowed grassy areas that would get a lot of foot traffic. He remarked on how, when new houses are built, the top 30 cm of soil is first removed. Then, after the basement is dug, a 15 cm layer of deep soil from the hole is spread over the site. This is topped with a layer of 15 cm of the original soil mixed with 70% peat. All of which completely destroys the original soil’s chemistry and renders it unsuitable for growing most native species.
          And we met Austin and Shirley Eade, a couple from Craik, Saskatchewan, who have been planting native trees for thirty years. Austin said it was his hobby. He explained the process, from germination to planting out; after so many years practice, he made it sound easy. He reckoned he/they had grown and planted over 10,000 trees. Good hobby!

During the drive home we chatted with Shirley about setting up a Manitoba Native Plant Society (or some such). But we are all aware of the time and energy that would be required and with us being busy with our respective endeavours were reluctant to commit to the idea.

Encouraged though we were to meet others with an interest in native plants, Coleen and I couldn't help realizing just how few people in Canada share that interest. The NANPS has about 500 members; NPSS about 100. Manitoba has no sister organization. The closest would be Manitoba Naturalists Society — who promote use of all plants, both alien and native — or Native Orchid Conservation Inc — which is focused on a tiny niche in the native plant community. There are some big organizations, to be sure, that are acquiring land and protecting certain areas but down at the personal level little is being done to advocate for native plants in general, Tallgrass Prairie plants in particular.

Just after our return from Saskatchewan we had a low wind day and were able to finish the frost seeding we had started in December.

maintenance

pond bridge ~ 10AP21-01

pond bridge ~ 10AP21-01

The first task every spring is to repair the driveway. When clearing snow, large rocks (that somehow float to the surface) get hung up on the blade behind the tractor and are strewn on either side of the expanse of crushed rock. (There are fewer and fewer each year.) And small rock, that spills over the sides of the driveway, has to be raked back onto the driveway. The larger rocks, once *picked*, are being placed along the sides of ditches that can get intense water flow for brief periods in the spring each year.

fire, west yard ~ 10MR28

fire, west yard ~ 10MR28

fire, west yard ~ 10MR28-07

fire, west yard ~ 10MR28-07

Spring arrived early and was both dry and very warm. We were very happy that the yard, inside the dike, drained quickly and evenly this year. The various bridges and culverts thawed ahead of or along with the melt; there were no torrents of water like in previous years. This was partly attributable to the fact that, over the course of the winter, most snow had blown away; little of it collected in the yard.

There was enough thatch in the west yard that we were able to burn it for the first time. And we got a good burn. But, for the purpose of weed control, burning at the end of March was much too early. We will wait until the beginning of May next time; when dandelions, et cetera, are coming up.

west yard; bulrush edging ~ 10AP21

west yard; bulrush edging (north side of *bridge*) ~ 10AP21

The softstem bulrushes in the wet portion of the west yard did very well last year. What started out as three tiny clumps of mostly root in 2007 had become a stand that was easily 6 m X 4 m. We decided that we had to contain them or they would take over that part of the region. This involved cutting 30 cm wide strips of scrap galvanized siding and, after splitting the soil with a spade, pounding the metal sheets into the ground. A task that is slightly easier to accomplish than it sounds.

next, of course, is WEEDING!

docks ~ 10MA31

docks ~ 10MA31

Most of April and the early part of May were both dry and warm, although oftentimes too windy for yard work. As soon as we could get on the yard, after spring snow melt, we started weeding. But, just as all the cool season plants started coming up in earnest, the weather changed. While still warm, it rained at least every other day, sometimes several days in a row, during the last two weeks of May; this included a couple of overnight thunderstorms that each dumped 30 mm of rain in the second week. We were unable to get on the yard and the alien plants do exceptionally well with lots of moisture. Some of the docks reached 60 cm in diameter. Hundreds of dandelions appeared, some sprawling to 50 cm wide. In some areas alfalfa and red or alsike clover completely obscured the desirable plants coming up underneath them.

west yard ~ 10MA31-02

west yard ~ 10MA31-02

nursery ~ 10MA31-02

nursery ~ 10MA31-02

east ditch ~ 10MA31-01

east ditch ~ 10MA31-01

The nursery — which is sort of on hold / still being developed — is now completely overgrown with dandelions, docks, alfalfa, clovers and smooth brome. Elsewhere on the yard, two new grasses (one of which we were told by a native plant consultant was native) are spreading like crazy and are both, as it turns out, introduced: Kentucky bluegrass, Poa pratensis and slender salt-meadow grass, Puccinellia distans. Meadow foxtail is spreading around the west yard, even filling in the sedge meadow; our attempt to reduce its spread last year — we removed all of the seedheads — did not work. There is easily four times as much of the alien grass as there was the year before. It is joined by dandelions, the two grasses mentioned above, and common plantain. The two small lawn areas in the west yard, where we sowed blue grama grass, have filled in with docks, dandelions, and meadow foxtail along with a re-emergence of quackgrass. The same thing happened on the slope of the dike in the front yard which had blue grama mixed with some needle and thread grass along with a few wildflowers. The north end of the east ditch is almost solid red or alsike clover. The small patch of lawn over by the pond is similarily overgrown with plants other than the blue grama grass which we seeded there: foxtail barley, dandelions, docks, and various clovers.

We tried a couple of alternate methods for eliminating undesirable plants. I used a propane torch in a few areas. Everything that had been burned grew back right away. I sprayed bleach on dandelions in the west yard; it killed the plant but the flowers persisted and still set seed. Unfortunately using bleach on the numbers of weeds we have to deal with is not a good idea: It will, over time, raise the salinity of the soil; the chlorine will combine with sodium in the ground to form salt.

Coleen; weeding sedge meadow ~ 10MA31-01

Coleen; weeding sedge meadow ~ 10MA31-01

In the end we were back to digging where and when we could and we decided to try an overgrazing approach with the meadow foxtail. Coleen, for the most part, diligently plucked most of the grass from the ground. This often resulted in the removal of some roots and rhizomes, but we do not expect that this method will get rid of the alien plant.

west yard; covered patches ~ 10MA31-01

west yard; covered patches ~ 10MA31-01

We also started using a third new approach: Covering patches that are almost exclusively undesirable plants with thick layers of flax straw. (While some of the plants may still grow through — grasses especially — this method brings rhizomes to the surface making them easier to extract later.)

Since non-chemical approaches have not worked (or have negative side effects), since we cannot dig everywhere (especially when seedlings are coming up), since laying flax straw works to cover patches that are mostly alien material but not for areas that have a high percentage of native plants, and since our hands and backs are sore from weeding, we may have to resort to using chemical herbicides. Reluctant though we are to do this there may be no other way to get rid of the weeds that appear in and around the many native plants that are growing on the yard. For example, digging out a patch of white clover that has spread through an area will take ninety percent, if not all, of the desirable plants with it. Removing expanses of Kentucky bluegrass by digging does the same.

some good news

babbling brook ~ 10MA31

babbling brook ~ 10MA31

Once we cleared weeds in some areas we discovered that a lot of native material is still there and most of it is flourishing. Blue-eyed grass has shown up all over the yard. Yellow woodsorrel has spread by the babbling brook; so have
blue grama grass, junegrass, plains muhly, and marsh muhly; yellow coneflower, ascending purple milkvetch, northern bedstraw, pygmyflower, along with a prairie crocus that put on quite a show in early April.

Coleen; sedge meadow ~ 10MA31

Coleen; sedge meadow ~ 10MA31

The west yard is filling in with a variety of sedges and rushes: green bulrush, cosmopolitan bulrush, baltic rush, bald spikerush, and several others for which we don’t yet have names. They are joined by: tall mannagrass, Nuttall’s alkali grass, northern reedgrass, scratch grass, sloughgrass, sweet grass, many-flowered aster, yellow avens, black-eyed susan, blue vervain, yellow coneflower, philadelphia fleabane, canada goldenrod, missouri goldenrod, field horsetail, indian hemp, marsh hedgnettle, marsh marigold, meadowrue, ascending purple milkvetch, swamp milkweed, seaside arrowgrass, silverweed, water parsnip, southern water plantain, wild iris, wild mint, yellow star grass, snowberry, prickly rose, red osier dogwood, common hop, and indigo bush. While quite spotty, much of the blue grama grass, that was sown in both lawn areas, is still there — even after the trauma of weeding around the young sprigs — and the bunches that are two years old are getting bigger.

back yard; shoulder ~ 10MA31

back yard; shoulder ~ 10MA31

In the back yard, in two small locations, we have: blue grama grass, fringed brome, wild bergamot, philadelphia fleabane, wild strawberry, shrubby cinquefoil, kinnikinnick, and wild black currant.

front yard ~ 10JN14-01

front yard ~ 10JN14-01

In the front yard there are: blue grama grass, big bluestem, little bluestem, fringed brome, foxtail barley, indian grass, junegrass, fowl bluegrass, Nuttall’s alkali grass, scratch grass, an unidentified grass, golden alexander, Canada anemone, many-flowered aster, western silvery aster, three flowered avens, yellow avens, black-eyed susan, blue-eyed grass, yellow coneflower, gaillardia, harebell, hoary puccoon, Canada goldenrod, Missouri goldenrod, showy goldenrod, stiff goldenrod, entire-leaved groundsel, gumweed, helenium, prairie lily, common milkweed, Canada milkvetch, narrowleaf hawksbeard, northern bedstraw, autumn onion, peppergrass, yellow evening primrose, pussytoes, prairie sage, silverweed, narrowleaf sunflower, oxeye sunflower, Flodman’s thistle, yarrow, yellow goatsbeard, riverbank grape, dwarf false indigo, and western snowberry.

pond ~ 10JN14-03

pond ~ 10JN14-03

Around the pond, many native species have spread since we started some small bunches and some have appeared spontaneously: foxtail barley, tall mannagrass, Nuttall’s alkali grass, prairie cordgrass, common reedgrass, northern reedgrass, sloughgrass, many-flowered aster, yellow avens, blue-eyed grass, blue flag iris, Canada goldenrod, indian hemp, seaside arrowgrass, silverweed, smartweed, southern water plantain, water parsnip, wild mint, green bulrush, softstem bulrush, cattails, baltic rush, bald spikerush, needle spikerush, beaked sedge, and prairie rose.

out and about

Towards the end of May we drove over to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in southeastern Manitoba. We saw some plants on this trip — which we have seen elsewhere — that we had not seen at or near the Preserve before: entire-leaved groundsel, lots of hoary puccoon, seneca root, and northern bog violet. Plus, blue-eyed grass and yellow star grass (while less abundant) were blooming everywhere. Grass of Parnassus was getting started in many of the neighbouring ditches.

sweetgrass ~ 10MA29

sweetgrass ~ 10MA29

One ditch was practically filled with sweet grass (which is usually hard to find). And we saw, for the first time, many false dandelions, starry false Solomon’s seal, Canadian lousewort, a dense stand of water horsetail, and a blue green sedge (for which we do not have a name). Marsh marigold — which we had not seen in the wild before — was growing near the horsetail and getting ready to flower. Both plants seemed to like all the moisture; the ditch, which is usually almost dry at that time of year, had 60 cm of water in it.

Before going on the trip we had identified a couple of plants that we have photos of but didn't know their names: pale comandra (aka bastard toadflax) and northern willowherb. The former was growing in abundance in one of the ditches en route to the Preserve. We haven’t seen it anywhere since 2007.

ascending purple milkvetch; Canada anemone ~ 10JN06-01

ascending purple milkvetch; Canada anemone ~ 10JN06-01

A couple of weeks later we took the long way home from Morris*. Since moving out here, there have always been fifteen or so different native plants growing in the ditches on either side of the roadway. Last year much of the road was under water during the flood and, while the variety of native material was the same as in previous years, the percentage of it went up after the water receded. This year we were surprised to see some new species growing there: hoary puccoon, ascending purple milkvetch, and dwarf milkweed.

Like all plants each native species has its season. We are also discovering that each native species responds to general conditions in a given year. The first summer I went to the Tallgrass Preserve there was next to no big bluestem. I was not impressed. Big bluestem is considered to be the dominant grass of Tallgrass Prairie. I wondered why. But the summer of 2004 was cooler than usual for this part of the world and big bluestem wants heat. Two years later, during a much warmer summer, the grass was everywhere both in the Preserve and the surrounding areas. An acquaintance of Coleen’s, who has a ranch in Manitoba’s InterLake District (much of which has never seen a plow) told her, “Sometimes you don't see a particular plant for seven years. You think, ‘Maybe it’s gone,’ then it shows up again for a few years while others disappear for a while.”

weary

Wet weather has impeded weeding. The undesirables are doing exceptionally well with all the extra moisture. It’s demoralizing to say the least. Many native plants already growing on the yard are self-propogating, but so little of all the seed we have sown has germinated. It appears that frost seeding has failed; what may be coming up is so sparse we may as well not have bothered.

The front and west yards are filling in with native plants that we acquired or started as seedlings. Spotty though it is, blue grama grass that we sowed and diligently watered is returning and spreading in three of four areas. The south and west sides of the pond are filling in with primarily native species all by themselves (aided by burning that we have been able to do there). We have a bunch of new seedlings this year (about 210 five cm pots with plants in them). From what we have seen in our travels, once planted with native flora this site will be somewhat weed resistant. The sooner we get the remaining 1.25 hectares planted the better.

meadow blazingstar; plugs ~ 10JN12

meadow blazingstar; plugs ~ 10JN12

Shirley Froehlich sugggested plugs during our lengthy conversation en route to and from Regina. They are probably the way to go; especially since we are able to water the entire site (bit by bit) if need be. Yet, aside from the cost for the tens of thousands of plugs required, we would have to hire a team of people to assist us with planting them out. We have three unused bays in the garage that could be converted into a greenhouse. Setting up a greenhouse would make it possible for us to start our own plugs. However, we’ve run out of money.

This is a worthwhile project. We want to see the yard fully planted now more than when we started. But we need help.

Robert G. Mears

June 2010

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