Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) is such a pretty plant! This one seems to be quite happy, growing in an area that’s very wet in the spring. On the left are blooming stems of swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). New to this particular planting bed, they’re marked with a stake, so they don’t get weeded out by accident.
Over on the other end of the pond, a bunch of existing dogwood shrubs needed dividing, so we transplanted them here, to back up the milkweeds. In front of the milkweeds are little bluestem, big bluestem, aster and fern divisions. A young Princeton elm anchors the far end of the “river.”
Seeds collected from Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed) and Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) are almost as beautiful as the plant itself! These were immediately scattered all along the Milkweed River.
The west side of the back acre needed more wildlife-friendly planting. This long swath begins in the nearfield with evergreens to grow up and eventually block the view of the wood chip pile from the house. It then winds all the way across the field to the right.
Native milkweed, goldenrod and rudbeckia seeds were gathered and used to start the new “Milkweed River.”
It’s just unbelievable that this area was once the thickest area of the densest, deepest and most monstrous Japanese knotweed rhizomes I’ve ever seen, over 8′ tall. You could not walk through it or see through it.
Now, it’s planted with a grove of Betula nigra (river birch) and one Ulmus americana (Princeton elm). The cedar, juniper and pines in the background are very happy also. Walker’s Low catmint loves the sunny slope. My favorite, though, is the Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed), in the foreground. Years ago, I scattered seed in this area, and it’s still coming up.
I don’t think of common milkweed as a weed at all. It’s beautiful, it has great architecture and its scent is heavenly. It does great things for insects (hence birds also) and butterflies. Last year when we had a resident groundhog family, the young shoots were their favorite food. Once we had milkweed coming up, the groundhogs left our salvias alone!
