Tag: wildlife

Wildlife Protection Area

Here’s the buttonbush in context – it’s part of a large swath of plantings on the east side of the back acre. This is an area that’s extremely wet in the spring. Formerly, about 6 years ago, there was nothing here but the low part of a mown field. Before that, it was a field with lots of invasive plants that hardly ever got mowed. These days, there’s a lot more cover for wildlife. The plants here now are mostly natives that support various species of animals and insects. From left to right: viburnum, swamp milkweed, buttonbush, false spiraea, purple smokebush, alder, willow.

Compare 2009 to 2017

Multiflora rose and buckthorn are lurking in this jungle, bittersweet vines are choking out the aspens while knotweed is killing all other shrubs and young trees, October 9, 2009:

This photo was taken October 10, 2017:

Existing native aspen, juniper and pine trees have all grown. Willow, dogwood, magnolia and sumac shrubs are all thriving. Rudbeckia, bluestem, coreopsis, liatris and creepervine are holding their own, close to the ground. All 3 layers greatly minimize knotweed resprouts. Though we still occasionally encounter knotweed, it’s not the most troublesome weed anymore by a long shot.

Shrubs in East Corridor

This is still in the “east” corridor, slightly west of the last photo, below. Some of the shrubs here include Cornus amomum (silky dogwood), Hammamelis virginiana (witch hazel), Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood) and Cephalanthus occidentalis (button bush). We also propagated some willows, dogwoods and alders that were already growing on the property. Just about everything is native, except for the purple smokebush.