Hunting // Foraging // Finding
Mid-June in the Adirondacks.. What's Blooming?
Roadside Blue Lupines... be still my beating heart!
Bunchberry // Cornus canadensis on our hike up Scarface Mountain.
Must be the most beautiful of all native ground-covers!
Reindeer moss?
These colors tho.
Wood Sorrel.. a tasty treat on our hike.
Very special find - One lovely Pink Ladyslipper on the mountain top // Cypripedium acaule. Needs very specific soil conditions to sustain the symbiotic fungus it requires to germinate and grow (Don Leopold, 'Native Plants of the Northeast').
Carnivorous Round-leaved Sundew // Drocera rotundifolia. Fun find!! Lower St. Regis waterways.
Northern Blue Flag // Iris versicolor
Northern Blue Flag // Iris versicolor
A carpet of creeping Twinflower // Linnaea borealis. Found in a sunny situation growing on a deep layer of white pine needles above Upper Saranac Lake.
Last but not least.. had to include this gorgeous sunset over Saranac // My happy place <3
Chaumont Barrens
Early June 2016: We took a detour on our way to Saranac Lake to visit an incredibly unique part of our state - Chaumont Barrens. Take a short drive Northeast from Watertown, and you can walk right through the best-preserved alvar in NYS, home to a rare native plant community seldom seen in our area. Thanks to The Nature Conservancy, this ecosystem has been protected and the public has been given access to its rare and beautiful landscape.
Feels like Alaska...
Prairie Smoke and Balsam Ragwort for miles // Geum triflorum, Packera paupercula
Alvar: An ecosystem with shallow soils (2" in this case) on top of flat limestone bedrock shaped by glaciers (in this case, 10,000 years ago). Only a truly unique set of species can endure the harsh conditions - summer highs of 120F, spring flooding and cold winter winds.
Wood Lily // Lilium philadelphicum
Prairie Smoke (aka Old Man's Whiskers, how fun!) is one of the first plants to bloom on the alvar prairie. Once pollinated, the drooping flowers turn their heads up and form these crazy seedheads, appearing like smoke across the prairie, hence the name. Just beautiful to see them "smoking!"
Balsam Ragwort // Packera paupercula
"Leave only footprints, Take only pictures."
Surprise in the Hemlocks, Stevens garden. There is just something about finding a bird's nest... with a few beautiful eggs nestled in it! Mother Nature is an artist.
Lawns: Celebrate Diversity!
Springtime… is there a more hopeful or promising time of year? Birds chirping, buds popping, people gardening, the smell of freshly cut grass, the lush landscape after a spring rain. Driving around town, music playing, sun shining, it seems like nothing can get me down…. Until I notice those little yellow signs dotting lawn after lawn.. and I remember, spirits sinking, that the lawn treatments have begun.
This is a topic that is near and dear to me, not only as someone who cares about wildlife and the environment, but also as a gardener working in many different yards, some of which are chemically treated. A manicured, green lawn without a “weed” in sight generally hasn’t gotten that way naturally (although it can – I know a few people who still dig up their dandelions by hand and fertilize with organic material).
It really bothers me to see a robin searching for food for its young, on a lawn recently treated with pesticide. First of all, 60-90% of earthworms are killed where pesticides are used, according to the U.S. National Wildlife Federation. The worms that do remain are riddled with chemical, now transferred to the robin and her young.
Another major consequence to the decline in worm population from chemical usage is the soil’s health. By now, we know that healthy soil is literally the foundation for thick and healthy lawns and vigorous plants in the garden beds. In her book, Great Garden Companions, Sally Cunningham explains why these creatures deserve more credit. “In the cast of characters in garden soil, earthworms are the stars. They are like miniature tillers that turn the soil and aerate it – and even better, they work for free!” She points out that Earthworm castings are 5x richer in nutrients than standard soil, and the magic of it is, that these nutrients are already in the perfect form that plants can use. Can you believe that some worms bring up minerals from as far as 8 FEET below the soil surface? They are truly amazing creatures! We can help them do their job by topdressing our lawns and gardens with a layer of organic matter such as compost or mulched leaves, which they will work into the existing soil for us.
A sea of blue forget-me-nots, South Wales, NY.
I don't care for Violets in my garden, since they just take over and work themselves into the middle of all the perennials,, but I love them in the lawn! They don't bother anyone there.
Soil health depends on a vast array of microbial life, as well as insects, spiders, centipedes, snails, worms, mites, etc. In a balanced ecosystem, there are pests for the predators to eat. Mother Nature had it handled all along! Plants, animals, insects and microbes work together to balance and support each other. As soon as we introduce heavy duty herbicides and pesticides, we disrupt the natural system. Several people have mentioned to me that after years of treating their lawns with a lawn ‘care’ company, they decided to go natural and cancel their treatments. I was ecstatic! Turns out they were absolutely inundated with horrible gnat-like insects that first season, most likely because the ecosystem had been disrupted for so long that everything was off-balance and out-of-whack, and there were just not enough predators to handle the pests that were hatching. This is why we should go natural from the start!
According to the EPA, 40-60% of the nitrogen people put onto their lawns winds up in surface or groundwater. Not good! Fertilizer runoff – specifically nitrogen and phosphate – is becoming a huge problem for many bodies of water as more and more people are treating their lawns with synthetic fast-release fertilizers. The NY Dept of Environmental Conservation is concerned that excess nutrients found in water can lead to a process called “eutrophication,” where algae blooms fed by nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients change the chemistry of water bodies, choke off sunlight (potentially killing off plants below the surface) and foster the growth of harmful cyanobacteria. (Washington Post)
Purple Ajuga looking more like a field of lupines across this chemical-free front yard in Eden, NY.
What is the alternative to the highly-fertilized, chemical-laden, perfectly-manicured green lawn? A beautiful, colorful, textural medley of foliage, flowers and mosses! A happy place for pollinators. A yard where you can feel totally safe walking barefoot in the summertime. Don’t worry so much about what your neighbor’s think – who knows, maybe you’ll inspire them to allow a few wildflowers to pop up in their own lawns! I’ve seen so many gorgeous ‘painterly’ front lawns this Spring that I decided to write this article and share with you some photos.
Wild strawberries will provide plenty of fruit for the lucky one who gets there first!
Spring Bulbs like Siberian Squill will only thrive in an all-natural area, specifically in a thin lawn like under these Sugar Maples.
Cut-leaf Toothwort, a native wildflower, has pretty flowers but I love the foliage even more.
Let’s have compassion and respect for life in all forms, not just our kids and our pets, but the invaluable wildlife living in our backyards. Ecologist and native plant expert Doug Tallamy asks the question, “What good is biodiversity?” He explains that we need biodiversity because it literally sustains us… It is essential to the stability – the very existence – of most ecosystems.
Tallamy states that “A land without insects is a land without most forms of higher life… Biodiversity is a national treasure that we have abused terribly, partly because we have not understood the consequences of doing so. Our understanding of such consequences is far from perfect, but we now know enough to behave responsibly toward the plants and animals on which we ourselves depend. We must manage our biodiversity just as we manage our water resources, our clean air, and our energy. Fortunately, unlike most of our water or energy supplies, biodiversity is a renewable resource that is relatively easy to increase, as long as we do so before its components, the species themselves, become extinct.”
Painterly meadow in Orchard Park, NY.
One example of a species in trouble that you have hopefully heard about by now, is the disappearance of the honeybees. Thanks in big part to the rampant use of powerful pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, by big Agriculture here in the U.S., the honeybee population is declining at an alarming rate. Steve Ellis, of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board and owner of Old Mill Honey Company (they make great beeswax candles!) states that last year, American beekeepers lost 42% of their bee colonies. Without these important creatures to pollinate our crops, we wouldn’t have many of the foods we depend on and enjoy today.
Sadly, America is again late to the party, most likely because the EPA can’t stand up to major chemical producers such as Monsanto, who spend millions each year on lobbying efforts to make sure they keep the money rolling in, selling more and more pesticide and herbicide. The European Union and Canada have already banned neonicotinoids in their agriculture. To illustrate the problem to Americans, one Whole Foods store actually emptied its shelves of all the products that depend on bee pollination. This included apples, onions, carrots, watermelon, lemons, milk, butter, yogurt, cheese, among many others. The store lost half of its products.
It’s more than just a pretty lawn. For every action, there is a reaction. Let’s make it a positive one! Let’s choose to support the good guys (birds & bugs) instead of the chemical companies, who are doing us no favors. It’s our responsibility to take care of this planet and its inhabitants.
Because “good planets are hard to find.” -Steve Folbert
Like a dream... blue forget-me-nots cover a front lawn near my home in West Falls, NY.
Daisies looking like fairy dust at Gunther's Hill in Hamburg, NY.
I hope that this post inspires you to look at your lawn with new eyes and start to see the beauty, color, texture, and ecological benefit to a lawn with some “weeds” in it.
True Blue
'After the herb of understanding was imparted to the earth, a voice went all over the universe and filled it. It was such a beautiful voice that nothing could keep from dancing. All life danced. Leaves, grasses, waters, four-leggeds, two-leggeds, and winged all danced together. Black Elk looked down and saw that everything was beautiful and green with fruits growing and all things kind and happy. The voice said, "Behold this day, for it is yours to make."'
-Jan Hartke on Black Elk's Vision, Earth Day 1990
Happy seeds sprouting after a full-moon-in-Libra planting. Chamomile, Borage, Basil 'Aurelia,' Basil 'Windowbox,' Amish Snap Peas
Highland Park // Rochester, NY
Early March in Rochester's Highland Park.. Hills of yellow winter aconite (Eranthis) are a feast for winter-weary eyes.
Witch Hazels have exploded into bloom, brightening up the landscape.
Skeletal London Plane Trees against a "blue true dream of sky."
But the prettiest sight of all might have been the purple crocus naturalized under an old Beech on our way home...
Spring
Spent the Spring Equinox with the old Cornelian cherry dogwood, Cornus mas. Its age is a mystery, but at 20 ft tall and wide, I'd say it's been around awhile. Sadly, it's been neglected for many years and the multi-stemmed trunks have rubbed against each other for so long, they finally fused together in spots. There's not much to be done about that, but I was able to remove crossing branches and prune to encourage some new growth.
One advantage of having an old, neglected ornamental tree is that it's been left alone to take its natural shape, which is so interesting to me. Pruning is, of course, very healthy but sometimes I like to see what the plant decides to do itself. This particular dogwood, growing at the edge of the woods, has taken on a wide vase-shape, long branches sweeping the ground.. very graceful. Plus, the leafy branches create the perfect secret room come summer!
The Cornus mas is completely different from the showier species of dogwood (pink and white flowering C. florida and C. kousa). A subtle beauty, it gently ushers in the spring with a soft yellow hue. It's one of the first trees to flower, usually in March or early April, and the flowering period lasts three weeks! They're also easy to care for, with no serious pest problems. Plantsman Michael Dirr says, "this species is not used enough in the modern landscape," and I could not agree more.
Before
After
"How to live sanely and simply in a troubled world." Amen.
“Autumn is a second Spring, when every leaf is a flower.”
The Highline
We spent mid-September in NYC.. and ended up searching out all the greenest spaces in the area. I guess we're not used to all that concrete! I had been eager to visit the Highline, an old railway recently converted into a public park. The space was designed by Piet Oudolf & others with a naturalistic planting style, inspired by what was naturally growing on the abandoned railroad (native grasses, self-seeding perennial wildflowers, suckering sumac, etc.)
Even with a multitude of staff maintaining the gardens, including a lot of volunteers, the plantings remain very wild and free. Seedheads were intentionally left on large swaths of Echinacea and Eryngium, past their flowering stage, but still very valuable in their form and texture. I was pleasantly surprised to find tiny perennial seedlings (barely distinguishable from any old weed) carefully left in place after weeding.
Absolutely breathtaking in a subtle & thoughtful way... a total inspiration.
“It’s about beauty, often a hidden beauty.. Anyone else would cut it back, but if you can still see beauty in it, it’s a real bonus to your life.”
Plants for Sale at Heart's Ground
Plant stand now open for business! Stop by for your herbs, veggies and perennials.
274 West Falls Rd, West Falls, NY 14170
Pots of three Japanese primrose are $10 each. Perennial that likes moist to wet soil, part shade. Allow it to go to seed and it will spread. It has naturalized at the edge of the woods here at Heart's Ground.. see photo below.
Basil and cilantro, along with ALL veggies were grown here at Heart's Ground from organic, non-GMO seed. I make my own potting mix out of local, aged manure, peatmoss and perlite. The rest of the herbs are brought in from a greenhouse who uses biological controls whenever possible to combat pests and disease.
Available now: Basil Aurelia, Basil Cameo (good for containers), Mrs. Burn's Lemon Basil, Flat-leaf Parsley, Cilantro, Golden Oregano, Golden Sage, English Thyme, Silver Thyme, Lemon Thyme, English Lavender. All 3 for $10. Rosemary are much larger and available for $8.
Herb Trios, $25
Lemon Mint and Orange Mint are delicious in water or a summer drink! $5
Veggies that are 3 for $10: Black Krim Tomato, Gold Medal Tomato, Zucchini, Strawberry Crown Squash, Turk's Turban Squash, and Ten Commandments Gourds.
Tuscan Kale is $1 per pot, and French Blue Solaise Leeks and Red Onions are $2 per pot.
The Wild Cherries
Catching glimpses of white blossoms at the forest's edge, or along the roadside? The wild cherries are blooming!
On my way home, I saw this glowing beauty while the sun was setting.
Star Magnolia, photo by Barb Comerford
Star Magnolia at Heart's Ground, photo by Leah Comerford
Saucer Magnolia, Village of Hamburg, photo by Leah Comerford
Tulipa tarda and Muscari, Mom's garden, photo by Leah Comerford
Trout lily carpet, photo by Leah Comerford
Woods walk with Mom, photo by Leah Comerford
Hellebores for the woodland garden
Feast your eyes on these gorgeous hellebores growing happily in a couple of gardens I’ve worked on this week.....
Nelson garden, photo by LC
Photo by LC
Photo by LC
Blooming early, at a time when flowers are scarce, hellebores breathe life into the spring garden. Plant them in part to full shade, with rich, moist soil and good drainage. A woodland environment is a great place for hellebores, and provides a pretty backdrop too. I’ve also seen them thrive in a sunny spring garden, carefully placed so that they’re shaded once the trees leaf out – protected from the hot summer sun.
Photo by LC
Hellebores are wonderfully easy to grow. If you get them off to a good start, they will come back year after year to greet you in early spring. They are deer and vole resistant (a huge plus if you're putting them in the woods, like me) and are super long-lived. I've read that some hybrids live 100 years or more! The most work you will need to do is to trim off any old and damaged leaves in early spring, so they don't detract from the blossoms. Hellebores also benefit from a side-dressing of compost for added nutrients before they flower.
Barry Glick (The Hellebore King) grows 6 acres of hellebores at his Sunshine Farm and Garden in West Virginia. You can browse his varieties and order directly from his website. Take a look at his hellebore-laden hillsides here. Just beautiful!
I have big plans for adding woodland plants to the garden.. and when the time comes, I can't wait to order a few of Barry's gorgeous hellebores.
Scilla siberica... I've been waiting for you!
Bloodroot unfurling
Dicentra 'Gold Heart' from Mom
Wild leeks, culinary experimentation to come
Peonies
Tiny Japanese Primrose pushing up through the forest floor
Out in the morning dew
Naturalizing with Bulbs for a Magnificent Spring Display
Crocus on the homefront
There is nothing like watching the first flower of spring appear, pushing up out of the soil, through matted, wet leaves, turning its pretty face to the sun. What a joy to witness! I don’t think I’ll ever lose the childlike excitement that comes over me each year as I search for the first plants pushing up their new growth. One of the greatest pleasures of living in a 4-season climate has got to be the coming of spring.
And after the winter we’ve endured! Many of my garden clients were heartbroken after finding their most prized trees and shrubs decimated by the weight of the snow. My own American hollies, some of which must be 50 years old, snapped in half during the November storm, despite our efforts to get out there to shake the snow off. Thankfully, our struggle wasn’t all in vain – our old kousa dogwood and star magnolia weathered the storm without much damage.
Mother Nature’s reward for enduring a long winter is sweet.
Eranthis down the road
Eranthis
The neighbor’s bright yellow winter aconite was out first – spilling out from the side porch of their old farmhouse. The first ones must have been planted generations ago, and now they’ve naturalized beautifully across the lawn. One of the earliest to bloom, aconite (Eranthis) has a cheerful yellow flower similar to a buttercup that sits atop a whorl of leaves. It only reaches about 4” high, and self seeds freely, making it a nice choice for a mass planting. Aconite looks especially pretty in a woodland setting, perhaps along a path or at the edge of the woods, where it has dappled shade and moist soil throughout the growing season.
There are many small bulbs that can be used to great effect when allowed to naturalize – meaning to spread and come back year after year – across a lawn, including Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), snow crocus (Crocus chrysanthus or tommasinianus), winter aconite (Eranthis), and snowdrops (Galanthus), to name a few of my favorites. These early spring flowers bloom and finish before the grass needs its first mowing, making them nice choices for those of us looking to brighten up the spring landscape in a unique way.
Planting bulbs directly into the lawn is a nice way to develop parts of your property outside the garden beds. This technique is quite old-fashioned, the most eye-catching displays usually occurring around old houses and farms, even parks and cemeteries, where Mother Nature has created a masterpiece over time. I’ve read that these particular flowers do best in a thin lawn, where they aren’t competing with thick grass. Just another reason to repurpose that bit of lawn where nothing but moss wants to grow! (aka: our entire front yard) In addition, these bulbs will do best for those of us who take a natural approach to lawn care. These delicate plants will not tolerate the strong man-made fertilizers and herbicides present in the lawn applications so many companies are using these days. (More on that soon, bet you can’t wait!)
Scilla, tucked in under the sugar maple
Scilla siberica, a real spring beauty, blooms a bit later than the other flowers I’ve mentioned. It's one of my all-time favorites, and one of the best for naturalizing. Short, grass-like leaves poke through the ground in late March, giving way to nodding bell-shaped flowers that are true-blue in color (quite rare). Talk about a hardy plant – they bloom down to Zone 2! It’s April 12, and I am still patiently waiting for my squill to open. With the sunny forecast the next couple days, I shouldn’t have long to wait for those glorious blue swaths to appear and reflect the spring sky.
Snow Crocus
Early blooming snow crocus (Crocus chrysanthus or tommasinianus) are quite different from the popular giant dutch crocus (Crocus vernus). Crocus actually grow from a corm (not a bulb) which is essentially compressed stem tissue that serves as a storage unit, like a bulb. They spread underground; when the mother corm produces a couple of babies, she dies off and the cycle continues. Snow crocus bloom and finish earlier than the dutch variety, making them a good candidate for the 'lawn'scape.
Early blooming bulbs are an important source of food for bees and other pollinating insects emerging first thing in the Spring. Just yesterday I spotted a pair of honeybees buzzing around the crocus in my front yard. As a bonus, these flowers are generally safe from critters like deer and squirrels, looking to munch.
As with all bulbs, it’s important to allow the plants to absorb as much energy as possible to feed the bulb and ensure a nice bloom the following year. Wait to mow those particular sections of lawn until 4-6 weeks after the bulbs are done blooming.
Galanthus
When Tom and I became first-time homeowners last spring, we had no idea the man who lived here previously was an avid horticulturist. Talk about lucking out. Thanks to Bob, we inherited many beautiful treasures (more on this when peony season arrives!). One of the loveliest parts of this property, I find, is the front yard, where three 100-year-old sugar maples stand in a row. Underneath, snow crocus dot the lawn in early spring, giving way to drifts of royal blue squill. The effect is breathtaking. I am so grateful that someone, many years ago, decided to plant the first few bulbs.
When we plant something special in our landscapes, what we are really doing is bestowing a gift onto the next generation. With some of the naturalizing bulbs I’ve mentioned, you plant it once, and nature takes care of the rest, creating a real masterpiece over time.
This year I’d like to put in some winter aconite behind the house, to brighten up the woods as soon as the snow melts. In a few years it will start to spread… I can only imagine what it will look like in fifty!
Peace and blessings. And welcome to my blog!
Leah