A More Natural Setting

Cardinal Flower is a native plant that does not grow freely in our area.  North or south of  the Southern Tier of New York, this plant flourishes but here it is rarely seen in the wild.  Despite the low chances of success, we continue to search for a wild location that will meet the needs of this treasure.  The time between initial snow melt and somewhat stable temperatures is when this plant dies out.  A naturally protected location is what we are searching for.

Here at the base of a north facing slope, snow melt comes later than nearby places.  Additionally, water drains down the hill and is trapped by the nearby road to our gravel bank.  Cardinal Flower needs generous amounts of moisture in addition to protection from early hard frosts.  Last year ten of our potted plants were set out in this wild ground.  A generous mulch of fallen tree leaves was placed to try to limit the growth of undesirable weeds.  All ten plants survived.

What actually survived was the new growth that appears in the fall as the flowering stem dies.  Under the best conditions, six new daughter plants will appear long before snow season.  These evergreen young plants will flower the following summer if all goes well.

This photo taken in August shows the beauty of Cardinal Flower.  A single blossom consists of three downward pointing petals with two additional ones spread upward looking like wings.  A white beard tops a tubular structure that leads to the ovary where seeds may form.  Hummingbirds find these flowers irresistible and visit them often even while we are working close by.  It is not uncommon for a hummingbird to momentarily hover close to Becky's face as if thanking her for providing these flowers.

Seeds formed and dropped last year will not germinate on this moist ground until the soil has warmed.  It may be as late as July before the from seed basal rosettes are seen.  They look much like the new growth seen in the first picture.  That is the form that they will take into winter.  If this year's new growth is killed by frost, there is still the possibility that from seed new plants will survive next winter.  Even with two different methods of providing for the next generation, this plant remains uncommon here.

These blades of green new growth may belong to another native treasure Blue Flag.  If that is the case these two plants will look good together.  It is possible that what is actually here may prove to be Yellow Flag.  If that is the case our removal efforts will focus on both the Yellow Flag and the Garlic Mustard.  Neither of these highly invasive aliens will be allowed to grow freely here.  In the long run both will likely survive but it will not be because we did not try to end them.

Hidden In The Tall Grass

When we first purchased this piece of land, we tried to tame the area around the pond.  It was too wild then and it is even wilder now.  Yellow flag, blue flag, orange jewel weed and lots of other plants grow here with abandon.  Many of these plants reach shoulder height on me.   Having driven the garden tractors as close as we could get to the pond,  the two of us waded through the tall grass to get a closer look.

I got a little off the path on my way back out and came upon a gigantic burdock plant.  Something orange and round caught my eye on one of the burdock leaves.  I raised the underside of the leaf to the sunlight so Ed could take a picture.

What we have here is a very pregnant female Shamrock spider.  I would say that this picture is very close to the actual size of this spider.  Clearly she is getting ready to lay her eggs.  She was so fat the her head was not visible.  Just her hairy striped legs show beneath her huge round body.    I marveled at the size of her.  She has a big job ahead of her!  I have seen this kind of spider once before in October of 2008, but that one looked as if she had already laid her eggs.  We left this one where she was and made our way back to the grassy path and our tractors.  It was delightful to see her and I wish Mom and her coming family well.

Unleashed Monster

We have an unusual history with Yellow Flag, I. pseudacorus.  Many years ago while Ed was still teaching, a lad from the special class brought a clump of this plant to school for his teacher.  He had pulled it from the river flat on his way to school.   A lesson in never taking plants from the wild was delivered and a piece of this treasure came home with Ed.  We planted it in an inside corner of the stone square where its leaves provided a background for other plants.  The sword like bright green foliage looked great all summer.  The plant spread and seeded with great abandon. We soon tired of hacking it back.

Still ignorant of the  plants history and invasive nature, we moved a few small pieces back to our pond.  Some were planted in the water and others were planted on land at pond's edge.  All survived and it appeared that we had returned a native plant to its natural surroundings.
    

Some of the land between our home and the road is to steeply sloped to safely mow.  Underlying gravel keeps it very dry and I thought that we would try yellow flag here as a no care ground cover.  The lack of moisture has slowed its spread here but it is alive and well.

Time for a reality check.  Despite the fact that this plant was found in the wild it is not native to North America.  It was moved here from Eurasia as a garden plant and it has escaped cultivated settings.  This huge vigorous pest has naturalized elsewhere and is displacing our native Northern Blue Flag.  We also grow Blue Flag here and find it hard to believe that anything can crowd it out.  It too is a vigorous spreader that seeds freely.

I have no idea how to offset the damage that we have done.  Our pond will soon be full of Yellow Flag as will the wet areas around it.  This is not the first instance of an invasion by a plant that was moved for amusement and profit around gardens.  We have made this mistake several times but never on so grand a scale.