There are places where native diversity happens without intervention. I've known a few, where the original hydrology is intact, and introduced species have yet to invade, and fire is allowed to sweep through periodically and beneficially, as in ancient times, and the soil still holds within it the seeds to feed all the stages of succession, from field to shrubland to forest.
News from the preserves, parks and backyards of Princeton, NJ. The website aims to acquaint Princetonians with our shared natural heritage and the benefits of restoring native diversity and beauty to the many preserved lands in and around Princeton.
Thursday, October 22, 2020
The Work Behind a Natural-looking Meadow--Smoyer Park in Princeton
There are places where native diversity happens without intervention. I've known a few, where the original hydrology is intact, and introduced species have yet to invade, and fire is allowed to sweep through periodically and beneficially, as in ancient times, and the soil still holds within it the seeds to feed all the stages of succession, from field to shrubland to forest.
Monday, October 19, 2020
Fall is Burstin' Out All Over
After the heavy hitters of late summer are past--the Hibiscus, coneflowers, bonesets, et al--it's easy to think the season of native wildflowers is over, but this fall has been a surprise in the beauty and variety that nature held in reserve for these sweet autumn days.
One that's been a big hit at Herrontown Woods is Hearts-a-bustin', though I prefer to call it Hearts-a-burstin', because when I see it my heart does more burstin' than bustin'.A little earlier in the fall when the capsules were just starting to open, you could see why it is also called strawberry bush.
New England aster also brings color to the garden late in the season.
Bottlebrush grass is more of an understory grass, and unlike most native grasses it gets an early start in the spring.
Friday, October 09, 2020
Autumn in a Vase
As autumn has evolved, so have the bouquets that appear on counters and tables in our house.
The yellow is autumn Helenium, and the long strands in the back are white vervain, which looks scraggly in the garden, with tiny white flowers barely noticeable, but in a vase takes on an artistic effect.
This one adds blue mistflower, goldenrod, and one of the many kinds of sunflowers. The sunflowers don't last very long in a vase.
A week or two later, turtlehead got added in (white tubular flower).
The pink/purple is New England Aster.
We have so many flowers in the garden that no matter how many end up in vases, there will still be enough to produce seed for new plantings elsewhere.
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Algae Impersonators at Smoyer Park Pond
A closeup of the surface showed scattered duckweed, but something else as well, much smaller and much more numerous.
The small green particles were gritty to the touch. The internet, as usual, offered an instant answer: watermeal, in the genus Wolffia, which includes what wikipedia calls "the smallest flowers on earth."
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Autumn Clematis and the Really Big Show
Even now, as the flowers begin to fade,
autumn clematis makes this lamppost look like it's wearing a voluminous fur coat.It's been a good year for autumn clematis, whose big floristic show revved up in these parts nearly a month ago, caught in a photo where a cascade of flowers-to-be was piggybacking on a neighbor's fenceline.
In my mind, though not in the garden, I pair the nonnative Autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) with the native virgin's bower (Clematis virginiana), which also has white flowers and a sprawling habit. An easy way to tell the two apart is the leaves, which are toothed in the native, rounded in the nonnative. The native's flowering comes earlier in the summer and lasts a week rather than a month.
Why is it the nonnative that can be seen covering a whole side of an abandoned parking lot in Montgomery north of Princeton?
or lining the road to Cape May Point State Park?
The name "curly top" might come from the way the flowers curl downward, or from the curly seedheads that are also characteristic of the more common kinds of clematis.
Another clematis in the piedmont prairies of NC is leatherflower, Clematis viorna, a small vine whose flower also points downward.
Friday, September 04, 2020
A Monarch Butterfly Status Report
Around mid-summer, I begin wondering how the monarchs are doing. Last summer, in 2019, they were more numerous than usual in the Princeton area, and as I googled for news of their numbers in 2020, it was with the expectation that their population was on the upswing. Surprisingly, their overwintering numbers in the mountains west of Mexico City were down dramatically. The count comes out in March, just before they begin their journey north, and was down by half compared to the winter of 2018/19.
The low count this past winter was due in part to less than favorable migration weather last fall. Warm weather in the north delayed migration southward, and a drought in Texas left little nectar for the monarchs as they funneled through Texas on their way to Mexico. From Princeton, that flight is about 2500 miles, powered by the liquid sunlight of nectar.
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Video Tour: An Intro To Steve's Garden
A video tour to help you gain acquaintance with the classic native wildflowers of mid-summer in Princeton. The video is a good companion to the previous post, Wildflowers of August.
Wildflowers of August
Rose mallow hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos)
Wild senna (Senna hebecarpa)Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum)
Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium sp) in the background, boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) in the foreground.
Cutleaf coneflower (Ratibida laciniata)
Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)
Ironweed (Vernonia novaboracensis)
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), with some bottlebrush grass on the left.
Woolgrass (Scirpus cyperinus) -- a sedge that grows taller and matures later than most native sedges
Groundnut (Apios americana)