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August 19, 2010
It has been about 1 month since the Village of Bartlett chose to destroy the parkway garden that I had tended to for the past 4 years. Since then, the hardy native plants had made considerable progress in growing back. There were several patches of Hairy Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis) that had actually managed to grow up and bloom. There were a couple of daisy fleabanes (Erigeron strigosus) as well. At this point I was even happy to see that Awnless Barnyard Grass (Echinochloa muricata wiegandii) was valiantly trying to fill the void left by the mowers. I was happy to see that nature was recovering from the ignorance of my neighbors and local government.
Unfortunately, I was foolish enough to think that the Village was done with me for the season. Today they visited the parkway with their mowers of destruction again. Goodbye little plants, goodbye flowers... Now the parkway is once again a barren patch of ground littered with the stumps of my beloved native plants. How many times will they be able to survive this treatment? Benia was so sad and angry to see that the flowers had been mowed again. It is hard to watch this happen all over again.
One interesting observation I have made is that this is the second time that the Village has made the effort to mow the parkway in front of my house. They have not attempted to bill me for this "service". I guess they realized that I am not legally obligated to maintain their property. So for everyone out there that no longer wishes to mow the parkway, you can just stop doing it. Eventually the Village of Bartlett will come and mow it without applying any reason or engaging in any dialog with you. If they threaten you with a fine, just ask them to provide you with a reference to the municipal code that indicates that residents are responsible for maintenance of the parkway. They will not be able to do so.
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July 15, 2010
I arrived home from work today to find that the deed had been done. The entire parkway in front of my house had been mowed to about 2 inches high. It also looks like they raked up all the plant material. It is a terrible sight. Click on the picture to see a before and after. (Sensitive viewers beware.)
I do not like to admit it, but I was wrong. Based on my previous interactions with the Village of Bartlett, I believed that it was represented by intelligent and reasonable people who face the difficult challenge of balancing a wide variety of resident concerns. My recent interactions with Jim Plonczynski, Director of Community Development for the Village of Bartlett have shown that he is not concerned with any such balancing. When I contacted Mr. Plonczynski, he was completely unwilling to participate in any dialog to clarify his position about why my parkway garden was a hazard or a violation of municipal code. It is very disappointing to see that the Village is willing to treat residents, such as myself, in such a rude and inconsiderate manner, while claiming to be acting on the complaints of other residents. Mr. Plonczynski's unwillingness to interact with Bartlett residents in a constructive manner reflects negatively on the village.
Throughout the course of a day, I attempted several times via email to schedule a discussion with Mr. Plonczynski, either by phone or in person. The following is a consolidation of the one line responses I received from him.
The native plants in question represent a significant amount of time and money. Moving them is not feasible due to their extensive root systems. They are environmentally friendly and provide storm water management benefits. It is a shame that the Village of Bartlett chose to destroy them for no good reason other than fulfilling the wishes of one resident while ignoring the dreams of another.
Once I realized that Mr. Plonczynski was not going to be reasonable, I also reached out to various other officials of the Village of Bartlett, including the President, Michael Kelly. I sent emails, used the online contact form and sent letters via regular mail. I received no responses from any of them.
Once again it is surprising that Bartlett chooses to interact with its residents in this manner. It is disappointing that anonymous complaints will drive village officials to get creative with the interpretation of the municipal code. Just because something is unusual does not make it bad. It would seem that in a world where "green" is becoming the way of the future, those officials might be compelled to understand and inform the complainers about the benefits of native plants.
I want to live in a village that understands that environmental practices are to be encouraged, not persecuted. I will continue to work towards that end.
/native_suburbia | Permalink (16 comments)
July 12, 2010
Village Reaches Out Again...But Not In A Good Way
It hasn't quite even been one year since I last heard from Bartlett officials. As seen in the attached letter, they are once again asserting that I have violated the municipal code and that the plants in the parkway pose some sort of hazard. Of course their actions are backed by anonymous complaints. They are once again insisting that I mow the plants or they will do it and charge me.
After reading section 7-6-1 of the Bartlett municipal code, it is not clear how it applies to the vegetation planted in the parkway. I am not a utility and plants are not utility facilities. On the positive side, I am protecting against environmental damage and decreasing storm water runoff. As the resident closest to the vegetation I can confidently say that it does not pose any hazard to vehicular or pedestrian traffic. I drive and walk through the area on a daily basis without incident.
I also reviewed section 7-2-1 of the Bartlett municipal code. Since I neither planted nor removed any trees or shrubs, it does not seem to apply. I leave the maintenance of the tree in the parkway to the Bartlett arborist team. In fact, just last October they trimmed it back to address visibility issues. This occurred after officials, Paula Schumacher and Keith Johnson from the Village of Bartlett, visited my home to inspect the parkway.
Once again it is surprising that Bartlett chooses to interact with its residents in this manner. It is disappointing that anonymous complaints will drive village officials to get creative with the interpretation of the municipal code. Just because something is unusual does not make it bad. It would seem that in a world where "green" is becoming the way of the future, those officials might be compelled to understand and inform the complainers about the benefits of native plants.
I have sent email to Jim Plonczynski requesting further discussion of this issue. Last year I found that while the village resorts to form letters and threats initially, they can be worked with when they are engaged in a more personal manner. I hope that is the case with Mr. Plonczynski.
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June 04, 2010This morning, I bore witness to a tough-love life lesson.
Our chokecherry bush has been welcoming hungry birds for a few weeks now, as the berries continue to ripen. This morning, I watched a mother robin feast on the berries, while her juvenile waited from a nearby tree. The mother teased the baby when it flew to the tree, above the baby, to scare away a couple of grackles, unbeknownst to the youngster below with a one-track mind for tasty berries. The mother went back and ate some more berries, ignoring the baby. Baby moved closer to the edge of the branch to chirp and hint to Mama that it was hungry, while Mama continued to eat. Finally, the young robin flew over to the bush and hinted closer, chirping and flapping its wings a bit. The mother robin flew away. Frustrated and impatient, the baby finally took the initiative to try to pluck some berries itself.
Mama robin taught the youngster to fend for itself. She won't always be there to serve the baby. And plucking berries isn't as hard as it seems after all. The youngster is on its way to becoming self-sufficient.
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April 21, 2010Yesterday, shortly after arriving home from work, our doorbell rang. I usually don't rush to answer the door unless I'm expecting someone or a package, but for some reason, I was feeling spunky and curious, so I answered. A man was standing just off the front porch, perhaps about to give up and leave because it took me so long to get down the stairs to the door. I asked him "Can I help you?" He seemed shy about what he wanted to say and finally told me that he was driving by and noticed our unique landscaping and our signs explaining it. Seeing that our garage door was open, he took a chance and rang the bell to let us know that he really likes what we've done with our yard.
Of course I was surprised and absolutely thrilled with this voluntary feedback from a complete stranger, especially after the way the last yard discussion went. I thanked him and we introduced each other. His name was Steve. He is in the tree business and mentioned that he had been involved with native landscaping years ago, but the lack of interest could not sustain him, so he'd given that up. I urged him to consider getting back into native gardening again, as there may likely be more interest now than a few years earlier, when going "green" wasn't quite yet as popular and understood by the general public. It may not be mainstream yet, but I am seeing an increasing trend and hope it continues.
I offered to show Steve around our yard a bit. I welcomed him along the flagstone path, to see the backyard. He was largely unfamiliar with most of the plants, and apparently surprised by our hospitality. I pointed out several interesting species and described their characteristics, growing preferences, and other interesting points in the yard. He described several favorite natives he'd remembered and asked a few questions. He seemed especially delighted to learn about our rain garden and it's ability to attract birds, in clear view of our large window, where we frequently watch. It really is a great feature of our landscape.
Before he left, I gave Steve a pre-printed card with our web site's URL on it, so he could peruse our years' worth of photos and various articles, at his leisure. We also invited him to come back later in the season. Our garden changes constantly and even a few weeks makes a real difference in the height of the plants and the colors of the various forbs that go into bloom. He enthusiastically accepted the invitation.
I love making new friends who appreciate our efforts and see the beauty in native landscaping. I hope to hear from more admirers in the future!
-Benia
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January 21, 2010
Native Suburbia 2009 - The Year In Pictures
Not much is happening in Native Suburbia at this time of the year, so I decided to finally go through all the pictures that we took over the past year. While there were a lot of little things that were new this year, the overall feel was very similar to last year's pictures. I decided to concentrate on pictures of animals and new specimens for this set. Enjoy your tour of Native Suburbia. I love to get feedback, so let me know what you think. Has our project encouraged you to plant any natives in your yard?
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October 03, 2009
Native Suburbia Under Attack: Compromise Reached
After a couple of phone calls I set up a meeting with two officials from the Village of Bartlett. (Paula from the Health department and Keith, the village arborist.) It was agreed that they would come out to my house and survey the situation and determine if a compromise could be reached.
I met with Paula and Keith on Friday in the drizzle and they looked at the parkway. The linden tree, on the parkway in front of my house, was immediately identified as a more likely visual obstruction than the plants. The neighbor's parkway tree was also called out. It was indicated that they would be scheduled for pruning very soon. I'm not a big fan of the lollipop tree look, but it is a compromise that I can live with.
In the spirit of doing "something" to the parkway plants I also agreed to mow a small strip along the street. The majority of my plants will be unaffected, but it will provide some sacrifice to appease the angry mobs.
Overall, the meeting was productive and I think that we came to a compromise that we can all live with. I don't know if the original complainers are going to be happy, but I just hope that they accept the action taken by the Village.
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September 23, 2009
Native Suburbia Under Attack: Negotiating With The Village
I went to the village today and talked to Ed from the letter. He basically refused to have any kind of constructive dialog with me. He wanted me to believe that all options were exhausted and it was out of his hands. I asked if I could speak to someone who could further consider a compromise. He said that he would pass my comments along to his boss.
The boss, Paula, called me in the afternoon and we discussed the issue on the phone. The high points being:
1. There have been complaints from neighbors about visibility as they come out of their driveways. This was puzzling to me since the neighbor's driveways are a significant distance from my plants. No specific addresses were provided but the only ones that could possibly have a claim would be on either side of me. No neighbor has ever spoken about it to me personally. I still believe that the complaints may be from someone angling to find a way to get rid of landscaping that they don't agree with.
2. We discussed the possibility of a compromise. At first she said a "reasonable" height. When I asked for something a little more quantifiable, she said that she would have to consult with the public works department. I did mention the difficulty in maintaining plants consistently at any height above 3". I am not going to be out there with a hedge trimmer and a ruler. She understood my concern.
3. Once a recommendation for height and style is established, I requested a home visit in which a village representative could convey it to me while looking at the site. She agreed that this was a reasonable request. I still don't know how I would implement their recommendations assuming they are acceptable to me, but I thought that keeping the dialog open would be a good idea.
4. No action will be taken against the plants on the parkway until we have exhausted our efforts to compromise.
5. The flagstones are being targeted as part of an ordinance designed to keep people from putting rocks in the parkway that would be dangerous to cars that accidentally go off the road. They donŐt want people slamming into boulders. She indicated that she would look into the possibility that the flagstones could be acceptable.
I still don't have much confidence that this will end the way I would like, but at least it will all grow back next year even if it is chopped down now. Then I can just wait to be cited again.
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September 22, 2009
Native Suburbia Is Under Attack
After 5 years of carefully nurturing the native plants in my little patch of suburbia, it has finally come to the attention of the Village of Bartlett. As seen in the letter, it appears that there has been a complaint. The village's reaction to that complaint is to order me to "cut the grasses to eliminate the hazard". This ignores the many compliments that I have received from passers-by as well as the simple truth that my plants pose no hazard at all.
The threat only addresses the landscaping I have done in the parkway (right of way). Oddly, it specifically mentions prairie grasses. Does that mean the forbs are not a hazard? I have no clue what issue they could have with the flag stones that I placed as a path, but apparently those are hazardous as well.
It was in the middle of 2007 that I went to the Village of Bartlett to discuss my plans for putting native plants in the parkway. I spoke with someone in the public works department. That discussion resulted in disbelief that anyone would not want a lawn in front of their house and a warning from the village arborist that native plants were a lot of work. Not being afraid of work and having already seen the beauty of the native plants in the rest of my yard, I proceeded with the extension of my environmentally friendly and beautiful landscaping.
Now, two years later, it is deemed a hazard and I have been given 3 days to mow or pay the penalty for having someone else mow it. It is not surprising to me that my unique landscaping is misunderstood, but it is surprising that Bartlett chooses to interact with its residents in such a manner. Especially when they pay lip service to being more "green". I guess now that we have compact fluorescents in the town hall, everything is OK.
Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this? I know that I took a chance when I planted something on the parkway, but I just couldn't bear to maintain a lawn that I disagreed with so much. How can I make them see that they do not have to fear what they have not taken the time to appreciate?
/native_suburbia | Permalink (2 comments)
July 27, 2009Today, I noticed that a pair of cardinals in our chokecherry bush was hanging around for what seemed to me to be a very long time for a pair, or even single adult bird.
I left them alone for about thirty minutes and came back to the yard to relax and observe. I heard the short chirps and whistles between the pair and noticed them hopping around in our ash tree, still together. They jumped from branch to branch, making their tiny noises to each other... single chirp, then double chirp, single chirp, then double chirp...
After a few minutes, they both took the short flight back toward the chokecherry, then immediately to our red maple (which is slightly closer than the ash tree) - followed by a scrappy, young chick, flapping its little wings very, very hard. I was amazed and impressed to see such an immature looking cardinal able to fly so well!
I peeked into the tree to get a closer look. The little chick was gray and fuzzy except for some firmer wing feathers. There were no visible crest nor tail feathers yet, and its shape was not very streamlined. It also only called out to its parents if they were very near.
Over the several minutes that I watched, the parents repeatedly left the chick to slowly circle the perimeter of the backyard via short flights and hops through tree branches. The male followed the female and they continued to communicate with each other in short chirps, staying close to each other while moving clockwise around the yard with their chick's tree in the middle. Mom & Pop were never more than about a hundred feet away from Baby. They seemed to be tempting it to try to practice flying some more, the way human parents might coax a toddler to take steps toward them.
I am constantly amazed at the abundance of life attracted to and provided for by our little native oasis, especially when there are a few minutes to pay attention. Which animals are bringing up baby in your yard?
~ Benia
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July 05, 2009I awake to a beautiful day and go outside to see what there is to see in Native Suburbia. Glancing around the front yard, I realize that something is missing... my sign post! As I have mentioned before, it is used to display several signs that indicate why my yard looks a little different than those of my neighbors. I have seen many people stop and read it as they are walking down the sidewalk.
Upon closer inspection, I notice that the sign is not actually missing, but is lying on the ground among the plants. It appears that some determined idiot worked the post back and forth enough to break the metal. I had originally used a large branch as my post. After that got dug up and broken off a couple of times, I was forced to supplement with a small metal fence post that I screwed to the original branch. What must I do to protect my little sign from these vandals? I hate to go the concrete route, but I just might...
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July 03, 2009We have had a lot of rain over the past few weeks. It really fueled some amazing growth in Native Suburbia. We are surrounded by lush green vegetation and a plethora of wildlife. Most of that wildlife nibbles on grass or scoops up berries, but one visitor that showed up by the thousands is sucking all my blood! There are so many mosquitos outside that I cannot be out there for more than a minute without being surrounded by them. I wonder what they are eating when I am not out there. The poor bunnies must be covered in mosquito bites. I don't know how many bats it would take to eat all of those mosquitos, but I wish a few would stop by my yard to put a dent in their population.
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June 13, 2009I have fallen way behind in posting pictures of Native Suburbia. It is so much easier to take them then it is to sort through them and caption them. But enough excuses... at long last I have processed the pictures that we took last summer. So check out the Summer 2008 pictures! The backyard was particularly vibrant with an abundance of flowers and wildlife. Every year is more impressive than the last.
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June 05, 2009Today Benia muses about a little time she enjoyed in the back yard...
I saw a male cardinal land on the big nannyberry by the deck, while I was sitting at the table. It was pretty close, but he went in there and kept getting deeper into it. Finally, I heard little chirps and noticed a grayish bird hiding in the branches. The papa fed the baby and they chirped and chirped to each other.
I noticed two young robins high up in the chokecherry. One of them was fiddling around with some of the berries. Then an adult robin flew in and chased the active baby away. Later, I saw a baby robin on the snag and a mama robin came and fed it.
Meanwhile, the house wrens have been defending their territory against a sparrow couple that got aggressive with them. I believe the female wren sings more quietly and raises her tail quite a bit. I thought she was looking for a good time, but I'm not sure. The couple still seem to be working on nesting up the box. They go in and come out and chirp and sing and look around, etc.
A couple of cardinals came and enjoyed the rain garden. The female was down there a long time; the male followed her to it, hovered over for a few seconds, then left. An adult robin took a bath in the bird bath, too, at the same time.
That's about it. It's nice to see so much enjoyment of our native suburbia.
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May 24, 2009
First Monarch Butterfly of the Season
Yesterday I was relaxing on the deck after doing a few chores around the house, when a fluttering caught my eye. It was the first official monarch butterfly sighting of the season in Native Suburbia! It looks like we have become a monarch rest stop.
I watched as she went round and round the yard stopping at every common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) that she could find. It was interesting to watch because she actually found some little milkweeds that I did not even know were hiding among the other plants. I did not have my camera with me at the time, but sometimes it is nice to just enjoy the sights in Native Suburbia without trying to get that perfect shot.
Later inspection of the milkweed plants confirmed that the monarch was laying eggs on each of them. I am including a picture of one of them. It makes me feel good that we are growing a plant that is so obviously appreciated by wildlife.
/native_suburbia | Permalink (0 comments)
December 06, 2008Today we were looking out into the backyard as we often do and one of the stray black cats that visits happened to be out there. He was particularly obvious due to the recent snowfall that we have had here. The yard is very white and he is very black.
The presence of the cat in itself is not very noteworthy. He was having a hard time walking through the relatively deep snow though, so we watched him to see where he would go. He walked up to a clump of Canada wild rye stalks that were heavy with seed heads. After sniffing them for a second he proceeded to start eating them! At first I couldn't believe it, I had never seen a cat eating seeds before. It was confirmed though when he finished with one and then moved on to the next. He continued through the yard and stopped at another bunch for more snacks.
I don't know if this was desperation because it was hard to hunt in the snow, but I was surprised by this behavior so I thought I would share.
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August 10, 2008If you have been wondering what Native Suburbia looked like this Spring, then your wait is over. I went through my huge collection of pictures and narrowed them down a little for your viewing pleasure.
I called this the Mega Tour because I found it a little harder to exclude pictures this time and so this set contains over 80 pictures! There is more of a concentration on pictures of individual plants at different stages. I am currently considering how the Native Suburbia site will evolve as the project grows more mature. There will probably be fewer tour picture sets and more specimens.
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August 03, 2008
It is common for people to approach native plant landscaping from the "butterfly garden" point of view. In Native Suburbia, that was not our primary focus, but it has turned out to be a pleasant side effect.
There has been an abundance of blooms in our yard this summer and this has attracted numerous species of butterflies, bees and wasps. Every day we see busy insects working nearly every flower in the yard. Our most recent arrival is the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) pictured at left. They seem to really like the purple coneflowers, which worked out well for me. With so much focus on the flower, I was able to get up close and take the picture.
The insects' concentration on the flowers should also reassure anyone who fears bees and wasps. They are far more interested in collecting pollen and nectar than stinging anyone. In fact they can be just as visually interesting as butterflies if you take the time to look. Benia and I often observe them up close and have never been stung. Now if only those pesky mosquitos would learn to love nectar instead of my blood, then all would be peaceful in Native Suburbia!
/native_suburbia | Permalink (2 comments)
June 16, 2008The plants between the flagstones of our garden path are now short. That is because I mow them regularly. We finally decided to go with the cordless electric mower. We purchased a Homelite 20" Cordless Electric Mower from the Home Despot. It is not my favorite place to do business, but I was nervous about the purchase of this relatively new technology and I wanted to be able to return it more easily if something goes wrong.
So far there have been no problems. I brought it home and plugged it in to get it charging. The next day I took it for a spin around the path. As expected, it started right up. Despite what all the marketing materials say about electric mowers, this thing is not whisper quiet! It sounds like a very loud fan. It is certainly quieter than a gas mower, but still difficult to talk over. The best thing is that there is no yanking on a pull cord and there are no exhaust fumes.
But back to the cutting... I set the height at about 3.25" so that I can clear my rather bumpy stone path. I also like the way it lets the plants grow in between the stones, albeit in a dwarfed stature. I pushed it around the path and found that it takes two passes to cut the full width. Apparently the path is wider than the 20" cutting width of the mower. I think that the electric mower feels heavier than my old gas mower, but it is on wheels, so I don't have too much trouble pushing it. The exercise is good for me anyway.
The whole job of trimming all of the path winding through Native Suburbia takes less than 10 minutes. I do it about once a week and after 3 or 4 times I am still on the first charge. Of course my "mileage" is probably much better than that reported in the typical online reviews because I am not cutting a thick lawn. The path trimming job is a whole different chore. It remains to be seen how this electric mower will stand up to the spring mulching job.
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May 26, 2008I am continuing to work my way through the photo backlog. The latest set of pictures is from Autumn 2007 and it is now available for your viewing pleasure.
In some ways these pictures are starting to look very similar to previous years in Native Suburbia. I am constantly thrilled by the little things that I see in the yard, but I have been debating whether these photographic tours are still useful. My goal is to show how the project progresses from season to season and year to year. It really puts the timeline into perspective when you realize that it took several years for our yard to reach this point. There are still bare patches that have not yet decided what they want to be when they grow up.
I welcome feedback from you. If you are enjoying the pictures as they are, then let me know. If there is some aspect of the project that is missing, and you think it would be interesting, then definitely let me know.
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May 20, 2008I have a lawn mower. A powerful, stinky, loud, gas burning lawnmower. It was purchased many years ago when I bought my first house and I needed it to cut the lawn I had suddenly obtained back in 2000. You might be wondering what does this has to do with a path in Native Suburbia, where there is no lawn.
Now that Benia and I have created Native Suburbia in our yard, the lawn mower is only used once a year. Due to the close proximity of other houses, we have been hesitant to burn our native plants. In fact, I doubt such activity would ever be approved by the village of Bartlett. So in the Spring I have been using the lawn mower to mulch everything. This year, just as I was finishing the yard, I broke the pull string used to start the lawn mower. This made me consider alternatives to fixing it. Using it once a year may not seem too bad compared to the many times I drive my car, but the gas lawn mower is a powerful symbol of the the lawn lifestyle that I have rejected.
Things are getting a little more complex as I have determined that the mower may provide a solution to another problem we are having. Anyone that has seen the pictures of Native Suburbia knows that there is a flagstone path through the entire yard. The gaps between the stones are begging to be filled in. As the plants in our yard continue to multiply and thrive, we get many volunteers to occupy those gaps. Unfortunately, these volunteers would like to grow to be several feet tall, which is not conducive to path walking. In the past, we have been hand pulling anything tall that grows between the stones. This is a time consuming and back breaking chore. It also leaves bare dirt in between the stones except for the wood sorrel that pops up in some places. So getting back to the mower, I am back to considering a mechanized solution to keeping the path in a walkable condition.
I considered a cordless electric string trimmer. Of course the primary benefit would be a powered tool without the gas engine. It's portability would allow me to trim the path without dragging a cord all over my tall prairie plants. On the downside, it would leave tiny bits of nylon cord all over the yard. I may not be able to see them, but I would know that I was putting them there. I wondered if there was a more permanent solution to the trimming string. I wonder what would happen if I used a thin diameter, braided steel cable in place of the nylon string. If both ends were bound tightly it seems like it would last forever against mere plant material. It might be a little more dangerous, but even the nylon string could cause injury. So I would just be a little more careful and stay away from fences with this new mecha-trimmer.
I also considered a cordless electric lawn mower. This would be more powerful than the string trimmer, but also a lot heavier. It has metal blades that will last a very long time. It may still be able to serve the function of mulching my yard in the Spring in addition to maintaining the path during the summer. I just do not know if it will have enough power. I did a ton of review reading online and people either love these things or hate them. It is difficult to know how their experiences would relate to my needs. I also imagine that it would be faster and easier to clear a path by making a single pass over the path with this mower. The stones only make the path about 18" -24" wide anyway. I imagine the string trimmer would require a bunch of waving about to accomplish the job.
So I am still not sure what to do, but I have "weeded" the path once this year already and I would like to avoid a second time now that my back is healed up.
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May 18, 2008I finally got around to going through a bunch of pictures that we took in Native Suburbia last year in September. It turns out that I was a little premature in calling the end of summer and there was still plenty of flowers to see.
I know that I am falling behind, but go ahead and take a look at the latest set that I have posted. I promise that I will try to get some pics of Native Suburbia 2008 up before 2009 is upon us.
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April 27, 2008Benia and I went out and did some weeding yesterday. We spent about 3 hours crawling around the yard and pulling up things that weren't where they belonged. In some cases this included weeds, which in Native Suburbia is any plant that is non-native. Unfortunately we also found ourselves pulling up a fair amount of native plants. A lot of volunteers have sprouted up in the path that we maintain. It almost seems that seeds are more likely to germinate in the spaces between the stones than anywhere else. Maybe the stones capture the heat and warm up the soil around them faster in the Spring. In any case, we are not quite ready to turn our path over to 5 foot tall prairie plants. We need some nice short ground cover to go in between the stones but we are having a hard time finding anything native at our local nursery.
One thing we learned while doing all this weeding is that we are getting older and probably were a little too lazy over the winter. The sore muscles sang out today and reminded us that we may have jumped in a little too enthusiastically this year.
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April 23, 2008I poked my head out of my cave (also known as the computer room) and it seems that Winter is over. A new growing season is quickly ramping up. For all the caretakers of cool season grasses that means the "sounds of summer" are already here. I was saddened to hear all the lawn mowers firing up last weekend already!
In the interest of full disclosure, I actually used my lawn mower to mulch up the leftover plants from last season. Burning does not look like a viable option in our neighborhood, so I need some way to clear the way for the next season's growth. We are still trying to determine what our long term maintenance plan will look like.
Benia and I have already toured the yard many times. There is so much to see in Native Suburbia! This is an amazing time of year as we go from zero to 6 feet in 6.2 weeks. (OK, I don't actually measure, but I liked the way that sounded.) Since we have no lawn and our native plants are still sparse in some areas, things look pretty barren after the snow melts. As soon as we got a few sunny days though, things started sprouting all over. To give you an idea of the enjoyment we get out of our yard tours here is an email that Benia sent after a walk she took without me. Things are moving so fast that these are new developments since the day before!
1. Another mayapple sprouted up where the 2 newer ones are, near the ash tree. There are also 2 brand-new mayapples just behind the hairy wood mint.
2. There are many little Solomon's seals coming up on both sides of the path near the ash tree. The first false one appears to be opening up and spreading its leaves out more. There are going to be so many! :)
3. The little Pennsylvania sedges near the big viburnum are fluffing out nicely. Perhaps a photo is in order?
4. Still no sign of the mayapples near the maple, but I did notice a new trillium or two crammed into the crowded spot of anemone/geranium farther from the path than the original trillium bunch. I could tell by the 3 triangle-shaped leaves around the center. It looks like the others.
5. The original bloodroot lost all its petals already, but the second one appears to be about to open up soon. Both leaves were still curled around the stem.
I only had a few minutes and of course, didn't want to leave.
-Benia
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October 14, 2007Over the course of the last two weekends, Benia and I purchased and planted about 200 native plants. This was the culmination of the final phase our our lawn removal goal. Native Suburbia is 100% free of traditional lawn of any sort. Officially this happened earlier this summer, when we smothered the lawn in the parkway. It has been cooking under all that mulch and newspaper for over 3 months, so it was time to plant.
We had been seeing the barren mulch covered area in our front yard all summer, and we were very excited to be doing something about it. Since the parkway is a fairly narrow patch next to the sidewalk, we chose plants that tend to grow shorter than 24 inches. There may eventually be taller volunteers from other parts of the yard, but for now we are stacking the deck on the shorter side.
Some of the species we planted:
- cleft phlox (Phlox bifida)
- heart-leaved meadow parsnip (Zizia aptera)
- pale beard tongue (Penstemon pallidus)
- path rush (Juncus tenuis)
- purple love grass (Eragrostis spectabilis)
- violet bush clover (Lespedeza violacea)
- wild petunia (Ruellia humillis)
I cannot wait until next year to see how everything fills in. It will be nice to move on to the next phase of Native Suburbia. We will still be weeding, but now we can watch as our native landscape matures.
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October 09, 2007I responded to my neighbor's attorney, Mr. James G. Wiard, and indicated that I do not give permission for them to have access to my property. I just don't trust them to use good judgement in trimming the tree.
I did offer to meet with their tree trimmer to discuss the trimming of specific branches. I won't give unqualified access to the tree, but if the professional wants to work with me, I will at least hear him out. I will be surprised if they take me up on this offer.
So now we wait once again to see what the tree hating neighbor will do.
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September 30, 2007
Return of the Tree Hating Neighbor
As mentioned in a previous post, I have been corresponding with my neighbor's attorney, Mr. James G. Wiard, about my river birch (Betula nigra). In my response to his initial letter I declined to trim the tree. I made it clear that if the neighbors feel compelled to destroy the aesthetic appeal of the tree through excessive pruning, they must not overstep their legal rights while doing it.
Today I received another letter from Mr. Wiard. He indicates that a professional tree trimmer has been engaged to prune branches overhanging his clients' property. Now they are requesting permission to have access to my property so that they can cut even more of the tree. The request is presented in the guise of attempting to do the pruning properly. If I were to approve such access the tree would surely lose a large portion of its crown. While collar cuts are the proper method to use when pruning trees, I fear what these ignorant people would request of the tree trimmer if he had access to the trunk. My only defense at this point is to keep their tree trimmer off my property and force them to make lateral cuts further from the trunk. In this manner, the tree trimmer may be able to appease their thirst for innocent sap, while still maintaining some of the tree's symmetry.
The sad thing is that there is no way I can make these people understand that their actions are pointless. The trees in my yard will continue to follow their natural cycles despite any disfiguration that they may inflict upon on the one. There will still be pollen, seeds and leaves blowing in the wind and I will be glad to see it, for it means that nature is still surviving despite mankind's attempts to defeat it.
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September 06, 2007The official end of summer is typically marked by Labor Day. There is still plenty of activity in Native Suburbia, but I know this is the last big splash before fall. It is exciting to see the culmination of all the plants I have been watching since they first poked through the dirt 4 months ago, but at the same time, I am sad to contemplate the approach of another long winter.
Take a late summer tour through the latest set of pictures and enjoy this great time of the year.
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August 30, 2007Today I received a letter from my neighbor's attorney. It contained a threat of "radical defoliation" against my tree, when they "hire a professional tree trimmer to cut all the way back to the property line".
The tree in question is a beautiful river birch (Betula nigra), which resides at the front corner of my house. As birches naturally do, this tree drops twigs, seeds, pollen and leaves. My neighbor refers to these as "effluent" and believes that the "mealy substance" given off by my tree is clogging his gutters. Check out these pictures that he sent me as evidence.
As you might have guessed, my neighbor is one of those people that believes that the outdoors should look like a living room. His yard contains an expanse of perfectly mown lawn that he never uses. There are a few shrubs pruned into submission. Of course there are no leaves or sticks out of place. Any strays are either vacuumed up or thrown into my yard. This explains why he is too ignorant to appreciate the benefits of a tree and why he confuses seeds with effluent.
Now I am being asked to trim the tree to his satisfaction. I will not be complying with that request. He has a legal right to trim any branches that hang over the property line, but I am not legally bound to help. The tree is healthy and poses no danger to his property. He greatly exaggerates the nuisance factor. I can say this confidently, because I have not one, but two of these trees in the front of my house and I experience no clogging of my gutters.
Since it is illegal to cause the death of a tree owned by your neighbor, I hope that he does hire a professional tree trimmer. Maybe a professional will be able to satisfy my neighbors needs without killing the tree. It would be a shame if my neighbor was forced to pay me for a tree that he hates so much.
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August 20, 2007I was on a roll so I went through a few more pictures. Take a tour of Native Suburbia in Midsummer 2007.
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I love sharing pictures of Native Suburbia on this site. Benia and I take tons of pictures, but unfortunately it takes some effort to sort through them and bring you only the best! So it has taken all summer, but I have finally gotten around to putting together a tour of what the yard looked like in April and May. Check out the Spring 2007 picture set if you haven't had a chance to see in person already.
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August 11, 2007Today we hosted a Wild Ones picnic in Native Suburbia. We always enjoy sharing our yard with others and it was particularly nice to be among others who appreciate our efforts.
A lot of pictures have been taken this summer, but I have been too busy enjoying the outdoors to get them up on the site. Keep checking back, I hope to get caught up in the next couple of months.
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July 15, 2007Benia, our on-staff plant identification specialist, has been hard at work. She has added many new pictures to the specimen collection. It is easy for us to take many pictures, but it is a lot more work to actually identify the plants and write the captions for them.
Take a peek at what we have seen in Native Suburbia. Go to the Pictures page and look around.
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May 25, 2007
Benia recently discovered many oleander aphids (Aphis nerii) on some newly planted butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). We were concerned that these non-native visitors might eat us out of leaf and stem. After some thought we decided to just leave them alone and let nature take its course. Someone on the Yahoo Group for Wild Ones mentioned that predators may show up and balance things a little.
Today we spotted a ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) patrolling the butterfly weed. Hopefully it was hunting for aphids.
It is so exciting to see everything that is happening in Native Suburbia. Every day we see something new. A new flower, a new insect, a new bird, or a new interaction between any of the above. Replacing the lawn with this native landscape has turned out better than we imagined.
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May 24, 2007The Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) caterpillars have been a star attraction in Native Suburbia lately. I visit them every day before and after work. Their host tree is a few leaves lighter, but it is not being stripped as much as I had feared. I think it will be able to survive the experience. The caterpillars have just shed their skins for the third time which means that they will be pupating soon. I noticed that there are not as many of them crawling back and forth along the branches as when I first discovered them. Yesterday I observed one reason for their decline in numbers.
While I was visiting the little mass of leaf munchers with my camera, I noticed a paper wasp (Polistes dominulus) flying around and checking things out. At first it appeared that he was randomly passing by. He landed on a branch for a second. He took to the air and "bounced" off the mass of caterpillars, seemingly by accident. Just a lazy afternoon of flying in the warm breezes.
Suddenly, it became apparent that he was just sizing up the situation. He landed and walked over to a caterpillar on the edge of the group. There was some defensive wriggling and shaking, but the wasp was not deterred. He maneuvered into position and the next thing I knew the caterpillar was hanging from his jaws. For the rest of the story see the pictures that I took.
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May 21, 2007
Benia and I were touring the yard today when we came upon a squirming mass of caterpillars in a quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). I snapped a few pictures and we immediately checked them out on the computer. Benia quickly identified our new visitors as Nymphalis antiopa caterpillars. When they grow up, they are known as the Mourning Cloak butterfly.
A big part of the Native Suburbia philosophy is to provide habitat for animals. We love to see butterflies of all kinds fluttering around the yard. Our kind hearts are tested though, when we see a mass of 50 caterpillars working their way up a branch and eating every leaf. We only have 3 quaking aspens and they are all next to one another. Could these hungry little caterpillars wipe them out? I could cut them off at the pass now and increase the survival chances for the trees, but that would mean killing all the caterpillars. Am I prepared to do that? These are the tough decisions of the backyard nature preserve.
See Nymphalis antiopa on Wikipedia for more info.
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May 12, 2007We spent most of today planting in the front yard. This is the area where we smothered the grass last summer. A bunch of plants were added late last year, but while many of them are coming back, it still looked pretty barren.
We started with a trip to The Natural Garden and ended up coming home with 103 plants. It took about 3 hours to get them all in the ground. Benia and I are not as young as we were last year. There were complaints from sore knees and backs, but it was all worth it to us. There isn't quite as much open space, but still more than we would like. Hopefully the plants will help us out a little and fill in on their own. This is getting to be an expensive hobby.
This spring has been a great joy for us. We have been walking around the yard watching as every day something new pops up. A trillium here, a mayapple there, and wild geraniums everywhere. The grasses are coming back bigger and thicker than last year. It is all very exciting to us.
No pictures this time, but there will be some new ones soon.
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March 03, 2007
The bitter cold spell that we were having has broken. Temperatures have made their way up into the 40's and then back into the 30's. There has been rain and now there is snow on the ground again. We like to look out into Native Suburbia through the big window on the back of the house. (Hey, we like nature, but not freezing our butts off!)
What we have noticed lately is that the path we have laid out is pretty popular with the critters who visit our yard. All of the tracks you see in the picture are non-human. Most of them are made by the opossum who visits frequently and often stays under the deck. There are a few bunny trails as well. And finally there is evidence that a big domestic cat is still passing through regularly. I really wish people would keep their cats in the house! We are trying to provide a habitat for the wild animals upon whose territory we have encroached, not a playground for well fed house cats.
But the real point of this post is to remember that even though our plants are not doing much at this time of the year, life still goes on in Native Suburbia.
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December 23, 2006In my quest to provide you, my loyal readers, with more pictures of the Native Suburbia project, I have posted a new set called Autumn 2006.
This almost catches me up with things for this year. There are still a lot of specimen pictures to be processed and added to the Specimen Collection, but that will come slowly over the next couple of months.
I would love to hear from anyone who is looking at all the pictures that I post. Are you enjoying them? Are they boring? Too many? Too few? Is there something that you would like to see that is not being covered?
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December 18, 2006It has been too long since I posted new pictures. Native Suburbia put on a nice show this summer. We saw many new plants in bloom and there is even more potential for next year as more plants mature. So many pictures were taken that it was hard to choose which ones should be posted on the site. After much deliberation, I still ended up with about 70 pictures showing what happened in August and September. The new set is called Late Summer 2006.
I hope they give you a little taste of the wonderful alternative that native plant landscaping provides.
Jim Plonczynski, wrote at 2010-07-13 15:39: