The Indomitable Hairy Aster

You can tell it's fall because the asters are starting to bloom. There are about 25 species of asters in southern Wisconsin so these species can get pretty confusing (and even more so now that the taxonomists have split this genus into three four genera, none of which are named "Aster".) Most of these asters are relatively rare on the landscape, restricted to remnant prairies, wetland and woodlands. But one species I really enjoy seeing in all sorts of odd places is hairy aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum, formerly known as Aster pilosus).

This scrappy little species is common throughout the landscape. It is a component of high-quality prairies and savannas, rubbing elbows with the most conservative of prairie plants, but can also be found duking it out with the weeds on roadsides, old fields and urban waste areas. It often 'just shows up' in prairie plantings and formal gardens alike. In fact, I have about a dozen in my yard and I never planted a single one of them. It is often considered a weed, and the overall structure of the plant is relatively unattractive with a hairy, spreading stem and long, skinny leaves. But it is a great source of pollen and nectar for butterflies and bees, and once it starts blooming its bright flowers can cheer up any garden. Plus, it blooms from late August all the way until early November. Another great attribute is that it never spreads aggressively like its distant cousin Canada goldenrod, which also tends to "just show up" in a garden or prairie.

So keep an eye out for hairy aster this fall. Chances are, if you see a white aster in full sun or light shade, outside of a wetland or remnant prairie, this is it. You may not know every aster species in our area, but you can be pretty confident that just about every one you will see on a day-to-day basis will be this exuberant species.

SAVE THE MONARCHS! Great deals on butterfly gardens!

Today we're announcing our SAVE THE MONARCHS! Butterfly Garden promotional program:

Though they are one of our most common, and most beautiful American butterflies, the future of the monarchs is in doubt due to habitat loss and other threats. Help us help you SAVE THE MONARCHS! By participating in our program.

At select special events we will be giving away free milkweed plants: Come find out booth at the Atwood Summerfest on Saturday July 28th and Sunday 29th where we will be giving away over 200 butterfly milkweed plants and common milkweed seeds

Special Monarch Garden Packages: We have developed several special “Monarch Garden” packages, both gardens we can install for you and kits for the DIY folks. To encourage people to 'go native' we're offering these kits at 22-33% off the normal retail price of plants and/or installation!

• Standard Monarch Garden: 52 native flowers and grasses, including up to 12 milkweeds. Different packages are available for sun, moderate shade and rain garden sites. Site preparation (weeding, sod removal), installation, mulching and initial watering are included. We can plant this garden in an area to remove a bit of lawn (about 50 square feet) or it can be interplanted into an existing flower bed. Regular Price: $531. SAVE THE MONARCHS! Program sale price: $435!*
• DIY Monarch Garden Kit: 52 native flowers and grasses, including up to 12 milkweeds, ½ cubic yard of mulch and basic instructions. Different packages are available for sun, moderate shade and rain garden sites. Regular Price: $293.  SAVE THE MONARCHS! Program sale price: $221!*
• For additional savings, buy one butterfly garden, get $10 off the second! Double the size of the garden, double the number of butterflies! For the DIY Package, consider a group buy with your friends and neighbors so everyone can save!

Contact us to order a garden for fall installation.
 *Additional travel fee for projects outside of Dane County.
We have put together lots of great info about monarch butterflies, the various threats to their survival and what you can do on our new Monarch Page. Check it out!

Native Plants, and the Drought of 2012

The Drought of 2012

As I write this post, there are cloudy skies above and we're getting teased by a smattering of showers heading in our direction. I'm not getting my hopes up, we've seen this sort of weak storm pattern already a couple times this summer without much to show for it. Its Friday July 13th, and Madison WI has officially received less than 1/2" of rain since June 1st (and I'm pretty sure it didn't rain the last week of May either). On an average year, we would see 6.75" of rain during that period. As you can see below, we're now in a "Severe Drought":

Still, I don't think that image shows the local severity quite as clearly as it could. Check out this map of precipitation totals for the past 30 days, showing a big red bullseye of 'nada' in south central Wisconsin. UPDATE: they updated the map shortly after I wrote this blog post, there was originally a bull eye of red immediately southwest of Madison. I captured this image on July 16th, click here for the current condition.

Here's another "fun" map, showing that moisture in the top 4" inches of soil is as low as it can go in our area. Bear in mind that the counties in central WI and western MI typically have very sandy soil, making it even more remarkable that we can match their low soil moisture in the loamy soils here in southern WI.

Corn is now wilting and dying in the fields. The non-native cool-season grasses that dominate our lawns and roadsides are brown, and almost completely desiccated. We're now seeing several accidental grass fires daily in Madison, which is completely unheard of for this part of the world. Earlier this week I saw two burned out areas in just a 1 mile stretch of I-90.

So What Does This Mean for Native Plants?

We always promote the hardy, drought tolerant nature of native plants. But conditions like these will impact any plant. Expect to see native plants responding to the drought by wilting back, flowering for shorter-than-normal periods of time (or not at all), and/or partially (or completely) dying back above ground. These are all signs of stress, but they are also adaptive responses. The plants are making a measured response to the lack of soil moisture, much like you might cut your spending if you found yourself temporarily out of work. For the most part, though some native plants may look like they are suffering this summer, almost all will survive this drought just fine and be vibrant and healthy again next year.

Native planet out "in the wild" are similarly effected, which can be easily seen in any walk in the woods or in the prairie. The effects seem worse in prairies and savannas because of the drying effects of direct sunlight and hot/dry winds. Some species do better than others under these conditions. Severe droughts like this can have an impact on the species assembly in natural areas, meaning that populations of drought tolerant plants may increase as a result of the drought, while the populations of other species may decrease. Here's hoping that many of those shallow-rooted garlic mustards just won't be able to hack it!

Hairy wild petunia that I photographed earlier this week is showing no signs of stress due to the drought.
 I notice a new flower budding this afternoon.

Black-eyed susan is also thriving despite the drought. They, and the above petunias have extremely hairy leaves and stems which slows airflow around these surfaces, reducing the amount of water which is lost due to evaporation.

Pagoda dogwood is a woodland species, its growing here in nearly full sun. The leaves are 'flagging' a bit, but you can see this hardy shrub is still finding enough water to develop fruit which the birds are quickly devouring.

Wild bergamont, rattlesnake master and false sunflower are all a little wilty due to the drought, but they are flowering non-the-less. At the lower left you can see some obedient plant which is dying back due to drought stress. No doubt it will be back and bullying other plants around next year.

Situations where you SHOULD water

Overall, native plants should survive, even thrive during this drought. However, there are a few exceptions. Here is when you should be watering:

Flowering perennials and grasses that were planted this year:

These baby plants haven't gotten a substantial enough root system yet to tolerate completely dried out surface soil. Water to soil saturation 1-2 times a week.

Trees planted in the last 4-5 years:

Because we need plants that are a small enough to move around and plant, the root system of container grown and especially balled-and-burlaped trees are much smaller than their wild counterparts of similar size. It takes several years for trees to grow out their root systems after they are planted. So these need to be watered thoroughly for them to survive. They should be watered very heavily 2-3 times a week. Shrubs will need some attention too, but will generally survive better than trees.

Right plant, Wrong Place:

We always talk about planting the right plant in the right place for best success. Sometimes we push the limits a bit because we something we really like should work pretty well in a spot under normal conditions. A good example is rain gardens, my rain garden has a number of wet prairie and wetland edge plants that need more moisture than their more mesic counterparts. Really, for a rain garden, you want plants that can withstand flooding, but are otherwise well suited for the 'normal' condition of your garden. In my case, I have marsh milkweed, cardinal flower, marsh blazing star and culver's root that are all flowering, but they are shorter than normal and less vigorous. I'm starting to wonder if the blue lobelia will bloom, and I have had at least one wetland sedge bite the bucket. The panicled asters on the other hand are doing a little too well... may have to thin those out this fall.

Good Oak Needs Your Support!! - Vote for Us! Mission: Small Business

Good Oak Ecological Services needs your help. We are applying for a $250,000 small business grant from Chase and Living Social, but we need 250 supporters in order to make it to the final judges.

1. Sign in to https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com. You can log in with a Facebook account.
2. Search for "Good Oak Ecological Services" at the bottom of the search page.
3. Click the blue "Vote" button to lend your voice.

This grant will help fund the opening of the Good Oak Sustainable Garden Center here in Madison, featuring native plants and organic garden supplies. We're excited about making hundreds of species of native trees, shrubs and perennials easily available for use on sites ranging from small home gardens to extensive prairie restorations. We'll also offer fruit trees, veggie starters, high-quality tools, books, local stone, recycled bricks, organic compost, locally harvested firewood, and more supplies for your permaculture garden or community garden plot. We're also looking into offering beekeeping and urban chicken supplies, and art and natural products from local craftsmen.

This grant will allow us to meet our goal of creating a sustainable garden center that is truly an environmental role model. A green roof on the building using only native plants will demonstrate the value of these roof top gardens in our community. Example gardens of showy native and edible plants will give people inspiration for great garden projects. Our goal is to have the garden center meet LEED and SITES standards.

Please pass this along to anyone you think may be interested. Thank you for your support!

Dames Rocket: The Overdressed Matron

We're seeing a lot of pink outside these days. On roadsides, railroad corridors, degraded woodlands, stream corridors, backyards... seems like these showy pink flowers are everywhere.

Only a few blocks from my home I found this massive colony of Dames Rocket, likely there's one not far from your home too.

The flower in question is dames rocket (Hesperis matronalis) and though it is admittedly showy, it is indeed an aggressive invasive plant. Dick Young, the author of my favorite plant book, Kane County Wild Plants and Natural Areas, describes them as such:

[Found] in shady waste areas and disturbed waysides, crowding out and becoming exclusive stands. This popular Eurpean perennial is an escaped garden plant that is still sold in wildflower mixes. It has striking white, pink and lavender blossom clusters from mid-May through July that are commonly confused with Phlox. Their pervasive fragrance and gaudy color suggests an overdressed matron wearing too much cheap perfume, as these plants often become too much in the landscape. [emphasis added]

I have always had a great fondness for Mr. Young's colorful and accurate descriptions of wild plants!

Identification:

dames rocket

Many people confuse this species with our native phloxes. But dames rocket, like all members of the mustard family, has only 4 petals. Any phlox, will have 5 petals. Count them: P-H-L-O-X, 1-2-3-4-5, petals.

prairie phlox (Phlox pilosa)

woodland phlox (Phlox diviricata)

Superficially similar yes. But there are many clear differences. For example, dames rocket is typically 3-4' tall. Our native phloxes rarely, if ever grow taller than 2'. Also, phloxes have small, rather slender leaves that are arranged opposite of each other on the stem. Dames rocket has large leaves which are arranged alternately on the stem (one will be on the left, then up a few inches the next leaf will be on the right, and so on). See below: 

More dames rocket.

Elimination:

Its important to note these differences, because dames rocket is an aggressive weed that should be eradicated. I know it's pretty to look at, but in the long term allowing it to persist will lead to disaster. I was at a property this spring where the owner had worked hard for a decade controlling dames rocket's better known cousin, garlic mustard but they had left the dames rocket alone. It got so thick that last year's dead stems were like corn stalks in a field, and there were very few native plants left in the area. Once you know what a terror they can be in a natural area, they seem considerably less attractive.

Dames rocket is a short-lived perennial. They spread more slowly than garlic mustard, but they live and flower for a couple years (as opposed to garlic mustard which flowers only once before it dies), which means that over the life-time of a single plant it will produce as many, maybe more seeds than a garlic mustard plant will produce. They overwinter as rosettes. These ground-hugging basal leaves are variable and can be difficult to identify at first; sometimes they look like dandelions, sometimes like common evening primrose, sometimes like penstemons.

Dames rocket as an overwintering rosette.

Our Weed Identification and Control Sheet about dames rocket discusses control methods in detail, but let me give you a few tips: The first is to spray or dig them out in the winter months. As long as the ground is not frozen and it's above 35° F, these plants are actively photosynthesizing, meaning they can also absorb herbicide. It's easy and relatively safe to do when all of your other plants are dormant. Another tip I have is to dig/pull them out just after they finished flowering. That way, you and your neighbors can enjoy the pretty flowers this year, but you can eliminate them before they can create any seeds. Be sure to bag these plants and dispose of them in the trash so they can go to the landfill, not the compost pile!

Alternatives:

So what can you plant if you want some attractive, showy flowers in late spring? Fortunately, there are lots of native alternatives. Here are three that are hardy, can tolerate shade and sun, and are pretty showy:

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum): Happy in full shade to full sun, lovely pink flowers.

Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis): Delicate red flowers attract humming birds, full sun to moderate shade.

Golden Alexanders (Zizea aurea): Yellow flowers, good in moderate shade to full sun. Larval host to black swallow tail butterflies. Can be somewhat tall and aggressive in a home landscape.

(with geranium in the foreground)

Prairie phlox and woodland phlox (seen in above photos), for sun and shade respectively, are also good alternatives to dames rocket. They are quite colorful, but a bit smaller. They tend to get lost among taller plants, and are best used along edges or in more manicured native perennial gardens.