Advice From Nature: Doldrum Daydreaming

So let's say that you have spent around 10-15 minutes a day out there during the dog days and finding a good sit or walk to be much more enjoyable than weeding or planting.  That Spring energy is long gone and now you just want to look at the pretty flowers and blowing foliage.  I can't say that I blame you, as the annuals have begun to take on carpet proportions and the mid-summer perennials are starting to put on quite the show.  Maybe you are looking out there thinking that some of those would be nicer in greater quantity or arranged differently.  Maybe you are noticing that that plant labelled "full sun" seems to actually be doing far better in the partial shade of your eastern wall (looking at you, hollyhocks).  Maybe you are wondering if any of this makes sense, and are stumped, bored, puzzled, frazzled, exasperated, etc.

It happens to the best of us.  The history of garden design is marked at certain points by sudden shifts in inspiration brought about by global exploration, accidents, a lack of weed control, and thrift.  All of these causes have in common one feature: nature.

That's right, sometimes things changed just when someone looked past the garden into the forest or fields and thought maybe the Primal Designer was on to something.  We got lucky here in SE Michigan, as many little pieces of nature converge into a rather diverse buffet to devour.  So hey, let's step outdoors for a minute and see what we have to throw at our cultivation craze right from our own backyard.

In general, SE Michigan can be categorized as having three basic groups of natural setting with one significant subgroup, and then a wet and dry version of each.  They are boreal, from the north, eastern forest, and prairie, from the west (with the savanna being that significant subgroup).

The boreal world has probably the least noticeable presence in our relatively mild corner of the state, with some amazing pockets of "up north" existing here and there.  I will launch into these amazing little places in greater detail, but if you want to find some in the meantime, head towards Brighton; tamaracks (Larix Laricina) are everywhere.  For windshield tourists, Beck between Seven and Eight mile has several large specimens on the west side of the road, which is the eastern border of Maybury State Park.  Grand River, out just east of Pleasant Valley, features a large stand on the north side of the road.  Nearby Kensington Metro Park features a ton more, in a trail that passes through a fen, which features some prairie stuff meeting the northern stuff.  In general, the further north you head, the more elements of the boreal world one will tend to find.  Just around Birch Run one will find coniferous trees  getting peppered into the forest, and I-94 just short of Port Huron features birch and pines giving a mocking "welcome to Canada" effect, despite Sarnia across the way being rather southern for Canadian standards.

As for how the boreal can be introduced into our gardens, let's just say that a little shade can go a long way.  These trees like their feet cool, and they and their companion flowers like the soil to be moist and acidic, just like blueberries and such enjoy.  As you can see from that tamarack up there, though, give them an inch and they will take a mile and be right at home.

The eastern elements are going to be rather common, being found pretty much wherever forest has been allowed to spring back up or has never been mowed.  Most state and metroparks will be full of wooded areas, and our variety of deciduous trees is amazing enough to mean we can put on fall shows to rival most of the destinations that leaf-peepers drive hundreds of miles to find.  Midsummer inspiration can actually be found for those cursed/blessed by shade: see what works in the understory, if only in log and fern combinations!  Hines Drive features a trip along the Rouge River with many parks to pull off into and explore the eastern forests up close and on foot, completely free of charge.  Highland State Recreation Area features Haven Hill Natural Area, where one can find EVERY forest type in Michigan, wet and low and high and dry.  In a few places, especially along the Black River and French River, you can get really eastern and find the odd Appalachian plant...

Island Lake State Recreation Area

For most people, the forests are going to be present in elements in the backyard already, be it in the form of trees, ferns, or even a few shade loving wildflowers.  More on all this later!  For now, head out to a park of some sort, or just look out your door.  We do forests well here in SE Michigan.

Before we cleared a lot of them out, though, the forests shared the stage with a very, very special kind of landscape: prairie.  We tend to think of the grasslands as being a flat, boring, Kansas sort of thing.  In truth, grasslands were as much as a third to half the battle in Michigan and neighboring Ohio and Southern Ontario, even more so in Indiana and points westward.  Fires, dry soils, and slow growing trees were responsible for making southern Michigan into a very exotic tapestry of grass, tree, flowers, and lakes and rivers.  Very little of this landscape is left to us, because that amazing grass and flowers gave us some incredible soil which proved irresistible to farmers and the open landscape cried out to developers and surveyors.

Island Lake State Recreation Area

In many places, the grass married the forest, with the oaks serving as the trees in the wedding.   The result was a park-like landscape full of amazing flowers and incredible views.  When you travel back roads in the country and come across a lone giant oak, odds are it survived the axe and is centuries old, once standing over such a landscape.  Restoration efforts are slowly bringing them back, by letting fire do its thing and keeping the invasive species away.  One of the best places to find savannas is at Algonac State Park, which grades into wet prairie, forests, and the rare Lakeplain Oak Openings.  Needless to say from the pictures, Island Lake State Recreation Area also has a few prairies and savannas; you just need to head off the beaten path.

Island Lake State Recreation Area

Needless to say, native plant gardeners drool over grassland inspiration.  Meadow gardens, prairie gardens, etc. are our attempt to make midsummer flower beds boom with color.  You could easily make a mock oak savanna just by planting a few native oaks in your lawn!  No matter what your soil is like, if you have a little sun, you can reproduce some of this lost Michigan on your lot.

So get out there!  Find some local plants to try, or at least be inspired by the natural landscapes.  Think content, layout, structure, etc. 

Going Native: Butterfly Weed

While I intend to spill into a lengthy diatribe later regarding how amazing native plants are, for now I would like to mention one in particular, our lovely little orange wonder, the Butterfly Weed (a.k.a. Asclepias Tuberosa).

I honestly forget where this is from, and might even be home grown from local seeds.  Those cacti you see at the bottom, by the way, are indeed "perennial"!  We will see them later on.

It's pretty damn easy to grow, and here in Michigan we can usually neglect it and it thrives.  It can make its way through most drought, owing to a large taproot (which means it does not do so carefree in confined situations like pots or urban dirt that has a concrete bottom).  It does fine in rock gardens, sandy patches, and seems to be fine in my thick, unyielding clay.  For those gardeners who have trouble finding a strain that their clay can make friends with, Prairie Nursery out of Wisconsin does offer a clay-loving variety.  I've personally never had a problem with it, though I also tend to be very intense when it comes to establishing perennials.  A bit of water goes a long way to getting that long taproot where it needs to go.

Soil issues tend to not be much of a problem for this species compared to just being able to find it.  In some years it gets touted as the be all and end all of "attract monarchs to your garden" sales pitches at nurseries.  In most years, however, I find people asking even at native plant sources where they can find some of this amazing plant.  The most consistent source for stock that I have yet found is George's Livonia Gardens, which offers a very basic native plant selection, but is a great place to get the bare bones of a wildflower garden going.  That said, they are also fairly easy to grow from seed and can be found along roadsides and meadows/fields/prairies.  They form very distinctive pods which are architecturally pleasing and carry the plant through the winter as a design element.  Leave the pods to ripen in the garden, where they will do the work for you, usually giving out a nice healthy plant the following spring.  Failing that, you can find their seeds even at most hardware stores, but for a fine native such as this, nothing beats our local type population (more on this in another post).

The picture above really does not do the plant justice.  The orange has an intensity that is in my opinion unmatched in the plant world.  Only the California Poppy (a.k.a. Eschscholzia Californica) comes even close to the brilliant, almost neon orange that this wonder puts out.  Gardeners have long since bred it into various other colors, but the original orange remains the most brilliant, awe-inspiring flavor.  Back when Michigan had more in the way of natural prairies, it probably stole the show even among other wildflowers.  Such has certainly been the case in every prairie and savanna patch I have ever been to where it has been present even in small numbers.  In the garden, it can compete with even the flashiest annuals.

Even way in the back there, it still has a commanding presence and is the brightest thing next to the orange marigolds up front.  That little patch, by the way, has quite the plant diversity and history, and is something I will re-visit frequently for individual plant coverage and design concepts.  Speaking of which, Butterfly Weed is obviously a very painless choice for integrating natives into an overall design.  Unlike most other milkweeds, it has a very clean appearance and does not usually get derided by the ordinary, non-gardening folks as "weedy".  In contrast, those tall common milkweed stalks were responsible for this patch getting repeatedly mowed until I dressed it up some more.  That's a real shame, as both plants offer very different structural contributions to the broader garden landscape.  Alas, Butterfly Weed tends to look more like a typical garden plant, and tends to be a happy find while weeding, at least if the weeder has ever seen one in bloom.  Half the time I find them growing freely in the lawn and am very reluctant to send them away; for what its worth, they do tend to transplant easily at such a young age.  Keep that soil ball around the roots intact and well-watered in its new home and you can transplant fields of them. 

Equally at home in rough or formal settings, Butterfly Weed works well with many plants, notably other wildflowers.  I am particularly fond of using them in contrast with white/silver foliage plants such as the various sagebrushes of the Artemisia genus, and they also look nice with other shrub-sized plants such as roses.  Alternatively, group them with low-growing annuals for some vertical contrast.  In South East Michigan, Butterfly Weed tends to give an opening bloom around Mid-June (these pictures were taken today, June 18th) and even without deadheading (pinching off the faded blooms) tend to give another bloom later in July and early August.  They like it hot, and tend to finish blooming before the fall, but I have seen the rare late August show as well.  The blooms tend to last the better part of a week, sometimes as long as two.  Don't pinch off the second bloom, as the pods will develop, and they look amazing!  Give it a go, you will not be disappointed.