Three
years ago when we moved from a neighborhood to the country, I was excited about
having a little more green space around me.
The house we bought was seven years old and had a nice, established
lawn. However, the area beyond the
manicured back yard, a space less than an acre, was a scruffy hill of weeds
that the previous owners kept mowed. It
had no irrigation and only the toughest weeds grew there. The ground was rock hard, and rocky. And believe it or not, I was excited about
that weedy, scruffy space on the hill. Because
I wanted a meadow.
Today,
because of agriculture and America’s love of lawns, we have less than one
percent of native grasslands left. It
takes only one acre of natural grasslands to reintroduce ground breeding birds
such as quail and meadowlark, birds that benefit from the protection of tall
grass.
One
benefit of having a meadow is that it needs no irrigation (think present day California)
and unlike a lawn, it needs no fertilizer, which is a benefit to the
Chesapeake Bay. Plus, pollinators, birds and wildlife
benefit from a meadow habitat, unlike your grass lawn that has nothing to offer
nature. A meadow is easier work than a
lawn, but is not completely maintenance free.
Without mowing or a controlled burn each year, an unmaintained meadow will revert to forest in a relatively
short amount of time. First cedar trees
appear and then oak, pine and others soon follow.
To
create a meadow, you must eliminate the weeds and cool season grasses present
before replanting. I used vats of
Round-Up but the weeds basically rejected my efforts. I don’t have a tiller, plus my meadow is on a
slope, so after mowing it very short, I got to work with a hoe and a rake and
did my best to loosen the soil. It took about two weeks of serious labor in
early spring to prepare my meadow.
Although it seemed like most of the weeds were gone, apparently the
weeds and Bermuda grass were just biding their time before returning with a
vengeance. Finally, I raked an area,
planted seeds, raked another area, planted seeds, and so on, walking over each
planted area to press the seeds firmly into the soil. Each area I raked produced a mound a river
rock from just beneath the surface.
This is
my third year planting my meadow and fortunately I learned in a recent meadow
class at the community college that it takes about three years for a meadow to
become firmly established. I also
learned that a meadow shouldn’t be all about flowers – a proper meadow is a
balance of 60 percent grass and 40 percent flowers. Recommended grasses are a combination of little
blue stem, big blue stem, switch grass and Indian grass. Bermuda grass and crab grass don’t
count. This year, I am closer to the
recommended mix but still have way too many weeds, despite additional vats of
Round-Up.
I also learned that the recommended
flower selection includes natives such as coneflower, aster, mistflower,
Joe-pye-weed, liatris, brown-eyed Susan, goldenrod, and ironweed. (I learned
this in the class that was offered soon after
I finished planting this year’s meadow.) I purchased seeds on-line by the
quarter-pound, half-pound and pound, and probably over-seeded my space. My rationale for over-seeding was that planting
on a hill, some seeds would be washed away in a heavy rain. The native flowers I chose were: coneflower,
white yarrow, coreopsis, monarda, liatris, brown-eyed Susan, milkweed, cosmos
and a native sunflower. Then I broke the
rules -- I planted non-native seeds as
well. I planted about a pound of
zinnias, because butterflies and gold finches LOVE them. I also planted tall verbena for the
butterflies and because it reseeds easily.
I planted a little dill and
parsley to feed black swallowtail caterpillars, but I think it may be too dry
for them to succeed. Next year I will
add mistflower and aster to my selection.
With
the expense of bulk seeds and Round-Up, and all of the hard labor preparing the
soil and fighting a losing battle with Bermuda grass, why do I bother? Because I love my meadow. It is so full of life. There is a wide variety of bees and
pollinators and insects. The place literally
buzzes. It is also full of butterflies
all summer long. Great spangled
fritillaries, tiger swallowtails, zebra swallowtails. pipevines, painted ladies, silvery
checkerspots, eastern black swallowtails and lots of skippers. I am on the lookout for monarchs but
sadly I haven't spotted any yet this year, although milkweed awaits them. My meadow is full of grasshoppers, lizards and
dragonflies. Several times I’ve seen
turkeys in my meadow. Even a darn groundhog
lives there. When I walk out to my
meadow, dozens of goldfinch take off in flight.
They love eating the seeds from the zinnias. At dusk I watch flycatchers and gnatcatchers
darting about, low over the meadow, eating insects.
My
meadow may not be a proper meadow. My
skills may be sorely lacking. I don’t
have any power equipment except a mower.
The crappie grasses are wearing me down.
And still, I love my meadow. I love
the diversity of life it supports. I
love that it succeeds only on rainwater.
I love the butterflies, dragonflies and gold finch. I love the turkeys. And I don’t dislike the groundhog.
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Unlike a lawn, a meadow has much to offer pollinators.
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| This zebra swallowtail sips nectar from milkweed. |
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| Most butterflies, like the tiger swallowtail, enjoy the tall verbena in my meadow. |
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| Dragonflies patrol the meadow's edge looking for insects. |
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| You can't pick zinnias after gold finch have been feeding in the meadow. |
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Native plants, zinnias, grass and weeds.
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| I have seen a bumbper crop of great spangled fritillaries this year. |
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| Many insects are attracted to native yarrow. |
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A pearl crescent sips nectar from a coreopsis flower.
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