Filling Out Back There

Speaking of weeds and ways of conceiving outdoor space, it's time, or past time, for a post about the meadow . The "meadow" I refer to is the strip at the end of my backyard that I converted to a native grass/wildflower plot four years--or five growing seasons--ago. Being something of a "native landscape enthusiast" myself, I was excited at the prospect of returning a small piece of southeast Michigan to "what it was," by which I meant in some imagined past before to the arrival of white people, or at least of intensive agricultural use and housing development. What I've accomplished remains a good register of what this locality is--a place where where cultivated grasses and opportunistic weeds quickly move out from their strongholds (some of which take the form of my neighbor's well-maintained lawns, some of untended fencerows and the yards of my fellow lawn slackers)to claim any piece of open soil within reach. It's also something of a self-portrait. I'm basically indifferent to weeds in my yard, which means I'm going to battle them continuously out in the meadow. Probably no patch of presettlement meadow in Michigan contained the assortment of plants mine does. Over the years, I've transplanted found or purchased plants and sprinkled seeds I picked up on outings across the state with minimal regard for how all the plants would look or fit together. As a result I've got tall plants dwarfing short one, sun-loving species struggling to exist in the shade of honeysuckles, or plants I would usually see spaced widely across fields jammed together. All of which says that I began this venture eagerly but underinformed, as a great many nature lovers do in a great many undertakings. But I'm learning.

My haphazard efforts notwithstanding, the meadow appears nothing short of robust this year. In the sunnier spots at least, there are few open spaces, and spreading native plants are efficiently forcing out the weeds which in past years I doggedly plucked and dug throughout the summer. Here's a shot of it from yesterday:



This is nearly the same location two years ago:



Here's a closeup of some milkweeds I seeded three years ago. They're crowded by blackeyed susans, woodland sunflowers, bergamots...hidden in there are spiderworts and foxgloves too.



I took these shots in the same area two years ago:





I am hoping the day we move out of this house is not too many years off. When it comes, the thing I think I will miss most is this meadow. It hurts to think some future owner might rip out these "weeds" to reinstate bluegrass and fescue.