City folk, and urban dwellers, have no idea how nature works. If you live in New Hampshire (90% forested +/-), you know a thing or two about that. Clear some land, and nature takes it right back and right quick. And every year, by my reckoning, it’s something new or different.
We cleared some trees a few years back, and the open land has proven to be an excellent place for new growth. I clear it (mower or string trimmer – it’s not all flat enough for a lawnmower), and it grows back. A lesson the urban dwellers may not have learned living in a city.
If you don’t keep after it, it will swallow the world back up and a lot faster than you ever imagined.
This years grow back is a lot different from previous years. Not a bad thing, but an interesting one, and I thought I’d see if anyone else had seen anything similar.
When spring finally sprung, we found a handful of new plants taking over the open spaces we’d created—some pesky, some pretty, and a few that were familiar but more prevalent.
We have a type of ornamental landscaping, “weed,” in the sedge grass family. I call it a weed because it acts like one but when isolated as a landscape element it is a pretty “no-maintenance garden” green feature.
I’m no expert but a search produced “Carex Hystericina” as its formal name. They grow into a big rounded thing a few feet in diameter but low to the ground. Last year we had two or three; this year, there are dozens or scores of them. I’ve placed a few around the yard and mowed down the rest. Yeah, they grow back, and I don’t mind.
Keeping it company is something called horsetail. I didn’t see any of this last year, but it is EVERYWHERE this year.
This stuff is handy (to me). It fills in places where lawn grass doesn’t grow well, and when you mow it, it creates an even green look that makes my yard look better than it is. But as I said, I saw none last year, and it’s all over the place this year. Is COVID or Global Warming to blame? Joe Biden’s presidency. Vladimir Putin?
A little politics in the garden (gardening/landscaping thread).
The wet spring temporarily tuned a chunk of my yard into a swamp, in which grew this in large quantities.
An image search says it’s probably Soft Rush (Juncus effuses) -I call it swamp grass. It grows tall and gets mowed or weed-wacked, though there’s still a ton of the stuff I’ve not yet cut down. It is also everywhere this year; we didn’t have it last year.
Another new edition, and these have not elevated to invasive yet. I just started seeing it this season. Sheep Laurel or Mountain Laurel.
Pretty little plant.
I’ve also got a few of these popping up. Aquilegia or Granny’s Bonnet if the image search results are correct.
I’d like to see more of these, but I have to be careful what I wish for – I might be inundated next year.
There’s more, but I’ve no pics of that stuff, so maybe next time. Until then, what’s invading your landscape or garden? What might you be growing on purpose? Consider this an open gardening thread.
