 Photo and article by Donna Iverson In late summer, a bright red flower can be sometimes seen along rivers, streams and vernal ponds. It’s rare, and it’s a Michigan native called Cardinal Flower. As wetlands have faced threats to their survival, so has the Cardinal Flower, which needs moist soil to thrive. It is on the threatened list in several states including Florida and Arizona. Spotting it in the wild is a rare treat this time of year. And while it does grow in the wild, it is also possible to buy nursery plants in the fall or grow it from seed in the spring. A member of the Bellflower family (Campanula), Cardinal Flower grows fast and blooms the first year after it is planted. It attracts hummingbirds but not bees as the lipped flower has no “landing pad” for them. Varieties available at plant nurseries include Queen Victoria and Black Truffle. In winter, Cardinal Flower is just a basal rosette lying close to the ground. In spring, it sends up flower shoots that measure three to six feet tall. Pollinated mostly by hummingbirds, its multi-lipped crimson flowers appear in late summer and continue to bloom into the fall. While you might think it is named after the cardinal bird, it is in fact named after the bright robes of Catholic cardinals and in honor of the medieval Flemish botanist Matthew de L’ Obel. Note: The plant is toxic to humans and pets.
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 Photo and article by Donna Iverson A recently-published book called Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design, offers a new approach to home gardening. Author Benjamin Vogt argues that gardeners need to return a portion of their land to a wild state. He urges homeowners to partially get rid of lawns and formal gardens and grow native plants in an open meadow-like fashion. And does this approach work in Western Michigan? Yes, according to a map prepared by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it does. Their ecoregion map designates Western Michigan as a drift prairie. Prairie is defined as open grassland not covered by trees and forests. Vogt urges us to start small and return a portion of our lawns to a flowering meadow or prairie. Clearing a space for this is not an easy task. Rototilling exposes weed seeds. Herbicides can harm pollinators. Renting a sod cutter to remove grass can be expensive and difficult to use for the average gardener. Other options include using dark plastic, cardboard, or newspaper to cover an area and kill the vegetation underneath. Finally, one can pull out hybrid non-native flowers and other ornamentals that are not native and start replacing them with native forbs. Examples include coneflower, coreopsis, Black-eyed Susans, goldenrod, Liatris, spiderwort, and bee balm. If you would like to see a recently-planted prairie field, visit the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve. There is parking and a map at the entrance to the site which is only a short walk for visitors. To learn more about native plants online, check out: https://bplant.org. It includes clickable ecoregion maps which list plants native to your specific location. |
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