Weed lovin' witchery: Hairy Bittercress

Hairy Bittercress
Cardamine hirsute
A.K.A. Snapweed

For eating: Edible, but neither bitter nor hairy. It is peppery and a wee bit sour, and can make a nice addition to salads while it is young and tender, before it goes to seed. Eat it before it takes over your garden. Once the seed pods ripen, yellow and start shooting out seeds, it is no longer tasty.

For witching: As a peppery herb, it can be used for curses. It is tough-as-nails and able to withstand hard freezes and infertile soil. It’s up and flowering long before most plants are ready to brave the cold. With an amazing quality called “explosive propagation” (it shoots seeds out up to 10 feet!) it can help direct intention and amp up workings in a pretty aggressive way. Do not let its delicate stems and pretty little flowers fool you. (But perhaps you can use it to fool someone else.)

For wildlife: It is not a native species to North America, but early spring butterflies like it.

Vanderbilt Invasives Resource

I love the many photos on this page from Vanderbilt. It makes identification of these super common Middle TN invasives easy: http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/pages/invasive-plants.htm

Tragically, we have both bush honeysuckle and non-native privet at the little victorian. The privet is staying put for the time being, but I reluctantly admit that the bush honeysuckle has to go. I actually like the bush honeysuckle in our yard. It is in a place in the yard that needs small trees-- and it is free and already mature. It keeps its leaves later than the big tress and grows them early. It makes nice flowers. Buying big, native trees is probably not in the budget this spring, so that area is going to look pretty sad for some time. We could plant tiny, native trees or perhaps non-native, but non-invasive trees picked up cheaply at the farmer's market.

So why is the bush honeysuckle relatively high on the list of things that need to change? Not because it is invasive. But because it makes berries that birds eat... BUT with a wicked twist. The berries are actually unhealthy for the birds. It's like fast food. They fill up on the honeysuckle berries, but the berries lack the nutrition to sustain the birds through their migrations, etc.

Native Wildlife Gardening Resources

As promised, here is a selection of my current collection of online resources that relate to native gardening in a generalized way across the U.S.-- from locating information about your ecoregion to knowing the needs of wildlife as you work to create habitat:

Locate a broad ecoregion by zip code and download a planting guide:
http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm

From the US Forest Service, a set of resources about native plants (especially wildflowers) and how to avoid or replace dangerous exotics:
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/nativegardening/

Basic info on ecoregions from the National Wildlife Federation:
http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Understanding-Wildlife-Conservation/Ecoregions.aspx

Ecoregion mapping from the US Forest Service:
http://na.fs.fed.us/sustainability/ecomap/eco.shtm

U.S. Forest Service, Gardening for Wildlife:
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/nativegardening/landscapingforwildlife.shtml

Ecoregional Maps and Descriptions:
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/ecosysmgmt/index.html

NWF: Creating a wildlife-friendly garden:
http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Create-a-Habitat.aspx

USGS Landcover Trends by Ecoregion:
http://landcovertrends.usgs.gov/main/resultsOverview.html

I like to curl up with a hot cup of tea and use these links to plan for Spring. Lots more to come on the Southeast/Tennessee/Nashville Basin!

Rosemary Tree Fail

This year I got sucked into buying one of those rosemary bushes trimmed into a Christmas-tree sort of shape. They are such cute little topiaries. And they smell wonderful. And I had dreams of planting the rosemary in the garden come spring. But it is not even the solstice yet, and already the rosemary is pretty much dead. The poor wee tree has been replaced by paperwhite narcissus. Here is the rosemary tree in all its glory (weeks ago):

RIP
I get the feeling that the rosemary doesn't like living in a house, nor being pruned into an unnatural shape. Poor thing!

The Search for an Eco-Friendly Lawn Alternative

The Little Victorian’s lawn is a half-wild medley of grass, white clover, violets, wild parsley, mock strawberry, something low growing and non-tasty in the mint family, the occasional dandelion and some other sorts of plants I can’t identify. The grass is struggling in places. Everything else is fine. And by “everything else” of course I mean the aforementioned “weeds”. Before herbicides and synthetic fertilizers came on the market in the 1950s, clover was a highly desirable component in lawns. So I have been investigating how to help the weeds take over the lawn.

It’s funny how weeds get a bad rap. Mock strawberry, clover, dandelion and parsley all have medicinal and/or culinary uses. Clover and strawberry also replenish nitrogen in the soil. They don’t need watering or fertilizer or mowing (usually). But a monoculture of grass is so delicate, and useless. You can’t use it for eating (unless you are a goat) or healing. It sucks in resources like crazy—water and nutrients from the soil and then pollutes through fertilizer, gas-powered mowers and weed killer. Grass is expensive, time consuming and terrible for the environment. How could I justify maintaining a grass lawn?

Looking for advice, I explained to my dad that I hoped the “weeds” would crowd out the remaining grass because nature abhors a monoculture and I abhor mowing and watering the lawn.* Of course he thought I was kidding and suggested Roundup for my “weed problem”.

I love my dad, but Monsanto sure does have a friend in him. Water pollution and high human and animal toxicity is nothing when compared to having a perfect lawn, right?

I have since found a wide of variety of seeds that offer a healthy, eco-friendly, low-maintenance mix of plants to create a lawn alternative. Here are some options I am considering:

Hobbs & Hopkins

Earth Turf

Outside Pride

Wildflower Farm

During my winter hibernation, I am plotting out where to sow different kinds of seed. I am thinking we may end up with a hodgepodge of drought-tolerant grass, white clover, Irish moss, creeping thyme and wild flowers. And of course the current denizens-- mock strawberries, parsley, the mint-esque thing and violets are also more than welcome to stay.

*This implies that I do in fact mow and water. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that I abhor calling my neighbor who has a wee lawn maintenance business to mow. We have never watered the lawn. Or fertilized. I think about watering, and then shudder at the waste of time and natural resources. I don’t think we will ever water. Fertilizer (derived from petroleum) runoff creates unacceptable collateral damage. That which cannot live with rain and without chemical fertilizer, cannot live with us.