Living with Nature

Nature is taking over my approximately two acres of lawn and gardens. I feel overwhelmed at times as I look at the lawns I mowed the week before with grass that is much higher than it should be and with dandelion greens as well as other plants and wild flowers I didn’t plant like plantains (once used in salads in years gone by.) Also, there is the wood sorrel, which I don’t mind as much because it has a slightly pleasantly sour taste that my chickens, ponies and inside birds enjoy. I’ve nibbled on it before, but it’s been a long time now since I’ve tasted it. Only a few dandelions are still blooming, but something similar called Hawkweed with orange flowers is popping up in my lawn, too.

Ground ivy in my compost bed

I took the time to look up some of the so-called weeds that have found a home on my property. One of those is Gill-over-the-ground, also called ground ivy with blue flowers. It was brought over from Europe, and once used in France to brew beer and in England Gill tea was drank regularly by house painters to combat “painters colic” caused by the lead in the paint. The leaves are rich in vitamin C which is used to counteract lead poisoning. I know my hens and my ponies love eating it when I pull it up and give it to them.

Colts foot in the front & Jerusalem Artichoke that also took over.

Another plant taking over my flower gardens and the mulch pile by my turnaround is Colts foot. In the spring it has yellow flowers, but I find it quite invasive as it spreads by underground roots and is almost impossible to completely get rid of. It was used as a medicinal plant in Europe, and my ponies love it and eat the whole plant that I pull up leaves, roots and all.

Mock orange, clematis & white rose with a few buttercups

One weed that I really hate is buttercups. Yes, they are bright and cheerful, but can be toxic to animals and are taking over my pony pasture and other places. At least my ponies are avoiding eating them. Apparently they have a bitter taste.  The pasture is too rough and with some stones for me to mow with my mower. At times I go out and cut back the weeds, but it’s too large to do much. I toss what I cut in my garbage container along with the dock that grows there, too.

Even though I like making bouquets with them they do take over.

And then there’s the goldenrod. They are really invasive in my flower gardens. I like their flowers, and no they don’t cause hay fever. That is caused by rag weed which is also invasive and has slim flower heads at the same time as the goldenrod.

I just cut this dock down. Hydrangeas are under my kitchen window.

Also there is dock. It doesn’t have flowers, but tall seed heads. The roots go very deep and are hard to dig out. They are in my flower gardens, along the side of the barn, in the pony pasture, too, and everywhere except on the lawns I mow. I especially hate when they show up next to plants like irises and roses that I worry about damaging their roots when I’m trying to dig out the dock plant.

This is a garden just outside my back door.

Other things that have invaded my gardens are the numerous ash tree saplings apparently sent down by the ash tree that died recently probably from the Emerald Ash borer. Maybe it’s an attempt to at least have ash trees survive.

This is my yet to be weeded St. Fiacre bed.

Even worse are the shoots that show up everywhere from the trumpet vine I planted years and years ago because it attracted hummingbirds. Hardly any of the gardens on the north side of my driveway are without those vines coming up, and some even have managed to come to other gardens.  I actually planted one by my potting shed, too. I keep cutting it back as much as I can.

The sidewalk leading to my back door.

Even flowers I’ve planted can become invasive like the black eyed Susans I planted in the garden beside the brick sidewalk leading to my back door. I only planted a few, but there are so many there now. And further towards the house there are mysterious plants I’m not sure if they are peach leaf campanulas or young goldenrod plants.

 

Not a real rabbit but one given to me.

Then there are the numerous ground covers I’ve planted. English Ivy that has spread around my house, my well house and into my Cook Forest grove, along with Vinca minor with pretty blue flowers that have managed to mix with the ivy here and there. In other areas where the ivy and vinca aren’t there is a smaller three leaved ground cover with variegated leaves that has become quite invasive.  I can’t remember what they are called now because I planted the first of them years ago from plants given to me.

Columbine in one of my side yard gardens.

Some flowers I’ve planted have multiplied in different spots like columbine. I have some in pink, white, blue and purple and some that are variegated. I love them this time of the year, and don’t consider them weeds even though they tend to spread to different parts of the gardens.

a rose and clematis arbor leading into side yeard.

March and April had a lot of rain, and I’m way behind on weeding and getting my flower gardens in order, so after weeks and weeks of stewing over this, I made a decision. Since most people who visit don’t know the difference between a weed and a perennial I’ve planted anyway. I’m going to let nature take over. I will continue mowing, and get rid of those weeds like dock that I really hate, but I’m only going to weed enough to make room for the newest perennials I’ve bought. I’ll pull the tall grass that has popped up in my beds, but other than that I’m going to enjoy the wild natural look of my gardens. I’ll do a little weeding in places around my small goldfish pond and make the path leading to it a little wider.

Because the rabbits totally demolished every vegetable and annual I planted last year in my vegetable garden except for the tomatoes and the marigolds that I planted with them, I’m not sure I’m going to plant a garden there this year, especially since all the raised beds in the fenced in garden now have almost waist high weeds. There are the masses of chives, too, that have spread throughout. Their purple blooms are nice to see. I won’t cut them down. But I may transplant some of them to pots.

Notice the bird house in the Maple where a wren has her nest.

So for now I’m going to enjoy the beautiful peonies, roses, irises, and clematis that are blooming as well as my beautiful mock orange bush, some azaleas still blooming, and the rhododendrons now losing all their beautiful blooms but still with shiny green leaves, the Japanese maple near my house with it’s pretty reddish leaves, and some other perennials starting to come into bloom, and just the incredible greenness of my back yard. Mother Nature is in her glory here, and I’m going to enjoy what she has to offer.

Do you prefer the wild over the neatly manicured lawns and gardens?