First Fruits: Raindrop Meadow Garden

...And we've got to get ourselves/Back to the garden.

--Joni Mitchell, "Woodstock"

On 93 acres, where to begin?

At the heart of the farm, nestled in the crease between two ridges of woodland, is a mounded expanse of orchard grass, one of the original farm's mainstay crops. Surrounded by the farm driveways, it has the shape of a raindrop.

Receiving full sun most of the day, and situated between two farm dwellings, it seems like the perfect spot for a pollinator meadow. Even without binoculars, you can sit on the cottage or tenant house porch and watch the fly-in of birds and invertebrates.

Eventually, off of meandering wood chip paths leading in and out of the garden, will be a bench and a birdbath, for close observation.

There will be one tree in the garden: a female Diospyros virginiana.

A nearby male persimmon will assure successful fertilization.

Will eating the glorious orange fruit of this tree be forbidden? Maybe to the deer, foxes and raccoons (good luck with that!)--but not to the honey bees, native bees, and bumblebees. And not to the Cedar Waxwings and Bobwhite Quail. And we won't mind, and will invite, vacation rentals by 44 species of native caterpillars including Luna moths.

A few additional trees will be planted outside the garden perimeter. These will serve mainly as natural cover for birds queueing to get into the pollinator meadow. But they are destinations in their own right.

The Celtis occidentalis, or Hackberry, will sit uphill of the meadow garden. It's a workhorse, believed to host the largest diversity--41 species!--of Piedmont butterfly caterpillars. In our lifetimes, we might get 20-30 years of enjoyment out of this tree that can live 150-200 years. Will songbirds and game birds still adorn its branches, and hummingbirds nest in it in the year 2173? Imagine that!

Downhill, by the horse barn, will be Nyssa sylvatica--Blackgum. This adaptable woodland tree will be one of the first to turn red and yellow in the fall. Before then the modest flowers will have given up their nectar to bees making tupelo honey.

Equally sweet will be the sight of 30+ perennials, grasses and sedges riffling in the breeze. We can't wait to see monarch butterflies on the orange/yellow Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed), and the purple spikes of Liatris spicata (Blazing Star). Here's the lineup for this Premier League of pollinator favorites:

Baptisia australis/False Blue Indigo

Aster oblongifolius 'October Skies'/Aromatic Aster

Amsonia hubrictii/Threadleaf Bluestar

Pychnanthemum virginianum/VA Mt. Mint

Conoclinium coelestinum/Blue Mist Flower

Sporobolus heterolepsis/Prairie Dropseed

Monarda punctata/Spotted Beebalm

Carex grayi/Gray's Sedge

Hibiscus moscheutos/Rose Mallow

Rhea virginica/Meadow Beauty

Eupatorium fistulosum/Hollowstem Joe Pye Weed

Pychnanthemum tenufolium/Narrowleaf Mt. Mint

Solidago nemoralis/Grey Goldenrod

Phlox paniculata "Jeana'/Garden Phlox

Deschampsia caespitosa 'Goldtau'/Tufted Hairgrass

Parthenium integrifolium/Wild Quinine

Carex bicknellii/Bicknel's Sedge

Rudbeckia fulgida var. fulgida/Black-eyed Susan

Chelone glabra/Turtlehead

Penstemon digitalis/Beardtongue

Zizia aurea/Golden Alexanders

Lobelia siphilitica/Great Blue Lobelia

Asclepias tuberosa/Butterfly Weed

Liatris spicata/Blazing Star

Echinacea purpurea/Purple Coneflower

Allium cernuum/Nodding Onion

Solidago (Oliganeuron) rigida

Symphiotrichum patens+S. laterifolium/Late Blue & Calico Aster

Carex bevior/Plains Oval Sedge

Eryngium yuccafolium/Rattlesnake Master

Schizachyrinum scoparium 'Standing Ovation'/Little Bluestem

To create one must destroy. How to kill the resident non-native orchard grass while minimizing overall harm? This sturdy plant can have roots as deep as two feet.

We rejected spraying with herbicide. Avoiding chemicals that could run off into the creek below was a first principle. We also nixed digging out the sod with a turf cutter and tractor. Removing soil or even tilling it disrupts the entire native soil microbial community needed for the new native plants to thrive. Minimizing compaction from heavy equipment is another goal.

Smothering is probably not realistic for larger projects, but by doing this in sections, we made it work. Two 300-foot rolls of groundcloth later, we are covered.

And now we wait. When the groundcloth is removed, we will top-dress with gypsum. Then into each planting hole we will spoon some organic fertilizer to help further break down the roots of old plants.

Future posts will document the progress of the garden--the first stake in reclaiming the land for greater biodiversity.