Rewilding My Lot

Way back in the beginning of planning this garden, I set aside a small area for mid-height native grasses. The main focus was to be Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) introduced by seed and plant, but I also later acquired some seeds for Waco Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) and plants of Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris).

I am still very poor at identifying grasses, and thus one of the reasons for buying a clump of Little Bluestem was so that I could better recognize the same thing as it grew from seed.

Instead, basically what happened was that no seeds germinated and the “adult” grasses that I had planted died back over the winter. In the meantime, the area filled with volunteer plants, some of which were grasses. So until I could figure out what was going on and/or had a plan to proceed, I allowed volunteers to grow in the space unless I was certain they were weeds.

Finally I have a few clumps of grasses that I believe to be Little Bluestem, and at least one is producing flower heads. As the name would suggest, these do indeed have blue-tinted stems.

Over the summer I will continue to monitor this area. If there are grasses that I know to be weeds, I will remove them. With other grasses I will have to wait until they produce seed heads for me to properly identify them, and then I will decide if they stay or go. For instance, in the photo below, there is a tall grass that I do not recognize on the left. On the right is the Little Bluestem that is beginning to flower.

Non-grass non-weed volunteer plants that are in the area will stay for now unless they are in the way. Then in the fall, I’ll clear them and spread some more Little Bluestem seed.

So all is not lost in developing an area of mid-height native grasses. It might take a few years to establish properly, but this progress (especially the developing Little Bluestem flower heads, which should mean more seeds) is promising.