Rewilding My Lot

There is a defined area towards the back of the garden that includes three trees (Desert Willow, Mexican Plum, Red Buckeye), one shrub (Rock Rose), and the rest of the area is filled with taller annual or biennial plants (some seeded, some volunteer).

Last year the plants predominantly filling that area were Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra), Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis), and Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Because last year was my first year to have Standing Cypress, a biennial, I didn’t expect them to bloom and so I let the sunflowers rather take over that area — they do an excellent job of providing food and shelter for birds and insects.

As it happens, quite a few of the Standing Cypress did bloom in their first year, which was revealed once the taller sunflowers had been cleared away. I left the flower spikes over the winter, but have now cut them down to tidy the area. If the whole plant died after blooming, I cut it down to the ground, but if the plant was still alive, I just cut off the dead flower spike and left the rest.

In addition to the Standing Cypress plants that flowered last year, there are many that formed the more usual “first year rosette of leaves,” which would then be expected to bloom this year. Here are some examples, together with a guest Bluebonnet.

There is also a plentiful crop of tiny seedlings that are just in their first year now, like these.

So although there are supposed to be other plants in this part of the garden, clearly Standing Cypress is the predominant species for now. As for the sunflowers, I will let them grow again this year, but not so many.

Here are some other photos of the area after the trimming was complete.