Welcome to all whom share a reverence for the lost indigenous landscapes of Michigan. Prior to Euro-American settlement, my neighborhood was a mixture of open oak woodlands, small grassy prairies, various wetland communities, and small lakes.

Savannagain captures my personal journey toward the restoration, reconstruction, and rejuvenation of a small piece of the former oak openings with the wisdom and humility of the areas original inhabitants. The goal is to ultimately learn how to re-inhabit this endangered landscape, save the last of the local relic plants on the brink of local extinction, and leave this place better than when I found it.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Lily's Prairie, 1st growing season review



Abundant rainfall and plenty of heat made this summer an excellent season for prairie development. The prairie was mowed twice, once at the end of May and the other in the middle of July. This proved to be helpful with controlling queen anne's lace and other assorted non-natives, however it appears that smooth brome is going to continue to be a problem and will be a threat to the growth of warm season plants in the future.



The experimental wedge shaped plot is now in it's third growing season and looks amazing. If the rest of the prairie develops as well as this did in the next two years I'll be pretty impressed. Photo below is of the experimental wedge - October. The gold/copper hues of the native grasses are much more attractive than the dead look of the remaining cool season fields.





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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jake, I had no idea that you had this blog or I would have viewed it sooner. I'm not good at posting on Facebook and therefore loose out. Have you seen Kristi Krass' blog on their new home. Might want to add to your favorites.
Great job! Keep posting as Spring and Summer progress. I'll check in!
ab

February 8, 2011 at 4:38 PM

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