Native Milkweed Finally Becoming Established

brandymulvaine

15 years ago

Congratulations butterfly 15 ca!!
That's my goal for this summer(well, that and removing all the grass from the front yard)!!LOL!!
-B

Jillberto

15 years ago

Good for you! It is time that I try again with our native milkweeds.

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How is your milkweed doing?

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I, FINALLY, have some sprouts in my milkweed jugs. I had almost given up hope. My arborist showed up yesterday and we fell a bunch of trees to allow more sunlight for my gardens. Unfortunately where some of these trees had to fall was where a large part of my milkweed garden was going to go. It is unlikely I will have time to get it all cleaned up this year, So I have extra milkweed seedlings that I would also be happy to ship to fellow canucks (sorry with rules etc too hard to ship to USA) or I will scramble and find a place to plant them. Bring on butterfly season!!! SCG

one year of native plant gardening in the Sacramento Valley

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Sorry if I came off as so negative with my advice, certainly you have gained a wealth of personal experience that has now elevated you from a "newbie" gardenener to one more experienced with the trials and tribulations of invasive weeds, and poor winter drainage. A bit more about using Roundup in case you didn't know: 1. Works best when bermuda grass has not been cut back, but is full and lots of surface foliage 2. Apply when bermuda grass is in active growth(usually once it has hit 75F temps for a couple of weeks 3. Roundup works best when you have consistent warm weather so that it actively gets translocated to the roots 4. When bermuda grass is invading from the neighbors gardens, you need to do regular weed patrol to keep on top of runners that spring up from under the fence, probably at least every couple of weeks About the annual bluegrass: 1. If you are planting out small seedlings that can't effectively compete with weeds, try cutting an 18 square of weed fabric and pinning down at the edges around any new seedlings, this is what is typically done with revegeatation seedlings/trees planted out in grasslands, they need help creating a clear zone so that they can get large enough to compete with the weeds/grasses 2. Mulching deeply to keep bare soil from being exposed greatly helps with inhibiting weed seeds that need light to germinate, such as the annual blue grass 3. If you are trying to reseed poppies and other wildflowers, you can keep smaller areas weedfree and scatter saved seed, but will need to be vigilant about weeding seedlings of weeds as they come up Watering new plantings; 1. Standing with the hose and giving things a splash of water just isn't enough with valley heat and small seedlings with their limited roots 2. Better to give things a really good soak twice a day if starting seedlings when the weather is still hot, and use mulch to minimize soil evaporation 3. You might consider creating temporary shade structures using bamboo stakes and shade cloth if you can't resist starting seedlings outside the ideal fall planting window 4. Ideal time to plant out small sized native species is in the fall, once it starts to cool off enough in your area that you won't be getting any more 75F and above days, this makes a huge difference in heat and water stress for small plants Drainage issues 1. You are absolutely right that if you didn't know how poorly drained your intended garden was going to be, you wouldn't have known that it would be a problem. 2. You now know that it may be worth investigating first before you start planting; ie, look to see if there are rain gutters or downspouts off the roof, where they drain, if there is enough slope to the ground that water can drain away, etc. It may also be helpful to ask the neighbors, landlord, former tenants, when you have a chance to do so, if there are any drainage problems with the site Weeds; 1. You now have the experience to be a better judge of whether your intended garden area is surrounded by weeds, and if so, you now also know that it is always a good idea to try and get rid of the stored seed bank before you start planting 2. Getting rid of entrenched weeds may mean using Roundup at the right time of year to effectively kill them(and use the full strength applications and repeat usage after clearing away killed weeds, watering for at least a couple of weeks to initiate new growth, wait until weed regrowth is at least a couple of inches and spray again. You may need to do this 3 or 4 times over 3 to 4 months to get rid of all the weeds. 3. It may be useful to cultivate/disturb the soil several times to expose weed seeds to light, hoe them off or spray with herbicide, and repeat several times if you suspect you have a real weed problem. This could even mean that you don't plant your garden until 3 to 4 months of weed treatment. Dogs and new plants 1. it may be preaching to the choir, but small plants and dogs who aren't trained to be careful around small plants, or don't get enough walks/excercise to keep from being bored when left alone all day, are not a good mix with new plantings, especially at small vulnerable sizes. It only makes sense to give the plants some protection from dogs if you can't mitigate their behavior, dogs will do what dogs want to do without work on your part. Maybe I have just been lucky with the dogs I have owned, but I started training them very young to be careful around the garden, and not destroy young or old plants. I also had the time to take them on long walks every day, and burn off all that excess energy, which is important when you have a labrador retriever. Now if I could just train the raccoons not to damage plants in my garden.. You have gotten some valuable experience in gardening by the "trial by fire" method, but it can also be useful to ask questions when you aren't clear on the methods, take classes, and keep reading up. Obviously there isn't just one way to garden, and I certainly don't claim to know all the answers, but over 40 years of gardening, over 30 years of them professionally, mean that I do have a very good handle on how to handle weeds, drainage, soil amendmending, etc to fit within the budgets and efforts of my clients, and can tailor solutions that will work within different circumstances. It is always about tradeoffs, and I am not against using weedcloth as a first line of defense to be set underneath deep mulch when I can't eliminate the weeds in the first place, it has been my only workable method to minimize bermuda grass and Oxalis pes-capri infestations when I didn't have the time or budgets necessary to really control them before new landscape plantings.

No more passionflower, dutchman pipe,,,or milkweed

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You seem to be a victim of success. The question is do you want pretty plants or happy caterpillars. I don't think you can have both. I agree that the cats can kill a plant by eating all it's leaves. Passionflower seems to adapt pretty well by underground roots and having baby vines springing up all over the place. I also grow a couple different dutchman's pipes and the fimbriata is especially prone to being killed off by cats. Hard to replace it without going to a special nursery hours away and spending boocoo $'s. I do it when I feel like it. Perhaps you should grow bigger plants that can't be killed off. Senna's come in tree form and the sulfurs are beautiful to watch around them all day. Giant swallowtail like citrus as well as Hercules club and prickly ash. I grow all of these and they are never decimated. I also have passionflowers and milkweed eaten to nothing regularly and just bought some more milkweed from a native nursery. It's my small price for butterflies around all day. Whoops gotta go. Giant ST just buzzed by. Denise

The Narrow-leaf (A. fasicularis) doesn't do very well where I live. Interestingly enough, SO many so-called back-to-native environmentalists in and around Orange County (California) are so opposed to planting anything BUT this type of Milkweed but with our micro-climates it just isn't 'happening.' This means that the poor Monarch (Danaus plexippus) and Queen (Danaus gilippus) butterflies are just left to forage IF they can find anything to oviposit upon! So pathetic. Even in California, as I'm certain is the case in other states, depending upon WHERE you live, what is considered 'native' varies from county to county.

Native Milkweed Finally Becoming Established

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brandymulvaine

Jillberto

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