Out with the New, In with the Old

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours clearing brush at the prairie. This time I was working around the largest remnant prairie patch which contains a nice variety of unusual wildflowers. The last time we cleared brush we worked at a smaller remnant patch. Last time we moved the brush across the prairie remnant and created a brush pile on the other side of the dirt road. This was a good way to get the brush far enough out of the way that it shouldn't interfere with future prairie expansion, but moving the brush across the prairie caused some minor damage to the Sideoats Grama (the native grass that identifies this as a xeric limestone prairie). I expected we might see some damage, so I chose the first remnant we cleared because it had only grass (no rare prairie wildflowers). Grass, I believe, can take trampling better than some of the wildflowers and should quickly recover from the damage we inflicted as an unavoidable side effect of clearing.

The large prairie remnant has a lot of wildflowers as well as grass, and I want to minimize there, especially since it is fall when a lot of wildflowers are producing seed. Therefore yesterday I moved the brush uphill away from the prairie instead of moving it across the prairie as we did last time. Not only did this help prevent damage to the prairie, but it meant that I had to move the brush a shorter distance, which made the work go a lot more quickly.

Under the brush I found a nice sampling of prairie plant species. There was some Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) and Prairie Brome (Bromus kalmii), two grasses that are characteristic of limestone prairies. I found at least one stunted Whorled Rosinweed (Silphium trifoliatum) which can grow to 6 feet tall, but under the shade of the Autumn Olives was a spindly three-footer. There were lots of Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum) and Wild Bergamot (Mondarda fistulosa). I also found several native Field Thistles (Cirsium discolor). These natives resemble the weedy alien thistles that are common on lawns and farm fields. However, the natives aren't quite as spiny and do not grow rampant on your lawn. Instead they are rather uncommon wildflowers and in this case are one of the species that help distiguish this site as a unique remnant of a native habitat that is fast disappearing.

I've posted a photo of Field Thistle (Cirsium discolor) taken at Box Hollow prairie in early September.