Began late fall of 2002                    DEVELOPING A NATIVE GRASS/FORBS MEADOW

Preparing the field by killing the fescue and burning it

Native grass [little bluestem (blaze variety)] and 32 varieties of native wildflowers (forbs) will be planted.

This will be a three-year project to benefit all wildlife.

This site was developed to keep track of and show with new photos for three years the development of our native grasses and native wildflower meadow for butterflies, hummingbirds, birds, deer, and small animals to travel in. The field was originally planted in fescue, a grass that is unfit for wildlife of any kind. Animals feed on fescue only in emergencies, and it's so thick, being a turf grass, that they cannot travel in it. Native bunch grasses and native wildflowers, here before settlers, provide food, travel lanes, protection, and shelter. This is a three-year project. I sprayed the field with
Roundup-Ultra-Max and Plateau herbicides, then burned it.  I broadcast the Little Bluestem (blaze variety)  on December 15, 2002. Half of the perennial wildflowers, those not affected by Plateau herbicide, will be broadcast in April, 2003, the other half in the spring of 2004. Plateau kills most non-native grasses, but does not kill native kinds, so I will do the final Plateau spray on  the field during the fall of 2003.   Perennials bloom the second year. The first year, they will be kept to eight inches to keep any volunteer weeds from going to seed. i.e., no blooms will be seen until spring of 2004.  In 2005, all of the wildflowers should be in bloom. The Little Bluestem grass should be growing in clumps by 2005 also, making great nesting sites for birds such as quail and meadow larks.

Revision April 30, 2003  This spring, 2003, the field was covered with new, green fescue that had germinated from very old seeds that were lying dormant underground.  I decided to do a final spray with RoundUp, thus dropping the fall, 2003, spray.  I sprayed it on April 15, 2003, after having ordered the rest of the seeds that I had originally planned to buy and broadcast in the fall of 2003.  On April 19, 2003, my wife, Anne, and I mixed all the seeds (for the flowers shown below) with two large bales of peat moss and broadcast them over the short, dying fescue grass. On April 20, 2003, I rolled the entire field so the seeds would have good soil contact for germination.  These flowers are all perrenials, so they won't bloom until next year.  This year I must keep the field cut to no more than six inches to prevent all the old weed seeds that will germinate during this spring/summer from making more seeds for next year.  The flowers will be in bloom in 2004.  i.e., next year will show the final results of all of the above.

Revision March 21, 2004 Summer of 2003, field was covered with crabgrass that I continously mowed short, but couldn't stop it from producing seed on short shoots, but still there were many short wildflower plants, and I think little bluestem, but I'm not sure.

Grass  Schizachyrium Scoparius (aka Andropogan Scoparius) - Little Bluestem (Blaze variety) 

Little Blue Stem (Schizachyrium scoparium or Andropogon scoparius) is a compact native grass; name is derived from the blue color at the base of the clump. Its color varies from bluish foliage in spring  to green in summer and various shades of red, orange, and pink in the fall.  The foliage is 12-18" in height with flower stems reaching 3-4 feet that produce fuzzy white seed heads at maturity. Varies in form, height and lodging. Prefers sun and fairly infertile soils; very drought tolerant. Propagate by seed or divisions in spring. `Badlands’ (ND seed source); `Blaze’ (Nebr seed source); `Camper’ (Nebr seed source).

Aquilegia canadensis Eastern Columbine red-pinkW/yellow 1-2 April-June hummingbirds        

Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly Milkweed orange-red-yellow 1-2 June-Aug butterflies                     

  Penstemon digitalis Beard Tongue-Smooth white 3-5 May-July hummingbirds and