Fleabane Daisy: My Kind of Volunteer

Garden volunteers are one of the most wonderful surprises nature can offer up. Sometimes they come in the form of escaped seed sprouting between the rows or one that made it through the composting process somehow or another to sprout in odd nooks and crannies of the bed. Purslane is a favorite volunteer that also happens to be edible as well as a very nice, light feeder that also helps keep soil in place.

Volunteers also arrive because for one reason or another I choose to ignore them when I'm weeding. Sometimes it's because I can't remember exactly where I put in a perennial or I can't remember exactly what that perennial is supposed to look like. (This is where keeping up on my garden journal would be a good idea...ahem.) And sometimes I just think it might be interesting to see what happens.

Such was the case with a set of fleabane daisy erigeron speciosus plants that currently reside in my west wall bed. Introduced to them by a good friend when I was first learning about native plants, I've delighted in spotting them almost everywhere. It was an especially pleasant surprise then to see them here in Japan attracting pollinators as madly as they do at home. (Despite the fact that I should not be pleased given that they're an invasive.) Members of the aster family, the plants sport long stems topped with small bristly looking flowers that come in white, pink, and purple.

According to author Kevin Short in his most fantastic tome, Nature in Tokyo: A Guide to Plants and Animals in and around Tokyo, the fleabane daisy I see growing in my garden as well as along the nearby Tamagawa Jyousui (Tamagawa Canal) is an escapee version (a.k.a. an invasive plant) of the American variety. The spring variety haru jo-on has a hollow stem, and the summer variety, hime jo-on has a solid stem. I don't know which I have as it would mean plucking a flower, and I'm not quite ready to do that. Since the necessary demise of my flowering komatsuna and mizuna plants, I fear the bees have been thirsty. My goal is to give them all I can until I've got a few other plants going in the garden, and keep them coming back for more.

While Tokyo is surely one of the greenest ginormous metropolis' I've ever lived in (and the only one I've lived in, truth be told), I worry a great deal about our little pollinators. Since the demise of the majority of the farmhouse's original landscape in a family debacle and the subsequent loss of the chestnut orchard in a move for more growing space, I feel a personal responsibility to give those little critters a place to call home. And I want them to pollinate my Brandywines again, so I'm not entirely altruistic, of course. (Douglas Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home haunts me still, so I'm doing all I can to support my local wildlife and food chain.)

Good Folks Doing Good Work

I know it's been a bit chilly, but there's a not-to-miss event coming up on Sunday, June 14th not too far from Ann Arbor and in one of the prettiest little corners of Washtenaw County there is to visit.

The Iron Creek Properties Workday is a chance to spend time helping restore a lovely piece of land otherwise not open to the public, and to talk with the landowners about what's been done so far. Truly, it's not to be missed. Organized by the Raisin Cluster of The Stewardship Network, these workdays take place on the Kolon and Kellum family properties and are named for the creek that makes the border between them. (If I weren't in Japan, I'd be out there getting my own taste of a Michigan Spring.)

This workday will cover a review (and most likely musings) on the after effects of a series of controlled burns, invasive plant control techniques, and lots of hands on work. Go on out and get dirty!

Iron Creek Properties Workday

Sunday, June 14th

10am to 1pm

Kellum Property

Sunday, July 12

10am to 1pm

Kolon Property

Woody invasive removal - hard but incredibly satisfying work with nice people in a beautiful place. I might just fly home...

A Recent Project

Our good friends over at Frog Holler Farm are hosting Holler Fest this weekend - a three-day music festival featuring some terrific local artists - and the whole neighborhood is gearing up. From peach cobblers, to pounding nails for the stage background, building an outdoor shower, to making signs, it's all beginning to come together. We're pretty excited about it!

Nearly a month ago or so while weeding one of the patches we talked about the festival while we worked. We brainstormed ideas for workshops that might be of interest to folks wanting to take a break from the music or entertain their kids. Face painting, bubble wands, and a drumming circle were all mentioned. I suggested a nature walk where plants and trees were labeled so folks could either guide themselves or be guided at set times.

Well, I've walked the trails a few times to choose what's most interesting. The woods and rolling hills that comprise the farm in part present a stunning variety and beauty. I swear something new blooms or sprouts every time I go by. Oaks and hickories abound - full of acorns and nuts that a primal urge makes me pocket - along with a bevy of native grasses and flowers. And there's poison ivy, a little bit of ragweed, and a few invasives that folks should know about, too. Mostly, though, it's a grand show and this is close to the best time of year to see it. (No offense to those spring ephemeral fans!)

It's been great fun trying to figure out exactly which goldenrod is in front of me or exactly which kind of oak. (There's one tree/shrub that is still giving me a bit of trouble, but I'll find out eventually.) I am certainly no expert, and anticipate that folks in attendance will share their knowledge with me as they go along; however, I feel like I've learned so much. My good friend Sybil lent both her time and a portion of her library to this endeavor, and that has just been great. I felt a bit geeky out there in my socks, sandals, and silly bandanna poring over the Peterson guide, then the plant, then the guide, then the plant, and talking to myself the whole while! But it is so much fun!

More burning of the front yard

We burned the yard again this evening, much to the disapointment of our neighbors, I'm sure. The daffodils and iris weren't too happy either, but overall it's a great experiment. We don't mow a large portion of the yard - a waste of fuel, time, and money - but just have trails that run through it.

The burn ran mostly along the top of the grass, and we're already seeing more green than black. I'm also not seeing the dreaded garlic mustard over there despite its presence along our fence lines. I've got my fingers crossed that we can continue to keep it out and encourage whatever natives come along.