PENNSYLVANIA SEDGE, AND OTHER WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING THE UNIVERSE

Carex pennsylvanica - Pennsylvania Sedge, Oak Sedge
Zone: 4-7, although I've seen plenty of 3-8
Purchase from: Classy Groundcovers, Everwilde Farms, Greenwood Nursery, Morning Sky Greenery, Prairie Nursery, Prairie Moon Nursery, Santa Rosa Gardens, Shooting Star Nursery, Yellow Springs Farm

Well, at least the botanical universe anyway. In the last few years I've become enamored with Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica), but more importantly, its one of the first plants that made me realize that rarity and beauty aren't one in the same. This was one of the many native species I was first introduced to through the pages of a book, but unlike most of the species I read about, was pretty stunned to find this one growing in abundance along the shady-ish edges of the roads and highways around my home.

C. pensylvanica is one of those few gems that's at its best when its a bit neglected, growing in the in-between where its either a bit too shady, a bit too dry, or a bit too infertile for other plants to thrive. After seeing it where its happy, when it makes soft gently flowing drifts of vibrant green (or warmer slightly duller hues by the end of the season) it occurred to me that most of us landscape professionals are missing the point behind these and other naturally occurring scenes we try to recreate in our gardens, parks, and whatever other manufactured landscape might fill this list of three I'm failing to complete. And yes, we might be able to temporarily fabricate some poor imitation, but it is almost always temporary. What we fail to grasp with all our irrigation, fertilizers, and whatever other noxious chemicals we throw at our yards in a sad attempt to beautify them (I think I need to figure out some way to get around the list of three thing.....) is that these scenes exist as either a result of deficiency or of excess, and are sustainable and persistent not because of some nutritionally balanced, moderately moist, well drained soil, but usually because these environments have either too little or too much of something that suppresses the growth and vigor of other, less specialized species. While these natural scenes of, uuummm, let's call them deficit or surplus, aren't always the most diverse, they are almost always visually compelling.

In fact when we condition our soils, irrigate, and spray clouds of fungicides and pesticides in order to create the perfect garden, what we're actually doing is creating a perfect environment for generalists plant species, aka weeds. From an evolutionary perspective these weedy species have picked the opposite route of C. pensylvanica and in a fight to the death in an "ideal" garden setting the weeds will always win out. So if you've ever wondered why it's always the plants you don't want that always seem to out-compete the plants you want, its probably because you're creating the ideal environment for the unwanted guys; a fabricated moderate in-between that doesn't really exist in nature. The sad truth is, in an attempt to create a garden where everything grows well, the weeds will always grow best. So yes, while the desired plants may grow lushly for a bit while we hack back the thugs that pop up around them, it's only a matter of time before the thugs win out.

And so, in an attempt to embrace my own yards deficiencies, I'm converting the ratty lawn covered leach field at my parents into what will hopefully be a healthy, self sustaining colony of C. pensylvanica (update to follow). Given that the species is notoriously difficult to start from seed, and genetic diversity is never a bad thing in a population, I may have stopped at a few places along the highway and "borrowed" a few individuals to add to the colony to-be (I know, I know, I'm a terrible person). In my defense, like I said before, C. pensylvanica is nearly impossible to start from seed, and since local stock is a nearly impossible to come by, the only way I could get locally adpated plants was to, well...., collect locally adapted plants (side note.... am I going to hell?, jk, kinda, not really,... but I'm not, right?). And to allow for easy reporting to the local authorities I have documented my questionably legal sampling on my crappy camera phone. Anyway, here's hoping I don't go to jail for digging up what is to most people an otherwise boring looking grass.... but even if I do, TOTALLY worth it!.... I think?

HYDRANGEAS AND OTHER STUPID PLANTS

Plastic is a miraculous material. Versatile, durable, and pretty much responsible for almost every modern convenience you can think of. While, I obviously appreciate plastic’s unique properties, they have no business in the landscape. Which is why I get pretty t’d-off when the profession as a whole seems to be forever moving in an increasingly plastic direction. In fairness this isn’t a recent trend, people have long been selecting against the ephemerality that makes gardens such a cool thing to create. But it’s understandable once you think about it. Why wouldn’t you want to prolong the time you have to experience something beautiful?; vibrant blooms in the heat of summer, lush green foliage in the dead of winter, but the unfortunate reality is nothing worth having comes without a price.

Which brings me to the hydrangeas, specifically H. macrophylla. They’re a pretty solid staple of the ornamental horticultural industry, especially with the introduction of the new mophead hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’ several years ago that blooms reliably through zone 4 with its unique ability to flower on both new and old wood (previous cultivars only flowered on old wood). Now don’t get me wrong, they’re beautiful, easy to grow, and very floriferous, but in our effort to perfect the perfect plant, we lost the very thing that the plant put so much effort into advertising in the first place,.... rich nectar stores for foraging bees, butterflies and other pollinators.

Two things you might not be aware of: 1. All mopheads are a human selected mutations that don’t exist outside of cultivation and, 2. The showy part of the hydrangea inflorescence is sterile, meaning it produces no nectar, no pollen, nor is it capable of producing any viable seed. Not surprisingly the flowers of a mophead are so showy because they are composed entirely of these big flashy sterile florets that were meant to attract pollinators to the smaller, significantly less showy fertile flowers which are entirely absent, so they’re basically the botanical equivalent of a tease. One big empty promise.


Hydrangea macrophylla (aka Bigleaf Hydrangea): Mophead Inflorescence (left), Lacecap Inflorescence (right)

The point is, that as our functioning endemic habitats continue to shrink, the left over bits of space we have to work with should be full of hyper-functional (preferably native) plants, not horticultural monstrosities that have become nothing more than transpiring heaps of perverted eye-candy. Beyond that, I believe that when actual species are used rather than some over selected, over hybridized, over breed cultivar, this utility translates in the feel of the space. Most people, whether they realize it or not, can perceive the sustainability of a design. There’s something about a space that can persist outside of our weedwackers, leaf blowers and chemical fertilizers that is both comforting and calming. This is why, at least in my humble opinion, there is no more lofty a goal for a designer than to create a place that has the ability to thrive and weave itself into the existing fabric of a place, until the fact that it was designed at all is entirely unperceivable. In short, go with a lacecap or at least the lacecap alternative to ‘Endless Summer,’ ‘Let’s Dance Starlight.’ Still pretty for people, plenty of food for the bees, and they wont flop over when it rains.

And for your entertainment.... more plants that we've screwed up!


Delphinium


Tulip


Rosa rugosa

AMERICA!, THE LAND OF THE FREE..... AND F***ING LAZY!!!

BREAKING NEWS!!!!
Scientist have conclusively determined that unnecessarily and ridiculously huge lawn mowers destroy both your youth and diginity. This young man bought his massively clunky mower just last week.



Now look at him.



Unfortunately, the only cure for D.U.M.B.A.S.S. (Douchebags Unnecessarily Mowing With Artillary Sized Setups) sydrome is common sense and maybe a little bit of reading, which for most of these poor unfortunate individuals does not make for a very good prognosis. In most instances they sadly and inevitably end up looking something like an albino version of Jaba the Hut (see below):




.....Ok ok, so I might have an oddly strong dislike of ride-on mowers, but in reality it's not the mowers themselves but what they represent.... no, actually, on second thought I hate the mowers too. Anyway, for most people when you say "pollution" the first image that comes to mind is something like this:



But the reality is more something like this:



The main source of my disdain when it comes to these types of mowers is they simply don't make sense on any level. Lawn grasses (and almost every cultivated plant out there) like freely draining soils with lots of pore space. As you can imagine, repeatedly driving a machine over soil that weighs as much as a rhino, plus the added weight of a (usually more than slightly over-sized) person is not good. It's similar to what happens when you push down hard on a sponge with the palm of your hand, except, unlike a sponge, soil does not spring back after its squished. Once the poor space is gone, its gone. Compacted soils have a greatly reduced capacity to hold and retain water as well as the ability to support the microbial communities necessary for healthy plant growth, resulting in weaker, less vigorous plants that are more susceptible to drought and disease.

And then of course, to compensate for the damage done by compacted soils people apply a vast array of chemicals that (surpise, suprise!) end up running off and contaminating our waterways. And even if no chemicals are applied, excess runoff caused by overly compacted soil is still very damaging to natural systems.

And I won't even get started on all the other types of pollution and damage caused by these pointless behemoths. I'll just let this article speak for me (yes I know its from 2010, but its still very much relevant). While I realize that they generalize for all gas powered mowers, I think we can safely assume that ride-ons would be worse, not better than their push counterparts. And just in case you don't read it, here are the highlights:

For mowers sold pre-2012 (and I'm going to assume here that this would be the best one could hope for, if you have an older mower, assume that its worse than this):
"...in an hour a push mower will produce the same HC+NOx as a car driven 257 miles, and the same CO as one driven 401 miles. To put it another way, assuming a car averages 40 miles per hour, a push mower produces more HC+NOx than six cars and the same CO as ten."

For mowers sold during and after 2012:
"....a push mower may produce as much HC+NOx as a car driven 160 miles — in other words, one lawn mower would equal four cars."

And just to bring it home here's another fun fact: In 2007 the EPA estimated that lawn mowers contribute 5 percent (5 freaken percent!!!!) to our country's greenhouse gas emissions.

The truth is I prefer we get rid of lawns wherever possible, but I know that's not gonna happen anytime soon. So here are a few tips to for a healthier lawn, healthier environment, and healthier you.

1. You should be able to easily move the mower without the engine running. The lighter the better, so if the mower weighs more than you do, find another mower.

2. Ask about emission standards. If the person selling you the mower doesn't know, or doesn't directly answer the question, find another mower.

3. Push reel?, Electric?, Robotic?,..... The mower that's right for your neighbor may not be right for you. Here's an article that helps weigh the pros and cons. I'm going to try out one of the robotic mowers myself this summer.

It may look like it might kill you in your sleep, but at least it has zero emissions!


4. Always keep your mower properly maintained and take extra precautions when refilling if it runs on gasoline. Accidents are bound to happen, so always spread out a thick rag or other absorbent material below to catch any spillage that might occur. Store these rags properly.

5. If your soil profile is lacking (less than 6" deep) or its extremely clayey, or very acidic, just accept the fact that you will never have the type of lawn you see on a golf course (and no ones lawn should really look like that anyway).

6. I can't really get into depth about this without writing a whole other post, but (in addition to soil) the foundation of a lush, green lawn begins with properly selected grasses for your specific location and climate. There are always newer, better grass varieties that have been breed for increased drought tolerance as well as dwarf characteristics (which means less mowing for you). High Country Gardens always seems to have a good offering of the newest and the best, but if you have no idea where to begin just start googling (try "turfgrass selection" + your state). Also If your lawn is ten years or older, you may want to consider interplanting or replacing it with newer varieties.

7. Weeds are a part of life. Accept them and get over it.

I could go on, but I'm sure most of you have already stopped reading (and I don't really feel like writing anymore). Just rememeber, a little less of this:



and a lot more this!
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