More hands, but still heavy work

by Sandy Garland

Tuesday afternoon and time to work in the woods again. With all the rain, things have changed considerably since the last blog post 2 weeks ago. Jewelweed is still dominating the whole area, but the trees planted this year and last are doing well and lots of wildflowers are popping up.

Despite the threatened thunderstorms, we sharpened the scythes, gathered other tools, loaded up the wagon and wheelbarrow, and Mirko, Ted, Catrina, Evelyn, Jesse, Kate, and I headed off to the woods by 1:30.

Ted has been digging out dog-strangling vine (DSV) on the east side of the centre path, around maple saplings and was pleased to see that it hadn’t magically grown back as feared. Today, he tackled an area where we planted 10 balsam firs this year and 10 last year. The little trees were heavily shaded by DSV and jewelweed, but Ted opened up the area to give them more light.

Ted looking for foot-high balsam firs under a thick layer of jewelweed. The much larger balsam fir at the left was planted several years ago.

Mirko, Jesse, and Kate offered to continue scything DSV along the farm road and between some of the shrubs. Keeping an ear out for birds, they set out to cut DSV that is now blooming. Our goal is to keep these plants from releasing seeds this year; no seeds, no new plants next year!

Potential milkweed field. The centre was cleared and planted with milkweeds 3 years ago. Earlier this year, we cleared another area to the north and seeded it with Common Milkweed seeds. To the south, we spread a tarpaulin, which will suppress all growth there. Today we scythed around the edges, carefully leaving goldenrods, milkweeds, and avoiding the many shrubs here.

Meanwhile, Evelyn and Catrina planted a bunch of large Rough Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa) plants that were declared surplus to Backyard Garden requirements last week. Unlike the more common Canada Goldenrod, this species is welcome in the model native plant garden behind our Resource Centre as it doesn’t spread very quickly, it grows in a nice dense clump, and its regularly spaced leaves keep it looking “tidy” even as it goes to seed in fall. Like other goldenrods, it’s a favourite of many insects including butterflies.

After a water break, Jesse and I decided to work in the shade for a while. We tackled DSV growing around Tamarack trees, a Black Maple, and some Trembling Aspens. As DSV forms seeds, it usually falls over and the plants twine together. However, DSV near trees often twine around their branches instead and can grow up to 10 feet tall – all the better to cast their seeds into the wind and spread them further. An obvious goal is to keep this from happening.

Jesse pulling out dog-strangling vine to prevent it from climbing these Trembling Aspens.

Note to self: remember to put down leaf mulch around trees and in any other areas where we can see tiny DSV seedlings. Mulch often doesn’t stop mature DSV plants from growing, but it can kill the much more vulnerable seedlings.

Wildlife we saw

A Cepaea species – hortensis or nemoralis.

Jesse found this striped snail (and many others of the same species) on a tree trunk. These land snails are common at the FWG; unfortunately, they are not native, but the introduced Cepaea genus. He also found a small American Toad, although we didn’t get a photo.

Canada Anemone is still blooming, but most “spring ephemerals” have now almost disappeared. We found trillium leaves buried under DSV in a couple of places and Catrina and Evelyn uncovered a number of wildflowers in the south part of the woods. A Tiger Swallowtail butterfly flew by as we worked.

Unknown sedges at the edge of the trail through the Old Woodlot.

A number of sedges grow in the woods, not all planted. This one (at left) is particularly attractive, but we have no idea which of the hundreds of native sedges it could be.

We looked at and discussed the differences between American Mountain-ash (Sorbus americana), Butternut (Juglans cinerea), and Black Walnut (Juglans nigra). The latter two are closely related and very similar, but Butternut has a larger terminal leaflet.

Mirko found and photographed these newly emerged mushrooms growing near our Resource Centre.

Finally, back at the Resource Centre after we put away all the tools and everyone else had left, a hawk flew across the access road right in front of me as I dragged a bag of garbage to the bin. Perfect ending to a great afternoon!