sneezeweed - yellow blooms

 

swamp milkweed and vervain

 

junco in spring

Suddenly, this morning, a flock of migrating Dark-eyed Juncos appeared in the buffer at the edge of the pond.  These sparrows, Junco hyemalis, nest north of here across Canada and Alaska.  As they hunt among the grasses, each flicks its tails so we can see the white feathers flashing.  Dressed in rather dull gray, the bright white tail feathers seem to be their only adornments for courting a mate. According to allaboutbirds.org, females seem to prefer males that show more white.

bulrush

 Some plants stand through winter, displaying their structure and form with monochrome colors frosted in snow.

velvetleaf

Many plants, which bloom and fruit in the warm growing season, stand bravely throughout the winter to ensure its seeds are fully distributed.  This fruit capsule opened as it dried out in Autumn, and seeds have been coaxed out by the breeze.  Now, it stands despite snow and hoarfrost.

Velvetleaf Abutilon theophrasti blooms in late summer with orange-yellow flowers on stems and leaves that really look and feel like they are cloaked in velvet. There were a few growing in the riparian buffer around the pond, but we pulled them because this plant is not native.  It can form dense monocultures in place of native plants, suck large quantities of water and nutrients from the soil, and can inhibit germination of other plants.

This in one of the plants that probably spreads from nearby crop fields, and that we try to keep out of the pond area.

lavender asters

 Asters in the Symphyotrichum genus may be blue, lavender, or white, and many shades of those colors.  These lavender flowers, blooming now in the buffer around the pond, are one of approximately 25 aster plants native to Minnesota.  Some of them provide food for bees and other insects through the late summer season.

lobelia still vibrant

The native perennial wildflower still showing vibrant periwinkle blooms in the riparian buffer is Blue Lobelia Lobelia siphilitica. 

It also is called 'Great Lobelia' or 'Blue Cardinal Flower'. 

But don't confuse it with the annual plants or seeds sold in the garden stores lobelia erinus. 

This native perennial forms clumps in the wetland around the pond and comes back every summer, blooming from July until frost in October

grasshopper on coneflower

On the blooming coneflowers, a Two-striped Grasshopper Melanoplus bivittatus rests in the sunshine.  This grasshopper usually lives in sunny, moist, lush, weedy or meadow areas -- like the wetland around the pond. They eat a wide variety of plants, and sometimes also dead animal matter on the ground.  They require unsaturated fatty acids in their diet since these nutrients help keep their wings strong and rigid.

Coneflower seed harvest

It is time to harvest some wildflower seeds, in order to expand the native plant population in the riparian buffer surrounding our pond.  There are more than 30 documented native species in this buffer.  Close to the water is a ring of wetland; outside of that is a ring of moist to dry areas.  So the pond provides a comfortable home for a wide variety of plants.  We hope to reduce the 'weeds' and encourage the flowering native plants to flourish.

For example, a few coneflowers bloom here.  Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea now has some blooms 'going to seed' as the petals dry out. When I remove the seeds, intending to spread them around the pond for new plants, we can see why this plant is called 'cone flower'.

protecting native plants

You might see me pulling weeds, snipping tree sprouts, or clipping seed heads in the riparian buffer surrounding our pond.  This is necessary to protect the pollinators, birds, and critters that depend on the native plants and the clean water in the pond.  Fortunately, we have a wonderful variety of native wildflowers close to the pond that have been thriving and propagating for several years.

Unfortunately, the builder brought in soil during the last 12 months to finish the area beyond the native plantings. That soil contained a plentiful seed bank of invasive or harmful species. We now have a bothersome crop of knapweed, velvetleaf (shown above), mustard, ragweed, lambs quarter, crabgrass, dock, amaranth, spurge, and thistles surrounding the pond.  They are competing with the desirable native plants like milkweed, aster, lobelia, boneset, chamomile, clover, daisy, echinacea, golden alexander, meadow rue, bee balm, penstemon, ironweed, mountain mint, vervain, silene, sunflower, and others. 

To protect them, you will see me pulling, snipping, and clipping.

horsetail

Horsetail Equisetum spp. is a living dinosaur among plants; it belongs to a plant family that dates back to 350 million years ago.  On the edge of the pond, a cluster of Horsetail grows in the sun.

This plant is not related to ferns, but reproduces through spores (not seed) like ferns.  At the top of its stems, the cone-like spore-producing structures grow.  The stem also has tiny gray leaves fused vertically onto it in a sheath with a black ring beneath. 

From a distance the plant looks like a group of attractive stems, from 2 to 4 feet tall.  Tiny ridges run vertically along the stems and contain silica.  Those stems feel rough and, in the past, people used this plant for scouring cooking utensils.

Mountain Mint blooming

Blooming now in the riparian buffer around the pond - -  Virginia Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum virginianum.  Look for them as  2 or 3 foot tall bushy plants.  Because the individual flowers are tiny, this plant is an important food for short-tongued bees.  They can reach into the flowers easily to drink the nectar.  In the photo above, you can see the clusters of tiny white flowers with delicate purple spots.  The flowers open one at a time, providing nectar over many days.
Below, this subtle plant grows among yellow Birdsfoot Trefoil and daisy-like Fleabane.