Saturday June 5, 2010

This is week number two of final exams and we are supposed to have thunderstorms this afternoon. I spent an intense hour removing invasive Japanese Stilt Grass from about 200 square feet. I planted many plugs of the wild grasses that I have been cultivating.

The “Before” picture:



The “After” picture:



While weeding, a long-time resident of this area asked what I was doing. After I explained, he told me that there were very few invasive plant species in this area of Rockville, especially Japanese Stilt Grass. He said that these invasives were introduced and spread in this area during the landscaping and construction of Matthew Henson State Park.

In addition to planting more native grass plugs, I also planted some Wild Hydrangeas and Wild Lupins. The plants that I planted in previous weeks are growing nicely:



I planted American Lotus sprouts (Nelumbo lutea)in a shallow section of the stream.



There was a large patch of Wine Berry bushes:



I cleared out this area so that with native Blackberry bushes could replace them.

The replacements:



I also found a number of Tadpoles in Turkey Branch: