Tag Archives: wildflowers

Wildflowers: Subtle Influence of Generations Past

A flock of goldfinches
dances among morning-light-basked
coreopsis, sunflowers, and coneflowers
in our once-sterile and lawned,
now wildflower-laden, front yard.

A bright red cardinal
flutters amongst
a glowing-flowered rose bush,
as if thinking the red petals
were competition.

I muse at how,
years prior,
the landlady had demanded:
“Cut down these weeds!
I just want a well-kept lawn!”

Now, in spring,
as new plants arise,
she carefully takes
lawnmower or weed-wacker,
and carves paths that avoid wildflowers.

As summer beckons,
her cautious paths let us
leisurely stroll through
bright pinks, whites, yellows, purples, blues, reds.
We become surrounded by and absorbed in Nature.

What made the change?
What turned this orderly hostess
demanding sterile, well-manicured lawns,
to one who could see and rejoice
in the colorful riot of wildflowers?

My grandparents,
(who she never met),
and their parents
were known for the flowers
and fruits they kept.

The family joke was
how the Sheboygan matriarch
grew her veggies and flowers
in the bathtub.
Beauty before cleanliness.

The tradition carried on,
as my grandmother taught
her children and grandchildren
to enjoy and relish nature.
“How beautiful!”

Grandmother’s children, too, 
(oft to the chagrin of neighbors),
invited wildflowers and native plants
instead of sterile and invasive species
to grow and thrive and bring beauty and life.

So now their children and grandchildren
leave patches of wild plants,
riotous color for the birds, bees, butterflies;
pollinators who gladly cavort and dance
the way their ancestors did.

As willing witnesses, we get to feel
the swelling in our hearts
and the welling of our eyes,
as we join with them in this
ancient dance in the wildflowers.

Read more about how the landlady of Spirit Tree Farms, Marnie Kuhns, transformed from loving lawns to wooing wildflowers, birds, and pollinators in her book about finding peace in Nature and God’s Creations.

How To Bring Birds Back From Silent Spring: Prose

I have a solution on how to bring birds back. In today’s “Native Pollinators and Wildflowers” Facebook page, someone said: “The bird population is declining rapidly. What you grow in your yard can make all the difference. You can hear the difference.”

I agree. There is a way to bring birds back. I’ve experienced it! So I wrote this response:

Four years ago I purchased six acres of property next to the Chickamauga National Military Park in Northwest Georgia. As I stood out on my porch that autumn, I immediately noticed — amidst a lawn and the grasses and the hickory and oak and black walnut trees and massive overgrowth of Chinese privet — the amazing and frightening lack of birds.

I had been raised by my father, my grandmother, and dozens of friends, neighbors and relatives in Wisconsin to do everything I could to attract birds. Not having birds around in a city or suburb is not surprising. Not hearing any birdsongs, nor seeing any birds in flight, in the middle of woodlands and pastures was shocking.

So I started ripping up the privet, ripping up the lawn, planting wildflowers, putting up bird feeders, putting up bird houses. Unlike previous owners, I didn’t spray for bugs or mosquitoes. I suffered through chiggers and ticks. I planted, planted, ripped out invasives and non-natives, and planted some more.

Bring Birds Back

These days, when I go out on my front porch in the morning, often a dozen or more goldfinch will explode from where they have been eating the wildflower seedheads in our front yard. The other day, my 89 year old father-in-law and I sat on the porch, rocking at sunset. There was a cacophony of sound; I asked him how many bird songs he could hear. As we listened, we heard over a dozen different varieties. Those songs weren’t from several birds of the same species. They were from over a dozen different species! In fact, several of the songs had multiple singers, coming in from different directions.

Cardinal on the back deck bird feeder, March 2020

*Or they could have been one massive Mockingbird I suppose. But I don’t think that’s true :-).

I tell this story because it shows how Nature will bounce back, if given the opportunity and a little help. My property is proof: The land not only has different birds, but now there are frogs, crickets, bees, bugs, fireflies galore, all joining in a joyful chorus.

Nature has returned to my Hickory Hill House and leaves me smiling every day!

My advice? Just Start Now, Where You Are, Today.

Butterfly Welcome Mat From Nature’s Resiliency: Prose

Originally as a Facebook post in the Pollinator Friendly Yards Facebook group, Oct. 12, 2019
I hope what I say here gives people hope. In August, 2017, I moved into a home on over 6 acres near the Chickamauga Battlefield in Northwest Georgia. I was stunned at the LACK of birds, butterflies, bees, dragonflies and other pollinators. The property was surrounded by fields and woods, including the 5600 acre Chickamauga national military park, so I couldn’t quite figure out why there was such a silent autumn.
Turns out I was also surrounded by a sod farm. Nice people, but they do A LOT of spraying. A one-time beekeeper near me said “I stopped trying to keep hives because they’d all die after the fields near here were sprayed.”
Nevertheless, I did what I could in my own hilltop yard. I let the lawn go wild, I ripped up some of it, I didn’t cut down the crownbeard and other wildflowers as the bank / real estate company had, I trimmed the invasive privet back and created huge brushpiles. I planted mints, wildflowers, an organic garden. I dug up a square here, a round spot there, and planted native wildflowers. Not all at once, just a little at a time. I convinced my wife that it was okay to rip up the lawn and let it grow wild, and to not mow every other week like the neighbors do. You get the idea. (My wife was surprised when all the poppies sprung up in our yard, as some photo shows.)
Two years later my property has TONS of birds of all shapes and sizes. Hummingbirds buzz around constantly, coming right up to us as we sit on our front porch. The frogs are croaking and singing like crazy. I’m seeing A LOT of butterflies and moths, there have been several types of dragonflies, AND probably 3-4 different types of wasps. I haven’t seen many bees around (but I have seen some!) so I still have hope. And someone reminded me: From May to August more and more fireflies flicker every evening … probably 90% more than when I first moved here.
My point is that nature is resilient. It only takes a little work, a spot here, a point there, and the birds and bugs will notice the welcome mat you’re throwing out for them, and come flocking and swarming to your yard!
I appreciate the Pollinator Friendly Yards Facebook group — y’all inspire me! (As requested, I added more photos) — the one with the house is a field of white crownbeard — can you spot the orange butterfly?) — feeling inspired at Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park.