Maintenance Memo
Our maintenance crew is busy visiting prairies, shorelines, raingardens, and other native restorations all over the Metro area. What have they been observing? What natives are blooming first? What weeds are coming up this month?
Native plants love the rain we've received this spring,
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Marsh Marigold
Caltha palustris |
and now with a little sun they are growing strong and blooming with vibrant colors! A few examples of these early native plants are Marsh Marigold, Jacob's Ladder, and Wild Geranium. These are important plants for pollinators because they provide a food source early in the spring when other plants' flowers are still forming.
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Jacob's Ladder
Polemonium reptans
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Wild Geranium
Geranium maculatum
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Non-native invasive plants also love the spring rain and are shooting up like rockets. Our maintenance crew is busy spraying, hand weeding, and weed whipping them before they go to seed. Some weeds of biggest concern are Reed Canary Grass, Garlic Mustard, and Canada Thistle.
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Garlic Mustard
Alliaria petiolata
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Spring is a great time to get a head start on managing these aggressive weeds because
they are usually some of the first plants to come up. This makes it easier to spray the weeds and avoid favorable native species. Dandelions or Creeping Charlie can also be annoying weeds this time of year but are a smaller priority compared to these weeds that can out-compete our beneficial natives.
Need help maintaining your native restoration? Visit our website here for more information on our maintenance program or contact our Maintenance Coordinator Tracy at 612-220-4178 or at [email protected].
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