9 – Springtime – Will It Grow?

The pollinator plot was the last place to show green this spring, hmmm.

Winter is over, time to grow!

But it finally came up with a variety of interesting shoots and buds.

The first pollinator-friendly sprouts

And then it didn’t rain for, what, 5 weeks?, and the shoots started to wilt and turn brown.

No rain for weeks in May and June, after things sprouted

Our consultant the Xerxes Society and the person at the seed company both gave the same advice: just wait. The variety of seeds in the mix anticipate this, and other seeds will take over if some seeds don’t survive the conditions initially. As it turns out, what we took to be a cover species in the seed mix was actually endemic ragweed from the area that took the brunt of the dry weather. We did finally get some rain, and things came together nicely.

After much-needed rain in mid-June

Now we’re keeping it mowed to 6″, knocking out things like the mullein you see in the picture, and hoping interesting things grow.