I don't know that I've ever seen thistles in bloom before. This patch is around the corner from me and I think they are beautiful. As Melissa and I approached on our walk, a whole flock of finches, gold and otherwise, flew up out of the branches.
I'm so glad this little patch of nature was left here - and so were the birds. I think they are lovely and hope to gather some seed for my own perennial garden.
That's one thing I love about our less-than-perfect neighborhood. There are little patches of nature springing up everywhere. When I visited my Mom in suburbia last month, her yard looked like astroturf - there wasn't a stray clover, dandelion or less-than-uniformly green blade of grass in the whole lawn. It's hard to believe that more fertilizers and chemicals are applied to lawns on a per acre basis than on agricultural lands.
We've been working hard since we moved into this house two years ago to convert as much of our non-producing grass lawn into either perennial beds or food gardens. We've made a lot of progress, planting 50 strawberry plants, 8-10 blueberry bushes, 6-8 raspberry bushes, two semi-dwarf apples trees, a sour cherry tree, and turning the perimeter of the yard into a combination perennial bed/squash bed. We now have three large garden spaces and our small raised bed and have converted 80 percent of our front lawn into perennial beds. I do have trouble keeping up with the weeds, and our front yard beds won't be fully established for another year or so, but this has drastically improved the appearance of the yard and its functionality.
Oh, and when we do mow, we use a human-powered push mower.
2 comments:
I love those flowers too! And the purple ones you wrote about, and made into coffee, are so lovely along the highways too.
I hope I get invited to your oasis soon. :)
And thanks for writing about lawn fertilizers. We don't use them either. And now that you mention it we have a lot of rabbits and birds in our yards too. Now I have an even better reason to keep it that way! Before it was to keep our yard chemical free b/c of the kids.
There is a research project I did as an undergraduate. It was published in the Journal of Economic Entomology. It was one of the first looking at the affects of the different chemical sprayed on golf courses and lawns and the affect on earthworm population. Basically the golf courses and lawn application can kill off earthworms. The leads to soil compaction and decreased tolerance to drought. BAD, BAD, BAD mono cultures!!! I wonder about the honey bee populations. As a kid our yard was packed with white clover and lots of bees. Mono grass lawn with out that can't help. Let hope this recession helps!!
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