They were also huge. Which meant we needed to use his Jeep and his winch to pull the plants out.
This was a win/win, because Big Ag loves to play around in his Jeep, and I love the times when that useless, several-hundred-pounds-of-decaying-yellow-metal hulk can do something useful, other than adorn our driveway with its persistent oil leak and rusting parts.
I am talking about the Jeep right now, just to clarify that. Big Ag does not leak oil (yet).
Anyway, I now have two empty holes in the ground, which means I can do some plant shopping. This will not be edible landscape I'm looking for, but rather something that will benefit the wildlife in the area, specifically butterflies, bees and birds. So one hole is going to get a cottonwood tree, and the other will get some kind of native, flowering plant or flowering small tree.
I think it's important that, along with feeding ourselves, we also feed the winged creatures that rely on the nectar and protective covering that some types of landscape can provide. It's important to share the land. So this is definitely a project that will be pleasurable to do, and I can't wait to see something green and growing in the space where the zombies once stood.
I have such a complicated relationship with butterfly bushes. Some days I think they are god's violet and white gift to gardeners as they bloom with ease and withstand all forms of abuse. Other days I look at them and see scraggly, ugly, invasive (even here! Can't imagine how invasive they are in the Salad Bowl!). If my memory serves me correctly, I remember reading you had planted cottonwoods in your last backyard? Gardening and nostalgia are so innately intertwined...so I like that choice very much. And you make a great point about hosting wildlife in the garden. It's very fulfilling to see butterflies and bees enjoying your plants when news of their decline is roaring. One of my goals this season is to plant at least 10 Monarch-friendly plants. I didn't see a single Monarch last summer and I hated it!
ReplyDeleteI am actually thinking of adding some milkweed for the Monarchs in our yard; you are right, they are in trouble and anything we can do to help is good! Regarding butterfly bushes, it's weird, but ours are not invasive here at all -- they just get very leggy (aka: ugly) and seem to have more wood than leaves or flowers after a few years. Not sure why, either. Maybe the heat? And yes, I do love my cottonwoods, and have missed the sound of the wind fluttering their leaves since moving. We pulled saplings from them though, so we have 5 small cottonwoods to plant here, as little tokens of where we came from. So happy!
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