Blueberries shouldn’t be a problem, they’re not invasive, and the flowers will attract pollinators, while the berries attract birds. (Plus they live forever… I have some that are 50+yrs. old.)
Glad you chose Serviceberries and Basswood! Serviceberries are a great native choice, the berries are attractive to birds, and Basswood will be wonderful for attracting pollinators. I have an enormous mature basswood that is my favorite place to observe bees. When it is blooming, it attracts many native species, especially bumblebees, and literally hums like a vast beehive. It is a joy to stand under. It also blooms fairly late in the season, so it provides nectar during the period between early spring trees and late summer/fall wildflowers.
Sorry I haven’t replied for a bit. @Smschnerremd I wouldn’t mind something like that, maybe in the future. @danly I chose the Basswood mainly for the pollinators. Indiana Native Plant Society shows all of the pollinators that should be attracted. It will also just give some variety around here. My next thing will be adding some plants around the walnut trees. They’re killing the Spirae bush they grew in, but its not native so I’m fine with it. I just think of it as easy plant control.
Last week I was pulling some mulberry saplings. There was a pretty thick stump by the concrete stands that I’ve been cutting for several years. I found out you have to take the roots out, or else it will just keep growing back. I tried to dig it out, but our little tractor couldn’t pull it. My dad had a guy with a backhoe dig it out while I was at work. It did some damage to some of the trumpet vines.
I just dug out three more mulberries, and trimmed the berry bush that’s growing up into the ash tree. I have a list of stuff for fall planting, just need to order it.
I just finished planting Virgins Bower, Pennsylvania Sedge starts, and Wild Ginger by the walnut trees and dead bush. Hopefully everything does well there.
Local conservation groups might have a nectar and fruit calendar for your area, otherwise I would recommend setting up a spreadsheet to collect the flowering and fruiting times of plants.
I have used such a calendar to analyse the plants in my garden, allowing me to look for plants to fill in the gaps discovered.
I did some more planting today, the last for the year. Golden Star Sedge, Dwarf Crested Iris, Wild Stonecrop, and Bearberry. I’ve been building skirting around the house trailer, and wanted something that would stay short so I hopefully won’t have to use the weed eater around it. The Iris, one Stonecrop, and Sedge went on the South end of the house. The Bearberry and another Stonecrop went by the concrete stand. Funny thing, I was ordering from the live plants list, and didn’t think of just getting grass seed until after ordering live plants twice. Oh well, next year.
I’ve noticed a bit of damage to the bark on my 2 basswood trees. I took the cages down 2 or 3 weeks ago. I’m guessing it’s from rabbits. Should I put the cages back up, or is this not concerning?
From seeing all the lawn in the original photos I was thinking prairie as well.
Monarch Gardens is a native prairie landscaping company I’ve come across on social media, they have a lot of nice examples of aesthetically pleasing prairie gardens on their website here: https://www.monarchgard.com/portfolio.html
Depending on what the original habitat in your area was or other factors, another long(er)-term option would be recreating a forest type of garden with native understory shrubs and flowers and paths underneath.
Rabbits will only eat bark as high as they can reach. Porcupines eat bark, as do deer. Deer could certainly do that high damage, and they are said to be fond of saplings. If you have deer, and you’ve removed all the non-native stuff they like to eat, maybe they are out for revenge? I wouldn’t put it past them…
I think the highest point was only about 8-10 inches up. There are deer around, but I’m not sure just how close they’ll come. I’m right on the edge of town, but there’s only a small tree line down the road, and a tiny semi wooded area of the neighbor’s property. The fields are all down, so that would be a lot of open space for then to go through. I don’t know their behavior though, so maybe.
I’ve never seen a procupine here, or anywhere actually.
