Suburban Savanna – 6

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Fall riches abound. Goldenrod is blooming – providing food for pollinating insects. I didn’t cut mine back in June, so it got very tall – fell over onto other vegetation. Trimming plants that will get too tall early enough that they will still bloom and be shorter overall is a lesson learned to be applied next year.

I’ve been watching the growth of my native plant garden during its first year – pulling weeds as quickly as possible. There were a couple of plants that I left for a little while so that they could get big enough for identification. It turns out that they are sassafras! They are ‘bird planted’ on opposite ends of the garden. They are the food plant for spicebush swallowtail caterpillars – so I am leaving them in the front yard garden. I have spice bush in the backyard so I expect to see more of these butterflies in coming years. They are not old enough to produce seeds but might be winter food for birds in coming years.

I trimmed pokeweed to keep it short and there seem to be even more fruits than usual. They will be eaten by birds – mostly songbirds and mourning doves. The dry weather since midsummer has caused some of the plants to already start dying back. I’ll cut a lot of the plants after the first frost, but they will come back from the roots next year!

The chives that I grew from seeds produced in my mother’s garden several years ago are more prolific each year. They aren’t native but they provide another texture among the violets and black raspberry…and they are edible. These are a plant that I grow for the memories associated with visits to Texas over the years.

The American Spikenard blew over in a storm, and it has been so hot since midsummer that it looks like the fruit is going to dry out very shortly after it ripens.

On the plus side – the American Beautyberry did very well this year. Its leaves are lush and the fruits is maturing. They will be food for songbirds too!

I have a few small hackberries but they don’t seem to have any fruit. Maybe they are too young. It will be great when they start to produce…more food for birds.

So much for birds and other wildlife in the fall garden…getting ready for winter.

Previous Suburban Savanna Posts:

August 2026 – Controlling too much growth

July 2026 - Water

June 2026 – Shade Garden

May 2026 – Planting Natives

April 2026 – Overview

Ants in the Hummingbird Feeder

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The past few weeks I’ve had problems with ants in the hummingbird feeder twice….not just a few ants but thick in the sugar water! The first time I didn’t quite realize how many there were and they got all over my arms when I retrieved the container to clean. The second time I waited to open it until I got it inside and into the sink where I could run water to flush them out and down the drain.

Earlier in the season I had an ant problem once (a few ants…not large numbers) and I thoroughly rinsed off the window where the feeder is attached when I cleaned the feeder and hadn’t had another infestation until recently.

Maybe it has happened because it has been so hot and dry that the water moat dries out relatively quickly. Now that I’ve had a huge number of ants a second time – I’ll refresh the moat daily and see if that helps.

On the way to the feeder, I noticed a feather on our patio. An ant had already found it too. It might be a tail feather of a Mourning Dove. There weren’t any other feathers around so maybe the bird survived.

Our Missouri Yard – Still summer

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September has started out very hot – days still reaching into the 90s. We haven’t gotten much rain recently either. We do have a sprinkler system which I have kept running to help the native plants that I planted early in the season become well established….with the plan to water less next year.

In the front yard….

The edging around the native plant garden is making it easier to see/pull any encroaching grass and to use the weed eater to trim just outside the stones. There are frequently mushrooms on both sides of the stones! The one yarrow in the garden is blooming and I am optimistic that enough of its seeds will land in the garden for more plants to be there next year.

The elderberries are thriving – two better than the third one but they might all survive and be the thicket in the middle of the garden.

Missouri Evening Primrose has bloomed at various times….the new plants blooming better than the larger one near the mailbox (they are in a better place than the small triangle between the box, sidewalk and driveway where the original one is planted. The Rattlesnake Master is thriving only 1 of the 3 plants has stalks still upright; they should do better next summer will some other plants around them (and some strategic staking).

In the back yard…

The shade garden is my favorite part of the yard. The 7 young pawpaws (from seed, MDC seedlings, and Ozark Soul) are doing well and some insects have found them too (note the ‘bites’ out of the leaves). There is a pokeweed growing with them….violets and iris underneath…a spicebush a little further down the hill.

I go around with my pruners cutting down small oaks and maples in the areas where I don’t mow any more.

The chives I planted from seeds collected in my mother’s garden are blooming – providing for some pollinators before the goldenrod started blooming. Those plants coming back every year prompt good memories.

The pokeweed fruit is ripening. I have cut the plants to keep them low this year and might have prompted more fruit! They do get competition from the violets under the pine.

The funnel spiders like the violets!

Roses

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I have two rose bushes that came with my house. They have not fared well during the winters. I’ve trimmed out dead stems each spring and am tempted to trim the bushes back in this fall - to create the chance for a more regular shape for next year. The stems are probably from the root stock rather than the more ornamental rose that was grafted to it since the roses look mostly wild – without the layers of petals of ornamentals. Still – they have simple beauty. Sometimes I cut one for a windowsill vase even though the stems are short and they have little fragrance.

I find myself photographing spent blooms too. It is interesting how the color changes as the flowers fade. Sometimes the red deepens and other times it becomes almost pink…before they turn brown and brittle. And the petals curl into interesting shapes as well.

There have been times I have been tempted to dig out both bushes and plant some native in their place – but it won’t be this year!

American Spikenard – the Fruit

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The American Spikenard that I see from my office window blew over during a thunderstorm but the stem didn’t break since the leaves are still very green. If you click on the image below to see a larger view you can also see the clumps of fruit that are beginning to ripen! The small spheres turn dark purple to reddish-brown (they remind me of garnets).

I planted the small plant in fall 2023 and thought in spring 2024 that it had not survived because I mistakenly thought American Spikenard was a woody plant but dies back to the roots each winter. It was a pleasant surprise to discover it growing a few weeks after I thought it was gone! So far, it has gotten bigger each year because the roots are getting more established. It is very happy in my shade garden surrounded by violets and the occasional pokeweed which I trim back periodically. The leaves are compound and the leaflets are large.

I used my camera’s zoom to photograph the clumps of fruit without wading into the violets. Most of the fruits will go to the birds. A few I might plant in pots (in the refrigerator to scarify and then in a sunny window) … and plant them outside next spring. I wouldn’t mind having more American Spikenard in my shade garden!

Rattlesnake Master as a Nectar Plant

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I hadn’t thought much about Rattlesnake Master being a plant for pollinators until I saw the insects on the plants! They were mostly skippers and scolia wasps. The plants look too prickly, but that doesn’t seem to deter the insects!

These are plants that were new last spring. The first bloom stalks tended to fall over because there were no other tall plants around to help support them. Now the stalks are in a clump and seem to stay upright. Next year there will be more stalks and it’s good to know that they will provide nectar for insects in the hottest part of the summer.

Rattlesnake Master is a prairie plant, and it is often planted for prairie restorations. It has certainly thrived during the first year of my native plant garden.

Lunar Eclipse

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I didn’t stay up last Thursday night (August 27,2026) for the Lunar Eclipse – but my husband did! He shared a picture taken from our back yard the next morning.

Suburban Savanna – 5

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Continuing my series on progress toward transitioning my yard to a suburban savanna…..

This is only my first summer implementing the strategy, but I am already experiencing some areas that are overgrown…with natives. In a larger space, the tangle would simply be allowed to continue but in my third acre suburban savanna, actions are needed on my part very similar to my actions when it comes to invasives!

Virginia creeper is great near my front door, and I can easily keep it controlled there because I see it all the time. In other places (in a corner of a flower bed behind some crape myrtle and boxwood, for example), it tends to be problematic, and it requires me to get back there to hack it out. I have been cutting only what is on the brick but now I will cut more and hopefully eventually reduce it to a once-a-year job.

My strategy with poison ivy was to leave it unless it was in a place I would likely be without gloves. Now I am rethinking that even though the patch is interesting because it has the poison ivy leaf gall too. I’m going to gear up and clean out that bed…maybe plant some cone flowers there!

Last year I had a clump of White Heath Aster near my driveway, and it is there again this year….and there is clump in my backyard too. I am leaving both since they are great for pollinating insects in the fall – but I don’t want more of them in my yard.  If they come up in more places next year, I will mow them!

I am learning to cope with pokeweed. If it comes up in an empty space, I leave it…but I trim it to keep it low and leafy. It has filled in an area under a window where a non-native cedar died, a slope on the side of the house (reducing the area I mow and holding the soil with its deeper roots, and filling in a corner (it is hiding a place I dump grass clippings too!).

Grapevines seem to be everywhere this year. I don’t mind them in some places…but I will keep them out of my trees. It is going to take some vigilance.

The same is true with the black raspberry canes. They have lovely pale green stems and white underside of the leaves. There are thorns too. I want to leave some of the plants since wildlife like the fruit…but I will be cutting them in places I want to be able to easily access!

I like violets for the ground cover in all my shady areas but they hide young redbuds and maples and oaks that will eventually need to be cut. Hackberries are everywhere – growing with the hollies and in other bushes. I am considering leaving them but also realizing that I will eventually need to cut them down since they are not in places where I want a larger tree!

All these native plants that I am considering controlling and this is my first year thinking about my yard as a suburban savanna!

April 2026 – Overview

May 2026 – Planting Natives

June 2026 – Shade Garden

July 2026 - Water

An Edge around the Native Plant Garden

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Up until a week ago the native plant garden in my front yard was mulch that had been laid down last fall – originally 6+ inches thick – with plants added last spring. Installing something around the edge to define the space required too much back-straining work for me to do myself. I decided to have stone installed, but the work was not scheduled until October; I was thrilled when the company had a cancellation and fit in the work last week!

The two-person crew dug a trench for the stones and finished it in a few hours. Now I can easily do a quick round with the weed-eater and then mow neatly around the garden. I love its irregular shape.

Plastics Crisis – The Personal Economics of Less Plastics – Update

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Last January I posted about what I had done over the later part of 2025 to reduce plastics around my house and the advantages we were observing. We are still benefiting from the investments I made without a lot of additional investments since January. I’ve notice that our grocery lists are generally shorter and we have less trash and recycle….and we aren’t feeling the full bite of inflation as much as I thought we would.

Trying to reduce plastic in all my purchases has encouraged more thoughtful purchasing. It slows me down enough to decide not to purchase something…realize that the item is not a ‘need’ and that I don’t really want it enough to purchase it. Identifying (and avoiding) ultra-processed food is another goal that seems to correlate with plastic reduction! What’s not to like about reduce costs and eating better at the same time.

I’ve refined some of my behaviors over the past few months that have reduced plastics further:

  • I have a collection of cleaned out/reused peanut butter (glass) jars that I use for making sugar water for my hummingbird feeder and am reusing the lovely green glass bottles (lemon juice) for storing filtered water in the refrigerator (or for the ice chest when we travel).

  • Our store has catsup in glass bottles again – and we have started purchasing it rather than the larger plastic bottles. It works well for us since we do not use it as often as we have previously.

  • I have enlarged my ‘favorite salad dressings’ to include honey – lemon….and am able to easily find honey in a glass jar and lemons in a bin without packaging at the store. I haven’t bought salad dressing since my original decision to avoid plastics in close contact with acidic or oily foods!

  • The net plastic is sometimes less or similar between fresh and frozen foods. I have started buying frozen broccoli, corn, and peppers/onions rather than fresh. They reduce prep time for stir fry and there is no wasted food (i.e. something going bad before I can use it). The plastic is probably not degrading into the food since it is cold! I never cook the frozen vegetables in the bag even if the bag advertises that it is OK to use it to steam the veggies in the microwave.

  • I had planned to use violets in salads this summer and it worked well. The cyclosporiasis outbreak is an added motivation for me to continue to use this green – although this late in the season the leaves are better cooked than raw.

  • The main area of investment now is clothes. I am gradually replacing things that  are 100% synthetic (i.e. plastic: polyester, rayon, nylon, etc.) with equivalent items that are 100% natural fibers or a blend that is dominated by natural fibers. It is unfortunate that Amazon searches tend to return synthetic items – overriding the search terms completely! Sometimes local stores have what I want….and I am checking their stock more frequently now.

Progress is slower now…but I am still enjoying discovering ways to reduce plastics in my life!

Yard Work in August

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The day was in the 70s rather 90s…a good day for yard work. I had big plans. The latter part of July had been relentlessly hot and/or rainy…so there was a lot to do. And the company that we hired to put some edging around my new native plant bed in the front yard was coming the next week rather than in October (they’d had a cancellation – good for us) which meant I needed to do so clean up of that bed as well.

My first project was to get the Virginia Creeper under control. I don’t like it to get all the way up the brick façade of our house or in the bushes or tangled with the air conditioner compressor/other external ‘boxes.’ It’s going to be a continuing battle but I do like to have enough of it showing now so that when it turns red in the fall, the house will look spectacular!

There is also the bed that has been taken over with poison ivy (with the yellow gall on it). I will wear my protective clothing (including gauntlet gloves) and take it out.

And there is a little bit of weed eating along the fence that needs to be done as well.

Around the edge of the native plant garden there is some encroaching grass which needs to be pulled. Hopefully after the edging is in it will be easier to keep it all under control.

On the way to the back yard the pokeweed has turned into clumps (I had cut them to keep them short). They are deep rooted so good for the slope. The corner of the backyard also had a nice clump. I cut the tallest one to keep it mostly below the fence level.

There was a pokeweed that almost hid the American spikenard when viewed from the  yard (although not from my office window). I cut the poke weed even though stepping into the sea of violets left a hole. Maybe the violets quickly

The pathway I take from my office door to the hummingbird feeder is mostly rocks but the violets are taking off there too. I try to avoid stepping on them. Closer to the feeder (which is suction-cupped to one of my office windows) there is a sad crepe myrtle, thorny black raspberry canes, and grapevine that makes getting to the feeder hazardous in less that yard work garb. I cut back everything but the hosta!

The day turned misty and my back started hurting faster than I expected – before I got everything done. But I made good progress and will be out every day it isn’t raining until I catch up. So much to do….and I need to plan to do it in 30-minute chunks to keep my back happy.

Ten Little Celebrations – July 2026

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July was hot…making is more challenging to enjoy time outdoors – but I still found plenty to celebrate!

Car chargers on my way to Texas. I noticed that there were car chargers at a place I normally stop along my route between my home and seeing my dad in Texas. That bodes well for me buying an EV next year!

Children in the butterfly house. I enjoy my shifts in the Roston Native Butterfly House – particularly if there are children that enjoy their visit too. Their awe as they follow the flights of butterflies or watch the butterfly get nectar from a flower seems to transfer to everyone in the house!

Spicebush Caterpillar. There was a spicebush caterpillar that disappeared from the plant on the table just as I was leaving….and we weren’t seeing it anywhere. Then as I walked by – I noticed that it was on the other end of the table…crawling along the edge. We all celebrated that it was found and could be put in the pupation cage instead of risking getting squished on the floor.

Gall Webinar. Celebrating an interesting webinar that introduced me to new organisms that I will look for when I am out and about.

Blooming American Spikenard. Celebrating that the plant is bigger and has more blooms than last year. It’s one of the first native plants I added to the yard and probably my favorite.

250th.  It wasn’t as fabulous as I remember the 200th – but still worth celebrating.  

Home alone. My husband was away for almost a week and I enjoyed the time without the television blaring! Then again – I am glad it doesn’t happen very often.

Salmon. I celebrated making a dinner that I wouldn’t make if my husband was home!

Watermelon. It’s the summer food for celebration. I wish we could still buy the big watermelons with seeds that seemed to be even more flavorful.

Missouri Master Naturalist. I celebrated my chapter showing resilience to change….forging ahead.

Zooming – July 2026

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All the images in this month’s slideshow are from around Springfield: the Lake Springfield Boathouse, Springfield Botanical Gardens/Roston Native Butterfly House, and my yard. There is a lot to see this time of year! The weather has been hot enough that I make short forays for photography rather than longer hikes.

American Spikenard Buds/Flowers

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The American Spikenard I planted my first summer in Missouri (2023) might be my favorite plant in the whole yard. I see it from my office window. It is thriving with violets as its understory. When I planted it, the violets were mostly between the new plant and the house; once I stopped mowing they have filled half the side yard. I thought that the spikenard had been killed that first winter, but it came back the next spring and has been bigger every yearsince. References say that the plants get 3-5 feet tall but this one is taller!

And it is full of buds/flowers right now. They are not showy as individual flowers, but the cluster is noticeable because of the change in texture from the large compound leaves. The fruits will be even more noticeable this fall because they will be reddish purple.

The American spikenard is not as common as many of the other native plants, but it certainly has worked well in my garden. It should contribute to the lushness of my shade garden as it spreads via it roots or seeds. I planted a second plant this year at the northern end of the shade garden and wonder if the two plants will eventually expand to meet in the middle!

Rattlesnake Master

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One of my favorite native plants is rattlesnake master. All three of the plants I bought and planted in my front yard garden have bloomed this year. The downside is that their flower stalks fall over if there is not a lot of vegetation growing around them to help hold them upright. I did notice that there were tiny insects all over the flowers even when they on the ground! They are touted as great plants for pollinators and some swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on them! As the season has progressed, I’ve noticed that they are continuing to grow more stalks. By next year maybe each clump with be substantial enough to support the stalks. They are the most interesting plants in the native plant garden structurally!

I saw a clump of rattlesnake master at the St. Louis Zoo which has become my and am wondering how long it will be before my plants are as dense. Maybe next year? Maybe the year after that?

Serendipity Trees

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Serendipity trees are one of the joys of native gardening! I have 3 different kinds in my yard.

The oaks are from ‘squirrel planted’ acorns – probably from my neighbor’s red oak. Most of the time I mow the seedlings but there is one that is growing in the place where we had to cut down a pine (it fell on its own really). The oak is growing well and is no longer much shorter than the plants around it: iris, beautyberry, gray-headed coneflower, and newly planted elderberry. My plan is to enlarge the bed as the oak grows so that most of its leaves will fall in places that will never be mowed! In the front yard, there is a younger seedling in the native plant garden that is shorter than the Missouri evening primrose beside it! It too can continue to grow and the bed can be expanded over time to receive its leaves.

There is a dying redbud near the neighborhood stormwater pond, but it is leaving its progeny all over the neighborhood – seeds probably transported by birds. Some are growing as shrubs near the holly…and other is growing in a good place to provide some nice afternoon shade to our deck in the next few years.

The hackberries are also bird planted; there is a big healthy tree near the dying redbud with lots of seeds that I see on the sidewalk in the fall. I have several that are coming up in the bed with the hollies and with a Japanese barberry. The Japanese barberry is not native and somewhat invasive so I will be cutting it down repeatedly until it dies – making room for the hackberry!

I like the serendipity trees. It akin to a savanna replenishing itself naturally.

Cat Sitting

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My family is traveling…I am the only one at home – which means that I am taking care of cats in 2 locations! Food, water, litter scooping….the occasional clean-up of throw up. Treats occasionally but they don’t seem to be as crazy for them as previous cats.

My daughter and husband left for an amateur astronomy event in Nebraska in the early morning. I took a picture of the sunrise at my house since I was up and ready for the day already.

They sent a picture of their camp later in the day…and then sunset.

Evidently the sky was clear, but it was windy which made photography more challenging. They did send one picture from the first night.

There are evidently some tiny prickly pears in the field where they are set up…they stick to everything – including tires.

My son-in-law left for a conference early the next day. I checked on their cat in the afternoon…refilled a water bowl and refreshed the food supply. My son-in-law had already put the trash/recycle bins out at the edge of the driveway; I put them away when I went the next day.

I am enjoying the quiet of home…even with the little bit of extra work cat sitting!

Suburban Savana – 4

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Continuing my series on my progress toward transitioning my yard to a suburban savanna…..

This month I am focusing on water. My yard has a sprinkler system that was installed in the late 90s. We get it checked at the beginning of each season and replaced the controller last year so that it doesn’t come on if there was rain recently (prior that that we often manually turned if off earlier in the growing season when our area gets enough rain for plants to thrive).

This year I am watering as I have in years past since so many of the plants are new. Next year I will likely reduce either the duration or the frequency since the plants are native and should thrive without extra water. In subsequent years when most plants are well established, I might simply turn on the sprinklers manually…only when there are very long periods with no rainfall (i.e. in drought conditions).

The only plant that will likely need extra attention is an Kousa dogwood (planted by a previous owner) that is growing in full sun. Even with the watering I do now, it tends to get some dry/brown leaves in summers with high heat and little rain. It’s not a native so obviously is not honed to our Missouri climate! I might put a soaker hose in to specifically provide water to the roots of the tree….or plant some green native ground cover (something like golden ragwort on the north and south, Missouri evening primrose on the western side, violets on the eastern side) under the tree that will keep the soil cooler than the mulch that is currently there.  

In a few years, if something on the sprinkler system breaks enough that it would required replacement – maybe I will decide I don’t need a sprinkler system often enough to warrant the expense!

More about my suburban savanna and blooms for pollinators next month.

Previous Suburban Savanna Posts:

April 2026 – Overview

May 2026 – Planting Natives

June 2026 – Shade Garden

Common Evening Primrose, Poke weed, and Fleabane

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I have three plants in my yard that are native….but I didn’t plant them…and I have an evolving strategy for them. The first picture shows all three: the yellow-flowered common evening primrose in the foreground with a small poke weed between them. In the background – the white-flowered fleabane accents the yard between the patio and the pine. .

I had common evening primrose in one of my beds year before last…and it is back in that bed and beyond this year. I am letting it bloom. It is tall but sturdy enough that it remains upright. The individual blooms are fragile (heavy rain damaged the ones I photographed) but there are open flowers for pollinators longer because new buds are maturing further up the stalk - sustaining the bloom time.

Poke weed is a challenge. There are times I like the green leaves and purply pink stalk…other times they seem to crowd out other native plants that I want to thrive or they get so tall that they fall over in the next storm. Birds eat the seeds and something occasional eats the leaves…but they are not as much value to wildlife (insects, pollinators, birds) as other plants. My strategy this year has been to cut any that get too tall and leave ones that are small. Cutting has the effect of causing the plant to branch and stay low so at least they are not as dominate in the landscape as they would be without cutting. They die back to ground level in the cold but then return from the roots in the spring. Where violets are growing very densely, there are not as many poke weed so perhaps the key is to cut the poke weed repeatedly until the other native plants fill the area.

The fleabane came up in the grassy part of my yard, and I have been mowing around it. As soon as they make seeds, I will mow them. The flowers are small but butterflies, bees and moths like them. It’s great to have plenty of food for pollinators. My goal this summer it to observe when things bloom and then focus my buying of new plants on filling in the flower availability gaps for next season.  

Our Missouri Yard

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There is so much going on in our yard this year that I might do more than one post about it each month. Every time it rained in June – there were mushrooms in and around the native plant garden in the front yard. They were often almost like a living edge…along the margin of the mulch – almost into the grass. A few times there was a clump in the middle of the bed. I love to see them because it means the natural decomposition of the mulch is well underway.

All three of the rattlesnake master plants have stalks. Unfortunately, most of them fall over but they still seem to be developing. I might have seeds and then more plants next year!

The new Missouri Evening Primrose plants are thriving and most have bloomed. The red oak seedling (squirrel planted) that I am leaving is next to one of them. In a few years it might be the tallest of the new plantings although it might be more years before it is taller than the maple. The yarrow (I bought 2 but only one survived) is next to another of the primrose plants; I like the very different texture the yarrow adds to the garden and hope that it will reproduce itself over time…or I will have to buy more!

In sunny, drier garden next to our front door, the day lilies and Virginia sweetspire have finished blooming now…the crape myrtle (out of the picture) is blooming and there are several fall blooming natives there. The violet (ground cover) is lush but will begin to dry out soon unless I remember to water it; the leaves are already not as good to eat as the violets that are growing in my shade garden.

The soapweed yucca appears to be thriving although I need to keep other plant away from it. There is a grapevine growing on the dead Japanese maple in the corner….and I am going to let it continue to grow there…and drive out other plants that are not as hardy.

I noticed a stand of poison ivy in a small flower bed on the west side of the house…and it had something growing on the leaves. After watching a recent webinar on galls, I realized that the growths were caused by the poison ivy gall mite! It also can infect fragrant sumac; I checked the plant I have in my back yard and, so far, it doesn’t have any galls! I need to develop some better techniques to take gall pictures….since now I will be looking for them everywhere I go (particularly on oaks!).