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

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.

Suburban Savanna – 3

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

This month I am focusing on the shade garden since it is closest to being complete. The plants there will continue to develop…without a lot of work on my part. It is on the east of my house and includes an eastern white pine and a group of holly trees with low branches; a neighbor’s river birch and oak add to the shade in the summer.

There were a few violets near the house when we arrived 4 years ago and they have spilled out to take over what used to be struggling grass (I stopped mowing and the violets took over); they have progressed about 6 feet into the yard and I will further reduce my mowing to allow them to take over more!

I noticed last winter that several birds – particularly mourning doves and wrens – seemed to spend a lot of time finding tidbits to eat in the brown debris of the violets; I wondered if they were finding the tiny Great Spangled Fritillary (butterfly) caterpillars.

I planted American Spikenard, spice bush, and pawpaw to provide some taller plants to break the thick violet groundcover. I might eventually add another spice bush since the one I have is male (i.e. no red fruits!). The American Spikenard was one of the first native plants I added to my garden (where it is visible from my office window) and it gets bigger every year…this year it is over 5’ tall so it must be happy in its location. It blooms in June – attracting pollinators; the fruit is eaten by birds.

The spice bush had black swallowtail caterpillars eating it last summer…a great indication that the shade garden is supporting wildlife that had not been in the yard previously. I also noticed more fireflies in the summer beginning last year.

The pawpaw trees are still very young: one was planted as a seedling last year, 2 came up from seeds this spring, and 4 were planted as seedlings this spring. Hopefully most of them will survive and eventually host zebra swallowtail caterpillars. It will be years before they bear fruit….but I am excited about the prospect.

Around the white pine there is a mix of native and non-native plants. The natives are another American Spikenard, black raspberries (that came up on their own), violets, grapevine (which I cut to keep it out of the tree), hackberry (which I take out periodically, there is a neighborhood tree so the birds plant the seeds everywhere), and, unfortunately, an occasional poison ivy. The non-natives offer some color/shape contrast: hostas and lambs ear now…earlier in the season crocus, daffodils….later in the season chives.

I like that there are plants in the garden that are edible…that I can easily harvest and eat immediately: violet leaves and flowers, grape leaves, and chives.

The maintenance I anticipate on the garden is mainly controlling things like grape vines, poison ivy, and hackberries….keeping an eye out for invasives like poison hemlock and wintercreeper (removing immediately). I will eventually begin removing the lower branches of the pine (they are already sparsely needled because they only get enough light at their tips); it could reduce the shade a little in the morning, but the hollies will shade the area in the afternoon and the pine needle mulch sustains the soil moisture).   The violets will grow out into the yard at least a little further but that just requires me to stop mowing the area where I want the violets to take over! My sprinkler system still waters the area when it hasn’t rained but I envision that I might turn off the zone once the plants are all well established.

More about my suburban savanna and water next month.

Previous Suburban Savanna Posts:

April 2026 – Overview

May 2026 – Planting Natives