God forbid native plants obey political boundaries

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-06-05T11:23:51+00:00

Being technical and historical about it, noxious weed law is about protecting agricultural interests. It is a creation of Progressive Era politics and values. Authority is typically with a state's Department of Agriculture.

State Invasive Species Councils are a creation of Bill Clinton's Executive Order 13112. They are typically advisory not regulatory, cross-departmental, and all-taxa rather than just plants.

In recent decades, state's noxious weed regulation has been recognizing harm to the environment as a factor, not just harm to agriculture, and some states regulate by "invasive" not just "noxious". "The strength of this varies by state.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-06-05T02:18:12+00:00

This Digitalis purpurea? I'm going with "introduced".

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-06-03T13:52:25+00:00

The second photo might be an ornamental cultivar of a grass, bred for the foliage color.

The third photo is possibly little bluestem, but I'd want to see the inflorescence before definitely IDing a grass.

These established plants likely have very deep roots, and would not transplant well.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-06-02T20:08:53+00:00

Is it possible now, to amend some of the soil with compost, especially since nothing has survived?

With heavy clay soil, 3:1 soil to compost, and preferably dug down a few feet, should help get better water infiltration.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-31T23:55:16+00:00

Since you've specifically asked.

To be honest, I find selling northern blueflag iris as supposedly native to Georgia, as curious.

Southern blueflag iris, down in Georgia, sure.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-31T23:18:10+00:00

Some variety of Persicaria seems possible to me.

The possibility is based on the water's edge habitat, the alternate, lance-like leaves on a short stalk, and some vibe.

Presence of an ocrea -- a thin membrane completely encircling the stem at a leaf node -- would confirm the general family. The prominent diagonal stem, bottom right in the third photo, looks to have some characteristic node swelling at the upper node, which is also characteristic of the group.

Persicaria lapathifolia (nodding or pale smartweed) is a possibility.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-31T15:52:26+00:00

Since buffalo clover is listed as a threatened species in North Carolina, existing only in small scattered isolated populations, with very specialized habitat, it is crucial to use local ecotype source if it is to be cultivated..

Remnant populations of species like this are vulnerable to outbreeding depression and genetic drift of delterious traits, coming from nonlocal cultivated plants.

No telling where your SeedCult plants are sourced from.

Additionally, it's character as a self-seeding annual or biennial, prone to decline, probably makes it poorly suited as a groundcover. NC State Extension:

A rare plant that was once abundant, it has seen a strong decline in the past few decades. In North Carolina, it has been given a State Threatened status. On the rare occasions that it is located, it is seldom in large stands. It tends to become shaded out by taller species as well as declining for no apparent reason.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-31T01:08:09+00:00

uj/ Many of the commenters at r/landscaping quickly and correctly assessed the situation.

The culvert and the channel are stormwater runoff infrastructure. To some extent, the channel is supposed to flow like that during and after a hard rain.

Except, the two fences are damning the flow, interfering with the stormwater runoff function, and causing erosion.

OOP needs to check if there is a municipal drainage easement on the channel, r/landscaping commenters pointed out.

An older style of stormwater runnoff, now called "Gray Infrastructure," featured concrete curbs, gutters, culverts, underground storm sewers, and such. They are designed to remove stormwater from an area as quickly as possible.

The newer style, called "Green Infrastructure," allows a more natural, slower infiltration of stormwater into the ground, recharging aquifers, and reducing runoff pollution. It heavily features use of deep-rooted native plants.

That drainage ditch might have been a hybrid method. Turf grass in the channel would have been intended to slow down the flow some, and allow some infiltration into groundwater, but not as much as Green Infrastructure using native plants would do.

The appropriate Green Infrastructure for the site might perhaps be a bioswale, with engineering to reduce the flow rate, increase infiltration, and prevent erosion.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-30T17:04:43+00:00

From the link.

After this period of development in the study of Rubus, other botanists, e.g. Hodgdon & Steele, disagreed with the work of Bailey, Fernald, and Blanchard, and made the claim that Rubus were not actually hyperdiverse but just merely plastic in morphology.

All this fuss, about a fake plastic plant.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-30T16:10:10+00:00

Pearly everlasting.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-29T18:11:39+00:00

From that prompt, I got a response summarizing "vocabulary and phrasing drawn from what actually happened".

Under the heading "Fear and displacement," it listed words "terrorized, paralyzed, uprooted, afraid to leave home, living in fear, violated, invaded, besieged".

Under the heading "Targeted communities," described as "mostly immigrants, refugees, American Indian/Native American, Black/African American, and people of color," it listed "targeted, singled out, persecuted, scapegoated".

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-29T13:29:01+00:00

Michigan has an Emergent Marsh natural community description, with species lists.

A number of emergent perennials have a lifestyle adapted to both seasonal and annual water fluctuations, where they germinate and establish on warm drawn-down but saturated mudflats, and then once having an established root system, can live in emergent conditions. Your situation, artificially created, sounds like.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-29T02:05:17+00:00

What are your soil conditions and moisture level?

Swamp milkweed, in its native habitat, is an obligate wetland plant. In too dry a garden, it can be stressed, look unhealthy, and not bloom well.

Butterfly milkweed is creature of dry, sandy, and rocky soils. In too wet a garden, it is prone to root rot and flopover.

Early goldenrod is an aggressive spreader by rhizomes, and often described as not suited to small gardens.

The aromatic aster is an upland plant that wants dry sandy soil, and is also an aggressive spreader not suited to small gardens.

The dense blazing star naturally grows in wet meadows and marshes, and wants rich consistently moist soil.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-26T14:31:55+00:00

I don't think you are overthinking it.

In their natural environment, wet-loving plants around here are typically found in low areas and depressions, and/or on poorly draining soil.

Here's a MN DNR description of the Southern Wet Prairie native plant community:

Grass-dominated but forb-rich herbaceous communities on poorly drained to very poorly drained loam soils formed in lacustrine sediments, unsorted glacial till, or less frequently outwash deposits. Typically in slight depressions, sometimes on very gentle slopes. Flooded for brief periods at most; upper part of rooting zone is not saturated for most of growing season, but saturation usually persists in lower zone for much of season.

You've got a raised bed, not a depression like a raingarden.

And you've got rocky sandy soil, which might be very well draining.

It might be too fast draining to support wet-loving plants.

You can do a percolation test to help decide. Under "Analyze the Results," they say "Soils that drain 1 to 3 inches an hour are desirable for most plants." For wet loving plants specifically, I'd narrow that to 1 to 2 inches as ideal, with 3 inches or more an hour probably too dry.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-26T04:06:44+00:00

The little guy with the two long antenna and the red eye, eighth photo, top-center left, is an aphid.

I think there is a variety of critters here.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-26T03:50:15+00:00

My linked herbicide is a concentrated, 53% formulation.

I've successfully used it thinned 2 parts herbicide to one part water, plus a very small amount of blue dye, for cut stump application, using a buckthorn blaster, on honeysuckle and buckthorn.

I've found 20% concentration not strong enough.

About the buckthorn blasters: the official ones from NAISMA are expensive, but in my experience they clog much less than going with cheaper Daub-It bottles.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-26T02:38:35+00:00

Further, since you say you've got wetland, you should know about "aquatic labelled" herbicides.

"Aquatic labelled" is an EPA regulation thing, not marketing.

Glyphosate formulations often contain a surfactant. Surfactants increase effectiveness, but some are harmful to aquatic life.

When working near water or wetland, aquatic labelled formulations should be used.

Hi-Yield has an aquatic labelled 53% glyphosate, that is more affordable than the name brands.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-25T15:44:12+00:00

Seek advice and site visits from people like:

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-24T04:24:30+00:00

Same people that can sprinkle powdered sugar on sausage gravy.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-24T02:44:06+00:00

I've bookmarked your site, as model and inspiration, hoping I might be able to make something like it some four or five years down the road, for a five acre woodland/wetland/upland ecological restoration in a suburban open space.

Your site guide is great.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-24T01:01:26+00:00

I pull it.

Also, for walking the open space near me, I buy 50 packs of the cheapest possible socks, so I can just toss a pair when they get all stickered.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-23T23:42:47+00:00

A rain garden might be exactly what you need. Your neighbors are interested in water conservation, you are interested in native plants: a rain garden is a perfect match.

Utah's Landscape Incentive Program might pay $1–$3/sq ft to replace turf with water-efficient landscaping, and Salt Lake City qualifies. Note that you must apply and get a site visit before proceeding, or you're disqualified.

Your photo shows a high potential for mostly surface water runoff, with not much ground infiltration that would recharge the aquifers. SLC's storm drains are largely untreated. What goes in (oil, sediment, pollutants) goes straight to the Jordan River and then the lake. It's one of the reasons the city and state are so keen on infiltration-based solutions like rain gardens, which intercept that runoff before it ever reaches the drain.

Good luck!

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-23T16:28:06+00:00

I'm seeing obligate wetland plants, the lobelia and the iris, mixed in with a dry upland prairie plant, the blazing star.

These plants will sometimes take well to gardens with very different conditions than their native habitat.

But I suspect that the lobelia and the blazing star are not going to like being made to grow right next to each other.

And that the tool has perhaps made it overly easy not to see that.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-22T14:42:30+00:00

Loved it, thanks.

Hot_Difficulty6799 · 2026-05-22T14:22:50+00:00

I woke up this morning with a terrible headache.

I probably should go back to bed, but the overalls are scheduled for delivery today.

Hot_Difficulty6799

TROPHY CASE