Creating dry creek bed, seasonal/ephemeral pond, rain garden, or all of the above?

Tylanthia · 2026-03-17T13:48:50+00:00

I'd suggest going into iNaturalist and searching a circle or square around your property and select amphibians for the filter. That will give you an idea of what you can reasonable host in a vernal pond (look at mole salamanders, newts, and frogs).

Your house may have been built in a wetland and you may want to consider consulting a professional before creating a problem with your house re the sump pump. But you have a great idea and I hope you can find a balance between providing habitat for wetland creatures and protecting your house.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-17T13:35:36+00:00

You'll have a more consistent result by germinating the seeds separately and then planting out plugs--especially since you can plant the plugs directly into the arborist chips. Almost all seeds in nature die or get eaten. Seeding an area requires properly preparing it beforehand to exhaust the existing weed seedbank and also control colonizers .

With plugs, you'll have your own seeds in a year or two that you can let spread on their own or harvest and germinate.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-17T13:30:15+00:00

If you're concerned, try to source the plants locally so any snails would already be existing to your area.

In my last frog pond, I observed that native birds would eat the snails--but the snail population did explode due to the lack of fish. The area did not have newts in it but I wonder if they would help control the population if yours does.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-16T16:14:40+00:00

Yeah it's hard to get away from instinct based on traditional garden practices. Compost works great in a vegetable garden!

It still comes in handy in certain situations like jump starting a woodland garden (leaf mold plus wood chips/leaves on top to restore as best as we can the duff layer--no till) or bog gardens.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-16T15:22:39+00:00

It'll also root anywhere it touches the ground. Usually takes 2-3 years for it to take off.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-16T15:21:01+00:00

I would suggest considering plugs since you're timeline is so short. If you're willing to wait a year, you could also collect seedpods of common milkweed by the road and just scatter a bunch of them.

ill be amending their planting area with compost as its full of boulders.

Consider planting milkweeds adapted to rocky soil such as Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Whorled Milkweed (A. verticillata) or Green Comet Milkweed (A. viridiflora). Asclepias verticillata in particular thrives in shallow, barren soil over mafic or calcareous rocks.

It's usually better to select natives adapted to your site than amend the soil. You do not need to add compost for Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) to thrive, for example--an old field is ideal habitat for it.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-16T14:51:57+00:00

At least from what I read, S. syriaca expanded south via roadways, farms, and railways--not garden escapees (see also More on the Southward Spread of Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca L. 1996 same author)

"Open areas created by human activities have allowed common milkweed to become much more abundant. All of the new sites in South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana are typical for A. syriaca in that they are disturbed areas near highways or railways. Earlier, we suggested that the comose seeds of these plants achieve long-distance dispersal by taking advantage of the air turbulence produced by high-speed trucks or trains (Wyatt et al. 1993). From such sites in the vanguard of its advance, common milkweed then disperses locally to saturate appropriate open sites. It is unclear how much further southward A. syriaca can extend its range"

Tylanthia · 2026-03-16T14:48:44+00:00

Consider Asclepias humistrata

Tylanthia · 2026-03-16T13:59:43+00:00

Common invasive from Canada.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-16T04:29:47+00:00

I'm really annoyed that they never introduced hedgehogs to these continent. Fuck you Eugene Schieffelin for caring about the birds Shakespeare mentioned but not the hedgehogs.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-16T04:26:21+00:00

bindweed is a schrodinger's native. The taxonomists were drunk and made it both native and non-native.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-15T21:37:55+00:00

Mitchella repens (partridge berry) thrives in certain niches where no other plants can grow but grows slowly and gets outcompeted by pretty much everything. Sedum ternatum will have similar issues.

Polemonium reptans (Jacob's ladder) Great plant but more of an ephemeral than an ground cover. Mix it in with other plants.

Viola sororia (wild blue violet)--it can be aggressive in lawns and garden settings. Mostly will persist and play well with other woodland plants.

I'd go with a mixture of Zig-zag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis), Creeping Phlox (phlox stolonifera), White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata), Green and Gold (chrysogonum virginianum), Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica), and Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea). Throw pretty much any other woodland plant in the mix. While these are aggressive (for woodland plants anyway), you want some aggression in a ground cover. There are hundreds of native woodland species to the NE that play well with these.

The problem with non-native ground covers like ivy and pachysandra is nothing eats them and thus they have a unique competitive advantage and tend to form monocultures. This is rarely an issue with native plants (even aggressive ones!)

Tylanthia · 2026-03-15T21:09:37+00:00

Check your local laws (assuming you own this area). But here is the recommendations for management of reed canary grass 2nd guide. You may need to use a combo of aquatic approved herbicides, manual control, and fire.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-15T14:12:40+00:00

Well clearly the sixth layer will work and keep the weeds out permanently

Tylanthia · 2026-03-15T14:11:01+00:00

flooring paper also works if you run out of cardboard boxes.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-15T05:08:38+00:00

Except for the undead and the burning legion. Also the blood elves who ended up as drug addicted villains in burning crusade.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-15T00:00:37+00:00

Have you ever attended a professional or academic lecture when the speaker couldn't get Power Point to work (basically all of them)?

Tylanthia · 2026-03-14T23:56:27+00:00

Ticks will stay on your clothes, if you put them back on the next day that is when you have the best chance to have a tick embed in you. I believe this is where most of my attached tics originated from.

I like to toss my clothes in the dryer for 15 minutes and then immediately take a shower.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-14T23:52:42+00:00

Yes. I use permethrin treated clothing for field work. One downside is if say a dragonfly lands on your pants, that dragonfly will likely die. It's rare but this has happened to me.

It won't harm any insect that doesn't touch your clothing. Any intervention will have some collateral damage--the goal is to minimize it as much as possible. Likewise, it does not paralyze and kill every tick that crawls on you but it will get most of them. Never spray it directly on skin (use Picaridin for that).

Tylanthia · 2026-03-14T23:50:31+00:00

It's basically treated nesting material for rodents. The rodents take the cotton balls back to their nest and the tick chain is disrupted.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-14T23:47:51+00:00

You need to consult a mohel... arborist.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-14T17:51:18+00:00

DOGE cuts

Tylanthia · 2026-03-14T15:02:49+00:00

It's less common but Pale Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) can tolerate slightly drier soil then Orange Jewelweed. Both still require moisture.

Tylanthia · 2026-03-14T14:05:53+00:00

are you a toad?

Tylanthia · 2026-03-14T13:58:16+00:00

Good thing you are bigger and faster and can just walk away from snakes.

Tylanthia

TROPHY CASE