Bill T wrote:
>The issue for some of us in rural states is that there are large animals that like to see how much damage they can do to >vehicles. Add tasty plants by the roadside and brush that can mask their presence and you do add to the fun of driving in >Maine.
While I am all in favor of more nectar sources (and the flowers sure look pretty), I have to agree with Bill T., there is a real risk of UCWLH (Unintended Contact With Large Herbivores) up here. It's not the wildflowers I worry about so much; it's the opportunistic trees - willows, birches, etc., that are the transition species from 'natural' clearing (e.g. fire from lightening strike) to mature forest (e.g. maple/oak/pine). They grow FAST, and provide great camouflage. I have a piece of land, my old chicken enclosure, that has been empty for going on three years, ever since the Fisher Cats figured out they could hop the shorted electric fence in the winter and wiped out my flock. Have not gotten around to changing out the fence and the area has just been sitting - no birds to eat the seeds, no mowing. It is full of goldenrod and other wildflowers, which is great. But, it is also full of saplings, some of which are now 15+ feet / 5+ meters tall and hardly saplings. In less than thee full summers. Some were five feet tall by the end of the first summer. For that matter the tall goldenrod gets over 6 feet / 2 meters in one summer in these parts. So, what would be the strategy for these naturalized areas? Mow annually, biannually? Maybe in other parts of the country wildflowers can stay dominant for a long time. But, in the Northeast the forest moves in very quickly. And, if I have to chose between natural nectar sources and driving vision with regular mowing, then I must choose the latter. Someone tell me there is a happy medium.
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Bill
Claremont, NH
+43° 21’ 25” -72° 23’ 01”
+43.35687 -72.3835
CWOP: D5065
Weather Underground: KNHCLARE3
HonetBeeNet
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