Piney Woods Restoration
by Peggy Lantz
I never thought it would be such fun to watch grass grow!
Nearly 5,000 tiny little grass plants were stuck in the ground and pushed down on my 90th birthday, August 8, 2023, in the woods I had cleared for them. My son-in-law laid out what seems like miles of hose that I can hook up to five sprinklers, and I watered them almost daily during this very dry Florida “rainy season”.
And I watched them grow
I rode my electric trike over one morning recently while the dew was still on them. The miniature forest of grasses sparkled in the sun, and my little heart went pitty-pat.
Not just the grasses are doing well. Wildflowers that were no more than four inches tall when they were put in the ground are now two to three feet tall and covered with blooms – yellow partridge pea, coreopsis, and goldenrod; purple liatris, elephant foot, and dotted beebalm; blue curls and wild petunia, and orange butterfly weed.
Twenty longleaf pine trees, each about two feet tall, were planted, and they are all thriving. They receive special treatment – I walk around with a gallon jug filled with water in each hand, pouring about a half-gallon on each tree. For a while I did it every day. When it rained, I had a respite, now I give them extra water every two or three days. I refill the jugs from the hoses Steve put out for me as I walk around.
And coming up from what was left in the sandhill seed bank (these are the treasures of my restoration effort) – lupine, not yet in bloom; and passion vine, with maypops that the squirrels break apart on every flat stump; and beautyberry bushes, covered with purple fruit for the birds. I wander among the plants searching for the appearance of a tiny longleaf pine seedling. I’m told it’s unlikely, but I search anyway.
Butterflies fly from flower to flower, nectaring on the blossoms. A Red-shouldered Hawk screams overhead and the Pileated Woodpecker is feeding a second brood in the tall snag I left standing for them. And something is digging a burrow under one of the piles of logs.
Watching the grass grow has become the latest joy in my joy-filled life.
Photos by Charlene Edge.
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Thanks for reading!
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene
