Garden Fever

It's happened again, like clockwork. The cold of winter sets in...there's snow on the ground (and in our case, a couple feet of it plus a shell of ice on top)...and the garden catalogs begin arriving in the mailbox. This plunges me into a frenzy of planning and wishing for next year's garden projects, even though our date of last frost (15 May) is a full 4 months away.

We are overhauling the front yard this year. The only planting, besides crabgrass and violet ridden grass, is a box of yew. It had been cut into a severe rectangle by the previous homeowners and is just a collection of woody stems topped with thinning foliage. Out it goes! We have a few goals in ripping up the yard - eliminate as much lawn as possible, introduce more native plants, and provide habitat for birds.

One plant I'd like to highlight for you is little bluestem grass (Schizachryrium scoparium). It grows best in sun but tolerates partial shade well, is a New Jersey native, reduces erosion, is drought resistant, and provides visual interest year round. Since it grows from 1 to 3 feet high, it fits well into small spaces.
Little bluestem grows seedheads all over the top few inches of the grass blades, which the birds seem to like.
The grass goes dormant in winter, but if you don't have a ridiculous amount of snowfall, there will be spunky spikes of grass sticking up all over the place.
If you are interested in reducing your water usage in the upkeep of your garden or lawn, some little bluestems will help!