Spring comes to an end (Some points)

A field of cool season surrounding a sedge meadow swale of high quality plants.

The end for spring plants seems to be here as everything is flowering, and will soon set seed. All plants seem to be around 2-3 weeks early due to a warmer than usual spring.

As a prairie manager I'm worried about specific invasive plants on site such as Reed Canary Grass, Pastinaca, and soon Birdsfoot trefoil.  

Taking control of cool season grasses such as fescue and brome are important as well right now. Although not considered invasive, they are still aggressive, and have the ability to choke out the native plants trying to become established. Mowing at a height of 6-8 inches is a technique used on a 2nd year prairie.  This avoids clipping the natives, and takes out the higher grasses. This helps give the natives a chance to breath a bit.

In all honesty, we should have spend a full year of cool season grass control before we seeded. Unfortunately, this isn’t how contracts work.

We’ll do our best to selectively take out the grasses as we move through the growing season.

Another chance to control the grass is in the fall when everything goes dormant and the cool season grasses are still growing. Send a fire through here and that will severely knock back the grass.