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- Fritillary butterfly
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- Field of flowers
While surveying the kingdom this morning I was struck by the beauty of several of our fields which were planted in “wildflowers” in previous years and cut as often as once a year, and sometimes burned every three years. The oxeye daisies are in full bloom and the lance-leaf coriopsis are just starting to bloom. The great fritillary butterflies were out in force sipping nectar from the coriopsis.
We have many more types of flowers to come but for early June the fields are looking very nice and the way we have planned for them to develop. Each field needs special attention to avoiding overgrowth by exotic pasture grasses (fescue) and woody invaders (black locust mainly). It is interesting how hard we have to work to gain a “natural” look for grasslands! Maybe a few buffalo would help?
Bill Dunson, Englewood, FL & Galax, VA
wdunson@comcast.net
