For Serious Naturalists, not Dumbasses

At the CB we do not have flower beds, or grow stuff in flower beds because we do not employ mulch to separate the plants in what might otherwise be termed beds. Instead, we grow grasses and sedges in between the non-grasses and non-sedges in the what-would-be beds otherwise, maybe.

Helianthus annuus grows all over the CB pretty much on its own and just about anywhere it wants to. We like it, you may remember, because its seeds attract post-nesting lesser goldfinches (Also numerous species of bees are attracted to the flowers). As foretold, the first of the goldfinches arrived today. They are happily fooling around in the north pasture at this very nonce, eating seeds and conversing.

But we have pondered long upon the potential impact of dense stands of Helianthus on the Buchloe/Chloris matrix in the north pasture. We were worried that the Helianthus might shade out the Buchloe component, since Buchloe is the weakest sister on the range. The picture here somewhere shows today's view of the Buchloe/Chloris matrix under a 90% Helianthus canopy. No problemo. We have a bed. Yes, we have a bed.

You may be wondering about the Chloris. It's Chloris leachmanii, first described by the well-known Dr. Ted.