We are all joined by water.
Last night I went to a presentation at a local community center about the waterway I live on here in Florida.
I thought it was man-made which is partly true, but the presenter showed us an aerial shot taken in 1948 with numbers of large ponds which were joined together by dredging. So now there is one big body of water snaking through the development. Partially natural, partially man-made. There are lots of birds, turtles and alligators living in "The Ponds" as they are called.
Problem is, they are sick. You might be able to see how green the water is in the foreground.
Or here. This is me, sitting on our dock, with the sun behind me. The water is green because of algae. All water has some algae and some algae is good for fish. Too much algae is called a "bloom" and takes so much oxygen out of the water that the fish die. So do the birds and other animals that live on fish.
Our part of Florida has many strict laws about how often you can water your lawn and, particularly, how much nitrogen-based fertilizer you can use. These laws are sometimes resented by people who want a lush green lawn (grass) like we have up north. There is a feeling among some that the County has no right to say what you can and cannot do on your own property.
Except that the nitrogen you use on your own property runs off into the storm drains and eventually makes its way into The Ponds where it feeds the algae and impacts everyone in the watershed.
Really, grass is not for Florida. The types that people want do not do well in our current drought and in
our sandy soil.
This is a bushy sort of plant, native to the area, which needs no fertilizer or watering. You might not want a whole yard of it, but it looks nicer than brown grass. It's a good alternative.
My other neighbor has this ground cover, pretty and green. In Michigan it is called a weed, but here people grow it in place of grass.
Finally, because I am sure everyone is tired of the eco-lesson, having bushes which grow at the water's edge, absorb excess nutrients and "scrub" the water. Their roots grow deep and hold the soil in place as well as providing a nesting area for all sorts of creatures.
I love this stuff. In Florida we live in the Lemon Bay watershed. In Michigan we live in the Looking Glass River watershed. If I hadn't have been a social worker, I might have been a botanist.
I would much rather live on a clean, alive waterway than have a blue grass lawn where it's not natural.
ReplyDeleteYes, so would I. People are always coming to our home in Michigan, where we have wild violets and pinks growing in the grass, and they want to sell us chemicals to kill every thing and make the grass grow and then make us pay for them to cut it.
DeleteCan so identify with that. Our lawn is full of milk weed, clover and dandelions. I love it that way, but the man is forever cutting and pulling and trying to kill of the poor lawn crickets, that the birds love to eat so much. I have told him, if I find any more poison in the shed, I am going to chuck it all out and then dig up the bloddy lawn and make it into a vegetable patch, while he is off fishing. Either just leave as is, or give it to me, at least we can eat the veggies and the birds will then benefit from the worms I will have for them.
DeleteIs the ground cover a type of oxalis? I think it might be considered weed-like here, too, but I let it grow in my garden because it has such pretty flowers and it chokes out other weeds that can get big and not-so-pretty.
ReplyDeleteI think things in general are trending away from traditional lawns and toward xeriscaping. I remember when I first suggested my dad give up some of his precious lawn space to native plants and drought-tolerant perennials many years ago, and he pooh-poohed the idea. Then he saw how my gardener designed my garden to be low-maintenance and became open to the idea. Unfortunately, I lost her to a better job offer, so she never got around to designing my dad's garden. The trick is getting people beyond thinking that drought-tolerant means a rock garden with a cactus in the middle of it. :)
Yes, oxalis, I was searching for that word in my aging memory bank.
DeleteThere is lots of stuff that will grow here, and elsewhere, that does not need artificial water/fertilizer. It's funny you mention "rock garden with a cactus" because that is what a lot of people do here. (Or rock garden with a palmetto.) And they forget about the stuff that grows here naturally.
just did a google on oxalis and that is what I mean, when I say clover in the lawn, now fancy that, pretty yellow flowers and lovely green leaves. My mousebirds love it when I pluck some and put in the aviary, one of their favourite greens next to buck wheat. They cannot resist that weed, so on purpose grow some in a corner of the atrium.
DeleteThe ibis here love it as well. They eat little insects which live in the plants.
DeleteIt does look like sorrel. And I agree. Plant what works.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing...golf courses...they need to change. They are everywhere and they're destroying the ecology of the habitats where they've been placed. It's not necessary. They don't all have to look like they came from Scotland. They can fit the topography and natural ecology of a region using the indigenous plants rather than green grass. We're turning our lands into nitrogen sheds and salt wastelands and it's not necessary. Here in the mid-atlantic there are poultry operations on many watersheds that are dumping large amounts of nitrogen into the waterways. It's creating not only algae blooms but fish kills and deformations, sludge build-ups from plant die offs__all manor of pollution problems. And it isn't all that difficult to remedy, really. Besides, the plant diversity is far more interesting than just plain old green grass. And you don't have to water it.
Golf courses are a major problem here and, apparently, all over the world. I mean the one-grass-species type of gold course. Of course here, they have had to be careful with water traps - alligators. Is it mean of me to think that is funny?
DeleteNope. I find it entertaining, too. :)
DeleteVery interesting lecture Benni...we live in the Kentucky Lake watershed or very close to it...I know when I lived in my old town it was the Kentucky Lake watershed. Hugs Mary
ReplyDeleteHow cool to know that. And you have that fish fry festival, I think. Your area is so naturally lovely with the woods and deer.
DeleteThere's a great documentary on blue green algae blooms
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2011/savemylake/index.html
It's about Lake Winnipeg, but some of the treatments (like the marsh grasses you mentioned) are fascinating.
You mentioned blue green algae when I did my red tide blog and now I am seeing it for myself. "Savemylake". I like that.
DeleteWe are starting to have the same problem here and it is the cattle farmers that are the main cause of it.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are great too.
Thank you about the photos. Like the Flamingo said, chickens there, and cattle where you are, will put nature out of balance.
DeleteI think you country has lost a great woman Botanist!!!! Excellent post, Benni!
ReplyDeleteAll is not lost. For a year I worked at a nature center and arboretum; I worked indoors feeding the small animals (salamanders and such) but there is work to be done outdoors removing invasive species and replanting native species. Maybe I will return.
DeleteMy daughter is currently enrolled in an Environmental Sciences course and loving it. They are taking field trips and sketching things and discussing things. She is considering her major. I am thinking her passion would not be lost on the trend to plan ahead for better environmental management.
ReplyDeleteYour passions are not wasted, Benni. In your own way, you are bringing much light to the importance of these and other issues.
Environmental management will become big in the future, I think. We are running out of stuff we need - like water. Michigan has the Great Lakes so we tend to feel like we don't need to conserve. But we do need to protect our wetlands.
DeletePeople definately need to get out of this air-headed 'I got to have a neatly trimmed green lawn' attitude (and this includes golf courses) and start thinking about what they are doing to the environment.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos, Benni :-))
The weird thing is that many of the people fixated on green grassy lawns are from the north - New York and New England. But people are also fixated on "the government can't tell me what to do". Glad you like the photos.
DeleteWow, I am playing catch up, trying to be more social on blogspot, instead of just complaining about lack of interaction and I really enjoyed not just your blog and your photographs but the comments and chats of your other blogfriends. I will be watching out for you in future, Benni. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt was so nice to see you. I am hoping this place can become more like Multiply. Thanks for popping by.
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