We have been working on a new project that we will hopefully finish up this spring. Just trying to change it up a bit. Deer will benefit from this project but really this project is for critters beyond deer, mainly song birds and butterflies.
We are adding a new 20-25 tree fruit tree orchard. It had been sprayed real well with roundup over the past 1.5 years. In spring 2017 I planted 3 Plum (Castleton, Reine Claude Conducata, Vision) trees I purchased from Cummin's. End of July we tilled it and gave it a heavy planting of winter rye and medium red clover. The deer have been in there thick, tearing it up and all fall we planted tons of NWSG and a large variety of wildflowers (forbs). We figured it would be a good opportunity to broadcast all of this seed in there while the deer are stepping it in for us. It should be an extremely diverse prairie planting.
Latin Name/Common Name
Allium cernuum, Nodding Onion
Aquilegia canadensis, Wild Columbine
Arnoglossum plnatagineum, Prairie Indian Plantain
Asclepias incarnata, Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Milkweed
Aster laevis, Smooth Blue Aster
Cassia fasiculata, Partridge Pea
Coreopsis lanceolate, Lance-leaved Coreopsis
Dalea candida, White Prairie Clover
Dodecatheon meadia, Shooting Star
Echinacea augustifolia, Narrowleaf Coneflower
Echinacea pallida, Pale Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower
Echinacea, Ozak Coneflower
Eryngium yuccifolium, Rattlesnake Master
Filipendula rubra, Queen of the Prairie
Gaillardia aristata, Blanket Flower
Gaillardia pulchella, Indian Blanket
Gentiana andrewsii, Bottle Gentain
Gentiana flavida, Cream Gentain
Geum triflorum, Prairie Smoke
Helianthus laetiflorus, Showy Sunflower
Hystrix patula, Bottle Brush Grass
Liatris aspera, Rough Blazingstar
Liatris pycnostachya, Thickspiked Blazingstar
Liatris spicata, Dense Blazingstar
Lobelia cardinalis, Cardinal Flower
Lobelia siphilitica, Great Blue Lobelia
Lupinus perennis, Wild Lupine
Monarda fistulosa, Wild Bergamot
Penstemon digitalis, Foxglove Beardtongue
Penstemon grandiforus, Large Flowered Beardtongue
Penstemon tubaeflorus, Tube Penstemon
Polygonatum biflorum, Solomon's Seal
Ratibida pinnata, Yellow Coneflower
Rosa, Wild Rose, farm species
Rudbeckia fulgida, Orange Coneflower
Rudbeckia hirta, Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia triloba, Branched Coneflower
Schizachyrium scoparium, Little Bluestem
Silene regia, Royal Catchfly
Silphium integrifolium, Rosinweed
Silphium perfoliatum, Cup Plant
Solidago rigida, Stiff Goldenrod
Sporobolus heterolepis, Prairie Dropseed
Taenioia intergerrima, Yellow Pimpernel
Thalictrum dasycarpum, Purple Meadow Rue
Tradescantia ohiensis, Spiderwort
Zizia aurea, Golden Alexanders
In addition to that, i've got a bunch of grafted fruit trees that we will plant in the orchard part of this project. Primary focus for selecting trees for this area has been on crab trees.
Anaros
#5 Crab
#5 Crab
Winter wildlife
Winter wildlife
Winter wildlife
Violi's
Monster
Monster
All Winter Hangover
Centennial crab
Black twig
Liberty
Enterprise
Northern spy
Prairie spy
Yates
King david
Yates
Airport
Jonathan
Last but not least, we are creating a 200-300' hedge row that will run along side of this orchard. We sprayed it in the fall and I put together a few tree orders to fill this area in to help create the hedge.
MDC Order:
Roughleaf Dogwood (25)
Pecan (25)
Red Mulberry (25)
Smooth Sumac (25)
Wild Plum (25)
Cold Stream Order:
American Hazelnut (4)
Black Elderberry (25)
Winterberry (4)
Highbush Cranberry (25)
Snowberry (4)
Saskatooon Serviceberry (1)
For other projects / areas on the farm
Norway Spruce (200)
Swamp White Oak (25)
White Pine (50)