Native Sedge Grass Volunteers in my Backyard
I was surprised to find a native sedge in my backyard. It is Sprengel’s sedge (carex sprengelii). It grows in bunches, unlike common turf grasses such as fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. It typically grows in woodlands. Its native range is a bit north of here, but just across the Ohio River, and northward to Minnesota and beyond.
In this case it shares a space with two siberian elms, a male cottonwood tree (male, because it produces no seedlings), calico asters, violets, fleabane and spring avens and dandelions as well as seedlings of maple, hackberry and pin oak.
None of these could grow if I were mowing them down. Thankfully, my neighbors and the city don’t mind, or at least nobody has complained yet. I could limit the wildness of my yard if I had to, but would rather allow it to be as wild as possible, with strategic intervention on my part, such as planting native wildflowers, casting out some seeds, throwing down wood chips and pulling a few weeds that manage to fight their way through the wood chips or complete with my natives.
I also have poison ivy (a native, actually, with good berries for the birds), English ivy, wintercreeper, Japanese honeysuckle and bush honeysuckle. My goal is not to eradicate these species, but to control them because eradicating is unrealistic and would require toxic herbicides which I’m not willing to use. In my view, an invasive species is a problem only if it dominates and threatens to create a monoculture. But if it is forced to play nicely with others, then it’s not such a big deal and not worth poisoning my soil, my lungs, my neighbors, children and pets in a futile attempt to eradicate.
I am experimenting with a nontoxic herbicide which I have reason to believe is, in fact, nontoxic and effective, but still need to test it this growing season. I’m sure it’s nontoxic because the active ingredient is acetic acid, i.e., vinegar, in lower concentration than kitchen vinegar. I know it is very effective under the right circumstances, but possibly not with all weeds. I’m getting my information from a trusted source, but need to test it more myself.