Growing A Milkweed

Hedgerows for Habitat & Haven: in the Large Landscape, in the Garden

“For all our grumbling about wasteful and purposeless government spending, I look at this project and think to myself: ‘Now this is money well spent,’” said Emily Alma, co-owner since 1987 of Riparia, an organic 12-acre farm in southwest Chico. She was referring to her farms’ partnering with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a division of the United States Department of Agriculture. Photo: One of Fred Stolp's established hedgerows running along one of his young walnut orchards.

Since late 2009, Riparia, which is farmed by two farmers who lease land from Alma, with the help and under the guidance of the NRCS, has incorporated several conservation programs into the care of their land, including cover-cropping, and the planting and tending of riparian-forest buffer zones, native bunch grass cover areas, wildlife habitat management areas and hedgerows. The NCRS, according to their website www.nrcs.usda.gov, works to help agricultural producers – farmers and ranchers - conserve and improve their land’s natural resources including “soil, water, air, plants, and animals,” while also helping them to achieve their “aspirations” of making a living. The NRCS's collaborations with agricultural landowners strive to make life better for us all - from the smallest of flowering plants to the widest expanse of orchard - from the smallest of insects to the largest of mammals - including us humans. Photo: Big-leaf maple seed clusters in one of Stolp's hedgerows.

Alma’s 825 feet of hedgerow planted out to NRCS specifications in fall of 2010 are still babies - in their first spring. Alma looks forward to the day when they grow up to be like the hedgerows in and around the Durham orchards of third generation farmer, Fred Stolp. When asked recently what his favorite thing about his now-going-on-four -year old hedgerows is, Stolp answered: “They are just so pretty – full of life. They look natural and blend into the native landscape.” Stolp and his family have 275 working acres of walnut in part flanking the Durham slough. Stolp, who has approximately two miles of NRCS-cost-shared hedgerows, was “one of the early visionaries and pioneers” in implementing several NRCS conservation strategies--the most extensive being his hedgerows, according to Dan Taverner, the NRCS District Conservationist for Butte County.

Tom's Blog: Further on purple milkweed

The photo here is from one of my spontaneous populations that first appeared in 2008 (thus, now in its 4th growing year). The photo shows only part of this outstanding population. You can also see in the background part of a large charred black oak that had died of oak wilt. This was part of a small grove of black oaks that died about the time this new population of milkweeds arose. Possibly, this milkweed patch had been struggling along in the shade of these big oaks, and the increased sunlight after they died gave the milkweeds a boost. With all the great flowering umbels this year, one might expect good seed production, but this will not necessarily be the case. Last year we had over 50 great flower heads and ended up with only a single seed pod. Seed production requires successful pollination, and self pollination probably does not occur. Therefore, a lot depends upon the presence and activity of insect pollinators, mainly solitary bees. If there is a spell of rainy weather at the time when pollination is critical, we may miss it all together.

The Narrow-leaved milkweed (Asclepias Mexicana) and the broad- leaved or showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa), plants poisonous to live stock in Nevada

The compiled laws of the state of Michigan, 1915, compiled, arranged, and annotated under Act 247 of 1913 and Act 232 of 1915

Laws relating to highways and bridges, with blank forms

Grade teacher

The mysteries of the flowers