Category: Northern MN wildflowers

A little bit of up north

A long weekend of up north therapy is our perfect remedy to the wear and tear of everyday modern life. Mowing trails, fixing solar lights after a long very snowy winter, cleaning up fallen trees, branches, and sticks and having our first campfire of the season felt great after long hours at a desk.

My husband had been up during the previous week, but it was my first look of the season – always fun and interesting. The daffodils and grape hyacinth must be deer and bunny repellant as I see the spent daffodils flowers are intact and the grape hyacinth are blooming.

That area is perfect for a spring naturalized garden, so I am hoping it continues. Come June, the ferns start to come in and take over, but for now it is still early enough to show low growing beauty.

It was a very long very snowy winter and the deer pics on the trail cams show skinny young bucks, but there is also a very pregnant doe. Hurray! A good sight! Now we hope she delivers well, and the wolves don’t get the fawn(s). The trail cams also show a turkey, another very nice sight.

Just being in the woods and camp was wonderful. While I was out in the “yard” I heard branches cracking and down the trail a deer ran across. I think there might have been two, but by the time I looked I only saw one. And while I was out in the yard relaxing another time, here comes a big hare, right behind the outhouse, nice long stride. Treats, experienced, not caught on camera, but very nurturing. Being in the moment. Although we do know the big hare very well. It has lots of appearances on one trail cam, lots of antics 🙂

I was able to catch a pic of a new (to us) bird species – the rose-breasted grosbeak.

Looks like a couple. Thinking they were hoping for seed. Alas, last time we did that, Mr. Bear showed up after we left! A bent shepherd’s hook, a missing bird feeder, a broken solar lamp, and a battered grill handle were it’s “hey, how ya doin’?” from that visit. Thinking a hanging feeder between two trees will be needed before we try seed again. All down the road.

My husband said stats are that the average vacation property owner sells around 5 years. You know, the dream wears off and what is left is a work camp. Trying to be mindful of that as we embark on our fifth season of the up north adventure. It is a lot of work, and the romance does wear off very quickly – think heavy wood ticks this year already – but it is an awesome off grid reset.

I did not plant this abundance

Up at the camping land there is a whole lot I did not plant and I do not need to keep cultured. Of particular wonder are thousands and thousands of wildflowers.

It wasn’t always that way. If fact, the first year we owned the land, we showed up one night to a shock – the trail in and the whole campsite was wall-to-wall ferns. It had grown to 4′ tall in a few weeks. It was 1:30 in the morning. We went to bed and dealt with it the next day.

I remember back then we hadn’t even brought a mower yet. The ferns have very strong stems so we used the brush saw. That, however, was arduous, so not too long afterward, a weekend’s rental of a brush mower to work on all the trails followed. It was a dramatic difference. We were concerned for a bit that we had gone too far. But 1/2 hour after cleaning the trails, the trailcams showed deer eating again. They loved it.

The trails now are not at all fern covered. If left unmowed they are wall-to-wall wildflowers. The deer can be seen going side to side, back and forth, eating dandelions early in the season, and then wildflowers.

The ferns are still in the woods – over 4′ tall and lush.

Simplicity – or is it?

The  beauty and scope of the plants up north continue to amaze us, and sometimes surprise us.  Wide swaths of woodland ferns, wildflowers, ground cover, wild strawberries, wild roses, you name it.  But no hope for a structured garden – unless that is how we want to spend all our time up there, which we don’t.

Last year I set up two raised bed gardens as our year 1 test garden.  I was so unprepared for the results.  The asclepias and the asparagus seem to have survived.  Beyond that, let’s just say I wish I had that money back.  I cannot keep pace with all the things that continually take over that space.  And I have learned that is not bad.  It’s just different.

The wildflowers are happily blooming right now.  Here’s a truly delightful clump of wild daisies – right next to the “delightful” crop of woodland plants that continually take up residence in the raised bed gardens.

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The daylily seedlings I planted in spring do not seem to have survived, but perhaps next year I will be surprised.  The iris I planted did survive, so maybe.  But I am not optimistic.

Two new wildflowers to us right now are orange hawkweed, and spreading dogbane.  Here’s a picture of the spreading dogbane.  

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It smells glorious, and the bees love it!  We just need to keep our dog away from it.

Final consensus for this year – I’m done “planting” up north.  We’ll continue to see what’s already there, and see what comes up next year.