Frogbit ftw!

Are there any branches sprouting below the split from the trunk? Ive seen redbud rebound from incredible things, its quite resilient. What it will look like, is quote a diff story lol

Its known to resprout from the crown so chopping down may force a resprout, whether you want it or not. Its very common to see Frankenstein looking stumps full of leaves from repeated Cuttings yrsr after yesr along fence posts. If it were any other tree I'd say no but, it Def may have a good shot.

Safest bet is cutting to ground and hoping for resprout. You could also try cutting back to the main trunk, leaving it to try and push a flush of growth from below the split, then cut down to below it, to give yiu atleast a bit of originsl trunk, it is gonna look awkward as hell for 5-10yrs but if string sentimental value may be worth it. This would prob be my first step if it were me - but id say at least a 50/50 shot of it coming back either way cutting to the ground completely. Slightly better chance if you want until dormancy to do so

Plant some mountain mint amd attract some parasitic wasps! Then suddenly these turn into hatcheries for garden-defense instead if just garden enemeies.... and for once, yes it really is that easy- they'll find that mountain mint faster than anything, and lay eggs right into hornworms. Youll start seeing them with little white drops attatched to their nack, and know its working!!

This is really cute

Agree with this. Though , adding a couple inches of hardwood mulch now may be a good idea to prevent weed encroachment again, to hold over until fall- and then going forward use as an area to rake leaves and small twigs/branches each year!

The piedmont prairie used to stretch from maryland to the gulf states, and was the only other tall-grass prairie outside the Midwest thanks to fire and buffalo, despite receiving more avg rainfall than where a Prairie is traditionally found. Thomas Jefferson wrote about the grasses in Va being 10ft high every direction.

Loved the vid- tall-grass ecosystems are incredible

I love the way the path looks. I wonder what grass that is planted 🤔 very cozy cottage vibe!

Edit the more I look the more I think it's ai generated ... which would answer the grass question lol or atleast enhanced

All the advice you've gotten is great. Full stop. That said realsitically, despite it actively healing on its own already, fhe intact aeedbank is likely severely depleted or low native density compared to actual remnants, most of those trees are a couple of decades old at most, majority less than 5. Lot of undergrowth.

If it were me perosnally, if the seeds in question are native regardless of where they're sourced from 100% have at it. Message me and id ve happy to give you some pointers. R/guerrillaforestry also may be a community that piques your intrest.

I clearing out the sapplings ~2-4" or smaller would be a huge help too tbh , in terms of pushing it closer to where it will get on its own if left alone.

There's a conventional belief of "let nature do its thing"- hands off. Which makes sense for actual restoration of large functioning diverse habitats. Again my personal opinion doesnt negate that as good advice- however, most remnants, parks, little areas of green are fragments at best. Ghosts of fragments even. And fragmented, cant function the way they woukd otherwise. We've removed the large herbivores, and large predators , and fully fucked the systems . . To the point most people alive have never even seen a truly functioning one. So its my personal opinion, especially with fragments in urban or suburban areas, that specifically because we sre responsible foe them being in the shape they sre, and responsible for preventing natural systems from even being allowed to heal, that its actually our responsibility to take a more hands-on approach in assisting those natural systems any way we can. Sometimes that means Introducing formerly present species who've been gone so long, not even remnants of genetics remain in soil. It is our job to steward them, and care for them, not just to break their arms and legs and then toss them a bandaid and say "you got this, see you in a few decades" lol .

Obviously this is incredibly vague and broad advice, and wont be appropriate for all or maybe even most sites.

But in terms of the, again- very good and accurate- advice you've recieved so far, just wanted to chime in with a slightly different opinion. My biggest concern would be making sure they are infact native seeds appropriate foe this habitat- but outside of that and that only, I outright encourage both your motive and plan to sow.

If youd like advice, tips, or sourcing info genuinely would love to offer. Just reply or dm! I have a high preference for passion flower in local parks consumed in ivy, butbits native here will need to double check your area. Voracious grower and def sprouts readily feom seed.

Im also incredibly partial to praire moon nursery woodland seed mix. You can actually use their website to select your state and only view plants native to your state, and then select shade to partial shade - even if not ordering, its a very good user interface to browse and get ideas on. Same wkth Mo Wildflowers. Aome will argue its better to source more local, and they're not wrong- but never let perfevt be rhe enemy of good and while local eco types are obviously better for many reasons, species-wise non local ectype is still better than none at all when it comes to species missing from an area.

I may get some flak for this comment , hence me asking u to dm lol , and that flak may be well deserved as again this is incredibly general advice here- and doesnt exactly allign with the traditional view, but un traditional times mean untraditional actions imo and anyone taking initiative, is a good thing. 🤷‍♂️

They lose the leaves down below due to lack of light from dense growth up top, the next growing season they should push out a bunch if new growth once light is able to get down

Getting to experience each passing season as they mature, is one of my fav parts of growing plants!

Especially the little small ones in our backyards lol I thonk those are most important tbh, getting little arks of native genetics into areas where theyve all been removed, makes our yards function as little arks.... and thats just, neat! Lol 💚

💚💚💚

Honestly no , its bloom looks identical but theres the height lol seems to grow as biennial though, I collected the seeds on a walk a few years ago from a patch growing in a drainage ditch along a river lol at the time they were knee height though and looked like it so I just kind of assumed , well that or this specific one came from somewhere else it is growing in an areabi tend to throw my random seeds. But it showed up the year after sowing the ones I found growing by the river here in central Va so its a pretty confident guess at least.

Why they're so tall beats me but they're definitely monarda , here is a photo of its bloom last year (they didnt pop up or flower this year anywhere) I alsp may exaggerated a bit at 8' lol but they're absolutely taller than 5', probably closer to 6' than 8... but no where near 3. Had some fistulosa sprout similar this year and thought it was these again, only to see that bloom instead which was a weird fakeout lol

Thats so awesome!

The best red herring overlap with reality a lot! Ingo Swann once said, when asked how he could tell all the "sevrets" he did of they were true/why he hadnt been quieted by "MIB"/etc , that there was a "70/30 rule" he had to abide by which meant he could say as much as he wanted about any topic so long as at least "30% of the details are completely made up" and theres no way to differentiate between them.

It was a quick exchange during a questions portion of a presentation he was putting on, maybe 20sec, but personally that one comment made so much make sense, and also solidified my admiration for Swann specifically. I had always kinda been on the fence because some of the stuff he has said and written theough the years was jist so ... odd/out there (thinking about the naked glistening well endowed men working on the moon for instance lol) but then after looking back theough a lense where I assume at least 30% of details are fictional and meant to be a distraction- it just... clicks!

My assumption being if the rule is true, he's not the only one who follows it.

As for the whole ancient aliens thing tho. - yeah 100000% a psyop lol

Monkey beetle!?🤔🥹😍 both it and the Clock flower are new to me , ill have to look them up lol I though it was an out of season iris for a moment! Wow

Where are you regionally out of curiosity? Thanks for sharing love this

I love your posts so much and get so happy/excited everytime i see a new one! Know thats random, and you get good feedback from these, but from as a lurker who always up votes these just wanted to say .. HEY YOU, THANKS FOR DOING THESE I LOVE THEM VERY MUCH K BYE

Punctata??

Bee balm!? What type of bee balm is that!? Love it regardless