A few months ago, Henry, Matt Barnes (our groundskeeper) and I drove around with Merv Wallace (owner of Missouri Wildlflowers Nursery) to identify some spots that could use an extra burst of native flowers. Merv delivered the plants last week and Matt (with the help one day of Jamie Coe) got many of them in the ground. This photo was north of one of what we’re calling Potters Lake. In addition to flowers, we’re also adding trees, shrubs and grasses.

As Matt was leaving Friday, he said that getting native bamboo in the ground around one of the other ponds that previously had a thick growth of the invasive phragmites plant was a particular pain . (Phragmites roots make a dense, tough undergound mat. Herb Domke had worked with biologist Jack Stanford to plant it there years ago, but at the time didn’t know how invasive it was.) So between killing invasive, non-native plants and planting native plants, there’s always plenty to do!