Scrappy Survivors and Opportunists

A couple of daisy patches manage
to spring up between mowings

It may not look like much, but the wide mowed area on either side of the Greenway trail is an ecosystem in its own right. It is easy to see the ecosystem at work in the cells and wetlands that comprise the Sycamore Greenway corridor, with the diverse flowers and grasses, trees and shrubs, birds and butterflies all growing and mingling together.

These mowed areas, on the other hand, are generally regarded as places for dogs to do their business, and for weeds to grow--if they are regarded at all. But look closer.

The trailside ecosystem

There is no bare ground. Each vacant spot is quickly filled by some scrappy opportunist seizing its moment to put down roots and complete its lifecycle. But not any old plant can make it in this tough neighborhood; there are some characteristics that can make or break an individual's chances.

Because it is mowed regularly, if not as frequently as a home lawn, the plants that live here must either keep a low enough profile that mowing doesn't phase them, grow quickly enough to flower and set seeds before being mowed again, or otherwise endure repeated damage throughout the growing season while spreading vegetatively through rhizomes or other methods.

Although clearly not as diverse an ecosystem as a prairie remnant, or a well-maintained woodland, these patches of low-growing forbs and grasses provide food for many insects and birds. Sparrows will eat dandelion and other seeds ; tiny black medic flowers appeal to small bees and butterflies. Yarrow feeds katydids and assorted larvae, including my beloved Synchlora aerata (the "snazzerpillar"). The humble plantain serves as a host plant to Buckeye butterflies.

Maybe Queen Anne's Lace?
In a pretty red color.

In a couple months, the mowed edges of the trail will be hopping with teeny tiny grasshopper nymphs like popcorn, vacating your path if you walk alongside the pavement. They are well worth a closer look, if you take the time to examine the miniature nymphs after they alight on a blade of grass.

Blackseed Plantain

This edge habitat exists due to human intervention; a higher degree of intervention, with herbicides and other efforts to eradicate all but a single, desired grass, would leave the system far less diverse. Less intervention--less mowing--could potentially shade out some of these scrappers that thrive on disturbance but can't quite compete as well against taller neighbors. So it is one more part of the Greenway that is worth getting to know!

Yarrow

Yellow Wood Sorrel

Black Medic