Above is a small sideoats grama grassland, which covers a couple hundred square feet on the top of an old quarry sidewall. I recently did some brush clearing at this grassland within its exsisting footprint. Encroaching brush species found hear were mostly native species like fragrant sumac, black haw and a little american bittersweet. A small bush honeysuckle can be seen in the left foreground, when I get around to treating the cut stumps with triclopyr, sprouts like this can be eliminated without cutting.
Here is a nearby little bluestem grassland showing its dormant redish hues.
Walking the prairies this time of year, is a great time to get a sense of the phytogeography of many of the prairie species. Even compared to the summer months with a variety of forbs blooming, a image of this site would be a greenish haze of leaves, stems and culms. But now the color contrast between species has increased. The red cedars remain as green as before, the little bluestem turns pink and the sunflowers turn almost black. The small red leaves in the center of the shot belong to fragrant sumac and the yellow green shrubs seen throughout reveal the presence of the exotic bush honeysuckles.
After walking this area today, I came away with the relization that little bluestem is mixed throughout the brushy areas to a surprising extent. This means with the right managment a couple more acres of grassland could be reclaimed quite rapidly, even with out overseeding the site.
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