Oh my GOD, what a fucking job it was to get that shit out of the ground! I didn’t mind the look of the maiden grass too much, and had it been well-behaved, and not made me itch fiercely every time I so much as brushed by it, I probably would have left it there, even if everyone and their goddamned dog has it, and nothing uses it for food, and it was a huge pain in the arse to cut back in spring. That was not the case, though, so I got out my shovel, and I made it…go away. I replaced it with the two pots of Dacotah switchgrass that I had grown from seeds. They’d overwintered in their pots, and looked a bit worse for wear, but I think they’ll live. They look so small compared to the space the overgrown ugly Miscanthus had occupied. The vinca is next on my shit list, but that’s for another time.

I would’ve had to stand on D’s patio to get the whole house, so…

Actually, something did use the maiden grass, though not for food. I have no idea how I didn’t tear his wings because I was ripping at that grass, and he’d just eclosed, but he was undamaged. A beautiful male Black Swallowtail, and I don’t understand what he was doing in the grass out front when the nearest host plants are near the edge of the back yard. He must have made one hell of a trek to pupate! I put him on the dogwood so his wings could harden, but was still ripping up grass, so I don’t know when he flew away.