Photo Of The Week: Patch of Dirt Formerly Known as Lawn

This is a photo of my brother-in-law David’s lawn, that I took on April 18th. “Lawn” is perhaps an overstatement. Maybe “Patch of Dirt Formerly Known as Lawn.”

The lawn in question resides in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, on sandy soil about a mile from Lake Superior. Even in the best of times it’s got a varied collection of weeds and doesn’t offer the golf-course look that he strives for . Left alone, it would revert to a mixed hardwood forest in twenty years.

But, the man wants a lawn, and so does my sister. So when I go to visit I am beseeched for lawn advice, which doesn’t help much because lawns aren’t my thing, but gets me through to the next visit.

On this occasion, we found that in the morning, patches of lawn were torn up and there were signs of digging. There was also the occasional whiff of eau de skunk wafting through the window at night.

We determined that one or more skunks was digging around for grubs (beetle larvae) residing a couple of inches down in the lawn.

This was by deduction. Neither one of us wanted to stay up all night waiting for a skunk because, you know, then what?

So, as much as I hate garden-chomping visits from deer and rabbits, I am thankful that I don’t have skunks in my back yard.

My internet research says that the grubs will mature into adult beetles in a couple of weeks and fly off, and when the food source goes, so will the skunk.

At least until next spring.

Larry Hurley

Larry Hurley worked at Behnke Nurseries from 1984 until the business was composted in 2019, primarily with the perennial department in growing, buying and sales.

Before landing at Behnke’s, he worked as a technician in a tissue culture lab, a houseplant “expert” at a florist shop, and inventory controller at a wholesale nursery in Dallas. With this and that, ten years passed.

When his wife Carolyn accepted a position at Georgetown University, Larry was hired at Behnke’s for the perennial growing department and garden center at Behnke’s Largo location.

In 2021, Larry and Carolyn moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to family and further from traffic. After 37 years in a shaded yard in Maryland, he is happy to have a sunny lot where he can grow all sorts of new perennials, if only he can keep the rabbits at bay. He also enjoys cooking, traveling, and the snowblower.