Burn, Baby, Burn!

Last Friday evening after work hours something a little out of the ordinary happened at Chanticleer. The Ruin Garden “lawn” of Sporobolis heterolepis, commonly referred to as Prairie Dropseed was burned. This was not by accident, but as part of a management practice that hopefully will be employed again in the future.




Until now, Laurel Voran, the horticulturist charged with the horticultural aspect of the ruin and it surrounds, had mowed the grass with one of the commercial lawn mowers. The Sporobolis is a clump forming grass, which makes for an even more difficult mowing job. This year, before the grass began active growth the Radnor Fire Company was contacted and the idea of the burn was presented. The fire chief saw this as an ideal training exercise for some of the newer firefighters, whom usually participate in fireless training sessions. So this live fire exercise was a mutually beneficial experience.




Laurel and Terry Struve, and assistant horticulturist, had spent time the days preceding the burn to carefully mow down the grass immediately surround important landscape plants so that the fire wouldn’t approach these valuable plants. Working with Laurel and a few staff members, the fire fighters lit controlled flame fronts with flares, and wetted down desirable landscape elements such as evergreens and masonry structures.



The plan is that this can happen each season to reduce the amount of duff or thatch that accumulates and can offer protection and shelter for rodents and other pests.