What's it good for? Northern sea oats

Once upon a time, ornamental grasses were a new thing, or at least they were new to me. I believe that is when I first purchased northern sea oats (although I could be wrong about that). At any rate, they became a problem - spreading everywhere - so I moved some to the south side of the house where they can run rampant and eliminated the rest (mostly - an errant one pops up here and there in the front beds).

While whacking back the tops of the northern sea oats during my "fall cleanup" this spring, I got to wondering just what they are good for. Are they useless beauties or do they serve a function in the landscape?

According to this Missouri Botanical Garden post, northern sea oats attract birds, but which ones? The Avian Report says sparrows, juncos, chickadees, goldfinches, and mourning doves.

This Morton Arboretum post doesn't identify any uses for this plant.

The plant's Wiki page claims it is a "larval host plant for the Northern Pearly-Eye, and its seeds are food for birds and mammals. It is also eaten by the caterpillars of the pepper and salt skipper, Bell's roadside skipper, and bronzed roadside skipper butterflies.".

The entry at the Grow Native! website echoes its use as a host plant for the above insects and food source for birds and small mammals.

I've never noticed any caterpillars on my plants, nor have I observed birds or small mammels eating the seeds, but then I haven't really looked. Maybe I should pay more attention. At any rate, I'll keep them for now.

I *did* happen to notice this Gem moth the other day, across from the northern sea oats, on what is probably a rudbeckia. Initially, I didn't think I would be able to identify it, but upon closer inspection, saw the "eyes" on its wings.

Spring chores continue. I attacked the suckers at the base of backyard trees (have yet to tackle those in the front yard), pruned back the viburnum that were overtaking the witch hazel, and planted annuals and perennials. The only online purchases that remain to find a home are the heucheras, as I need to remove a couple of the aromatic asters first.

Installing a butterfly bush was on my list of goals for this year, but I have since reconsidered. It turns out that they are invasive. :-( Never mind that I can't seem to keep one alive. There are so-called "sterile" cultivars out there, but even those can still produce some viable seeds, up to 2% of 40,000 seeds per seed head. So scratch that item.

For Mother's Day, my daughter and I went kayaking at Chain O' Lakes State Park. The weather was perfect, it wasn't crowded, the water was high enough through the channels between the kettle lakes, there were no bugs, just turtles sunning on logs. We finished the excursion with dessert at the Magic Wand in Churubusco - I highly recommend the cherry cobbler with ice cream.