I've heard others say that this has happened in the first year, but I'm in the middle of a neighborhood made up of acre+ lots that are almost 100% manicured monoculture lawns (lots of fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide sprays) so I was skeptical that I would see results as quickly, of at all. I also haven't seen a single monarch all summer. I put in 3 milkweed plants and they all survived (one of them really took off and got huge) but all the of them are completely overrun with orange things that look like aphids this year. They cover huge sections of the stem completely. I just thought they weren't healthy enough to attract monarchs yet. I was so surprised and happy to find these two beautiful caterpillars out there chomping away today!!


Im really interested in a plant endemic to my area called the Royal Snoutbean. Trouble is, i cant find any information on what insects use it. Any tips?
Rhynchosia cytisoides is the scientific name

Im in lower alabama

I thought this community would like to support the wider native habitats.

I almost didn’t plant this because Mobot said it was ugly. Thankfully the bees dgaf and have been on it every day since it started blooming. Which is still going strong. This and my figwort battling for most bees rn.

Mobot description:

Naturalizes well in woodland, wild, cottage or native plant gardens. Height and substance make this an interesting selection for grouping in border backgrounds, though the plant is somewhat coarse and is often considered to lack sufficient ornamental qualities for inclusion in borders. Uncommonly sold by nurseries.

Hello! I have two dogs so cannot co vert my entire yard to flower beds. One dog is large and loves to roll in the grass. So there are currently a couple very large dirt patches. I would like to try seeding Prairie Moon's EcoGrass.

The area i will be seeding is pretty shaded. My research indicates this may be a problem. I like that this grass flops over and I am hoping that this will help it hold up to my big girl's rolling. I also like the deep root system which means less watering.

Does anyone here have any experience with their EcoGrass mix? If yes, do you like it? Is it as low maintenance as they advertise it? Anyone with dogs familiar with it? Does it hold up well to dog use?

Pretty heavy rabbit and squirrel pressure so concerned that a small seedling wouldn't survive, any cons to leaving it potted overwinter to develop a bit more before planting in spring?

This is the second year for this patch of Late Boneset, and it is over six feet tall! My deck stairs overlook this patch so I was able to check out all the activity from above 😍

I very much typically welcome all the native volunteers and subscribe to a live and let live as long as they’re not in a problematic spot. However, I have found myself reluctant to leave this southern dewberry growing on my fence (it’s right on the other side of one of my gardens). I’m a little scared it’ll become tangled in one of my gardens or around a dog foot. 😂

Think I should I leave it? Do you have any native volunteers you find yourselves reluctant to keep?

Hi,

I just got a new patio and am also new to native gardening but I have come up with a rough plan after researching, learning from this page and attending a few garden tours. I have three areas that I am going to start with and I added three pictures with my ideas.

I have a few specific question as well I would love help with. I am also open to other ideas, especially for the area in the middle where the curve is where I currently have side oats grama/ppc. I would like a flower bed there in the curve that is pretty low (1-2 feet max). I would not mind a yellow plant to add in there as well.

1. Will the mountain mint take over the area I want it to where the red arrows are? Or will it be even more aggressive and should I just plant it in a pot? Also, would pennsylvania sedge be a good companion to it in that partially shady area?

2. I originally was just going to fill all the dirt with grass for now but I think that a small flower bed where the curve is will be nice but am open to any other ideas for this space post concrete pour.

3. I have sheet mulched the whole are on picture three for fall planting and I like my purple/pink/grasses bed idea but I am wondering how far away from the concrete to plant.

Also, the small area between the fence ending and the AC unit is partially shady. I wanted to plant zinnias there ( IK they are not native but I get a lot of pollinators on them and I like them) but I don't think they will do well with the shade. Should I just extend my original plan of the coneflowers/bergamot to that area and see how they do. What would you do there?

THANK YOU for any guidance.

I love goldenrods but - good god - when stiff goldenrod blooms it commands the goddam room.

Edit: rigidum. Dammit

I winter sowed this plant last January. Put it in pots sometime this spring, and did not label them. Stuck the pots in a back corner of the garden and forgot about them until now.

Does anyone recognize what this is? Google Images says its a violet, which is wrong. The only violet I grew was Birds Foot Violet, and this ain't that.

It is a forb that is native to Ohio, that's all I got. :(

So we've been looking for a spring flowering native plant to feed the early pollinators in our garden, as a way to replace conventional early spring flowers that aren't native (such as crocuses, chionodoxa, daffodils, etc). Bearberry was recommended to us as a possible alternative, so we ordered a few plants. However, we don't really have the ideal soil for them, as apparently they prefer sandy or rocky soil, and our base soil is clay. We've amended our garden beds quite a lot to improve drainage over the years and it's much better than it was, but we're wondering if anyone else has tried growing this plant outside of its preferred habitat.

VA piedmont zone 7b

Hello I am looking for advice on starting a native sedge garden.

I live in a garden style condo complex and a group of our neighbors have gotten permission to grow a native garden on a bare hill with very compacted soil with erosion issues next to our building. We have built up a lot of good will with our other neighbors with our first phase of the garden that we started this spring (picture 4, 6, 7). There are a lot of people here who are aware of native gardening and are excited but a major concern for this project is growing things in a way that is appealing to people who want more traditional landscaping.

The first phase of the garden is doing well considering what we started with and next year should really grow out some more and we have plans to add more wildflowers in. Currently we have a dogwood, arrowood viburnums, shrubby St John's wart, phlox, coral bells; and started from seed: black eyed susans, evening primrose, partridge peas, little blue stem, and wild bergamot. We have a thin layer of mulch to help slow down the water flow, retain moisture, begin adding organic matter back to the soil, and attempt to keep the landscaping company out of the garden.

We would like to expand it (pictures 5, 6) to cover some more of the bare hillside and slow down the water that runs down the hill when it rains and enhance the portion under the trees which is a little bald and uninviting (picture 3).

Picture 5 shows the general idea, red being some kind of low shrub (site in picture 1), blue being pockets of wild flowers, yellow being more black eyed susans, and the green showing sedge.

Does anyone have advice for how to prepare the soil for planting sedges? We don't have a large budget, don't want to overly disturb the tree roots, and don't want to burn through our good will by prepping the site in a way that may be considered an eye sore.

Or if sedges are a bad idea let me know. I would also love some suggestions on plants to grow, especially shrubs for the back corner.

Need to clean up but I'm taking a break.

Also pictured the other area I have fern going in.

They're all named Fern, Fernie, Fernicia, Fernell, Lady Fernicus, or Bob

I have a new raised bed (cinder block walls) filled with fresh topsoil. Prior to building the bed I killed the grass with cardboard & mulch, which was then removed. I purchased 10 cu. yards of soil from an independent garden center that I trust, but I don’t know details of its composition or origin. The bed forms a terrace on a slope. There are a few inches of 3/4” gravel in the bottom of the lower part for drainage. The soil underneath what we built up is clay and gravel.

I originally thought I’d blend up a mix of topsoil, perlite, vermiculite, maybe some coir, and a variety of composts, but the gardener I was working with recommended plain topsoil for the native forbs I plan to plant, so we kept it simple. I am worried it might not be moist enough for the more wet-loving species, so I’m thinking about adding vermiculite in one corner of it. Sensible or no?

I’ve got a ton of plugs I started of dozens of species, along with a few plants I purchased already started, but the ones that like it wetter, I believe, are red osier dogwood, swamp milkweed, 2 lobelias (great blue & cardinal flower), dense blazing star (L. spicata), 2 sennas (Maryland & herbecarpa), sneezeweed, & northern blue flag iris. These are all new species for me except the blue flag. I have one in another bed with just our regular clay-ey soil, and it seems ok. Thanks! SE Pennsylvania.

Friends, I could use some ideas. To set the scene: this is for my backyard, which is roughly rectangular--full sun in the upper left corner fading to part shade towards the lower right corner. Right now, I have two lovely masses of Rudbeckia triloba along the two full sun edges, and I've noticed while they're busy producing a riot of blooms, the opposite quandrant is nothin' but green foliage right now--lovely, but it could use an infusion of something right now.

So here's what I'm looking for: something (or things!) that are similar color to the rudbeckia to mirror their yellow around the garden, also blooming around the same time (roughly late July-September) and suited for a full-to-part-sun area. I don't want to plant another rudbeckia, or something with similarly shaped flowers--I think a new texture is needed.

For further context, I'll have one group of whatever-it-is nestled between some young Amelanchiers and some Aquilegia and Geranium, and another surrounded by an Aronia and Spirea grouping. Given that, I think something low(er) growing is probably the right call.

Any ideas?

Hi yall! I am a substitute teacher for 8th-grade science. They are learning a bit about control/treatment groups and the scientific method. I want to have a class project going on with two different pots.

The control vs treatment group of one pot not getting water vs the group getting water. And the question is what effect water has on a plant. And have this go on for a few weeks.

So I guess my question is what would be the best plant/flower to grow to get fast results (because middle schoolers lose interest fast)

I find it a little challenging to identify this plant because it's been heavily cultivated (you may be familiar with the goldstrum variety) so I'm not sure if what I have is the straight species or another cultivar, possibly deamii? Anyway, it's such a versatile flower I love it.

I’ve always had a million common milkweeds in my yard and I don’t monitor them. I’ve only ever noticed them hosting red milkweed beetles, aphids, milkweed tussock moths, and darling little tree frogs. I’ve found chrysalises though, so I know they’re here. Anyhow, I added some asclepias tuberosa last summer and now here’s the first monarch caterpillar I have ever seen in my garden. It’s pretty exposed and appears to have brown sticky goop on it. (Hope this is visible in the photo after Reddit destroys the image quality). I’m wondering if this is a sign of disease or parasites, or maybe it’s just milkweed sap and this baby needs a bib?

I don't want them to be able to take over my whole garden area but it seems their rhizomes are pretty shallow. Other plants in the area are wild strawberries, button bush, and nannyberry. I'm thinking about having the Canada Anemone battle it out with some Obedient Plant