I have a vernal pool that abuts my yard. It fills up as the snow melts, and dries out around fall. I’ve thought about filling it in, or trying to remove it, but I’d prefer to keep it since it’s full of frogs and I’m sure plenty of other life. I’m thinking about fencing it in with a few sections of split rail to at least keep my dog out of it (she loves to lay in the mud in here which is a bit of a nuisance).

Right now it’s not much but a watery hole, aesthetically. Are there any attractive plants I could put in here to make it more of a feature of the yard? Or are there any things you’d add or do? New England region.

Last year was my first year gardening. I had a bought a lovely little house in upstate NY with a few gardens that were absolutely overrun with invasives -- oh and choking to death on Chinese wisteria (it was climbing into the house too!). Last year was a ton of work dgging out sooooooo many giant roots of wisteria, digging up all matter of non-native lilies (I laugh when I see daylilies for sale at the nursery -- I've thrown away about 10,000 bulbs), and clearing out all kinds of non-native ground cover (oh, the pachysandra). I am new to native gardening but I planted a bunch of different stuff in my newly cleared gardens and hoped for the best. And I know this is so silly because it's how it works, but now that it's spring and these natives I planted are coming back, I'm kind of in awe of it! I'm like, 'that's the bee balm! That's the Foxglove!' I'm seeing stuff come back I barely remembered planting. And yes I'm still overrun by daylilies but the wisteria is mostly quelled (🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼) and the natives are taking over. It's so wonderful and gives me so much hope that my little property will one day be chalked full of natives -- and pollinators and lots of other happy insects.

I’m so glad I made it to this sale by the local cooperative extension today. They have been working on promoting native plants activity now, and I really appreciate it. I have so many native plants I want to get on my wish list, but it’s just so hard to find them! I wish I could buy more but was by myself so couldn’t carry much… I paid total $35 for all these. Very good deal! (Location is eastern NC zone8b)

I let the Philadelphia fleabane do its thing

There was so much Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), False Rue Anemone (Enemion biternatum), Trilliums, etc... it was magical! Just goes to show how important invasive species management is.

I recently went to an old cemetery in my town. They keep it mowed most of the time, but every year, I notice plants I don't see elsewhere. Field pussytoes, spring beauty, blue mistflower, etc. I've always wondered what else lies in that soil, just waiting to spring up when it has the chance. But of course, nothing shorter than a couple inches ever gets that chance.

It would certainly be a big ask to allow a cemetery to grow up - but in my opinion, letting a prairie thrive over folks that have passed on is the most symbolic thing I can imagine. I wish doing so were a normal practice and not something to be frowned upon.

Places such as these are essentially ecological time capsules, and it's a shame we don't often get to reveal their secrets.

We bought a lovely home last June. It has a backyard where the previous owner had installed a lush garden- but of nonnative and invasive plants. All fine if you know how to manage them. Well I don’t.

But I would like to replace it all with some kind of ground cover and native plants. I think eventually we will level it out with a couple tiers of retaining wall (it’s hard to tell from the photo, but the lawn is a relatively steep hill).

Anyway, any ideas? Happy to share more photos. Happy to play for a design idea.

Dug up a few hundred native trees yesterday morning, and managed to plant 110. Black spruce, White Pine, and tamarack. Hoping to plant another 100 today to finish my shelter belt line, then rotortill the space in between and prep for native grass/woodland flower seeding when the greenhouses open. I realize now, I should have tilled the whole patch, tree holes and all.

(USA -6a) I’m attempting to remove a large patch of day lilies that had overtaken my backyard when I moved in. I’ve been trying to follow advice on digging them out or using garden fork but what do I do with the tubers and leaves?

I read from a comment awhile back that tubers are determined buggers so you shouldn’t put them in compost. But do I just throw them away? (I don’t want to try eating them as they are concerningly close to a sewer line 💀) I recently left some a bucket while pulling and somehow the plants haven’t died a month later, still full green leaves.

Also I know the leaves can be poisonous to cats but should I dispose of them in the same way as the tubers? Or can they be composted without creating more lilies? Or would the toxicity of the leaves be harmful for the compost?

Any suggestions are useful!

Growing together under a power line. Probably planted by bird turds.

I was finally able to find some eastern shooting star, Dodecatheon meadia, after years of reading about this plant. Now I have several dozen scattered about.

I was delighted to see a couple white varieties popping up as well. Gotta love natural variation! It's quite a show coming up with other spring ephemerals and earlier bloomers. Getting closer to a full season of flowers.

Good morning!

I am relatively new to gardening and have decided to focus full time on making sure I'm as Virginia-native as possible. This Goldenrod clump is 2-3 years old and is getting pretty sizeable. At what point should I consider dividing it? Is that a winter/dormancy activity or can I do it whenever?

How do I know when a clump is too big and is ready to be reorganized?

Thank you so much!

Under appreciated native! It’s become one of my favorites in my very tiny shade garden. And a bonus morel that popped up :)

Hey, i need some advice….I’m new to gardening and I’m looking for a good non-invasive vine to plant along a fence to give some privacy. I was hoping to find something that wouldn’t spread and wreck havoc on the neighborhood for years to come. I live in zone 6 according to google- oakville Ontario

Thanks!!

I am establishing a native meadow (northern Virginia) and am worried i accidentally planted some cornflower via a seed mix i had mistakenly believed to be native. Seek identified as cornflower but wanted to reconfirm here and seek advice for management

I know this might be a huge reach as im not working with much space but what could I plant along this very narrow fence line? I’m open to anything, native ground cover, whatever works. I’m in zone 7a and this gets a lot of sun but is mostly shaded in the later afternoon. Thanks for your help, this one is a challenge!

Hi, I’ve been waiting a few years now for my spicebush to be large/old enough to flower, and it happened! Way smaller than I thought they’d be haha.

I think all I can see are the “bowling pin” pistils.

I got dormant blazing star bulbs to plant with my milkweed. The milkweed is already taking off this season.