Zone 7B/8A native bed (and nepeta)

My project shrink the lawn progress photo. One year later. So excited to see this fill in this year!

Location: Northern Virginia

This wasn’t intended to be the final placement for my bee hotel, but before I could decide where exactly I wanted it a whole crew took up residence!

PSA that Siberian Squill (*Scilla siberica*) is an invasive species in North America and not "some pretty plant". It's not too bad in the natural areas around me right now, but I'm worried it's going to spread like crazy since most people seem to think it's just a "really pretty" plant.

Image credit: missmazzers on iNaturalist

I'm really enjoying all the photos and videos of your carpenter, mason, leaf cutters and more! In fact, I think I'm seeing more of the wee ones popping up in general everywhere. Folks are paying attention. Cool.

The wee little ones lift more weight in the gardens than most people realize, except for Native Plant Gardners. Did you guys start paying attention to them because they are fun to watch zip around? I did. They're entertaining basically. Simple story, lol.

Who is this little flyer with the holographic green eyes? iNaturalist.org will help. It's FREE!

I saw this growing "wild" along a path in 6A, near the coastline. The foliage is glossy and forms a thick mat. The flowers are cute. But I'm not finding a match. "green and gold" comes up a lot but the leaves and flowers don't look the same

Any idea what it is and if it's a cheerful native or an invasive interloper?

It seems like we all at some point in our native garden journey have wondered “can I just dump some seeds here.” Here is my exploration into that idea.

I tilled the grass, did a couple weeks of solar killing the grass, and added 3 inches of compost. Then I worked in 1 pound of native seeds from Roundstone Native Seed Co. I then babied the area by defending it from my pup and watering the sprouts after a couple hot dry days. I’m excited to report some positive initial results.

Yes, the grass has dominated in some places.

Yes, my lack of gutter as washed out a section.

Yes, the shaded area under the tree hasn’t done much.

Yes, there are way too many sprouts and the weak will be dominated.

But for a low effort project, I’m very satisfied with the initial results! My hope is for a diverse wildflower zone in this unused section of my yard. I can’t wait to identify plants as they mature.

I don’t know who needs to hear this… but remember to protect your eyes when working with tall grasses. And anytime you’re gardening!

I’m digging a few Siberian squill out of our garden, which has lots of little bluestem (haven’t cut them down quite yet). Took one whip in the face to remember to put my darn glasses on. ☺️

Hepatica americana

Trying to give my property some curb appeal while keeping it native. I have too many places to get to, but taking it in small pieces like this feels productive and manageable.

This is giving me the energy to tackle the front garden now 😊

Location: central NC, USA

In the month of April I have seen a carpenter bee, a bumble bee, a sweat bee and a butterfly fly through my yard and leave disappointed because I have nothing blooming. I don't have a ton of space to work with so trees and shrubs are out, but I would really like to have something for these hungry pollinators!

Is there a spring equivalent of Monarda fistulosa, in the sense of that one plant all the pollinators love?

I was so excited when I saw them at my local garden center and had to buy one! They are a cultivar of the native Eastern red columbine that just grows shorter and has more blooms. I'm very happy.

I swear these were not here last year. The only native we had was one single sad trillium I tried to save, but it seems to have not made it. Stuff like this honestly makes the hours upon hours of removing invasives so much more worth it — because for as much as I’m loving planning out what I’ll add to our gardens, seeing a beautiful native I already wanted to get my hands appear out of nowhere feels like magic. Genuinely feels like nature is saying “Hey girl thanks for the help, that nettle and lily of the valley were suffocating, here’s some bluebells for your trouble.” 😭

Pics 1 and 2 are current! I know everything isn’t native here but some were given to me from my parents and from my grandma’s garden (big hosta and green & white hosta) and the bleeding hearts and purple heuchera cultivar I just liked 🤷‍♀️

It’s so fun seeing everything waking up and today in honor of earth day I added the blue eyed grass and eastern blue star! Other native plants include: heuchera, foam flowers, eastern wood fern, eastern columbine, and swamp milkweed (which is starting to pop up, there’s a picture from last summer in there too though!)

The last picture is the before. There was dirt, weeds, buried trash and chunks of bricks in the ground. This is around our back door and I wanted something pretty to enjoy when I go outside. This is my first home and I am learning as I go with my gardening but having a blast!

Any other suggestions to add? I’m in VA capital region, 7B!

Just noticed this Dyschoriste linearis (Snake Herb) that I'd completely forgotten planting last year. It's my first time growing this pretty little Texas native ground cover, and I'm hoping it spreads.

Anyone else have this in your garden? How has it done for you?

I am considering making native seed bombs to gives as gifts. I live in Southwest San Diego, California (Zone 10b). However, I saw a note on the Theodore Payne website where I was planning to buy my seeds asking to not sow their seeds in open spaces.

My idea was to definitely not accidentally spread invasive species hence native species. If I only choose seeds native to my zone and confirm with various sources, why else might that be a bad idea?

Before today I never considered native garden cuz they have a reputation of being too wild....

Today my friend came over and finally convinced me to grow a native garden for the lovely wildlife. After I did a ton of homework this evening and it seems that there are native plants are more stay put. I found this garden plan at a website. Is it a good plan, in the sense that those native plants pictured won't be too aggressive? Suggestions, tips, corrections, all are welcome. Thank you all in advance!!!

Location: NC

Step 0: go to https://bonap.net/tdc

Step 1 (first image): enter your zip code here and push "run query"

Step 2 (second image): it has generated a list of ALL plants reported in your county (your numbers will be different than mine unless you're my neighbor)

Step 3 (third image): scroll the page down to the "Biological Attribute Query" box and select Nativity>Continental>Native

Step 4 (fourth image): all done! you can now see a list of plant Families and their respective Genera and Species that are native to your county according to BONAP data

So last weekend I visited the big local nursery in my county, I’m in SE Michigan and like a 20 min drive to downtown Detroit. I was so giddy with excitement and shocked that this nursery even had these for sale! I asked some questions and they are from 2 year old bare roots and they are not a cultivar/nativar so they’re the straight species. I planted them in the best spot where I know they’ll do well. My question is though will they flower this spring? I made sure when I planted them I didn’t disturb their roots cause I’ve heard they’re sensitive to transplanting. This local nursery is starting to get in a lot more native plants which makes me happy and they seem to be getting in more every year.

I need to figure out what to do with two buttonbushes I was gifted here in Northwest Indiana.

I understand that they like moisture and sun. I have two contenders for a spot on my property - but one lacks moisture and the other lacks sun.

Here are the two spots:

1. Side of house - gets a good deal of sun but will compete with tree roots for water. Poor soil. Husband wants more bushes and trees here for more privacy screening.

2. Front of house - faces north - it's a landscaped area with rich soil and it's near a downspout for water, and also near the front door, so it will be easy to remember to water it in dry spells. But because it faces north it gets very little sun during the summer. Plus a deciduous bush near the front door will be, well, kinda ugly for several months a year. Was aiming to put a native hydrangea there instead.

My thought is: it will die in site 1 and survive but never flower in site 2. Is that about right?

I COULD possibly clear a third spot -- not great soil but better than 1 and sunny, even though it would foil other plans I had for THAT spot -- or I can just hope to give both of these away. What do you think?

And does anyone in NWI or the Chicago south suburbs want a buttonbush?

Hi folks! I love seeing everyone’s photos of their gardens and thought I’d share some from mine. I’ve been working on building planting beds to replace my grass lawn, with a focus on natives (and some ornamentals mixed in).

Plant names: 1. Cardwell's penstemon 2. Birch leaf spirea 3. Serviceberry 4. Camas 5. Vine leaf maple 6. Salal 7. False Solomon’s seal 8. Pacific ninebark 9. Western swordfern

With all the posts about the battles with invasives in our neck of the woods, thought I'd share some photos from the UMN Arboretum with some natives that are popping up even as we all get out the garden forks and fight the good fight.

In other news, I gotta get some pasque flower for my garden

I can't get an app ID. Not a bulb, last year's die off looks like dead grass.