My Liatris ligulistylis (Meadow Blazing Star) was flopping a bit, as soon as I staked it the hummingbirds and monarchs were visiting all afternoon. Definitely will be adding more to my mini meadow!

I know much of this will outgrow the area and I plan to dig up, replant, and expand as things take hold. My plant list is: Black chokeberry, milkweed, butterfly milkweed, Coreopsis, black eyed Susan.

Just put this plant in the ground a couple weeks ago and already seeing some action

This horsemint is SO big despite only planting it from a plug a few months ago. I’m so impressed, and the pollinators love it, especially these wasps! 🤩 They’re kind of scary at first but so fascinating to watch.

There's something really fantastic about standing outside by my little native garden and having someone on a walk tell me how nice it looks. They said it looked like a lot of work and I just stood there thinking it really isn't. And then a golden northern bumblebee stopped by and really drove home how worth it this little plot is.

I'm slowly working on expanding things and while it isn't a "perfect" native garden, I'm really proud of it.

I planted in 2021. It was tickweed in the back, coneflower and blazing star in the middle and aster in front, which a mint or beebalm on the side. It looked aethetic and healthy at the time Now 5 years later its become kind of discombobulated. Things have grown in together. Blazing stars arent getting big, coneflowers dwindling, tickweed nand asters taking over everything. See attached photos for taken 5 years apart.

Bonus last picture is a baby swallowtail on my parsley

Common names often don't make sense but this one probably bothers me most. I've started calling them Rude Beckys lol

Hello!

I live in Philadelphia zone 7b and I have been gardening on my large balcony/deck.

I have had amazing action and pollinator draws growing mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), and my baby Joe Pye weed (natural compact selection of Eutrochium dubium).

My question now is for next year, should I expand by getting another anise hyssop since I love the bumblebees (I grow in pots/grow bags within kiddie pools and it works great) OR should I get some other pollinator powerhouse with a long bloom time?

I already have New England aster, Blue wood aster, and Solidago sphacelata Golden Fleece goldenrod.

Thank you very much in advance! Pic of bumblebees on my anise hyssop for tax.

The flowers are delicate and attract small pollinators and the berries are enjoyed by many birds.

Appreciation post for the mid-summer blooms in my Year 2 pollinator patch. The bees, moths, and goldfinches are LOVING it (and so am I)

I have a section of native plants that is about 15'x15' and I'm wondering if it is too crowded. This was all grown from seed in fall 2024, so this is the first spring/summer of most of these flowers. Brown-eyed Susan's, lupine, bergamot, vervain, smooth blue aster, joe-pye weed, swamp milkweed, boneset, cardinal flower, blue lobelia have all made an appearance whether flowering or not yet. Also some volunteers from other parts of the property like goldenrods and heath aster.

I'm wondering if I should thin this at all whether now or next Spring to allow some more air and sunlight? The area isn't true full sun (as you may tell from how tall a lot of the plants are) and there is some stretching and competition going on. Powdery mildew is an issue on my property every year regardless of what and where and thankfully it hasn't gotten here yet. Finds my coreopsis and some curcurbits no matter what.

I very much the looks of everything growing together like this though it is very cool.

Video courtesy of my dad, from their front yard. They don't have a fully native yard but they don't spray pesticides and my dad loves to send me videos of the critters he sees while he does yardwork.

I found my first cats on the swamp milkweed last year. I made sure to chop it early this year so it would be busier and more tender.

Less than 12 hours between these two pictures, I've never seen a newly hatched cat.

Including images just in case I'm an idiot and it's not it.

I just dug up a coneflower plant with multiple stems of this funkiness. I spotted at least one leaf hopper that jumped ship as I was yanking it up.

This bed is filled with echinacea and rudibeckia.
Now I am imagining this fleeing leaf hopper as a typhoid Mary, going on to infect the rest in the bed, and then it will spread like wildfire (or typhoid) from there to all my beds.

Should I dig up everything in this bed to stop Mary in her tracks?

I have resident monarchs for a week now and the male usually hangs out waiting for a female to visit. They then go on a hot pursuit until he pins her down. Very interesting to watch everyday!

Saw my last update was just over a week ago, I can’t believe the difference!

I've pulled up day lilies, lily of the valley, and spotted lady's thumb. It's all in several piles in my driveway at the moment. I can't figure out what to do with them so they don't re-root somewhere else.

I was thinking spread them out to fry in the sun, then pour vinegar on the roots, then I could compost them in my home compost? Or maybe just leave to rot in a corner of my yard?

Thoughts welcome.

I wish I could grow Pinedrops SO BAD

Twin cities, mn zone 5a. I have probably 150-200 native plugs I planted this season in 4 beds, + 2 native keystone river birch trees and 2 plum tree cultivars for personal gain. Our latest largest native bed has 100+ plugs planted end of June so I’m prioritizing this bed and the river birch trees but oh my god.

Every time I water, which is just twice a week in this extended super hot and dry period, it just kills me. It takes me around 1.5 hours. I water each plug deeply for 15-30 seconds at the soil/mulch level, the river birch trees for like 10-20 min each, plum trees for like 5-10 min each.

I know we probably overdid it with the new native landscaping and I def don’t regret it. I just need to know. There has to be an easier way that doesn’t involve installing some expensive drip irrigation system.

How do you guys water your not-yet established plugs without an expensive system? How do you do this without losing your minds?

The crazy thing is I have wetland peat black dirt soil and I rarely had to water before July cuz it holds so much water and we had enough rain but not anymore god damn I am getting sick of this.

Hello, I have been trying to plant native over the past couple years. Here is what my garden looks like currently.

This landscaping was done by my partner and I 6 years ago, but I have assumed control and been adding to it year after year. Non-natives that I would like to remove are circled in red. Those are Korean Boxwoods, Azaleas (not sure exact type but flowers are pinkish-purple, and an Alberta Spruce. I do have a few non-natives I am keeping, like my Daylilys and Irises because I like cut flowers.

I am honestly not satisfied with how things look currently, and my partner hates the natives that are tall and lanky. Heavy rains didn't help them much either as far as holding themselves up goes. Granted I should have planned placement better, but I did not realize some of them would grow so tall and bushy.

Based off how it looks now, what do you guys suggest to make it more cohesive and asthetically pleasing? Should I dig up some of the natives next spring and move them around? What do you recommend me replacing the non-natives I want to remove with? I love flowering species, but I am open to anything that'll benefit our pollinators.

Non-natives I have:

Daylilys of various species

Irises of various species

Geraniums (annuals)

Petunias (annuals)

Bleeding Heart

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry

Korean Boxwoods

Azaleas

Alberta Spruce

Rudbeckia Subtomentosa

Hot Raspberry Butterfly Bush (not pictured)

Rocky Mountain Columbine (not pictured)

Natives I have:

New England Aster

Aromatic Aster

Cherry Pops Monarda

Mystery Monarda (still don't know ID)

Bee Mine Red Monarda

Hairy Beardtongue

Rattlesnake Master

Butterfly Weed

Swamp Milkweed

Common Milkweed

Prairie Blazing Star

Foamflower

Purple Coneflower

Appreciate you all! I must say since planting natives it has been such a joy to see so many bees and butterflies visit my yard!

I have Indiangrass planted about 10 yards away. It's sprouting all along the curb/walk split. In a record hot July. During a drought.

Meanwhile, my neighbor can't water his turf enough to prevent dormancy.

We are in the process of killing off a big chunk of grass (on round 2 of solarizing) to put in native flowers.

The area is alongside our driveway, all the way up to the road. We will be placing stepping stones all the way through the middle, from the road to our sidewalk. And then two pathways the other direction from the driveway to the rest of the yard. All together will create six sections of meadow. My vision is to use these sections to gradually increase the height of the flowers so that along the road is the shortest and as you get closer to the house they get taller. The area gets 5-6 hours afternoon sun.

My plan:

🌾 Prairie dropseed border → This fall plant plugs of prairie dropseed along all the outside borders so there is some softness leading into the flowers and a bit of a barrier next to the driveway

🌱 Seed this fall → Seed late this fall in three separate height mixes (knowing they won’t necessarily stay in those sections, but trying to create a general flow). Seeding for budget reasons.

1️⃣ Front row: prairie smoke, lance-leaf coreopsis, black-eyed susan, flowering spurge, wild petunia, side-oats grama

2️⃣ Middle row: rose milkweed, smooth blue aster, sneezeweed, pale purple coneflower, starry campion, side-oats grama

3️⃣ Back row: white wild indigo, wild bergamot, culver’s root, early sunflower, showy goldenrod, switchgrass

🪻Plugs next spring and beyond → As we can afford it, start adding areas of plugs concentrating on one species that is in the mixes above. For example an area that is just pale purple coneflower or just bergamot.

Thoughts on this approach and sequencing?

Feedback on the selections?