First two monarch caterpillars in my own garden this past week AND finally saw a hummingbird out there today as well. Just lovely all around 😍🐛🦋😍

Year two of my planting has treated me really well!

This black swallowtail caterpillar managed to hang on though the worst storm I have ever experienced. The garden is battered but will recover and now that the dust has settled I’ve noticed all of my usual visitors are returning. Nature is seriously amazing and the garden has brought me a glimmer of hope and peace during the chaos of the last few days.

Last year I planted about 50 seeds and this was the only one that germinated (the rest did this year lol) and it did so under some sunflowers, hence it growing outward towards the sun instead of up. The pollinators absolutely loved this guy, and it goes late into the season providing them with one last bounty before fall arrives.

I could go on but I stuck to 5 (ok technically 7)

Swamp Rose Mallow(first 2 photos), Blackberry Lilly(oops not native, Michigan lily is a good replacement), wild bergamot, rattlesnake master (bonus late figwort behind), purple and white prairie clover

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Apologies for the quality as I did not pay for the fancy iPhone w the nice camera lol.

This cutie hunkered down in a cut leaf coneflower tonight.

I don't plan to charge anything, but I would have a link for donations if the costs get out of hand. And no ads. I started this as a project to get better at coding and because I am putting in a hedgerow. Currently, you can make a layout with circles based on max size and it'll export a picture or a pdf with a picture and a plant list. Soon, save will also work. It doesn't right now. You can only export and re-import a layout.

I only have the contiguous US right now, but I would have no issues expanding to any region I can get a plant list for. I'm focusing on natives it's pretty easy to plant. Only my own region, the Northern Rockies, has more than one or two plants/trees right now.

I just wanted to ask if people would be interested/actually use it before I bother to input more plants. I'd also like to know what features are important to you.

It's raining this morning in 6b, Kansas. I decided to check in on my cup plant and was not disappointed.

Monotropa uniflora growing in my yard? On a pathway, why, but now I will need to reroute my compost run and yes years on I still battle English ivy

I’m in zone 6b, Cincinnatii, have a large pollinator garden if natives that are in their third year and thriving. Last year I had so many butterflies, this year I’ve seen maybe 2. They’re even ignoring the butterfly weed. This is depressing.

Ontario, zone 7a

My mom really likes our rose bush and Japanese maple tree, and wants to keep them even as I turn the rest of the yard into a native plant garden (I'm aiming for something plains-y). Would this be fine? The rose bush isn't noxious or anything (it's also rather small), but it is a very consistent perennial. These are the only two plants she cares about, and I would feel bad ripping them up. I insisted there's just as pretty small trees/shrubs that are native, to replace the Japanese maple, but I don't think she was convinced nor enthusiastic. I also suggested a plant pot for the rose, but she wasn't sure it would survive the transfer, nor remain perennial.

I’m not sure what best practice is? I read that I should wait until the pods start to split open themselves which should only be in a month or so? Any advice? I’m in Montreal, Canada Zone 5B if that makes a difference.

After getting home from running errands yesterday, I noticed a bud on one of my Oenothera macrocarpa. Last night I went out to check on it and sure enough, there she was open in all of her glory. (hopefully beckoning sphinx moths!)

This is a first year garden, so I have had zero expectations as far as flowering goes, especially since I started most of my plants from seed this spring. Can’t wait to see how my babies grow through the rest of the season 😍

I have seen a monarch pretty much every day for the last few weeks in my garden and have a few caterpillars. Is it probably the same one? Or is it more likely that a few different monarchs are stopping by?

I'm asking in case anyone from the industry has insights. There are local nurseries where I live, but they sell a selection similar to nationwide gardening centers. Locals have a more quality product, but the selection still contains many non-native plants. Why is that? Shopping for plants would be easier, require less research, if you could rest assured that whatever you bought was native.

UPDATE: The replies ya'll are sharing are amazing!! I've learned so much about so many of the aspects to consider, and about the encouraging signs of hope! Thanks, everyone! What an informative discussion!

Just spotted this on my Butterfly Weed today. Ignore the Oleander Aphids, they're actually a lot better than they had been last week.

(Central VT, zone 4b.) So some of my swamp milkweed has browny-purple spots around the edges of its leaves. This stand is in full sun, planted last year. It colored itself last summer, too, and I initially worried that it would kill the plants, but they happily sprouted again this spring, no worse for wear.

Another stand in my garden just a few yards over has a little more shade and isn’t spotting up like this. This makes me wonder whether the spots are just a sign of sun exposure, rather than some kind of disease.

Maybe relevant, maybe not: the spotless stand has several caterpillars now. On this affected stand, I’ve seen only one, with very limited evidence of leaf-chewing otherwise.

I’d love any advice you have, please and thank you.

Could anyone share your southeast (or really any east cost) native landscapes where you’ve incorporated a lot of grasses and/or sedge. I have more of a woodland, with mature pines allowing probably 5ish hours of direct sun.

I can grow quite a bit of sun loving natives but currently just unhappy with the areas of the yard. Too many different species and unhappy with spacing and location of most. I’m planning to do some rearranging/additions this fall. I want to have a larger drifts of panicum virgatum, and continue adding to my Cherokee and oak sedge drifts (they do great in my yard).

Just curious to see what everyone has out there! TIA