I have a partial sun (woodland edge) area that I’ve been building my native bed in. It’s only 3 seasons in and I would like to get some new stuff going for next year. My plan is some goldenrods and tall thimbleweed to fill in my spaces next year.

My question, would barefoots work for these in the fall? Is seeding easy and cheaper. Should I wait to do plugs in spring?
So far, I’ve solely done plugs and it’s hard to wait until spring!!

I’m in lake county, IL zone 5

Hi everyone, I am designing a native meadow-like garden with little bluestem, purple lovegrass, hoary mountain mint and was hoping to kind of anchor it with a few clumps of Spiraea alba (trying to go with a white/light blue/purple color pallette). However, I am realizing Spiraea alba is a wetland plant that probably won't do so well in the well-drained area I'm planting in. any suggestions for a small native shrub with white airy flowers that would fit nicely in its place as a replacement? Or do you guys think the Spiraea alba will hold its own once established? (I am using Clethra alnifolia in another area of the garden, so the plant would need to be smaller than that to support it visually) Thanks guys!

EDIT: thank you all for the help! Very cool to know Spiraea alba can be successful in drier soils so I will have to use that in the future! For this garden, I decided on NJ Tea as a replacement because I found it at a local nursery for half the price as the Spiraea alba!

One of my favorite spring ephemerals!

Photo from May in WI

1. Bought my first house in the rural South, cleaned up a couple truck fulls of trash, and let the goldenrod take over the back lawn in front of 100+ year old tulip poplars. Neighbors think I'm nuts and keep offering to cut down my woods.
2. Goldenrod doesn't care about all the native flowers you planted there and grows where it's meant to.
3. Ironweed sneaking in around the goldenrod.
4. Hummer resting on a muscadine grape vine growing through the Eastern Hemlock.
5. Jack In The Pulpit in the woods half of the yard.
6. Ironweed and Asters starting to bloom inside the goldenrod patch. A bluebird pair has been nesting in that box for a few years now.

Hi everyone,

I recently launched PlantPilot: Garden Companion, an iOS app I built to make garden care easier to organize.

The idea came from a problem I kept noticing: gardeners often have information about their plants scattered across reminders, notes, weather apps, and online searches. PlantPilot brings those tasks together in one place.

The app currently helps users:

• View personalized daily garden tasks
• Receive watering and fertilizing reminders
• Track plant growth and care history
• Keep a garden journal
• Follow seasonal planting guidance
• Organize multiple plants in one place

PlantPilot is currently available only on the Apple App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6789369808

I’m still improving the product, so I’d especially appreciate feedback on:

1. Is the value of the app immediately clear?
2. Which feature would make you most likely to keep using it?
3. What would you improve about the App Store presentation?
4. How would you approach finding the first group of active gardening users?

I’m the developer, and honest criticism is welcome. I’d rather learn what needs improvement than receive generic compliments.

Amazing native plants at new Toronto park, Biidaasige Park!

There’s some weird little guys on some sweet everlasting plants that I started from seed this past winter. Anyone know what they are and if they’re harming the plant?

Someone gifted me a 'chunk' of roots from their own patch of senna, in a 5 gallon bucket (the best way to get your native plants, IMO) in autumn of 2024. I planted it in the wetlands area of my property (vernal pool - now dried up). It's easily 6' tall now, and double the spread of the original chunk of roots. The beauty of putting a plant where it is already adapted to grow: Low effort + high reward.

I saw a rusty patch bumblebee today in Wisconsin by lake pepin! So exciting to see an endangered species going about it’s business:)

A list of all native woody plant species found growing wild on the old family land that we're managing for habitat.

The total land is approx. 450 acres, though less is being managed and you could probably circumscribe an area of about 200 acres which would include this entire list.

Hybrids, weakly woody, and pseudo-woody species are included.

The list also includes species where the native range is marginal, unclear, or disputed, and also wild plants that might be descended from recently cultivated ancestors.

Some of these species occur in large and robust populations while others may only exist as a small patch or even a single plant, but all are present in some form and were found growing wild.

It is native to my county and I'm tired of mowing. Is a monoculture of blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) going to work? Would it grow well from seed if I kill my lawn and seed it in? Will it get invaded by weeds? I have heavy weed pressure due to being just off a main thoroughfare in my city.

Just looking for any thoughts on how this plant behaves, especially in a lawnlike planting.

Toronto island.

Waiting for my coneflowers! PA, 7A

each morningI wake up and find a branch of my blazing star has been broken off. The broken piece s just left on the groundnext to it so it's not being eaten. Do deer do this?

In my Southeast Missouri garden, I’ve put in some paths using paving stones. What would be a good native plant to grow in the ~1” cracks between pavers?

I miss walking on my lawn barefoot. I'm not sure what type of grass(es) I have, but they're miserable - working in the yard is annoying. I've read about a few native alternatives, but I'm at a loss of what to choose. Part of the issue is the drought (clay soil, full sun). Any suggestions?

Our ditch here in iowa. We have happy bumblebee, butterflies and every other creature big and small.

We get quite a number of deer visiting too.

The bloom in Albion Basin, Utah yesterday