u/altforthissubreddit

This pale coneflower isn't even native. It was supposed to be a Turk's cap lily. And it's one of the only plants that survived in this space I planned out and executed back in 2019-2020.

Here was the plan:

https://preview.redd.it/9bm08wo2a8bh1.png?width=1103&format=png&auto=webp&s=0366c3a98f5a2ebd51159748b57fc861cc4c2508

And here was the space all ready:

https://preview.redd.it/srpk10h9a8bh1.png?width=1916&format=png&auto=webp&s=16d03824d3800ac183d2f2429a245ff01ec859a3

Of all those plants, only the black cohosh, the mountain mint, and the white snakeroot actually survived. And of course the pale coneflower pops up every year as the only particularly visible/showy flower to remind me what a disaster it was.

The first photo, with the coneflower, is looking at the right side (the tree stump is just off to the left outside the photo frame).

Here's looking to the left (the tree stump is out of frame to the right):

https://preview.redd.it/zxrhrhaqa8bh1.jpg?width=8256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f511d5ec6d3c5eaa4f159794488ecafcc4da8c3

I eventually got rid of all the grass in that area, so there is no more semi-circle. I also planted and direct-sowed bottlebrush grass and purple giant hyssop, both of which have done fairly well. There's a small squirrel-planted hickory in the space which I am hoping will survive (it's caged to protect from browsing). But mostly it's a lot of stiltgrass.

I think several factors were at play. I think I overestimated the amount of sun. I underestimated the browse pressure, though most plants did survive to the 2nd and sometimes 3rd year, they weren't immediately chomped and gone. And lastly the leaf litter is pretty intense. It's mostly oak leaves, so they don't break down quickly. I suspect many plants can't handle this, as even stiltgrass is pretty patchy where the leaves are thickest.

Just to end on not a disaster, here's a space I didn't really plan much, I just added plants as I thought about it or as I had stuff and needed somewhere to put it. It also has a leaf litter problem, but it gets a lot more sun which I think helps:

https://preview.redd.it/qybh3zjgc8bh1.jpg?width=8256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=34fb1d0194b4f71c1df5455a91da3b6fafa09af7

Small (ostensibly native) bee on a black-eyed Susan. Then a close-up of a black cohosh flower stalk. Then a close-up of butterfly weed. Finally some kind of bug blending in with a button bush flower that hasn't bloomed yet.

I've tried several times to buy and plant hickories. Mostly it has not worked out. There are some hickories in the neighborhood (and I have a couple under deep red maple shade that aren't big enough to produce nuts), meaning squirrels plant a lot of hickories for me. But every time I see one volunteering, it's in some horrible spot by the house or shed or in the middle of the lawn or something. I try to move them but it never works. Usually in part because it's hard to cleanly dig the volunteer up.

This time it was in some pretty loose soil covered with decorative rocks, and was fairly easy to dig up. Of course that doesn't mean it will make it but I'm hopeful.

And for the first time, squirrels planted some (or maybe more specifically, I found them before something ate them) hickories in great spots where they don't need moving. One of them, the 2nd to last picture, I'm really excited about.

I'm not 100% sure the last picture is actually a hickory, so any confirmation would be great.