r/NativePlantGardening

This native white swamp milkweed I planted a month ago isn’t even in bloom yet but they’re already chowing down on it

These guys are filling up pretty well. I've been replanting them whenever they pop up in my lawn to fill this area.

I just noticed that each day the flowers bloom again! Very pretty purple.

Potentially Spigelia marilandica? I should not be in the native range (Warren County, Ohio). Any other possible IDS?

Hi, all. A family member has two cute dogs who make bad decisions. Any suggestions for shrubs or ground covers that won’t attract crunchy, delicious honeybees? Also nothing toxic in case the dogs sample some leaves.

Pic of backyard, new design will probably involve a bench and overhang.

Northern CA, Contra Costa County.

Hi everyone. I have about 4 acres in south central PA. I have been working very hard to kill large portions of my lawn. I am on my second chip drop!
While I work, I have stopped mowing. My concern is that everything growing is an invasive, as I am surrounded by Amur Honeysuckle, garlic mustard, invasive grasses and probably 20 others I have yet to identify. Can anyone identify serious concerns? Can I leave anything? ID apps aren’t helpful as they just state “grass” or “dicot.” I’d love to let nature just take over, but I have a suspicion I’m setting my future self up for failure.

Thank you!

Hey All, How do you feel about leaving your property behind?

Last week, my colleague and I were talking about the topic of moving someday. He is moving on 6/1. He is in a good situation. His wife works at a private school, and they applied for campus housing and it was granted. Now, he says he feels a sense of betrayal despite this move being good financially for his family. He has stewarded his property to become a small forest on a suburban lot and feels it won’t be appreciated by the new homeowners. He is dreading what could happen to this forest.

Today, my other colleague was talking to me about when she inherits her dad’s house, it will be too much upkeep. But she feels a sense of sadness because she believes all the native plants will be eradicated by the future homeowners.

I work at an arboretum so we are all involved with stewardship.

As for me, once my kids graduate, I will be moving from my beloved home to a different state because I have inherited my uncle’s house in an area that my husband and I can afford. It’s a beautiful area so no issue there. But I will be really sad about leaving all of my wonderful weeds behind to someone who just doesn’t get it or have the time, etc. 😢 Not to mention all the invasive plants just waiting for me to be gone to make their comeback. 😣

Here is a picture of my garden from a few years ago. My landscaping looks nothing like my neighbors’ landscaping.

*Edit: Thanks everyone for all of your heartfelt support and empathy. I think when you connect with the land, you become partners and it’s hard to think about leaving even when the circumstances are positive. Yes, I actually am going to order signs and start labeling plants and create a binder with an outline of what goes on and best management practices.

As far as plants in that garden they are Solidago rugosa and probably others, Symphotrichum lanceolatum, Symphotrichum novae-angliae and a tall coreopsis (forget the full name).

It was so great to read your stories which left me inspired. Thank you!

Scroll to bottom for discussion topic after my ramble lol

I'm super happy to finally have helianthus schweintizii! One of the rarest NA sunflowers.

The groundskeepers at a local church were watering their patch and offered me some when I said it was cool they have it and just dug up a clump. Apparently they were planning on propagating by division and offering some of it to hikers on their trails to help revitalize the cluttered patch anyways. Apparently their patches of it had been a gift from someone else too. I had been thinking of asking for seeds but this way I didn't even have to.

I walk by them all the time because the church trails connect to my yard. Perfect timing since I had just removed one of the rose bushes from the front yard.

Got to talking to them and found out they're aware of the issue with tons of invasives on the trails and are working on fixing it, starting with the Bradford pears and they want to install a natives only garden in the field. So I offered to grow some plants for them. It was a really charming lovely experience to bump into native plant people in the wild.

Also trying to grow "nearly native" sarracenia jonesii from seed (few counties from its proper native range technically but I just like carnivorous plants and wanted to try my hand at growing em from seed and saw them on California carnivores)

So, share your experiences with having, getting, or seeing endangered native plants!

There are also turf grass, dandelions, and wood sorrel invading its little patch and I was almost to the point of mowing it after all just to keep the grass grass from going to seed, and then I spotted this when I walked out the door today. 🥰

Hope I didn’t bother it too much or hurt it…absolutely gorgeous!!!! Guessing the walnut trees nearby are the host for this, I don’t see any of the primary host plants close by…hmm

I planted this as a bare root a few years ago - maybe five? - and it gets a bit bigger every year. It’s very happy in this spot, but I’m hoping to divide it in the fall and transplant part of it to a shady spot I’ve struggled to keep filled.

I burnt 7 acres of land covered in these native blackberries (Allegheny Blackberry, Rubus allegheniensis)

burnt the leaf litter, burnt logs on top of the blackberries burnt everything to ash.

but now I have tens of thousands of green blackberry shoots that need to go for the nursery stock to have room

https://www.ebay.com/itm/336465698963 it's a medium USPS flatrate box stuffed with roots in a trash bag with a wet piece of paper for moisture while shipping when you get them put them in the ground as soon as possible all of it under ground so it does not get shocked by your local weather and water

I would like to plant a 20-30 ft native grass hedge row between my yard and my neighbors yard. He’s a heavy sprayer and I’m working on building a native and food producing yard. I understand that creating a grass barrier works well when trying to protect from a spraying neighbor and the grasses can withstand any herbicides.

If you were to do this, what would be your method? Would sheet mulch and then either seed over winter or put plants down in the spring? Would you scalp and do a rock bed? Wood chips? It’s currently just grass. We live in 5a.

Any recs on the type of grass?

EDIT: we are in MN and the pic is just for vibes

Dozens of froglets left the pond during the thunderstorm. As the first drops fell, the treefrogs started singing.

Pond plants are all native to the SE US. Waterlily, frogbit, lizardtail, canna, etc. Surrounding the veggie garden are blueberries, switchgrass, black eyed susan, ninebark, etc.

I have one spiderwort that is next to a downspout and it is one major unit. It's about 3 ft by 3 ft and 2 and 1/2 ft tall. Full sun with water to spare makes it about three times as big as the other two I planted at the same time.

Edit: Eastern Kansas

Edit: Zwanenburg Blue, Chicago botanic Garden spiderwort trial, https://www.chicagobotanic.org/downloads/planteval_notes/no34_tradescantia.pdf