r/NativePlantGardening

First time I’ve seen it in the yard. Don’t know what attracted it.

This is my first year growing milkweed. I bought bare root plants earlier this year and they have paid off. I saw a monarch this morning so I went to check the milkweed and counted at least 7 caterpillars. I'm so excited, I'm shaking!

This is our second year of native plant gardening in a very sterile new area. There's a man-made pond behind our house and I can hear frogs in the wetlands in the farm fields (that will sadly be bulldozed in a few years). The pond is slowly wilding itself with sedges, crayfish, damsel and dragon flies, and lots of water birds so I was planning to get some frogs from the wetlands and bring them to our pond but it looks like they've found their way here! This cutie was hanging out by our shed and it looks like a wood frog. Any tips on how to make our yard better for our new frog friends are welcome!

Just found these incredible plants growing under some cherry trees in the back, shaded corner of the dog's yard. Have never seen anything like it, iNaturalist says it's a clammy ground cherry. What a stunning plant. I'm going to try transplanting a couple to a different portion where I don't have to worry about dogs peeing on them. There are at least 30 individual plants & they all look remarkably healthy! I've lived here for about 2 years & have scoured every corner of the property in that short time to ID all the plants, yet I still get unexpected surprises!

Not all of these will flower in lawn, but they all do well with regular mowing in full sun in my lawn:

• Ironweed
• Black-eyed Susan
• Common blue violet
• Wild petunia
• Common yellow wood sorrel
• Blue mistflower
• Carolina elephant's foot

One reason I find this interesting is that I will transplant several ironweeds and black-eyed Susan's from my lawn every year. I transplant mistflower now and then, but it doesn't seem to do well in competition in my yard.

The other reason is because otherwise it would be turf grass or creeping charlie or stiltgrass or whatever.

I made the mistake of only planting these mid-summer. I know pawpaws are weird little guys who use the cotyledon to grow a taproot first and then regrow leaves from scratch, but I’m worried there won’t be enough time for them to grow enough leaves to absorb energy into their roots before winter. Is there anything I should do? Articles online said to keep seedlings in the shade, which I had done since day one, but I’m tempted to put them in brighter light so they can grow more… good/bad idea? Canada plant hardiness zone 5.

Thanks!

Spotted two monarch butterfly caterpillars and a milkweed leaf beetle enjoying some volunteer honeyvine milkweed in my garden :) (Central Illinois, USA)

My daughter took her tractor for a spin. I knelt down to change the battery and saw this little buddy. Except for probably being a little dizzy…. Seems to be alright. Is there a good way to move him? Now? After chrysalis forms? Cone off the tractor only option? TIA

Edit:
Thank you for all of your suggestions!! My daughters are 5 and 3! They are bug/nature lovers through and through (5 year old brought milkweed seeds to her preschool classmates that she harvested herself 😊).

I took the battery from their tractor and plan to leave the caterpillar until the chrysalis hardens. Then, I will reassess to see if I feel confident moving it. If not, we will watch the cycle play out!
Thank you everyone!

I’ve been letting this one grow, easily 8’ now. It’s a beautiful plant if you’re ok with the berries.

Got excited it was maybe a rusty patch until I learned about the brown belted bumblebee

I ordered this coral honeysuckle in mid May from Directnativeplants website.
It loves its sunny location and being potted.

Hello all, this goldenrod just popped up in my garden. It is native to more eastern US. Has anyone got experience with it in inland California? I’m wondering if I should pull, I did see a hummer at it today, I’m not sure if it will grow aggressively.

This one was planted only last year. I have 6 established plants in total across two garden beds.