r/NativePlantGardening

We converted our front yard (7b) from Bermuda grass to a 100% native prairie a few seasons ago. We love Halloween decor, but our old tombstones and animatronics didn’t click this year…seemed too cluttered.

So we added some spot lights and tucked pumpkins into the wildflowers. They pick up the color in the sedges and fall blooming natives. When the season is over, they’ll go to the compost bin and chicken coop . Yes, I know the pumpkins are not native 😅

Just wanted to share this with people who understand. A few weeks ago my partner was googling ragweed because he didn’t know what it looked like (we have some growing nearby and allergies are bad, so he wanted to know what plant to avoid). He noticed that one of the first results on google was an ai slop website that had “ragweed” identified as goldenrod, in EVERY photo. Literally every single photo in this long article that was high up in google’s first results was of goldenrod instead of actual ragweed 🙄💀.

I completely forgot about that I did this until today, but I ended up rage emailing them telling them to change it because it meant unsuspecting people would probably start pulling goldenrod for no reason to help with their allergies. And to my shock, because I assumed it was likely an unmonitored/bot ai website, they emailed back and changed everything! I’m annoyed that I had to help correct their mislabeled ai crap anyways, and think they have no business being in the garden space if they’re publishing stuff that is so obviously not verified (they are a plant-specific website so it feels less like a simple mistake and more like a systemic issue with accuracy, who knows what else is mislabeled in there), but it ended up being a spot of good news today to actually see that my irritation compulsively spilling out into an email actually resulted in something getting updated to be correct, especially something so high on google’s SEO. With that said, ai slop making it’s way into the gardening space and especially when it comes to natives is so frustrating and I wish people who didn’t actually give a crap about educating people/correct info regarding native species and ecology would leave it alone.

Anyways… just wanted to share as I really thought nothing would come of it but yay!! 🙌 if it stops one person from needlessly cutting down a goldenrod plant I’ll take it!

Maybe I'm just getting old, but there are few things more meditative to me than just watching all of the life on these flowers.

Cheers to the asters, feeding pollinators (and my soul). One last gasp of beauty and life before we go into the long dark winter

There was a time that I didn't really get asters. Then fall came around and I came to my senses. Now I can't get enough.

I know they can be aggressive, but I've got the space for them so I say "bring it on!"

Evening Primrose is wild! It's a huge favorite of the finches, and it's easy to see why. This was from just a minute or two of seed collecting.

We’ve hit 50,000 packets taken from our native seed boxes around the state!

Edit: oops, missed an “is” in the title. “I know this *is* clock app-coded.”

Northern paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus) on old field goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis). Please love them. They’re chill as hell.

(I do not and have never had a tiktok)

Hit me with the native plant-inspired stuff you know!

• I've gotten stickers and an art print from Solstice Handmade.
• Native Habitat Project doesn't have much at the moment but occasionally has additional shirts (I've got 2).
• I found We Need to Go Outside recently.
• I've had my eye on this Fireflies of the United States t-shirt.
• Also tempted by this riverbank shirt from Arcane Bullshit.

A volunteer common milkweed started me on my native obsession. It has since taken me years to locate all the seeds for all the different native milkweeds that grow in VA. It has taken even longer to get them all growing and flowering. I have seen all but one flower, which will happen next year, now that I've moved some from the rabbits. I hope you enjoy the pictures and variety as much as I do

1- Asclepias lanceolata, fewflower milkweed

2- Asclepias purpurascens, purple milkweed

3- Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly milkweed

4- Asclepias quadrifolia, fourleaf milkweed

5- Asclepias exaltata, poke milkweed

6- Asclepias variegata, redring milkweed

7- Asclepias longifolia var. longifolia, longleaf milkweed

8- Asclepias viridiflora, green comet milkweed

9- Asclepias rubra, red milkweed

10- Asclepias verticillata, whorled milkweed

11- Asclepias syriaca, common milkweed

12- Asclepias incarnata, swamp milkweed

13- Asclepias amplexicaulis, clasping milkweed

seriously obsessed with the combination of mistflower, goldenrod, aster and dog fennel. (sorry i can barely remember my own name let alone the scientific ones for plants)

also discovered THREE new volunteers!!! a grass, a bush, and a sedge oh my!! so cute 🥰

Muck Sunflower, Helianthus simulans. It's related to Swamp Sunflower but much more aggressive. I transplanted this spring and some are almost 10ft tall!

There are a few canyons around where I live where elderberry grows. I collected a bunch in early September to turn into jelly and went back this weekend to get more for seeds. The seeds are actually a huge pain to separate from the berries. Still working on it, going to let them dry and then winter sow them!