We started our front flower bed spring of 2025 and it’s shocking to see the progress in two years. Not everything is native but we’re making an effort to do at least 70/30 across our 2.5 acres.
First photo is June 2025, second is July 2025, third is today. (Please ignore the weeds, I’m fighting for my life with the random grass and can not keep up)
a shot of my garden in the Twin Cities (zone 5a)!
This is the first year with much flowering since last year mostly was spent building good root systems. I haven't watered these plants since getting them established after germination. The path is made with cedar chips, but the garden itself isn't mulched. The very immediate foreground area is growing in a 3+ inch layer of sand as a weed suppression / drought tolerance experiment
I made a seed mix of predominantly native plants with some cultivars and non-natives in the mix. There's a lot more growing here but plainly visible in this shot are:
* Eragrostis spectabilis (purple lovegrass)
* Gaillardia aristata 'Burgunder' (blanket flower cultivar)
* Monarda punctata (spotted bee balm)
* Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower)
* Erigeron sp. (some volunteer fleabane)
* Echinops bannaticus 'Blue Glow' (globe thistle cultivar, non-native)
Is mid August too late to plant cosmos and coreopsis seeds?
A bit of a longshot, but can anyone tell if this is Orono Sedge? It’s the only plant that is endemic to Maine and is usually found in the Penobscot Valley region (we can see the river from our yard). I ask because I‘m doing some weeding and I considered pulling it up but realized in all these years it has never spread. I used iNaturalist and it claimed to be a type of sedge grass.
If it’s Orono Sedge (or if I can’t confirm otherwise) I’ll leave it be. That species of sedge is threatened by loss of habitat, so if it’s here it gets to stay! :)
Hello! As i mentioned in the title, I have some flowers i want to plant together, but I don't know how. The flowers I'm planning on planting are Coneflowers, Marigolds, and some sort of sage. I want to plant them in a way that hides the ground they're planted in. I would also appreciate some tips on how to care for the plants.
I've gotten really excited about growing perennial fruits and veggies- but I'm hitting a wall, and I'm frustrated. I live in Wisconsin (Madison area- Zone 5b). Can anyone recommend reputable resources for any of the following either near me, or online?
2. Skirret: I purchased skirret plants on Amazon. Now that they've been growing for a season, they appear to be water parsnip. The stems are hollow, and the roots are fiberous, not tubers.
3. Good King Henry: I started Good King Henry from seeds, and now it looks like I Have a healthy bed of common goosefoot. The seed heads resemble goosefoot, not the spires I'm seeing for GKH.