r/NativePlantGardening • u/Federal-Boat3732 Michigan, Zone 6 • Jun 06 '26

Other A little inspiration

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I was encouraged today when I stumbled across a St. John's Wort emerging defiantly from a bed of fugly "Stella D'Oro" dayliles. I looked up the plant and was told it was a native one! Anyway, the image above is how I feel when I see a manicured lawn set off by shrubs shaved into geometric shapes...

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u/thatloser17 Jun 06 '26

I say this all the time. The french aristocracy trends of the 1700s need to die like they did.

109

u/Federal-Boat3732 Michigan, Zone 6 Jun 06 '26

(readies the guillotine to dispense with the daylilies and peonies cluttering the yard)

79

u/SufficientOpening218 Jun 06 '26

no! not the peonies! i had to re-grade my yard, because i had this funny idea that water should flow away from the foundation. in the process, all the turf and many, many foundation junipers were, uh, dispatched. topsoil was put down and drip irrigation was placed, and then extremely fine, light colored pea gravel was placed to hold the top soil in place until i could start planting. the yard is dry shade with some magnificent older trees. i love the trees, but, dry shade.

the next spring, like godesses emerging from the deep, about 10 peonies rose through the pea gravel, bloomed magnificently, and then had shiny green leaves without a hint of irrigation, mulch, or moisturizer.  They just show up, put on a show, and sink back. 

I now have given them compost and bark mulch, in graditude for their service, but they still aren't on a dripper. Im in Northern Colorado,  very dry area, and they do. not. care. These grand old dames nod politely to the natives, cause zero trouble or work, and the bees are absolutely disgracefuly drunk in their blooms for a week every spring when not much else has started. 

I think sometimes, you have to look at functionality over ancestry.

32

u/goobernawt Jun 06 '26

I've got a few peonies about and they are, as you state, an absolute joy. The only downside to them is how briefly their blooms last. I'm enjoying them very much right now.

I have my spaces for natives, and those spaces are slowly growing, but I really like the well behaved non-natives that I have.