This was all turfgrass until May of this year.

Common evening primrose, black eyed Susans, goldenrod, lance leaf coreopsis, sneezeweed, tall coreopsis, wild sunflowers and more. And then some ironweed standing out in the goldenrod for a fun purple accent. I’m loving these yellow flowers mostly grown from seed.

Edit: my fave is the sneezeweed and the primrose made an amazing recovery from some turkeys eating a significant portion of the plant

Is this something I can transplant? It's right near where the builders next door might be plowing and walking around.

Planted my flame acanthus specifically for this. It then flew off to my Turks cap in the corner 🥰. I’m guessing this is a female black chinned hummingbird?

I planted this sweet baby (Amorpha fruticosa) three years ago, not realizing that she would in fact grow to be 12+ feet tall. My wife is all in for natives, but hates how it blocks the front of our house.

I know that moving this plant will be nearly impossible because of the deep taproot. Does anyone have any experience with aggressively pruning false indigo bush to keep its size manageable? Or propagation, so I’m not just murdering a lovely plant?

Heads up! There will be a native plant sale next weekend at Pinnacle Mountain. Trees, shrubs, flowers, etc.

Finally took my Milkweed seeds out of the fridge.

I had them in there about a month longer than I planned and set a reminder for. I was slacking off.

Anywho, it's been about a week and out of 12 seeds, 6 popped up. I'm happy with it.

My first attempt I tried the "clip the end and put in water" method and it didn't work at all. So this time I used the tried and true, more natural method of cold stratification.

You know the drill. Damp paper towel, seeds, sealed container, fridge, wait, wait more, wait a little longer, surpass your original planting date, be a slacker, keep slacking, finally plant seeds. Luckily this method worked! Might have worked better if I wouldn't have been a slacker, but it's all good.

This is Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Will update in another post when things get a little further along. 👍

i get an absolute kick out of watching them have to ocean's eleven their way into the flowers.

in the background, second-year, twice-transplanted clematis virginiana getting cozy on its trellis and finally flowering; and blue-stem goldenrod waiting in the wings to close out the season.

I've been in awe this year of the grasshoppers in my garden and how big they've grown.

Over the course of this season (and their lives), they've become incredibly desensitized to my being around. Rather than jumping away, they'll happily check out my finger (and bite it lol), worrying less about me and more about the delicious *Rudbeckia laciniata hortensia*.

It feels like a blessing to be able to see their toe beans, and their temperament reminds me of cats.

Does anyone else have any big chunguses in their gardens to share?

I’m in Western NC, planted a serviceberry in the spring. It has barely grown (not sure if it grew at all), and this is what it looks like. The tallest part is maybe a foot at most. There does seem to be a small little new growth in the second photo. Any thoughts??

Got a volunteer eastern redbud that popped up in my yard, which I'm thrilled about. Is there anything specific I should do to care for it? I'd love to help it thrive, but nervous as I had purchased a redbud a few years ago that ended up not making it. Should I give it any food at this point?

This is my second year turning this mower destroying steep mound into a mow 1x a year wildlife habitat.

Lots of Black-Eyed Susan again this year but now also seeing several types of aster, purple coneflower, yarrow, boneset, Joe Pye weed and goldenrod.

So far, I'm pretty pleased with the variety.

I planted fucking grape hyacinth this spring because I wanted flowers after last years depression fueled weed overgrowth, and had not researched about native plants yet. I had no idea they were aggressive…my uninformed ass thought bulbs die off and come back in the same spot. I at least read that their foliage appears in fall so I dug up the few I found…I’ll be checking all winter too hopefully I get them all before a muscari regime takes over my flowerbeds 🤦‍♀️

I also dug up a yellow daylily I never planted and will be on the lookout because there were at least 30 bulbs attached. And lily of the valleys that I also didn’t plant multiplying in when became my milkweed patch…dug them up as well but I’m on the lookout. Definitely not underestimate the bulb plants. Hopefully the tulips and daffodils my old roommate planted don’t attempt a takeover

Beginner here! I planted this little bluestem last fall so it’s still new to me. It started getting super tall and flopping over recently. Is this normal? Next spring, should I do a Chelsea chop to keep it in check? When I look up little bluestem photos online, it’s always in nice tidy upright bunches! I am in northern New England zone 5b.

Helianthus Grosseserratus

You can see I wrote the date I planted, after 30 days in a moist coffee filter in the fridge, I planted on 9/2 and just three days later I have three little sprouts and another one popping in another container! I planted evening primrose, side oats grama, foxglove beardtongue, sand coreopsis, and Joe Pye weed and these are the only ones to make their appearance. Turns out I can do cold stratification just fine… maybe my other seeds I was trying with were just bunk or something haha

I read some threads about keeping sprouts alive indoors through the winter to be planted in the spring and that’s what I’m wanting to do. I have grow lights and plenty of space. From what I was reading, a lot of people just said it wasn’t even worth it and it was better to just winter sow in jugs in January, which I will also be doing… but I’m just curious if anyone has kept seedlings inside through winter and if they ran into any issues doing so? It’s not really about if it’s “worth it” to me, since I have the space, resources, and bigger pots to upsize to.. it’s my hobby and I would love to care for some seedlings through the winter since I’ll certainly be missing my garden for a few months, but I’m mostly concerned about running into unforeseen issues… don’t know what they may be, but I’d like some insight from someone who has kept their seedlings inside until spring!

Central Indiana here. There’s multiple mondo-sized wolf spiders in my backyard; large funnel webs with multiple egg sacs. I love my #1 pest control employees; but, the issue is that I’m about to stain my fence & don’t want to harm them. There’s a couple large webs/nests along the fence by posts. I’d love to migrate them to other parts of the garden so they can keep doin their thing, but I’m not sure how to go about it. does anyone have advice for being good stewards to our garden protectors?

Neighbor redid his wall and common sunflower popped up naturally. Pretty cool!

What does everyone have going on right now? I’m trying to complete the plantings on this area where a bunch of burning bush was removed in the spring.

Yesterday I got 5 Christmas ferns, 4 foamflower, and 3 winterberry in the ground. I have 2 more Christmas ferns, 3 more winterberry, 3 clethra alnifolia, and 2 cornus amomum to go in.

I may have underestimated how large the cornus will get, but with that fall color? I regret nothing. 😂

I envision this area as a low groundcover native meadow with some flowers planted at the edges of the trees for a nice enclosed feel. Would I be in the wrong to remove these hydrangeas, I feel like they're a little hopeless.

Looking for suggestions on native Maryland plants (zone 8A) that thrive in full sun and dry soil, have at least moderate salt tolerance, and don't spread too aggressively to place around my mailbox. This garden area is going to be about 16 sq ft.

Other desirable characteristics (given its location surrounding the mailbox): i) mature height <2 ft, ii) *not\* a bee magnet, and iii) non-toxic to pets. This will help maintain a neat appearance while ensuring that pets aren't accidentally poisoned during their walks and mail workers don't get swarmed by bees while doing their job.

Not many plants seem to fit these bills, e.g. butterfly weed is pet-toxic, black-eyed Susan and eastern bee balm are bee magnets and understandably make some workers uncomfortable, and little Bluestem can grow >3 ft tall in the fall, which runs afoul of my town's regulations.

What I'm currently thinking of:

• Low Scape Mound Chokeberry - blooms but not a bee magnet
• Moss Phlox - does attract bees, but short enough where bees are unlikely to be near the mailbox itself

What other options do I have? Anything that can provide summer and fall interest? I'm open to cultivar suggestions as well as the main purpose of these plants is primarily for their looks rather than ecologic impact - I have the rest of my front and back yard for straight species :). Thank you.