I have a special place in my heart for spring ephemerals. They are early harbingers of spring. Perhaps what I love is the surprise: You weren’t expecting us, but here we are! Volunteers are always welcome (though maybe not Dandelions and Creeping Charlie…). Perhaps I identify with their shy nature, since many of them have …
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Notes from a wildlife-friendly cottage garden
Prairie or Sullivant’s Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii) is worth considering as a garden alternative to Common Milkweed (A. syriaca). A key difference is that Prairie Milkweed is much less aggressive, in fact in my garden it has been fairly slow to establish.
It seems that plants are always teaching me new lessons about how they behave in the garden and respond to weather and other conditions. This summer, there are three native plants that have been on my mind. First, Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata). I’m fond of this plant with its central cone like a clown’s nose …
July is the month of Monardas here. We have one straight species (Wild Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa) and three hybrid cultivars: ‘Raspberry Wine’, ‘Purple Rooster’, and what I suspect is a home-grown hybrid that looks like a cross between Wild Bergamot and ‘Purple Rooster’. Gardeners interested in Monarda should check out two trials of various species …
Happy 4th of July. July is when things start to pop in the garden after the June lull, so I thought this might be a good time to provide a tour or overview of where things are right now.
Right now there are two species of Milkweed blooming in our garden: Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and Butterflyweed (A. tuberosa). As you probably know, native Milkweed species are essential to the future of the Monarch Butterfly.
The garden is full of Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) seed pods these days. And remember how I said that Wild Geranium spreads via exploding seed pods that hurl the seeds several feet (with a good wind) from the mother plant? So when my friend Jo ana came to help in the garden last week she …
The garden is mostly quiet shades of green these days. There are some blooms, which tend to be white or blue. Here’s a selection, though I’m holding a few things back for future posts.
Last fall I added another three Bowman’s Root (Porteranthus trifoliatus) to the raised bed in the shady Back Garden and I really like how they are filling in and flowering more profusely.
Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) is a plant that provides cheerful color during that quieter period in the garden in late spring, It is perhaps not one of the spectacular garden plants, but it can make a fine addition to more informal beds and borders. It is native to a wide swath of eastern and central …
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