I thought popping out at 6 am to do some gardening would mean that I could stare at my planner with its sticky representatives of my plants without any witnesses. I was wrong. Moments later a construction crew pulled up and I saw many stressed drivers trying to repark their cars away from the No Parking signs. Oh well. I had plants that needed to get in the ground.
My neighbor Jared had kindly gifted me six plants from his garden after seeing me post in a Native Gardeners Facebook forum asking for feedback on the sad state of my garden. I got a lot of great feedback in addition to the plants and Jared had visited for over an hour helping me determine which things growing were what I planted vs the thriving weeds. I also had my most recent shipment from Prairie Moon of six plants. The corner was covered in the fluff from one of the area trees, so much so that from a distance it looked like snow.
While Jared was over giving advice, a neighbor joined us as we were talking about ways to prevent one spot from being routinely run over. Jared suggested some tall wooden stakes which could also have twine run between them to support the plants as they filled in. The neighbor mentioned having some and a few days later, I went in to discover true garden stakes. What a lovely surprise.
Recently we had a storm that brought down a lot of limbs. I posted in our neighborhood Facebook groups asking if anyone had small limbs that they could cut down for posts to put along the curve of the garden. And again a neighbor came forward. My next project is to figure out the best way to place them.
While a good portion of the plants I put in last year haven’t returned, some have been thriving. The elderberry twig that I wasn’t sure would grow is now several feet tall and will actually need to be moved so that it doesn’t take over the entire space. I’m excited to see buds on it already. The seed heads that I scattered from the vervain have sprouted all over, almost like a green mulch. They are making it a bit difficult to tell what is weed and what isn’t but I’m happy to see them doing so well. If they continue to thrive, I might start handing them out to anyone interested in a native plant.
Despite planting multiple types of milkweed, none appears to be coming back where I planted it, however, there are a few young plants throughout that I suspect may be milkweed. Fingers crossed.
So with the addition of the twelve plants, I think I’m done adding for the summer and now tending to what I have.
What was planted:
- Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Western Sunflower (Helianthus occidentalis)
- Eastern Beebalm (Monarda bradburiana)
- Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
- Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa)
- Late Purple Aster (Symphyotrichum patens)
Birchwood Butterfly Corner 