golden alexander – Birchwood Butterfly Corner

A New Chapter for an Old Corner: The Native Garden Is In!

The community corner garden project came to life today, overcoming budget concerns with a plant donation from a neighbor and challenges accessing water. Future plans include assessing garden needs and engaging community volunteers for support.

Did I Plant You?

An inexperienced native gardener faces challenges identifying and managing weeds in her Chicago garden. She employs plant identification apps and connects with fellow gardeners for help. Despite setbacks, she finds joy in discovering surviving flowers and attracting wildlife. She also shares her planting strategies and experiments with labeling in challenging weather conditions.

Fresh Fall Start

Like Back to School each year, my garden is getting a fresh fall start. Gone are my volunteer plants and the crabgrass that also took over. Time to plant our new plants. I think I’m going to make a rule that I’m only allowed to plant under the supervision of others. I spend hours plotting out exactly where I want each plant to go, intending to mark out a grid with twine to help me do so. Then, I get finished with weeding, feel myself flagging and say to myself “right here is fine”.

More Research

I went back to the research drawing board. I now know that right below the surface is stubborn clay, so I’ve taken that into account. While I knew that it was full sun, I guess I didn’t take the dry soil into account? So that also became an important element. Starting with the Xerces Society pdf for our region, I plugged them into the National Wildlife Federation’s Plant Finder to figure out exactly which varieties would work for this zip code.

Battling Bunnies and Fresh Hope

There is always what you intend, and then what actually happens. Despite spending the cold winter months planning out a “perfect” garden, such a thing has yet to materialize. In part because I forgot a gardener’s biggest enemy – bunnies. Apparently, the sweet baby plants that Steph and I added are too tempting to theContinue reading “Battling Bunnies and Fresh Hope”