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.
Tag Archives: Strawberry
Celebrating the Spring Equinox
The unseasonably warm weather has me itching to play around in the garden. I know however that doing so can disrupt native pollinators and other beneficial insects so I’ve been holding off. I did however celebrate the Spring Equinox by removing the burlap I pinned down to protect from heavy road salt use. I wasContinue reading “Celebrating the Spring Equinox”
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.
Birchwood Butterfly Corner 