Aromatic Aster “Raydons Favorite”

This is the fifth year of our backyard meadow, and finally, we are seeing native flowers! I simply stopped mowing sometime in ‘21, and enjoyed the tall grasses the first few years. Now the goldenrods and Frost Asters dominate. We have quite a few invasive species that I will selectively kill. Each spring I mow it once.

We enjoy the deer (including an albino doe), the swallows in late summer evenings, the fireflies, pollinators, birds hunting for seeds in the winter, and the cool air in the evenings rolling in from the forest.

Harford Co., Maryland

Years ago my pollinator garden looked nice, but now it has been infiltrated by weeds. I love goldenrod, but it is all over the place instead of in swaths. Queen Anne’s lace and pokeweed have also taken over. Can anyone provide some advice on what I can do?

I do have some lovely plants there, like mountain mint, Amsonia, nepeta, echinacea, as well as a witch hazel tree and spicebush. All are being choked by other plants.

What's your favorite underrated native plant? Why is it your favorite and where is it native to?

I've been building a native garden (MA) for my parents over the past couple of years. I feel like the space needs more grasses/rushes/sedges, ferns, and I could always squeeze in another bush but I've been heavily biased toward perennials. I'm trying to maximize wildlife value so I would love to hear about the plant's ecological role!

Does anyone else have a copy of “Native American Ethnobotany” by Daniel E. Moerman? It’s an incredible book with a wealth of information. I started my Native Plant journey about five years ago. Since then, I’ve been growing and caring for many of the same plants that Native Americans used, right here in my area. I love pressing plant material inside the book as natural bookmarks and little artifacts of the plants I grow.

Hello all! Sorry it took so long to post an update!
For those who haven’t seen my previous posts, I’m located in the Sandhills region of South Carolina, Zone 8a. I moved onto my property permanently last Christmas and have been doing a ton of work throughout my first summer here.
Now that we’re heading into fall, I’ve started planting native wildflowers along my fence line as the first pioneers!
Thanks to all the great advice from this sub, I decided to go with Golden Stardust (the one in front) and Black-eyed Susan behind it. I’ve planted both ends of the fence line with these two.
I’ve also got a butterfly weed plant in the center of the fence line that the nursery gave me for free (not pictured), along with another native wildflower near the driveway gate that produces purple flowers. I can’t remember the name of that one off the top of my head, but I’ll add it in the comments when I get home from work and can check the tag.
I’ve also got more butterfly weed seeds and Sandhill lupine seeds on the way!
If anyone has more native wildflower suggestions, I’m all ears!
I’m also looking for suggestions for beautiful native ornamental trees to plant along the other side of the fence line. Ideally something drought-tolerant that produces a ridiculous amount of flowers and doesn’t spread into a massive thicket. Absolutely no crape myrtles though. 😂
I’ve been looking at redbuds, but I’d love some other suggestions. ChatGPT kept giving me make believe trees.
Native fruit tree suggestions are highly encouraged as well!
Thanks again to everyone who’s helped me out so far!

2 one-gallon Turk’s cap
3 small pink Turk’s cap
3 one-gallon lyreleaf sage
6 heartleaf skullcap
3 Texas sedge
7 wood violet
3 inland sea oats
8 pigeonberry
3 southern shield fern
3 cedar sage
2 American beautyberry (purple)

Hi! Only a couple years into gardening, but it’s quickly become my favorite way to relax. That being said, I have a looooot to learn still!

I have a garden bed here with a handful of muhly grass (white cloud) and a joe pye weed.

What do folks recommend to plant around these to cover the soil? Tired of mulching in general, and these beds are slightly sloped, so without that edging, the mulch just runs off.

Zone 7b/Maryland, N facing, medium to moist soil, and gets solid sun in the summer, but our house blocks a lot of the sun in the winter.

This bed will likely get much bigger in the future, but we’re still new in the house and have to budget projects. Would just like to help the critters as much at possible right now!

For example, if it says 3-10ft, what the heck am I supposed to do with that silly business? "5-10 feet." Brother, is it a shrub or a SHRUB, I need to know.

I’m located in Minnesota. I’m currently not at home and my dad sent me a photo of this flower in my pollinator garden that started a couple months ago that I left and it currently looks like this, and I can’t seem to identify it using apps. Wondering if I should pull or let it grow!

I would like to try growing some native seeds in pots over the winter. We have so many squirrels, chipmunks, and deer around here it is nearly impossible to keep them out of things. I’d rather not spend money on covers if I can help it.

Does this seem like an area that would be successful? It is south-facing but shaded by the neighbor’s house. Rain and snow comes in through the side but I’d probably need to water them a bit if there’s a long dry spell.

Let me know if anyone has had success with a set up like this, and if there are any modifications you’d suggest.

Some of the seeds I’d like to grow (these were from plants in my area, central Ohio 6b):
Dogbane
Common milkweed
Ironweed
Monarda, bergamot
Sea oats
Goldenrod (zigzag, tall, blue-stem)
Rudbeckia
Joe Pye weed
Various asters

Hey everyone! I’ve got some tree seeds but I’m unsure how to properly store them until it’s a more appropriate time to stick them in the fridge. (120 days from now it’s only like mid February)

I’ve got Black Walnut, Bitternut and Shagbark Hickory, as well as Cucumber Magnolia.

Just don’t want them to dry out before I start to cold stratify them. Thank you for any advice!

I’m mistakenly thought monarchs were visiting my desert milkweed here in Phoenix, but you all helped me identify they were actually queen butterflies fluttering around.

After their visits, I spotted a few milky green eggs, which matured over a few days and survived some intense Phoenix storms. Today, I spotted the first caterpillar! Let’s go little buddy!!!

For reference, here’s my original post about the butterfly visits.

I’m in Massachusetts and I spotted this in a zoo. Could you let me know if this is perennial and/or native plant ?

Edit: You all are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing your comments, insights, and helpful tips. I truly appreciate this community! ❤️

I should've taken photos of the market but this is everything I bought at the Grow Native Massachusetts first annual autumn plant market.

I got:

• Agastache scrophulariifolia - giant purple hyssop
• Asclepias exaltata - poke milkweed
• Asclepias tuberosa - butterfly milkweed
• Carex pensylvanica - Pennsylvania sedge
• Cirsium discolor - field thistle
• Eutrochium purpureum - sweet joe pyeweed
• Gentiana clausa - closed gentian
• Housatonia caerulea - bluets
• Liatris novae-angliae - New England blazingstar (the only liatris native to MA)
• Oenothera fruticosa - narrowleaf evening primrose/sundrops
• Polystichum acrostichoides - christmas fern
• Prunella vulgaris var. lanceolata - self heal
• Sisyrinchium angustifolium - blue eyed grass
• Solidago caesia - bluestem goldenrod
• Zizia aurea - golden alexanders
• A very cute fox cookie from a little girl selling baked goods!

It was sooo nice to see so many people out there buying native plants!! If you're near Lexington, it's going on until 3 today!

oh my god I wish I knew how to edit the title but it's Grow Native Mass

Hey y’all, I’ve seen that the general recommendation for planting milkweed is to direct sow the seeds in the fall. However, the area when I’m planning to grow them is currently being solarized to kill off grass (husband and I are working on a “pollinator meadow” area of the yard

Would it be best to winter sow these guys using the milk jug/ziploc technique and transplant seedlings , direct sow them in the spring when the area is ready, or wait until next fall to direct sow?

This sedge (?) popped up in my lawn area. I’m looking to ID whether it may be native and earn a permanent spot in my native plant area

Hey all - I am in NY (6b), and I'm wondering if I anything I should or can do for this late season monarch caterpillar. Little buddy has been hanging out for two days straight on a post on my porch, and we've had cold temperatures the past two nights (down to the 40s). They visibly moved their head yesterday so I know they were alive then but have been in the same spot since Thursday. Both their head and rear are looking a little grayer than they were. They're far away from the top of the post, so if they traveled up there looking for a spot to hang from I think they took a wrong turn.

My general guideline is don't intervene for a wild animal unless absolutely necessary which is why I haven't done anything so far, but this post is right at my front door so I'm walking by multiple times a day and it's keeping the "should I try to help?" question more top of mind than it would be otherwise.

Is it worth trying to move them to a nearby milkweed? I can't tell if they're dead, in cold torpor, or potentially about to molt but taking extra long due to the low temperatures.

Thanks all!

We have had freezing temps nearly every night for a couple weeks now, so I’ve transitioned into winter mode other than some late fall planting I still need to do. I was so sad when the season ended, but ended up finding fun ways to fill my time that I didn’t expect. I’ve been thrifting new pots and other structure/decorative items to make my garden look intentional in the winter time, ordered seeds for winter sowing, and set up a heated bird bath and some suet bird feeders to attract new birds (it worked!! I didn’t even realize we had downy woodpeckers and stellar jays where we live and they literally came 2 days after I set them up!!). Something that is really fun is that the native trees and plants seemed to encourage them to notice our yard!

I also want to plan out my paths this winter.

What are you focusing on to get through the cold months?

If I crash I crash 🫡

I'm a big fan of this tiny grass, danthonia spicata.

the foliage gets about ankle high.

it's a cool season grower, and established plants don't mind the current 40-70 temps, but the steady indoor temps allow them to start smoothly - they can fill plugs with just indoor light in about a month, and mid November is still fine weather for them, and tree leaves are mostly done falling by then, too

seed was collected in June, and given 60 days of cool moist stratification in the fridge. You definitely can't do this with every plant species.

Keys to gardening with this plant are that they are intolerant of taller plants, and can be smothered by leaf litter. Also it's so small I plant maybe 4 per square foot for best coverage

I'm reworking a huge section of my yard and I'm struggling to pick plants. I'd really love a database where I could search by bloom time, height, color, etc, in addition to growing conditions and native range, to help me come up with some good options for tricky areas. Does anything like that exist? What's your favorite search tool for planning/daydreaming/designing your garden?