Laura (shown on right) answering questions about her garden.
Home of Laura and Andrew Yates
Wednesday, April 8th and Saturday, April 11th
Photos and highlights by Donna Short
Everyone was excited that it’s spring and Garden Gatherings are back! The Yates home was a perfect setting since it featured an abundance of spring ephemerals and wildflowers!
Laura has been a Wild Ones member since 2020 and has been interested in native plants and preserving natural habitats for as long as she can remember. In 1999, they moved into their current residence in Grantwood Village. Other than having many beautiful trees (some over 150 years old), the rest of the yard was overgrown with invasives and parched from an October drought. But the following spring, the backyard erupted in a display of spring wildflowers – bloodroot, toothwort, Virginia bluebells, wild sweet William, wild ginger, cream and yellow violets, Jacob’s ladder and more. And of course, we saw them all!
A view of the woodland garden
Sand Phlox (Phlox bifida)
Cream Violet (Viola striata)
Wild Sweet William (Phlox divaricata)
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) – Laura shared a story about how the Bloodroot traveled uphill to a new area – courtesy of ants!
Restoring a native woodland
This discovery of these spring wildflowers led Laura to direct her efforts to establishing a sustainable native landscape by ecologically restoring the native woodland habitat that would naturally be there. This is different than how most people garden with natives by finding spots in their yards where plants will grow (such as prairie plants in a sunny spot, woodland plants in a shady spot, etc.). Ecological restoration focuses on the plant community for that habitat that will become more self-sustaining once established.
Since Laura was using an ecological approach to gardening, the naturally occurring sedges, violets, and mosses replaced the struggling turfgrass and created a native matrix for additional plantings. Also, more than a dozen flowering dogwoods showed up naturally to fill the understory of the large oaks.
Red Buckeye blooms (Aesculus pavia)
May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum)
Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica)
Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
Combat the invasives
Laura and Andrew worked to remove invasives and developed ‘mother colonies’ of native woodland plants to reseed and spread in the areas cleared of invasives. Several more landscape areas were established in the front yard featuring ‘Leave the Leaves’, ‘Soft Landings’, ‘Slow gardening’, WildrScore and other management practices to support beneficial insects and songbirds.
Laura observes “we’ve reaped the benefit of creating a native habitat with the appearance of a ragged fringed orchid, and several cut-leaf grape ferns, all Missouri natives of upland forests”.
In the future, Laura plans to observe and document her garden’s flora and fauna development and her gardening practices to encourage others to follow this path. She also sees encouraging a self-sustainable garden as a way to cope with ageing since maintenance is minimized as the garden develops. In addition, she propagates many of the woodland species for planting in her yard and in the Village to promote genetic diversity.
Laura had informative signs throughout. This one was originally found in Trees a Guide to Familiar American Trees, a Golden Nature Guide published in 1952.
Laura serves as the Secretary for Wild Ones St Louis and is the Volunteer Coordinator for the Annual St Louis Native Plant Garden Tour and Partners for Native Landscaping Events.
There were a lot of opportunities for plant sharing, including potted seedlings.
We gathered for announcements from Marsha Gebhardt, Wild Ones St Louis President, who also encouraged everyone to read their Read All About It eMail newsletter for additional information and updates. This is emailed on or around the first of the month.
Thanks to Laura and Andrew for sharing their garden with us – it was a great way to kickoff spring!
