Due to shelter in place rules, many of us are now spending more time at home, and more time in our landscapes.
From discussions that we’ve had with several members, it is clear that each of us, having our very own “Homegrown National Park“, is a blessing right now! Being outside in the landscape provides fresh air, opportunities to observe nature, physical exercise, and a break from the news of the day.
What are YOU doing in your landscape this spring?
Leave a comment below so that others can read what you’ve been up to!
What could you share?
- What projects are you working on?
- What invasive species that you are removing?
- What you’ve been planting?
- What is blooming that you’re really enjoying?
- What wildlife have you seen?
We would love for every reader to comment and restore a little bit of what we are missing from our monthly gatherings
I am adding more spring wildflowers to some planting areas – more wild geranium, wild sweet william, spiderwort, shooting stars, bellwort, and others – amongst the later-blooming native plants and under trees and shrubs so that I’m getting the most out of my limited space.
Have also been digging out Star of Bethlehem out of my flower beds. I’m not tackling the grass sections til next year.
My 15- year old has the whole family removing honeysuckle from the subdivision common ground. Ryan arranged for the city to collect the debris, and the trustees will give him community service hours. He’s also planted half the seedlings we picked up and he’ll plant the rest after we clear more honeysuckle.
Wow! that’s great, keep up the good work! As I walk around the yard, I am finding SO MANY wintercreeper and honeysuckle seedlings, all I can do is just keep pulling them out
Thanks Amy and Ryan for being part of the solution! Less invasives, more natives!
I finally paid to have the remainder of the enormous burning bush cut out of my backyard. I’ve been burning burning bush (haha) and cutting out the bush honeysuckle and digging out the winter creeper that were lurking in it’s shade. I planted serviceberry and hazelnut seedlings a little distance from where it had been.
I’m anxiously waiting to see what seeds I sowed this winter appear. I’m impatient! Meanwhile the wild violets and roundleaf groundsel are in bloom and the redbuds and spicebushes are starting to bloom too.
Finally getting read of the burning bush? YAY! we had two huge ones to take out here
Really enjoying the yellow and blue of my mixed plantings of celandine poppy and bluebells. Pulling out wintercreeper and honeysuckle starts that the birds love to share with me. I’m also pulling out a lot of non native plants this year and backfilling with natives.
Brenda, what natives are you planting?
I have a LOT of Star of Bethlehem so I’m doing my best to dig it out. I also see little Wintercreeper and honeysuckle sprouts that I take great pleasure in pulling out. Just picked up a Nannyberry, Clove currant and Red elderberry from Greenscape Gardens – curbside service is wonderful! Tomorrow, when it’s cooler, I plan to start removing the ugly, dead and dying arborvitae I’d planted as a screen between our property and the neighbor to the west. The Nannyberry and Clove currant will have a new home there along with 3 trellises I’ll plant with coral honeysuckle.
Meeeeeeeeeeeee too – on the Star of Bethlehem. So much of it
What projects are you working on? — In the process of converting 50′ x 50′ into a largely native garden.
What invasive species that you are removing? — The usual suspects. My 1/3 of an acre is abundant in invasives: bush honeysuckle, wintercreeper, lesser celandine, Chinese yam.
What you’ve been planting? — Late Figwort, native beebalm, Culver’s root, serviceberry, buttonbush, purple giant hyssop, purple prairie clover, little bluestem and every sort of blazing star I could get at Greenscape before they closed.
What is blooming that you’re really enjoying? — Redbud and my Golden Alexanders make me smile but I am smitten every year by my rafts of native violets. Stunning!
What wildlife have you seen? — Not much yet. Last year I had a couple of box turtles which I hope make another appearance. Today many pollinators were out from tiny native bees to substantial bumblebees. Love them all and want to learn about them this year.
Late figwort is one of my favorites!
Decided to start a new garden bed in my front yard, so I’m putting down cardboard and moving mulch onto it. Ran out of cardboard so will be on a quest for more. Have all summer to make plant choices. Plenty of beds in my backyard to tidy up, and I am also finding an inordinate amount of winter creeper sprouting. Currently my redbud and golden currant are blooming, and both look amazing.
A new space to plant in is so exciting!
I am also finding lots of wintercreeper sprouts, they are so sneaky 🙁
Just saw my first monarch butterfly today! And the serviceberries are magnificent this year! I got my order from MO Wildflowers including salix, indian pink, and sky blue aster. I recently downloaded a native host plant info card from Grow Native! that I will post at my mailbox garden for the recent onslaught of walkers in my neighborhood. This garden will include solidago, aster, aronia, butterfly weed, sand phlox,, slender mt mint, blue and cardinal lobelia, and mist ageratum. I continue pulling wintercreeper opening up spaces in my native woodland garden that is naturally filling in (per Larry Weaner!) with bloodroot, wild ginger, carex, columbine, wild sweet William, Jacob’s ladder. Since Arbor Day is cancelled, I hope to giveaway many native potted trees and forbs through home delivery–so no contact.
That’s a great idea Laura! Posting information can go far in educating neighbors about the benefits of native plants
The Golden Currant, Redbud, Sand Phlox, Virginia Bluebells, Jacob’s Ladder and Golden Groundsel are all blooming nicely and creating color in the yard. The Golden Alexander and Columbine will pop shortly. Andy and I have spent the last 3 days emptying and cleaning out our water features. Wanted to take advantage of the 3 days of nice weather. The box turtles have been out, bumblebees and I saw a butterfly today.
Where do I begin…..I am totally enjoying my yard this year. It’s the second year for many of my natives. One of my spice bushes has bloomed along with my serviceberry. It’s exciting to check daily to see what has made it’s appearance. My plum tree is a real pollinator magnet with all sizes of pollinators and a couple of butterflies. It’s a regular buffet for a phoebe. My bluebells are gorgeous and my bloodroot was a welcome sight. I have chickadees and bluebirds nesting in my yard. So… this quarantine hasn’t been so bad. 😁
We just had an area of the backyard planted in natives…. black choke berry, ninebark, blue wild indigo, viburnum, rose mallow, roundleaf groundsel, alumroot, rose verbena, Missouri primrose, winterberry, Wild strawberry, purple poppy mallow and wild petunia, with red buckeye, New Jersey tea and wahoo to come. We but in a bubbler with shallow pool surrounding it last fall. We are enjoying seeing what comes to our yard. Had our first American bullfrog show up in the pool, have a bluebird pair nesting and chickadees have checked out another house. Makes this staying at home thing much more pleasant when nature comes to visit.
Raking leaves out of our garden beds kept me busy last week. Young plants were at risk of being smothered. One day, I bet I looked a bit crazy while crawling around my front yard searching for tiny seedlings of Hairy Bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta. They can flower when only an inch tall, but grow taller. A missed one will later launch its mature seeds three to six feet! Pulling Wintercreeper, Honeysuckle and Star of Bethlehem seedlings is a constant chore.
So far, our only new plantings are tree seedlings from the group order. Last year’s tree seedlings are budding out. Many volunteer wildflowers are emerging in our yard: Virginia Bluebells, Celandine Poppy, Jacob’s Ladder, and Prairie Pussytoes to name a few. I’ve transplanted several and will give some to my sisters and neighbors.
Spring Beauties have graced our front yard for over a month. This week, our Celandine Poppies in full bloom are a sight to behold! I bet there are more than 50 plants. They all started from one quart-size potted plant purchased in 2015. Bluebells and Wild Sweet William add to the wondrous scene. Our Spicebush, Serviceberry, and Fragrant Sumac bloomed for the first time this year.
Bluebirds, goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers and squirrels have been visiting our plants and feeders. Last week, I had a breathtaking close look at a Red-Tailed Hawk as it flew from a neighbor’s tree to our tree before choosing to perch high in the dead tree across the street. So cool!
We rebuilt our pondless bubbler, cleared bush honeysuckle in our neighborhood forest, planted 50 native tree and shrub seedlings in our yard and the neighborhood forest, transplanted natives, and installed a new insect hotel and butterfly house. We’re enjoying the first season of celandine poppy. And of course weeding.
Really enjoying reading about other people’s native gardening efforts! I’ve been doing spring cleanup at a very leisurely pace, leaving tallish stems for the bees and letting as many leaves stay in place as possible. Haven’t cut back the old river oats foliage at all for the past couple of years. I think there’s a rabbit nest there this spring. Ken and I have been sitting outside sometimes on fine afternoons – what a revelation! Usually, when I’m out there I’m working- not watching the birds or just enjoying the blooms. The red buckeye – one of my favorites- is in full bloom now and a couple of days ago, a red admiral flew around us, landed on my knee then moved to Ken’s knee and rested there for a while. What a gift!