Am I watching my world more intently this year? Am I observing Mother Nature more closely than before? Was the hot weather here at this time last year? This season seems to be much wetter when compared to the same time last year. Are we becoming a tropical micro-climate?
Can I keep up or am I going to always be a mediocre/bad gardener? Continue reading my rant and enjoy the beauties from my garden.
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Wild red clover. Escaped to my yard from a farmer's field.
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St. John's Wort...a native but this one is a cultivar.
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This year I am just a bit ahead of the weeds, but I know that Mother Nature will beat me eventually. She always does. She is such a marvelous chess player and at least four moves ahead all the time. I am just ahead of the diseases by removing infected parts of plants and not spraying.
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A non-native rose and a glutten for food and water. You can see the black spot already beginning.
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This summer I focus on native plants. I am trying to get rid of many of my non-natives. NOT ALL OF THEM! I have the favorites that I love in spite of the fact they do not contribute to pollination or to insect habitat. But I am trying to make more room for the natives, the locals, those that arrived before we started keeping track of which plant belongs here and which does not, which plant is not invited to the garden party and which plant has a long life-cycle of supporting all that is living but absolutely no joyous beauty and spreads like crazy. I have to be careful because there are environmental Nazis out there in the plant world that go crazy if you even think about a non-native for your yard. Maybe when they start paying the taxes I will listen more closely to their myopic chant.
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Echinacea or coneflower, a native. Super popular for those insect and bird lovers. These are varieties of the wild version.
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I used to not speak up, but now I no longer care that my yard is designed by me without adherence to some tightly structured environmental map. I do not use pesticides, use very limited and careful spraying of a fungicide on my roses on non-windy days in the early and mid-season, and do enjoy the varietals of native echinacea and St. John's Wort...even though these do not meet strict compliance of the true native.
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Native geranium. So delicate compared to commercial geraniums.
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Buttefly weed and one the super popular plants this decade.
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How about you? Are you a purist when it comes to gardening?
No, I am not a purist. We don't use very many chemicals but we do use some, to keep our lawn from being ripped up again, hopefully to keep our new raspberry plants from having spoiled, wormy fruit, weed control in gravel area. We have a lot of native ferns, shrubs, and trees, but our flowering plants are mostly cultivars that persist here where heat and sun are often lacking.
ReplyDeleteThe flowers are so vibrant. The clover is everywhere these days. I saw a big field covered in the same pink clover yesterday. It was an unusual sight. The bees must love it.
ReplyDeleteI figure just grow what you like. I can see that the natives might get along better than some of the others. Echinaceas and daylilies come to mind.
ReplyDeleteI tend towards native perennials because they come back every year and require less attention. the less attention part is good because summers here are HOT. but I have tropical favorites that require protection in the winter. I just cut my purple coneflowers back. I haven't seen the orange version. I like that.
ReplyDeleteyou share such beauty'
ReplyDeletelove your words
and remember
you are
special to this one
You are special here too. LOLL....I grow what manages to stay alive. I have one of lee's Bonzai succulents, and I have kept that alive since his death. It's a triumph.
ReplyDeleteOur yard is a lawn (not native, obviously, but required by the way things are now) and a Sago palm. For years i have wished i could grow plants, but alas, i have the dreaded black thumb. As for what others grow, i simply admire and do not pass judgment.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful, and good for you for encouraging native species. Oh my gosh I am an awful gardener, except for the plants on the deck which I do actually take care of, plus they're the only ones that receive much sun. We have a very large back yard that is mostly given over to a mini oak savanna that John manages. A small veggie garden, and a very tiny area loaded with snapdragons and daisies.
ReplyDelete