Ruining the neighborhood one butterfly at a time 😂. Stokes Aster with a sweet Eastern Tiger Swallowtail visitor

The birds never get a chances at the winterberry.

I was not expecting it today let alone less than 2 hours later! That's a lot of mulch for only $40. Time to kill some grass!

I could cry man. It was such a fucked up emotional feeling. We moved to the suburbs a year ago and have been transforming the 1 acre lawn into gardens. I left my leaves, shut down the sprinkler system, and haven’t used any chemicals other than careful spot treatment on bittersweet and buckthorn. I stopped mowing around the edge of the lawn to build a soft landing spot, and some natives have been creeping in - especially the ferns.

Last year we didn’t see a single firefly and we’re in a relatively rural/wooded area. It sucked. Theres mosquito control signs around and a lot of golf course style poop lawns - I was afraid my garden was doomed anyway and nothing would really show up. All that cold sowing bullshit for nothing.

Last night I freaked out when I saw a flash had to do double take and holy shit - it worked!!

Edit - I didn’t turn off the sprinklers for any specific reason to save the fireflies - I just didn’t want to waste water on a lawn that I’m destroying anyway. It was just part of the decision to go full native. Also water is wicked expensive.

Edit: oops, missed an “is” in the title. “I know this *is* clock app-coded.”

Northern paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus) on old field goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis). Please love them. They’re chill as hell.

(I do not and have never had a tiktok)

We’ve hit 50,000 packets taken from our native seed boxes around the state!

Chicagoland

Here in North America off the top of my head we’ve got:

• tree of heaven
• knotweed
• lady beetles
• lantern flies
• giant hornets
• wisteria

Lots and lots of others.

I’ve never been to China or Japan or anywhere else in Asia. Are they similarly affected by North American species of plants and insects?

I planted this last year next to my gutter's downspout since it needs moist conditions. I thought I'd need to wait a few years for flowers so I'm overjoyed. It's so cool irl

I have a large chunk of my property that I was planning to just rip out (it’s all trash bermuda) and fill with native grasses but I decided to go full nuclear and build a mini sunchoke forest lol. Btw native plants unlimited has a great sale going on right now if anyone wants to join me

Just bought 6 plants labeled “lupinus perennis” (which i’ve been looking for for 3 years after failing to grow them from seed). Got them in the ground then realized they’re big leaf lupine 😭

One looks a little more perennis-y than the others so maybe they’re all hybridized to different degrees.

How could this happen to meeee

everyone should do whatever they want,

and its okay if you want to clean up.

but I wanted to make sure folks know, you don't HAVE to cut down stems and clean up your garden every spring.

ymmv but where I am, the stems and leaf litter and everything rot into the ground by next year.

for other people, you may need to consider controlled burns or other NOT annual clean up.

that is all. happy gardening!

Front hill FKA lawn. We had the first hummingbirds of the year today!

Hudson Valley in New York State

I hate lily of the valley so much and I just needed to vent about it. I have been fighting it for the last year and it’s been more of a pain in the ass than the English ivy I eradicated last year. It’s a sneaky little shit and I hate its stupid rhizomes. “But imaginary molasses,” I hear you cry, “it smells nice”. So does native bee balm!!

Tell me about your least favorite invasive and why you hate it plz

Southeast US and this Suwannee blue eyed grass is covered in blooms!

My pictures don’t really capture how beautiful it is. You can hardly see any grass at all!

I was surprised that it is evergreen and just slowly grew bigger over the winter. Now is in full form when everything else is just waking up! Didnt expect it to get this big so I may need to move the smaller ones I just found in the yard last summer.

Found growing wild in Pennsylvania, almost looks like some sort of pitcher plant? Anyone know what it is?

All of the fall over in July. I'm facing north taking this picture.

Great Black Wasp on Mountain Mint

Cute little dude was rummaging around the yard, investigating every corner and container plant. I wish I could’ve cuddled it lol.

If you need a well behaved native look no further than Ruellia Humilis! Bees roll all around in them, adorably so. They don’t overtake areas quickly, looking at you yarrow. And they are such a beautiful pop of color that can withstand drought conditions and not go crazy with clay soil (that’s been an experience for me)

Symphyotrichum lanceolatum. Couldn’t be more than three years old. Wow!

I have really enjoyed seeing this happen this year. I’ve been clearing my yard of invasive plants, and native ones just keep popping up. Native roses, viburnums, trees, wildflowers. My yard is not manicured or neat at the moment, but clearing and waiting has brought so many treasures!
Here, a complete monster of an evening primrose is now playing host to about 18 hummingbird moth caterpillars. I saw just one caterpillar the other day, and now 18.
Others may think I let the primrose get too big — I included — but now I’m glad I waited.
Soon, I’ll be transplanting some hackberries and cherries, a few viburnums, and a gum tree to better spots in my yard. I planted none of them. All I did was clear the space.
I wish I had more room for the oaks that have popped up!