As we continue to peruse our seed catalogs that have arrived in our mailboxes (hey, it’s cheaper than therapy!) let’s go deep into one of my other favorite species, Asters. Recently horticulturalists changed the genus name from Aster to a combo platter of various names, depending on continent. As science continues to advance with DNA sequencing, so does the way we categorize plants based on where they have grown and naturalized. A study in 1994 noticed a chromosomal difference between asters grown across the pond and the ones that are native to North America. So it seems that the giant Aster family is divided into Eurasia asters, and North American asters, which gets subdivided into a variety of genus groups-mainly:

As someone who works very hard (by herself) to publish guidebooks to help readers such as yourself choose native plants easily for your own conventional garden, this stuff gives me a headache. This aster family is not the only one that had major name changes from this study. If you pick up an older book at the library for your research (which I have to do for my books) you may find the older Latin names versus the newer ones. Now add to this “naming salad” the common names gardeners use for native plants that get overused-such as “woodland aster”, and you can see why picking and identifying plants could drive a gardener to throw in the trowel. (see what I did there?)

Well, I promise to keep learning, perfecting, simplifying, and sharing the best info I have to help you help the planet. As long as we are all trying, that is a step in the right direction, right?

Planting North American asters (Asteraceae) gives your garden great late season color when most of the other plants have gone to seed. More importantly, asters provide late-season food for pollinators and especially the Monarch butterfly. Pollinators are either gathering for overwintering or fattening up for migrations. The same holds true for the Monarch, who needs to make their way to Mexico in the fall-roughly 3,000 miles. Asters-as well as goldenrods-play a giant role in making sure the migratory species get what they need to travel.

There are about 90 North American species from the family Asteraceae, so to give you a rundown on each of them….well, that is a book unto itself. But here are some top favorites from various footprints in the USA that you can check out, each with its own growing needs, colors, and heights. A few are dainty enough for a pot! And even an aggressive grower can be contained in a pot, too, if you are reticent to add it to your established garden. Finding a spot for a few late-season asters will bring many hungry pollinators and Monarchs! Enjoy the show, and feel good knowing you are helping the biodiversity in your own back yard.

White wood aster (Eurybia divaricate)
We love this aster because it gives you color and pollinator power for shade-loving, drought-tolerant woodland areas! It begins blooming in late August with bright white petals and centers of yellow and red. It grows to 12-18”, with dark green shiny foliage. It can be a vigorous grower.Large-leaved wood aster (Eurybia macrophylla)
Another shade-loving aster, this one gives you pale lavender flowers with yellow centers. This can be some welcome color for shadier areas. It is a late summer-bloomer, with large pale green leaves that spread quickly to form an attractive groundcover. The foliage is a large 6” long with 18” flower stalks.Blue wood aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)
Blue wood-aster thrives in sun to part shade and is a fall-blooming aster with billowy lavender-blue flowers and heart-shaped leaves. It makes a great urban plant, growing at around 2 feet high. in moist to dry infertile soils. The flowers attract long-tongued bees, short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, skippers, and beetles.New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
This is a powerhouse pollinator, and ranked as a 3-star nectar and pollen source for honey bees, by “Garden Plants for Honey Bees”. The fall-blooming flowers range from bright purple to pink flowers with yellow centers. They grow to be 2-4 feet high, but a pruning/pinching in July can keep the plants more compact and dense. It prefers part shade and moist soils.

Tall white aster (Doellingeria umbellata)
This tall white aster is a summer to fall blooming aster with large, bright bunches of yellow-centered white flowers, similar to small daisies. This species is a vigorous grower and spreads to become a large colony. It likes moist soil and grows to 3-4′ high.Smooth blue aster / smooth aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)
This aster likes full sun, but tolerates part shade, with loose clumps of smooth blue-green foliage. Violet to purple sprays of flowers with bright yellow centers showers the stalks. It from late summer to fall in drier soils. This aster grows from18″-3′ high.

Flax-leaved stiff-aster (Lonactis linariifolia)
This aster is a daintier species and thrives in drier, more arid conditions. Flowers bloom in medium purple to pale lavender and sometimes white, from August to September. The flowers have pine needle-like foliage. It’s these stalks and leaves that give it a spruce-like feel, similar to flax. It’s these leaves that give it some of its common names like “flax-leaved aster” or “bristly aster”. It is also called “ankle aster” because of how short it is and tends to graze your ankles as you walk near it. This smaller aster would be a great candidate for containers. It grows 8-12” high.Sky blue aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense)
True to its name, sky blue aster has blue to blue-violet flowers on 2-3 foot stalks. It’s an easy grower and drought-tolerant, making it a hardy grower for many gardens. It blooms in late summer to fall, like most Asters. It attracts many large and small butterflies, small bees, flies, skippers, and wasps.Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolius)
Aromatic Aster is one of the last asters to bloom in the late fall (as late as November), and grows further west than other species, and is more drought-tolerant, too.  Even though it is called “aromatic”, the blooms are not fragrant on their own. Its name refers more to the aroma of the leaves when crushed or bruised. This species grows about 2 feet tall and thrives in sunny areas.

Heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides)
This aster is a Missouri native plant, with the smallest flowers of the aster family, with delicate white ray flowers (sometimes blue or pink) with yellow centers. It is a bushy, compact plant with many-branched stems creating an impressive spray of blooms. It grows usually 2′ high, and blooms in late summer to early fall, and attracts many butterflies.Fendler’s aster (Symphyotrichum fendleri)
Another small-statured aster, growing 4-16” high, and usually landing in the 8” range. This makes it a great candidate for containers and small gardens. It is the most drought tolerant of the aster family, thriving in full sun. In September these asters are at their peak of bloom time, covered in lavender daisies.

Calico aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum)
Also called goblet aster, side-flowering aster, because it often leans toward one side on account of the flowers favoring on side of the plant. These asters grow to 1-3′ tall. The delicate flowers range from white to a very pale purple. The species gets its common name from the variety of colors of its flowers’ centers, similar to calico fabric. This aster attracts a variety of smaller-tongued insects because of the flower’s shorter nectar tubes.Many-rayed aster (Symphyotrichum Anomalus)
This aster has a very long bloom time, with a profusion of daisy-like flowers with bright purple to violet rays and yellow centers. It grows 2.5-3.0′ high, in a very stiff and upright manner. Butterflies love this aster. It thrives in average soil and full sun.New York aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii)
This aster is a clump-forming perennial with lance-shaped leaves and large flower heads filled with 20 or more purple, pink or white flowers with yellow centers These are visited by Monarchs and other butterflies, and many bees. It grows 3-4’ tall. This species is also called Michaelmas daisy and can thrive in a variety of sun conditions-from full sun to shade.

The post Asters, a Power Pollinator. 14 Best Aster Species for Bees and Butterflies. appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

One of the things I love most about writing my books about native flowers and plants is discovering how diverse various flower families are. I discovered this specifically when I was researching plants for my BEE NATIVE! FLOWER POT POWER book. The book was all about finding hidden gems in native flower families that could thrive in smaller gardens and in particular, pots and containers. Native flowers are usually clumped together in an “aggressive prairie plant” bucket by conventional gardeners. The reality is that native flower families have species that thrive in a variety of habitats and growing conditions. Goldenrod, for instance, is considered a bossy aggressive flower native to the prairies of America. Yet there is a whole group of goldenrods that are native to shadier woodlands. These woodland goldenrods are more well-behaved than their prairie cousins, and can also tolerate some shade. If you are struggling with finding some native flowers to help the bees that work within your growing parameters, I urge you to dig a little deeper in certain families, there may be a species that works perfectly for your needs.

So in the spirit of garden inspiration, (after all, some of us are dusting off our garden journals as we peruse seed catalogs arriving in the mail) I am going to do some deep dives into various flower families for some of my “Wild Wednesdays” posts. Today it is all about Echinacea—yes, the “bread and butter” of gardens. This species is known to be drought-tolerant, with long bloom times. But beyond the usual “purple coneflower”, there are species that have different petal structures, different colored pollen, and different colors!

Hopefully, this will give you some ideas as you start planning for spring. Don’t give up on native flowers for your garden. Bees are four times more likely to pollinate a native versus a non-native species, and natives provide much more nutrients for bees and pollinators. Adding native plants and flowers can make a big impact in your backyard.

The Echinacea Family

Purple coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
2-4 feet, full sun
The bread and butter of most Midwest gardens, this coneflower is often considered to be the prettiest and very adaptable to a wide range of soils and temperatures.

Narrow-leaf coneflower
Echinacea angustifolia
1.5-2 feet, sun to part shade
This coneflower is the most northerly ranging coneflower. It is also the smallest, and really the hardiest, especially with drought.

Yellow coneflower
Echinacea paradoxa
2-3 feet, full sun
This flower is the largest in the family, with unique yellow flowers, not purple, thus the name “paradox”.

Topeka purple coneflower
Echinacea atrorubens
1-3 feet high, full sun to light shade
A rare coneflower, and with a small native footprint in Texas and states north of it, and is best known primarily to be native to Kansas. The blooms range from red to pink, with thin petals drooping down away from the center disc.

Wavy leaf coneflower/Glade coneflower
Echinacea simulata
2-3 feet high, full sun to part shade
This coneflower has very thin ray petals drooping away from the center disc, with pale pink colors. Its pollen is yellow which helps distinguish it from E. pallida (with white pollen), though they look very similar.

Tennessee purple coneflower
Echinacea tennesseensis
1.5-2 feet high, full sun to part shade
This is a very rare coneflower, and the official wildflower of Tennessee. In 1979, it was one of the first plants to be listed as endangered by the U.S. but was removed from the list in 2011 after successful conservation efforts. A unique aspect of this flower is the upturned ray petals, which are different than the drooping petals typical of the echinacea family.

Pale purple coneflower
Echinacea pallida
2-3 feet high, full sun to part shade
This species produces tall stalks with gorgeous flowers dressed in drooping ray petals, like a ballerina skirt. The pollen on the anthers is white, differentiating it from wavy leaf coneflower, which looks similar but has yellow pollen.

Sanguine purple coneflower
Echinacea sanguinea
1-3 feet high, full sun to part shade
This coneflower is the most southerly-ranging of the species, producing clusters of stately, showy flowers earlier in the season than its cousins. The name “sanguine”, is Latin for “blood”, and refers to the color of the petals.





 These flowers sit atop long elegant stalks, like tall ballerinas.

Smooth purple coneflower
Echinacea laevigata
1-5 feet high, full sun to part shade
This coneflower is a federally listed endangered species found in the Piedmont regions, specifically in Virginia and North Carolina. This plant had much of its habitat destroyed when areas were converted to pine plantations.
 The flower looks similar to pale purple coneflower, yet leaves lay low to the base and are very smooth and elongated, and the flowers are smaller.

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Would you like some native flowers to decorate your wall? My native wildflower poster on Etsy is a best seller, and a percentage of profits get donated to The Bee Conservancy at year’s end! The poster features my own illustrations, all found in my BEE NATIVE! books as well. 

I also created a specific echinacea poster featuring the species in this post! So if you are a coneflower lover and like my watercolors, you can buy the print through my Etsy shop! Click on the poster below.

The post There’s More to Coneflowers than Just Purple! Explore 9 Echinacea Species for every Garden Need. “Wild Wednesdays” appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

“Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream.”
– Josephine Nuese, author of The Country Garden

It’s seed catalog season, everyone.

Some long time readers may have noticed that as I have grown, so have my blog’s interests. As my child has grown up, and become more private, I too have had to share less about my mom-journey, and pivot to other interests. I seem to have channeled my “mothering” instincts into our planet’s needs, as I have been researching, writing, and advocating for native plants to support the world’s pollinators over the past few years. Bees, butterflies, moths, and the larger insect population that pollinates the world’s food supply has diminished by almost half. What started as a few native plants gifted to me by a friend, has grown into 5 books, a new brand, a line of products, and a business plan to include (hopefully) a 501C3. The world’s pollinators are dying. The numbers are sobering, and if we don’t staunch the bleeding the world will slowly become uninhabitable. It’s a lot of gloom and doom, no doubt. But what I tell my students and readers is that this is something we can easily change. Simply adding native plants to a space you inhabit can almost double the pollinator population in your area! Imagine if every single person in this country started gardening, and taking a piece of their balcony, porch, or garden, and planting some native flowers and grasses? The positive impact would be mind-blowing! We could turn things around for the better quite quickly.

Planting natives is still a niche thing, and I am not sure why. But because of this, finding plants is quite difficult. There are a few nurseries in each state that carry them, and many parks and nature conservancies run plant sales in the spring. It takes a lot of research and planning to find and attend many of these, which prevents this kind of gardening from entering the mainstream. My dream is to have a big box store take on the pollinator dilemma full force. Once millions of Americans see a tableful of milkweed, butterfly weed, and anise hyssop with a sign that says “support pollinators”, then we can see some rapid change.

Until then, it is up to you and me, dear reader. And a great, inexpensive way to start bringing unique native plants into your space is through seeds. Winter may not be a great time to do a lot of planting, but it is a great time to start PLANNING (and dreaming). I have listed below some great seed catalogs you can sign up for now, and start flipping through as we roll into deep winter with a hot cup of tea and a blanket. Get your garden journals out and start planning. Some of the companies below only have an online catalog, but most have one you can download and print, and quite a few will mail you one for free if you sign up for one.

If you need help choosing which plants are right for you (shameless plug alert), visit my book page and check out my gardening guide books. Even if you have a small space, or just a porch or rooftop garden, I have a book for you. There are wonderful natives that can thrive in small spaces and containers and I collected quite a few in my BEE NATIVE! FLOWER POT POWER book. Many urban dwellers are overlooked in the garden world, and it’s in the urban spaces we really need to bring some habitat back! I see you, apartment owner! You can help too! I promise. Even a small window box can do wonders.

Let’s get our seed game on readers. Also, come April, look for seed swaps you can attend (COVID permitting) in your area. Usually, you can join a neighborhood group on Facebook and if you asked the group about them, someone will know of one. It’s a great way to meet like-minded gardeners and get some really unique seeds.

Click on the nursery names below to visit their sites, and get signed up for goodies!

American Meadows

This site is a mix of cultivars, natives, grasses, and the like. You can search via region, and there are great resources and tips.

Prairie Nursery

The bread and butter of native seeds, with a shoppable, intuitive site. Easy online catalog or mailable catalog.

Eden Brothers

A nice selection of heirloom seeds, unique native seeds as well as bulbs and cultivars. Very shoppable site. The catalog is online.

High Country Gardens
This nursery is all about sustainable gardening, and they have a lot of native seeds and a big milkweed selection for Monarch support.

Prairie Moon Gardens
My go-to for hard-to-find native plants and flower seeds.

Native American Seed

Wonderful selection of native grass seeds, and shoppable via botanical name and common name.

Roundstone Native Seeds

This is a place that has flown under the radar, but shouldn’t. Natives, like their name, are hyper-local to their habitats and locations, and this seed company organizes, nurtures, and sells native seeds that are focused on those growing needs. In turn, you can really make a positive impact on your local food web.

Ernst Seeds

Downloadable and mailable catalog, one of the largest native seed providers on the East Coast.

Fieldstone Gardens

(can print a version of their online catalog)

This site is VERY rudimentary, yet a great selection including grasses and vines, which can be hard to find.

Harris Seeds
Their wild selection is limited, though they have a very large supply of cultivars, annuals, vegetables, and such. I included them in this list because they do have GREAT seed starting tools in their supplies section, like lights, trays, pellets, etc.

Jung Seeds
This source does have some good native selection, but they are mixed in with the cultivars, annuals, and herbs. So you do need to know what you are looking for or get the catalog and just browse away with a sharpie!

Richters

This nursery has an herb focus and many herbs ARE loved by pollinators. The catalog is online only.

Urban Farmer

Great wildflower section which you can specify state to state.

West Coast Seeds

A great interactive site, super shoppable, a lot of digital download guides and resources. This is my new
favorite internet stop, even if I live in the Midwest- I don’t care! It’s a little gardener’s paradise. They get an A+ on website experience.

Wildseed Farms

This nursery has a bit of a quirky mix of products, and their wildflower section contains cultivars, but they do have some great finds in the wilds section, and some nice native grasses.

Annie’s Annuals and Perennials

This quirky site is like the “Trader Joes” of gardening. and for my west coast readers, this seed company covers not just native plants but California native flowers–including a great selection of Yarrow to make any bee and butterfly happy.

Bluestone Perennials

Organizes the online feature to sun needs, grow zone, planting needs-a site after my own heart.

Burnt Ridge Nursery

This site is less about flowering natives and more about permaculture, with a lot of native shrubs, ground covers, and trees for the Northwest. This can help some of you create that “keystone planting” that naturalist Doug Tallamy talks about, where one major native plant supports a big part of the food web, and then you plant other things around it to support it.

Greenwood Nursery
This nursery sells a mix of cultivars and some great wildflower seed mixes–for those of you that just want to dump a seed mix in an area and watch it flourish (no fuss!).

Wayside Gardens

I was ambivalent about adding this nursery, but the selection here is just eye-popping, though they do not carry that many natives
and just a few sub-native cultivars from natives. But I like mixing it all up and this is a nice catalog that is full of gardening fun.

Lilypons
Great selection of water plants for ponds and container water features. Adding a water feature, even if it’s in a container, will support a lot of pollinators and wildlife. Water is life! Every living thing needs it.

Swallowtail Seeds

This is another little underdog on the web, with a great selection. I bought from here before and was very pleased. It was for seeds I could not find anywhere else. They have a mix of wildflowers, wild grasses, ornamentals, and cultivars.

Happy Garden Dreaming!

The post My Top Seed Catalogs for Native Flowers and Plants for 2021, “Wild Wednesdays!” appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

I was shaken to my core with heartbreak and anger when I saw a neighbor burning a huge swath of her property, just to get rid of her leaves. The featured photo above shows how big her fire was. She piled her leaves along a rocky, grassy berm that ran the length of her property, and just set it alight. Beyond how dangerous this was, and alarming, she is doing considerable damage to the biodiversity in the area. Many people have talked to her about some of her yard practices, to no avail. So I did not bother to go over and introduce myself or talk to her about what she was doing, I knew it would fall on deaf ears, and I wanted her to focus on the gigantic bonfire she was “managing”, in case she set the neighbor’s house on fire, too.

I can’t change her habits, but I am using it as an opportunity to educate the rest of the world. Because the only reason people handle their leaves and yard work in this way is that “old habits” die hard, and new knowledge and understanding are hard-fought. It’s the whole reason I do what I do, and write my books and speak and teach, and make videos….etc etc.

• We gather our leaves, lightly mulch some of them, and pile all of them on our garden beds. At our cabin in the country, we do the same, but we have a lot more leaves. So the balance gets thrown in a ravine in the woods. We use a large tarp, like a dustpan, and sweep the leaves right on it. We drag the tarp to the forest and dump. These layers of leaves will provide nesting areas and cover through the winter.

• Prune lightly the bushes that need it, and only the top third. Leave a lot of stems left for nesting bees. Leave a lot of the flowers seed heads on your flowers and flowering shrubs, for shelter and food for birds. Yes, this looks messy, but the ’90s are over. You don’t need to prune back and tidy your yard for winter. Who is going to see it anyway? Nature needs food and shelter for the tough months ahead.

• Leave your pruned twig piles in an area for wildlife and nesting areas for the winter. If that’s too messy for you, you can roll them in a bundle and tie them off, and tuck them somewhere out of sight.

• Grab some pumpkin spice lattes and chill.

The post Fall Garden Chores that Help-Don’t Hurt-Pollinators and Biodiversity, “Wild Wednesdays!” appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

If you are like me, you probably gave your houseplants some summertime fun outside. However, now fall has settled in and it’s too cold outside for houseplants. Perhaps you may consider bringing in potted herbs and cuttings for your kitchen escapades, too. Bringing plants in from the outdoors can be tricky. There is a lot to consider, especially if you have very dry heat and a drafty house. I address steps to take in how to bring in plants successfully, and even go through my chemical-free treatments when problems arise. See below! It’s the most recent episode of Fridays with Flora.

If you want to stay up on all the Fridays with Flora series, subscribe to the youtube channel!

The post House Plants are all the Rage. Bringing Houseplants Indoor For Winter. appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

As we prep our gardens for fall, which normally means putting things to bed and saying goodbye to the growing season for a while, there are still things you can plant in the ground right now. Granted, September is typically better than October to plant bulbs, but if the fall keeps being mild enough, you can get some great native spring-flowering bulbs in now, and feed the pollinators early in the season.

Here are the best native bulbs to plant:

Bluebells!

This plant is native to moist woodlands and likes shade to part shade, but is very flexible to normal garden conditions. In fact, I have a few of them in my own part-shade garden bed. Like most woodland habitats, it does like rich, loamy, moist soil. It can’t thrive in part sun, but the more sun it receives the more water it will need.

All the Alliums!

So many alliums, so little room in my garden. Alliums are native onions, but don’t let that stop you from planting these lovelies. Bees adore these puffy-bright flower balls, and they bring strong color and design elements to any garden bed. There are so many kinds of alliums-from prairie onions that like sun, to nodding woodland onions that like shade.

Spider Lily!

These flowers look tropical and exotic and grow very tall. They are native to the southern half of the country, except for the water species which I believe has a larger native footprint. They like the sun and thrive in the cold zones between 7-10.

Consider Spring Ephemerals to plant this fall

Beyond bulbs, bare root stock of spring ephemerals can be planted in late fall, for those early spring flowers. What is a spring ephemeral, you may ask? It’s a delicate flower that comes up and then disappears back into the ground again, with a short life cycle. This group of plants is usually woodland natives. If you plant them in your garden, be aware that they will leave an “open spot” in your design once they are done with their life cycle. Plan to put some later blooms around or in front of these delicate flowers so you keep a full-looking garden, and you also feed the pollinators all season.

Bare root stock can get settled in the soil, regardless of those early frosts happening above ground. That’s why spring bulbs work so well, too. Mulch the area for good measure, with wood chips and leaf mulch. And watch the early natives pop their sweet little heads out in March and April. Here are my top favorite ephemerals which you can plant now, with their rootstock. These are pollinator FAVORITES, and it is very important to have early blooms to feed them. They either have just woken up or migrated from warmer climates, and either way, they are hungry and ready to work! Early spring isn’t filled with abundant blooms, yet. Spring ephemerals are key to getting the spring food-web supported.

Here is my favorite spring ephemerals list for fall planting:

Celandine Poppy

This gives you little bursts of color in a part shade garden. Similar to its name, the flowers do look like poppies with its four petals.

Shooting Stars

The flower’s petal clusters fall back and come together very much like the tail of a shooting star.

Spring Beauty

Each flower features five petals in either pink or white colors with dark pink veining.

Trout Lily

Each stalk bears one bright yellow flower, shaped like a lily. Called a trout lily, on account of the speckled pattern on its leaves that look like trout fish.

Dutchman’s Breeches

This woodland favorite features flowers that look like doll-sized, Victorian pantaloons, hanging upside down drying on a clothesline

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For more of my very own Illustrations (above), and much more information on these and other native flowers and plants to help pollinators, check out my books.

If you like my illustrations and want to decorate your wall with some of these pretty bee favorites, check out my wildflower poster, a best-seller on Etsy.

Also, to see some of these woodland natives, and other native plant favorites in their habitat, check out my “Flora and the Bees” video series.

The post Top Native Bulbs and Spring Ephemerals List to Plant Now, in the Fall. “Wild Wednesdays!” appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

Fall is a great time to get your grass in good shape. Or get rid of it.
Ways to have a grass-free lawn, and why.

I get a lot of questions in my classes around native plant replacements for lawns. In fact, I keep getting more and more questions about it, which is really encouraging. It means people are starting to realize that their conventional- Americana-white-picket-fence-perfect-green-lawn is doing nothing for their local food web, especially the pollinators.

Now look, I have grass just like most of my neighbors. I am also married and would like to stay that way. Men and their lawns have a relationship that goes far back in our American culture. They spend time mowing it, trimming it, fertilizing it. They compete with the neighbors, share trade secrets with each other. It’s as part of their outdoor summer routine as grilling. It defines them. To understand this aspiration around a perfect lawn and our male partners’ psyche, we need to go back a little in our own history.

licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Grass species were brought over from the estates of England, Ireland, and Europe. Usually, these beautiful grassy landscaped gardens were found on the big manors and castles of lords and ladies and dukes and duchesses, tended to by an army of gardeners and landscapers. Grass was a symbol of wealth and prosperity. So when our forefathers came over here they wanted to create grassy lawns and landscapes of their own. The challenge is that the climate where these grasses grow is not the same climate as we have in areas of North America. England and Ireland are cooler. with a lot of consistent moisture- a perfect combo platter for growing grass. They rarely have drought and really strong heat. This is the same reason why fall is a nice time to get your lawn green and ship-shape before winterizing it. But be warned, as in all things non-native, it takes a lot more time, effort, resources, and chemicals to keep grass green and happy in America. Usually, this does not bode well for the environment or for local insects and animals. The amount of chemicals that it takes to keep grass green and weed-free is usually very harmful to pollinators and animals. In fact, many suburban lawns have signs warning children and pets need to stay off the lawn 24 hours after a chemical treatment. If it’s that toxic for humans and pets imagine what it’s doing to your local environment, especially small insects like bees?

Grass Lawns licensed under CC BY 2.0

Suburban Sprawl CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The other issue with grass is that it does not feed the local food web. Grass doesn’t play host to any pollinators, nor does it offer nectar or pollen. It doesn’t provide shelter or food for many species. Now imagine yards and yards and yards of green lawns in giant suburbs that are not offering any support to the local food webs? Those miles of grass turn into acres and acres of green wasteland. This is contributing largely to habitat loss, which housing developments don’t even realize. I would venture to say that green lawns are worse than the cement and pavement of our cities, because of the sheer amount we have planted in this country. I get it, it’s part of the American dream to have a house with 2.5 kids, a white picket fence with a nice green lawn for the children and pets to play on. It’s deep in our DNA, and it’s very hard to convince a homeowner to get rid of their lawn. But maybe we don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater? And if you do I have some tips to help you have a grassless lawn.

1: Take a piece of your lawn, and turn it into something else

Forest Service – Northern Region licensed CC BY 2.0

You only need a few square feet of a native flower garden, or native grasses, to help bring some habitat back into your space. You and your lawn-loving hubby need to compromise on a spot in the yard to plant some native flowers and grasses, and perhaps even a big “keystone” planting. (Bio-diversity guru Doug Tallamy of Nature’s Best Hope refers to these kinds of plants as one big native anchor that can support a multitude of species, like an American oak tree, or a serviceberry bush.) This is a good compromise. I finally convinced my husband to take the sad-looking patch of lawn struggling in a mostly shaded area in front of our house and grow native grasses that prefer shade. Yes, there are a few (buy my books if you don’t believe me!). It will look a lot better than what is going on there now. Why fight nature? Sometimes you need to just embrace it and pivot.

2: There is one native grass to North America, called Buffalo Grass. Plant that instead.

RobW_ licensed CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Yes, we have only one native grass species to this continent, and it can grow anywhere and handle anything. But it is an expensive seed, especially if you get a ‘pure seed’ buffalo grass. Check the bag before you buy it because that will affect the price as well as the success of your grass. Buffalo grass is drought tolerant and does prefer warm soil. It doesn’t like a lot of fertilizer, being native. It is slow to germinate, so be patient. But your patience will be rewarded with a lush and hardy lawn that needs little maintenance.

3: Replace the grass with pollinator loving ground cover.

There is native ground cover options, and there are herbal ground covers that pollinators go crazy for. Here are a few good ones to consider:

sweet woodruff RobW_ licensed CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Sweet woodruff –this ground cover has dainty flowers in the spring
and can tolerate light shade.

Creeping thyme – power pollinator and good for heavy foot traffic

CREEPING THYME pellaea licensed CC BY 2.0

Corsican mint – not as aggressive as other mints, so it will take its time filling in

MINT ben_hengst licensed CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Clover – yes, I know everyone wants to kill clover in their yards and it has been thought of as a weed. But clover seed used to be mixed in with hayseed for farmers in the 1900’s. It feeds the soil with nitrogen, and the pollinators (clover honey anyone?). One of the most popular lawn alternatives is white clover (Trifolium repens), also known as Dutch clover or Dutch white clover.

CLOVER Ronald Douglas Frazier licensed CC BY 2.0

4: Evergreen moss

MOSS [luis] is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

5: Try “mowable” perennial native flowers and herbs

If planned right, you can have a short, turf-like flowering carpet all season long. Some gardeners have found that with consistent mowing, the flowers train themselves to grow short and compact. Flowers like violets, chamomile, English daisies, creeping thyme, and yarrow can create an aromatic, steppable, and colorful lawn for your family-and the pollinators.

6: Try native ornamental grasses

Colorado Smooth Brome Grass nature80020 licensed CC BY 2.0

Native grasses like prairie dropseed and Pennsylvania sedge are great options. The first is good in droughts and wet seasons, and the second sounds good for rain gardens. Side-oats grama is also a great option. Many native grasses play host to many moths and butterflies, supporting the greater food web. You can keep them tall and bushy, or keep them trimmed up and neat. Look at what can work in your area.

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I am often asked, “If I choose to get rid of my lawn and try one of these approaches, how best do I get rid of my current growth in the area?” My best advice is to first, dig up and get rid of what you can. Pull everything out from the roots. Then I recommend a method called “soil solarization”, where you cover the area with plastic and hold it in place with a dirt trench along its edge. Then let the sun do the rest. The sun’s radiation cooks things under there and kills the seeds and roots left from your demolition. The sun decomposes it quickly giving the soil a hearty boost. It is best to do this method during the height of summer, for about 4-6 weeks. Then your area is ready for new plantings.

I urge you to reconsider what “American landscaping” means, and if you don’t wish to give up your lawn completely, consider a little corner just for mother nature to “do her thing”. We need to make room for her, or she will eventually kick us all out of the house.

The post Tips on Growing a Grass-Free Lawn with Natives: Wild Wednesdays! appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

Introducing “Wild Wednesdays!” These posts will be plant features, tips, news, and musings about wildflowers and native plants to support pollinators and bio-diversity. No matter what size garden, everyone can make a difference. Join me every Wednesday, and let’s help save the bees and butterflies.

As we passed the fall equinox, I began a winter to-do list for the garden. I am sure you are doing the same. If you are hoping to nudge your outdoor space into a more pollinator-friendly habitat, I have great news for you! Less is more! Less work. Less tidying. Less everything! Yes, it also means a bit more work come spring, but only a little bit. Even that workload I urge caution and slowness, to assure pollinators are waking up and leaving their nests before you go hog-wild cleaning out beds. But that is another post for next year. Right now, I have a few tips and thoughts regarding fall garden chores and tips to support pollinators and the greater food web in your area.

Leave Leaves.

Many people are surprised to hear how many bee species nest in the ground under piles of dead plant matter and debris. Certain species of butterflies and moths also need a blanket of leaves to hibernate through the winter. So rather than bag your raked leaves to go to the garbage, throw them back in your garden beds. Use these piles to keep plants warm, and also create cozy homes for overwintering pollinators, wildlife, and other insects. These leaves will also decompose slowly, richening the soil underneath. Think bout it. This is what happens in nature. Mother Nature isn’t running around the forest with pruning shears, garbage bags, and a rake. Let your garden die back gracefully and naturally. Nature has its own way of cleaning and recycling things. Your habitat will thank you for it. If you have just too many trees-thus leaves-to do this, you can look into pick-up composting services that are popping up in many cities nationwide. Healthy Soil Compost is a great option and partner to my favorite garden center (and friend of the blog) City Grange. You can also use some of your leaves in creating your own compost. We create a few bags of “lazy gardener’s compost” every fall. See below to find out how. But the moral of the story, leave the leaves as much as possible. Less work. More pollinators!

Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

Prune lightly if you need to, and prune ‘high’.

The other surprising fact is that many bees and other insect pollinators nest in hollowed out stems, woody branches, and canes. Every gardener’s instinct is to tidy up and prune the plants that like being pruned in the fall. I have learned that not many do. But there are some, like oakleaf hydrangea. Any shrub or tree that sets their flower bud in late summer for an early spring bloom has a DO NOT PRUNE sign on them. If you need to prune anything, aim high and leave 10-12” of a stem or branch to leave space for nesting pollinators. Did I just give you permission to pretty much leave most of your shrubs and plants alone to die back naturally? Yes. Pour yourself a pumpkin spice latte and enjoy less work! Will your neighbors think you are being sloppy and lazy leaving a mess in your garden? Maybe. But I urge you to talk to them and let them know what you are doing. The only way to help our local pollinators is to educate our community, one person, at a time.

Leave seed heads to feed wintering birds and animals.

This is another “leave alone” task. Flowers have a natural life cycle, and their cycle is to create seeds and propagate. Fall creates dried up seed heads, ready to drop seeds on the ground or fly on gusts of wind to who knows where. So a couple of things to talk about here. If you have an aggressive native that propagates by seed readily, one way to manage it is to cut the seed heads off before they spread. I would also urge you, however, to collect them, and use them for seed swaps in the spring, versus tossing them away. I also urge you to leave what you can of the dead seed heads that propagate less aggressively, as many birds and small animals use this as a food source during colder weather when food is very scarce. Seed heads also provide homes and protection too, for overwintering insects and pollinators.

Harvest some seeds for next year’s plantings and partake in seed swaps come spring.

This is a good segway to talk a little bit more about seed harvesting. Yes, I am telling you to leave well enough alone for the most part, but I do urge you to do some seed collecting in the fall. I recently uploaded a youtube video about this. It is very easy, and if there are some plants you have that are difficult to propagate or to find, harvesting 1-2 seed heads for next season is prudent-and economical! Every spring, I am on a budget smaller than my creative vision of my garden goals. Seeds help fill out my beds economically. And I love taking them to seed swaps in April, to exchange what I have a lot of for something I have been meaning to plant. Everybody wins! I always just take enough for what I need, which sometimes is only one seed head. One buttonbush seed head will give you hundreds of seeds. I was able to grow 8 starter plants this year from one buttonbush seed head! A good tip for seed harvesting is freezing the seeds throughout the winter. Then come spring, when you take them out, they think they have gone through a complete season’s cycle and are ready to germinate for you in the warm spring sun.

Get your garden journal up to date and take photos.

Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Unsplash

I start out every spring so diligently. I have all my beds drawn out. I meticulously notate every move, every new plant. But come August-with school starting, and plant sales, and droughts, and rain, and pests and problems-I pretty much have missed some things, and lost some things, and messed some things up. So take a cup of hot tea one nice fall day and do a garden walk-about. Be really present and look at your space. What worked? What didn’t? What needs moving? What did you plant where? And take photos-lots of photos. What is crisp in your brain now won’t be in the gray-foggy-cold-haze of February. Photos will help you remember what’s what for spring planning.

Create “lazy gardener’s compost” with raked leaves and grass clippings. 

I am going to link you to an older post I wrote about this fantastic approach to compost. Will people think you have dead bodies in garbage bags stored in that sunny corner of your garden all winter? Maybe. But when you pull out that black delicious compost on Memorial Day to mix into your garden beds, you won’t mind the gossip. It is a great way to use up the overflow of mulched leaves and grass clippings that won’t fit on your pots or in your beds.

Plant any bulbs for spring before the ground freezes.

I always wait too long to plant my spring bulbs, and whatever spring flowers you can grow feeds our just-wakened pollinators. If the bulbs are native plants, even better! Be sure to notate in your journal where you put them, so you don’t accidentally dig them up when they are done as you are putting summer plantings in.

A note on containers…

Photo by Jilbert Ebrahimi on Unsplash

If you have been following my classes with City Grange or my books, you know I am a huge advocate in using pots for native plants. I believe they are an often overlooked way to plant natives-even aggressive ones-for gardeners with limited space or growing conditions. Winterizing pots are often a barrier for container gardening. But with easy tips, you can care for your plants-and pollinators-while using containers. For those of you that are trying to create mini habitats in small gardens or on porches and balconies in urban settings, you can care for your native perennials in pots for the winter, which also cares for your local food web. In fact, I especially urge urban dwellers to take part in caring for biodiversity in whatever space they have. It is the only way to stem urban sprawl and habitat loss. This is a huge contributing factor is pollinator numbers declining.

Here Are Some Tips on Winterizing Potted Plants:

• “Heeling in” is a great technique for giving pots insulation during the winter. Either plant the pot in the ground if you have space OR find a larger container, fill it with dirt, mulch, hay, and dead leaves, and set the pot halfway down. Cover the top with extra leaves for good measure.

OR

• After a couple of frosts, bring the plant in a shed, cold frame, basement, or garage. But be sure to water it every once in a while if indoors. The dormant root still needs food and moisture.

OR

• Wrap pots with burlap or group them in a corner and mound hay all around the base, and cover with a blanket.

AND REMEMBER

• Most pollinating bees nest in the ground or in hollowed out stems and tree branches. Butterflies need shelter from rain and some overwinter in the colder zones. So letting plants simply die back and allow dead plant matter to cover your pots or garden will help nesting bees as well as butterflies.

If you wish to learn more about gardening to help support pollinators, check out my bee advocacy page as well as my books.

The post Fall Garden Chores and Tips to Support Pollinators and Bio-Diversity. Hint: Less is More. “Wild Wednesdays!” appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

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The post Get Ahead of the Holidays! A Gardener’s Favorite Gift List, From T-Shirts, Mugs, Prints and Posters appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.

This is pretty heartbreaking, as I am not sure how “cold-tolerant” Magnolia blooms are. But there ARE plenty of cold-tolerant blooms that you can plant now if you have the crazy weather swings like we do in the Midwest. This week on Fridays with Flora, I talk about cold-tolerant annuals, and show you how you can turn a unique, inexpensive container like a laundry basket, into a cool planter for spring!

Below is a list of some cold-tolerant annuals and other plant ideas for filler and structure. Take a screen grab or download to your phone before you go shopping for plants. Tender plants should not be planted until Mother’s Day weekend in the Midwest.

For the cool laundry basket planter, here is what you will need:

upcycled laundry basket or dollar-store laundry basket
potting soil
spanish moss, about 3 bags
cold tolerant plants
bamboo stakes or long twigs foraged from your yard
gardening or decorative twine
gloves, scissors, spade

Here is a how-to for you! Please subscribe to my channel to keep up on the fun! We update it now every other Friday.

The post GARDENING/ CRAFT: All About Cold Tolerant Annuals and How To Make a Laundry Basket Planter appeared first on UrbanDomesticDiva.