Tag Archives: pollinator garden

High Temps and Low Productivity

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The monarch butterflies showed up a few weeks ago, and have been floating around the garden every afternoon.

August is almost over, and while we certainly have another month or two before the season ends, my gardening motivation is waning. The summer has been especially hot and wet, which has definitely caused some ups and downs for the production levels this year. That, combined with some visits from a particularly unruly masked bandit visitor has definitely impacted my oomph.

The season started out pretty well. We had a bountiful crop of asparagus, sugar snap peas, and then the garlic and onions were ready to be harvested. It was my first year growing peas and onions, and they each exceeded expectations. After that, we had a very nice crop of carrots and lettuce. The carrots thrived under the shade of some leeks and zinnias, which seemed to protect them from all the summer heat.

Slightly less happy were our potatoes, though we still managed a decent crop. And now, I’m harvesting green beans, peppers, and tomatoes. The tomatoes, especially, are having a tough year. They don’t love excessive rain showers, or temps in the 90s, both of which we’ve had in spades since May. They caught blight a few weeks ago, and are looking very scraggly and sad. Tomatoes tend to drive me a little crazy. Our weather isn’t really the best for growing them, but they are such a popular plant. Daydreaming Me would like a greenhouse someday, so I can truly control their water intake and keep them from catching blossom end rot, blight, or one of the billion other issues that impact them.

Another plant that didn’t grow as well as I’d hoped were our cucumbers. I did manage to harvest a few to enjoy in some G&T’s, but the plants caught bacterial wilt from an onslaught of cucumber beetles. It was my first time growing these, so next year, I’ll try some natural methods to contain the beetles before they do in the entire harvest.

We’ve had lots of insect visitors this year, like these carpenter bees, soldier beetles, american snout butterflies, hummingbird moths, ailanthus webworm moths, american bumblebees, and damselflies.

That wasn’t the end of the crop woes for the season. In addition to the cucumber beetles, we had a wily raccoon start throwing parties in the garden every evening. This little trash panda has really pushed all my buttons. He tips over pots on the deck, rearranges the rocks around the pond (???), broke into and ate all the black swallowtail caterpillars and chrysalises in the butterfly enclosure, and he ate all the watermelons and cantaloupes, in addition to biting the ends off a few peppers and munching on all the sugar pie pumpkin flowers. Everyone needs to eat, but he really took the wind out of my sails this summer. I’m still feeling salty about the butterflies (though I’ve spotted a bunch more caterpillars out in the parsley patch- which the raccoon has ignored, thus far), and I’m sad to not get to try any of our melons. I’ll have to step up my game next year, and try caging the plants they seem to enjoy.

So, crop-wise, it’s felt like a bit of a wash this year. As usual, though, our flowers are really crushing it. All the native plants have been thriving in the weather, and we’ve had a lovely display every day. Right now, the new england asters are starting to bloom, and their gorgeous purple flowers pop even more against the yellows of the goldenrod, which is also beginning to bloom. The pollinators are out in force all over those, as well as the joe pye weed, echinacea, black-eyed susan’s, blanket flowers, cappuccino rudbeckia, obedient plants, and sunflowers. And, while not native, the zinnias this year are also blowing me away. I grew a few rows of them in one of the raised beds, and they are covered in pollinators and birds every day. Every morning, a group of goldfinches swoops in and rips the petals off, revealing the seeds which they dine on. And, in the evenings, we see hummingbirds flocking to the zinnias, nasturtiums, and native coral honeysuckle vines.

There’s been plenty of other pleasant visitors to the yard this season. I’ve spotted hummingbird moths, lots of different bees, like the native (and endangered) american bumble bee, ladybugs, and other pollinators, like black swallowtail butterflies, monarch butterflies (now on the endangered species list), soldier beetles, american snout butterflies, and ailanthus webworm moths. The webworm moths don’t have the cutest name, but they are really pretty, with orange, white, and black markings. I’ve never seen them before, and it was exciting to spot them on the joe pye weed this year.

It always feels like such a win to spot new (to me) insects and pollinators enjoying the native plants I’ve set up in the garden. I know, every time I step outside and take a tour, that I’ll see something interesting and beautiful. Hopefully, your own gardens are having an interesting and beautiful season as well. Happy gardening!

There’s a lot in bloom and looking snazzy this week: zinnias, black-eyes susan’s, pokeberries, marigolds, joe pye weed, lantanas, cappuccino rudbeckias, autumn joe sedum, and northern sea oats.


Hot Garden Summer

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The black swallowtail butterflies are back!

It’s been a minute, so I thought I’d give an update on how the garden is progressing this summer. Since setting things up this spring, I haven’t done a ton of gardening these past few weeks. I don’t plant things that require much maintenance, and also, it’s summer, which means, it’s too hot to even think about doing outdoorsy things. Our June temperatures were higher than average, with less rainfall than normal, which continued into July. In mid-June, we experienced the highest dew point ever recorded in Central Ohio, and the heat index was over 110 degrees F. After a few weeks with little in the way of rainfall, this past week, we had several days with flooding rains, breaking records for the wettest day ever recorded.

Switching from drought conditions to flash floods, with above-average temperatures, would typically do quite a number on a garden, but things are actually doing pretty well here in the yard. Our backyard is situated on a slope, so we didn’t end up with a flooded basement, and the plants weren’t totally drowned. I have been watering almost daily up until this past week, and the crops all seem to have weathered the wild weather so far. We haven’t had a ton in the way of harvest yet, but things are coming along.

Potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, tomatillos, and a baby lemon

The snow peas did very well, and I finished harvesting them last month. Our next batch of lettuce took off in the past week, and I’ve been clipping leaves every day. The parsley, basil, oregano, dill, nasturtiums, and mint have also been ready to harvest. I usually go snip a few leaves every week.

We have a few peppers starting to grow, but the majority of the summer crops (tomatillos, tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupe, beans, and cucumbers) are just flowering at the moment. The potatoes and onions should be ready in the next week here, though. And, excitingly, we have our first lemon growing on the lemon tree! The tree was packed with flowers a few weeks ago, which smelled divine. Only one has made it to fruit stage, so far. I probably go look at it five times a day. I have a lot of emotional investment in this wee lemon. I want some home-grown citrus!

When I’m not stalking my lone lemon, I’ve been glued to the wild bergamot which started blooming the other week. The flowers are native to Ohio, with gorgeous pale-pink flowers that look like fireworks. This plant (also known as bee balm) is a must for a pollinator garden in the Midwest. The flowers are covered in bees and butterflies!

Also in bloom right now are the giant purple hyssop, black-eyed susans, echinacea, prairie blazing star, coreopsis, blanket flowers, and milkweed. All of these are pollinator magnets, hosting caterpillars, and providing food for bees, butterflies, beetles, hummingbirds, moths, and others. I love walking around the yard, watching the bees enjoying all the flowers. And all these native plants add so much color to the garden.

One of the borders, with lavender, coreopsis, echinacea, bee balm, and blanket flowers in bloom.

Hopefully your garden is also bursting with activity right now (more in the way of flowers and pollinators, not so much you, having to do things!). Happy gardening!

The One Where We Save the Birds

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The Virginia Bluebells are in their prime right now, and looking absolutely gorgeous!

We had some very nice, warm weather this weekend. I think I could actually feel the stampede of people heading outdoors to try soaking up the sunshine before things cool off again. We’ve had a string of lousy weekends, with sleet, snow, rain, and general cold, so it felt pretty great to be outdoors, working in the dirt again.

I cleaned out a few of the beds, trimming back last seasons perennials, mulching, and weeding. I don’t care what grows in the grass (the bees have been enjoying our crop of dandelions already!), but I try to keep the beds free of all the creeping charlie, thistle, dandelions, and bittercress.

There’s been a lot happening in the raised beds lately. Our garlic is growing up quite well, and has been joined by the leeks that I started indoors the other month, along with some snow peas, yellow onions, carrots, lettuce, potatoes, and spinach. The crop of native plants that I grew from seed this winter have been thinned and moved to larger pots. And our asparagus crop is coming in. We harvested the first batch for dinner. Yum!

This weekend saw a trip to one of my favorite plant centers, Scioto Gardens, for some more native plants to add to the wildlife pond. I picked up some more Blue Flag Irises (Iris virginica), Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), an Oak Sedge (Carex pensylvanica), a Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), and an Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) to add to the native plants that already live around the pond. All told, so far, the plants we have living there play host to over 100 species of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)!

Our new Jack-in-the-Pulpits, flowering around the wildlife pond

Other than just simply enjoying caterpillars, moths, and butterflies in the yard, I’m making an effort to add plants that host these critters for a reason. Just in North America, in the past 50 years, we’ve lost 1 in 4 birds. This isn’t just happening in exotic, tropical rain forest locations. It’s happening in our backyards. The birds we typically see here in Ohio are all experiencing a mass decline. And a huge reason for this is because they simply don’t have enough to eat.

Lots of my gardening friends put up bird feeders during the winter months, myself included. But the largest part of most birds diets are from bugs, especially caterpillars. Robins, woodpeckers, blue jays, wrens, warblers, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, and many more rely on caterpillars for their survival. And they need to eat a LOT of caterpillars! According to Douglas Tallamy, (Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware) a single pair of breeding chickadees must find 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars to raise just one clutch of young.

We don’t make this easy on them. Think about the yards in your neighborhood, or around your area. What do they look like? Are there a lot of native trees and plants around, or is much of the area covered in turf grass? While it’s hard to imagine having a yard without at least some nice grass to enjoy, it doesn’t support the insects that our birds need to eat to survive. Add in all the chemicals we dump onto our lawns to kill of weeds and “bad bugs,” and it’s no wonder that birds are experiencing such a tragic decline.

As gardeners, there is so much we can do to help out the animals around us, and honestly, we need these birds and insects to thrive for our own well-being, too. Without insects pollinating our crops and flowers, we wouldn’t make it. We all need a healthy ecosystem to enjoy, and this spring is a great time to consider ways to make a difference in your own yards and areas.

I know I’ve talked about native plant species already, but it’s so important to add these to your landscape! There’s a great tool out there, The Native Plant Finder, where you simply type in your zip code, and the site will show oodles of native plants for you to try adding to your garden, along with a list of how many and which species of moths and butterflies they play host to. Search for native plant nurseries in your area and try out a few this year. You will be amazed at what shows up, seemingly overnight.

Another great way to help out our pollinators and birds is to replace all of our outdoor security lights with yellow LED bulbs. Bright, white traditional incandescent bulbs, and LEDs, attract insects and birds in far greater numbers than warm, LED bulbs. You’ll help these critters out by diminishing the light pollution in your area, since many of our birds migrate at night.

Finally, a really important way to help out our local birds and insects is to stop spraying our yards and gardens with chemicals. We all like a healthy lawn, and no one wants to grow a bumper crop of mosquitoes, but the chemicals that we use in our yards, like pyrethrin, do not simply target mosquitoes. They are also killing off our bees, butterflies, moths, and birds. According to the National Wildlife Federation, “There is no way for companies to spray these broad-spectrum insecticides in your yard without also killing other insects they come in contact with, including bees, butterflies, caterpillars, ladybugs, dragonflies and other beneficial insects, along with the mosquitoes.”

So what’s the alternative? In my own yard, I let the birds, dragonflies, and other mosquito-eaters to it, but if you’re really concerned, there are some safer methods to mosquito-removal. Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis), is a bacteria that will kill off mosquitos, leaving our pollinators to safely fly another day. Fill a bucket with some water, and drop in a Bti tablet. The mosquito larvae will eat the toxin, and die off, while other insects fly away free. When you are able to, however, it really is best to leave well enough alone. Our bird populations and other insects that rely on mosquitos will thank you. And your yard will be much healthier for it.

That was a lot of information, but hopefully it wasn’t too preachy. I am very passionate about using our yards to help out our local eco systems, but I realize that it’s a different way of gardening than many of us grew up with. It’s all about balance. Planting a favorite rose or having a nice bit of lawn for the kids to run around in is not a problem. It’s when we don’t provide anything else that our winged-neighbors start to suffer.

Hopefully this spring, you’re able to add in a new plant or tree to your landscape that once grew there naturally. Maybe you just have a small porch and no yard at all- you can still add a pot of milkweed to that doorstep! It’s a sad truth that no one is going to fix this situation for us. If we want our planet to survive, it’s up to us to do the work. But we can make a very big difference, one plant at a time! Happy gardening!

The Jacob’s Ladder are looking stunning this spring!

It’s Almost Fall

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Black eyed susans, mums, and new england aster: some of my favorite fall flowers

While this weekend was toasty and hot, and I spent most of it hiding indoors, fall will be here in two more days! The weather is supposed to cool off quite a bit this week, with high temps falling from the upper 80s to the 60s. I believe I’ve mentioned my obsession with autumn before, am I am over the moon with excitement for some cool days to get out in the garden. We’re still probably a few weeks away from our first frost, but the trees behind our house are definitely yellowing. The sycamores and cottonwoods are filling with golden leaves. Soon, the fiery oranges and reds of the oaks and maples will be here. I cannot wait!

The sun is rising later and later each morning. Here’s a recent view of the backyard.

Things are wrapping up in the raised beds. I harvested the last of the leeks this weekend (potato leek soup is on the menu!), and we’re nearing the end of the tomatoes. I’m planning to de-thaw all the tomatoes I already harvested/peeled/diced/froze this year to cook up some tomato paste for the salsa my family cans each October.

Also on the agenda this week will be to plant out the vetch seeds I bought as a cover crop in the raised beds. The hairy vetch (seriously, that plant needs a major rebranding) will keep the weeds out of the beds until it’s time to plant again, and the crop helps to add nitrogen back to the soil, as well as helping to keep the dirt from eroding (which is not a large concern in a raised bed, but a good thing to know for general planting). So, next spring, when it’s time to plant again, in addition to the compost I’ll add to the beds, the vetch will have been working on giving the soil a great boost. The next round of plants will have plenty to eat. Happy soil = happy plants!

The last of this years’ leek harvest

In addition to the raised beds, I have some clean up work to do with the deck pots. Quite a few will be coming back in doors for the winter, like our lemon tree, pineapples, and loofah vine. But some, like the marigolds, will be composted and I’ll clean up the pots to add back to the pile under the potting bench for next year. I had more potted plants on the deck this year than ever before, and was pretty pleased with the end result. A few did not perform as expected, like the cannas. I bought the cannas last year, and they grew a few feet tall and flowered. I overwintered the tubers in the garage, and planted them outside this spring once it warmed up again. They both grew, but are much shorter, and only one re-flowered. I may simply put the entire pot into the garage, and not take the plants down to the roots this year to see if that helps them grow better next year.

One of our canna plants finally flowered. I love these tropical flowers!

Out in the rest of the flower beds, fall is definitely on its way. The late summer/early fall plants are all looking quite snazzy, and I’m taking stock of which perennials I’d like to split next spring. As usual, the lamb’s ear are out of control, and could be divided multiple times. I mentioned last week about expanding the borders to make room for more plants… I think I may start working on that this fall. As long as the ground isn’t frozen, there’s really no reason to wait. Finally, I have a tree that I need to move. This spring, a maple tree started growing next to the compost pile, quite close to the house. It’s a terrible spot for a tree, and while it’s relatively small still, I’d like to move it to the front yard. That will be a great spot for the maple to grow up and I know there aren’t any gas or electric lines that I need to worry about having had 8-1-1 out to mark things last winter.

I’m growing four pineapples. The oldest (second from the right) was started in the winter, and the newest (farthest on the left) got going about a month ago. They look pretty scraggly at first, but quickly settle in and start growing. Next year, we should have pineapples to enjoy!

That will all pretty much wrap up my fall gardening chores. I used to do a lot more cleanup- cutting back most of the perennials to the ground, but now I’ve learned to let them be for the wildlife. It’s not too tough a sell: put off your work until the spring and relax! Also, the locals will truly be grateful. The debris from our perennials helps house and feed insects, birds, and other wildlife. Winters are tough on all these populations with resources scarce. So, leaving some flowers heads and plant stalks for the birds to enjoy really makes a huge difference. Plus, a lot of these plants are really pretty in winter. The soft browns of the grasses and plants look quite pretty against a backdrop of snow.

Stan Lee the Frog has been out every afternoon, enjoying the warm rocks around the pond.

Anyways, that’s my plan for the rest of the year here. The next few weeks should be pretty nice around the garden: cooler days, with lots of sunshine to sit out and watch the bees buzzing around the aster. I’m excited to start canning up all the veggies I grew this year, and to just enjoy all the sights and smells of fall as the weather turns. Hope things in your garden are slowing down so you can relax and enjoy all of your hard work. Happy gardening!

Our native plants and other perennials have been Grand Central Station for the pollinators lately: more bee species than I can count, wasps, moths, and butterflies. I feel like I see something new every time I’m outside!

The Rise of the Monarchs

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Some of the pretty summertime native plants and wildflowers are in bloom this week: swamp milkweed, anise hyssop, queen anne’s lace, new england aster, coreopsis, black-eyed susans, joe pye weed, and cranesbill

Happy August, everyone! August is usually our hottest month here in Central Ohio, but it’s hard to imagine it getting much warmer and humid than it was in July. We finally had some rain the other day, and the thunderstorms cooled things off a bit. I sprang into action to weed, tie up veggies, and deadhead a few of the annuals. I know these nicer temps won’t last long.

The daily green bean haul is getting out of control!

We had some exciting news last week in the garden. A friend who also helps to raise monarch butterflies had a bumper crop this year, and needed some assistance. She gave us ten little eggs, which have now all hatched. They start life as the most wee little creatures, but seem to double in size just about every day.

Monarchs life cycles kind of happen like clockwork. The heat and humidity will slightly impact the speed at which they grow, but for the most part, it’s pretty easy to track how long each will take to move from an egg, to a butterfly. Once the eggs hatch, the monarch caterpillars start munching on milkweed leaves. Milkweed contains a toxin that is poisonous for most animals (and humans) to eat, but monarchs contain a special protein in their bodies that keeps them safe. The caterpillars only eat milkweed plants, and this is why it’s vitally important to provide them access to native milkweed species in your garden (if you live in an area where you have monarchs!).

A few of the newly-hatched monarch caterpillars. They are hard to spot when they are this small!

As the caterpillars dine on the milkweed leaves, they grow, and quickly! As they bulk up, they shed their outer layer every few days, by molting. They will do this five times, growing larger and larger. Their antennae become longer, and their white, black, and yellow stripes really come in brightly. They have pretty cute little black feet, too, all the way down their bodies. Once they’ve made it to their fifth instar, (their fifth molt) the caterpillars are ready to form a chrysalis.

The caterpillars can crawl quite a ways to find the spot they’d like to utilize for this next step. Since we keep ours in a mesh butterfly house, they typically crawl up to the top of the enclosure, and then they form a little silk net to hang from. They shed a final time, and then form their chrysalis, which looks lime green with gold rings. While in this stage, which usually takes a few weeks, the caterpillars actually liquify inside of the chrysalis and then transform into butterflies. The shell of the chrysalis is clear, so as the butterflies form, you can actually see them inside. When they are close to emerging, you’ll be able to see the pretty black, white, and orange colors, and you’ll know it’s just about time!

This past week finally saw some much-needed rain. The pokeberries, pumpkins, bay laurel, cornflowers, hardy hibiscus, and lettuce were definitely pleased!

Once the butterflies bust out of their shells, they hang from their feet and pump hemolymph (a substance like blood) into their wings to stretch them out and once their wings dry off, which takes a few hours, they are ready to fly away for a snack and to make more butterflies. It’s a fascinating process to watch and one that I feel lucky to enjoy every summer.

In addition to our pollinating friends, we’ve recently received quite a few visits from a far more wily critter: a racoon. Based on the number of vegetables and fruit this little trash panda has been consuming, I’m shocked that he’s even able to scale our 6′ privacy fence. Every few days, he waddles up onto the porch for a night of wild partying and debauchery. He seems to have developed a taste for our peppers, ginger, and strawberries, and he’s not at all impressed by my arrangement of the deck pots. After each of his visits, I have to right the deck pots, and move them back into position.

The poor pumpkin carnage

I’d taken all of this pretty well, up to this point. I like that my garden doesn’t just belong to me, and I enjoy sharing it will the local wildlife. However, last week, the little bandit took things a step too far! We have a few pumpkins growing in the little patch on the deck, and our little friend decided to partake of the smallest one. On the plus side, at least we know they must be tasty little pumpkins! I hope to get a picture of the raccoon at some point. He must have quite the bowling ball belly going on with all the treats he’s been enjoying this summer.

Our freshly-ripening pumpkin- keep off, little friend!

As summertime charges on up in our hemisphere, I hope your garden is looking well, and that you have some time this week to sit back and enjoy it all! Happy Gardening!

Prairie Plants and Other Treasures

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  • The calendula are starting to bloom!

We’re still a few weeks out from the official start to summer, but it feels like it’s already here. It’s been in the upper 80s most of the week, and humid. My annual Complaining That It’s Too Hot Outside portion of the year is definitely in full stride. In my defense, what is the point of weather that belongs in the Tropics without the benefit of that ocean view?

It’s been storming on and off, and the plants were treated to almost an inch of rain in the past few days, much to their delight. I haven’t had to water, so I am also pleased. Behind our house, in the woods, the Brood X cicadas are singing away, a sound that we usually don’t hear until August. Apparently, this group spent the past 17 years underground, only to pop up now. They only live for a few weeks after they emerge, but they make the most of their time, partying away looking for a mate, before they bite the dust. I found it interesting to learn that they don’t actually eat anything once above ground. The birds sure are enjoying their company, though. Cicadas are, apparently, fine dining, in addition to being very loud company.

  • Hey there, pretty lady.

Back in our yard, the crops are all coming along well. The pumpkin seeds I planted the other week are beefing up quickly. I’ve thinned them out twice already, but I may pull up a few more of the seedlings to make sure the remaining sprouts have plenty of room to grow in their little spot on the deck. The pepper plants and beans are enjoying the heat and bushing out. Our tomatoes are also doing well. I’m planning to give everything some fertilizer this week, just to make sure we end up with as many great veggies as possible.

  • The bay laurel, peppers, sugar pie pumpkins, tomatoes, and potatoes are all enjoying the summer weather.

Over the weekend, on Saturday, I learned that it was National Prairie Day. As a kid, I remember many trips out to the park, where we’d walk through the trails in the prairies. I always preferred the woods. The tall grasses didn’t offer any shade, and I just didn’t notice the same magic that always seems to be lurking deep within the trees.

As time has passed, however, I’ve really grown to appreciate all that prairies have to offer. Much of the Midwest, where I’ve lived all my life, used to be covered in prairie. These areas were vital to the ecosystem, supporting thousands of species. Now, nearly 99% of those prairies have been destroyed, due to farming and other development. Many of the native plants and the wildlife that require them to survive have been lost, and we know those species that are still here, like the monarch butterflies, are struggling.

  • Some of our prairie plants: little bluestem, aster, butterfly weed, prairie blazing star, goldenrod, big bluestem, joe pye weed, and swamp milkweed.

The plants that once lived in these prairies are pretty fascinating, and adding them back into your own garden can go a long way towards helping provide spaces for wildlife. Many of these perennial plants are extremely hardy. You won’t have to replace them every few years after a hard winter. They thrive in the summer heat, and the bitter winter cold. Their roots grow extremely deep, unlike the grass in our lawns, and many of the other plants and bushes we add to our gardens. These deep roots help make the plants very drought tolerant. Even a few months after planting, I’ve never had to water my natives, like the milkweed, goldenrod, or aster.

Many of these prairie natives provide absolutely stunning color and shape to a garden, and they are rarely attacked by harmful insects. In fact, since planting more natives in our yard, I’ve noticed a severe decline in pests on our other plants. I don’t use any pesticides in the garden, and I absolutely attribute any success I’ve had growing veggies to their native plant neighbors. The natives draw in beneficial insects, which lure in more predators like dragonflies and birds that eat up the aphids and japanese beetles that used to devour my tomatoes and rose bushes. Planting native plants helps fit the, often missing, piece back into the ecosystem.

  • The summer storms always bring in really pretty sunsets!

For the past few years, I’ve been adding more and more native plants to our garden, with excellent results. Many of the prairie plants I have won’t bloom until later in the summer, but they are definitely bulking up now. I can’t wait to see this years joe pye weed and prairie blazingstar in bloom! We also grow a few native species of milkweed plants, and they are getting ready to start flowering here soon. While the monarch butterflies won’t arrive until the end of summer, the bees will absolutely be hopping all over the milkweek flowers. They smell absolutely amazing.

If you’re looking for something new for your yard, or even if you’re just interested in learning more, there’s lots of great resources out there. I highly recommend starting with the Native Plants Finder website or The Audubon Society‘s native plant database. Both sites allow you to type in your zip code, and you’ll find a wealth of information about what to plant.

Hope you have a great week in the garden!

  • The golds of summer are in bloom! Our daisies, day lilies, tickseed, stonecrop, and buttercups are flowering.

The Other May Snow

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  • Daisies
    Love these cheerful daisies!

When you’re allergic to most things that grow outdoors, and you really like to garden, it makes life… interesting. This is especially true for me in late May, when people start mowing their laws twice a week, and the cottonwood trees go wild, raining little pollen-y poofs of snow down upon everything. Cottonwood is my nemesis. I tend to get hives when I hang out to long in the grass, and whenever I garden without gloves on, but cottonwood goes for an air assault approach. As Colonel Klink would say, “There can be no escape!”

I head out each morning to water. The cottonwoods behind our house stand tall, looking all innocent. Then, suddenly, a gust of wind will hit and I’ll narrow my eyes to find tiny little cottonwood seed clouds, drifting over my arms and face. Apparently, a single tree can release 25 million seeds. I feel like they’ve certainly caused me to go through 25 million tissues.

  • One of the cottonwoods behind our house, along with it’s fluffy seeds and leaves. There’s an invasive bush honeysuckle that’s swarming the bottom of the tree.

The husband suggested I do a little research about the trees, theorizing that they must be good for something. And, they really are. I learned that cottonwoods grow all over the US, being hardy in zones 2-9. They are the fastest growing trees in North America. Young cottonwoods can put on six feet of growth per year, and mature trees reach well over 100 feet tall. The trees drop seeds each spring, on clouds of cottony shields that float on the wind, but only female trees produce these.

Cottonwoods also provide quite a service to the environment. They grow up tall, so quickly, enjoying a variety of soil conditions. Their height and size allows them to give off a lot of shade, which is especially helpful in areas that aren’t heavily wooded. Beavers and deer dine on them, and cottonwoods in the northern states provide homes for migratory songbirds like warblers. Several species of butterflies and moths even require cottonwoods as host plants for their survival.

  • Azaleas
    Azaleas, giving me less to sneeze about than these cottonwoods.

While the wood of cottonwood trees is fairly soft, and isn’t often used for woodworking, cottonwoods are used to make pallets and pulp for paper. Native American tribes along waterways used cottonwoods to build canoes. The soft wood allowed for easy carving for these boats, and the trees became a valued resource. Medicinally, salves and balms were developed from the leaves and buds of cottonwoods. Their sticky sap was also utilized as a glue.

So, from my drowsy, antihistamine haze, I now have a bit more appreciation for these trees. They really are pretty. Their leaves are lighter on the bottom than the top, and they look sort of magical, blowing in the wind. They are one of the first trees to turn color in the fall, a beautiful golden yellow. I collect a few each autumn and do a little eco dyeing, printing them on fabric and clothes.

  • Lilacs, margurite daisies, rhododendron, petunias, daisies, azaleas, dead nettle, clematis, allium

Aside from sneezing a lot, the past week was pretty busy in the garden. It was really hot out, and we didn’t end up with any rain. Out in the flower beds, I try to grow things that don’t require a lot of watering (ie: native plants), but the veggies out in the new raised beds still require a daily watering. The poor tomatoes went from days in the 40s to days in the 90s, almost overnight. So, they’ve really needed the daily watering. I like to go out in the morning, before it gets way too hot and as I water, I get to see what’s new in the yard.

  • Peonies!
  • Our first strawberries, pole bean sprouts, and tomatoes

Despite the heat wave we’re having, with temps 10-15 degrees above normal, the garden is looking really nice. My beloved peonies are starting to bloom, and the first bed we put in, along the back of the yard, is full of life, with bees enjoying the nepeta, salvia, daisies, irises, roses, clematis, and creeping phlox.

I put in the last of this years seeds. The parsnips went in the last available space along some of the tomatoes. And, I put in our pole beans. They started sprouting a few days after I’d put them in. I planted a few more than we’ll need, in case the bunnies find them again this year. Buns seem to really have a thing for green bean sprouts! The tomatoes I planted seem happy in their new beds. I have a few green tomatoes already, and look forward to harvesting the first one once they ripen.

Out in the rest of the yard, I was excited to see some new volunteer plants blooming this week: swamp roses. The name leaves something to be desired, but these native roses are really pretty. They grow in most of the eastern US, and ours popped up between our fence and the neighbors fence. I have no idea how they found their way there, but the branches are now dangling over the fences, and we have pretty light-pink roses in bloom. The bees are enamored, and I am, too.

  • Swamp roses, pokeweed, red maple, and goldenrod

We have a few other plants like the swamp roses, that popped up without my having had anything to do with it. There’s a few bunches of goldenrod, a beautiful native plant that grows tall, and blooms with gorgeous yellow flowers in the last summer and early fall. Goldenrod is a very important plant for pollinators, as it’s one of the last things in bloom in this area. We also have some pokeweed, growing under the deck. This guy popped up for the first time last year, and I was thrilled to see the leaves again this year. Pokeweed is another native, with beautiful dark berries that birds love. They also make a really pretty dye, but wear gloves when harvesting them if you don’t want to explain to everyone why your hands are purple for a week! Finally, we’ve had a few volunteer trees pop up in the yard. I’ve moved a few of them, but one, a red maple, is enjoying life next to the compost pile right now. I’ll eventually have to move it away from the house, but this little sapling is growing like mad, and who can resist such beautiful green-red leaves?

  • Rhodie
    Rhododendron in the shade garden

The week ahead will be filled with lots of weeding and a bit more digging. The new pollinator bed in the front yard hellstrip is about 1/8 of the way finished. Ripping out sod is hard enough to talk myself into, but with the added heat last week, I didn’t get very far along. We’ll see what I get up to this week. Also, over the weekend, my parents split some perennials for me, and these new hostas, day lilies, and buttercups need to be planted. There’s never a shortage of work in the yard! Happy gardening!