Im trying to have a lot of natives in the small bed so something's blooming all the time. There are quite a few species, Aquilegia canadensis, Prunella lanceolata, Anemone canadensis, Solidago caesia, Symphyotrichum pilosum, Iodanthus pinnatifidus, Nepeta cataria, Chelone onliqua, Sisyrhinchium angustifolium, Viola sororia, Dianthus armeria, Asclepias incarnata, Allium chives, Allium Garlic Chives, Penstemon calycosus, Penstemon digitalis, Physostegia virginica, and Solidago sempervirens. Im not letting the columbine drop more seeds into it because it will take over. The Chelone and Physostegia could possibly try to take over too. I want to plant both Spiraea alba and Spuraea tomentosa, but I don't have any low wet spots to put them in. The Japanese Spiraea does fine with mesic soil, so maybe the natives will too? I dug out my Hibiscus laevis last year because they needed a lot of supplemental watering, but they had very few flowers. Deer Tongue Grass can spread around fast because they make seeds 3 times during the year. I like it a lot anyways. I went through all my pots and emptied the pots Ive given up on. Maybe the seeds will germinate in the future? I was able to get about 3 Euphorbia corrolata to bloom last year. I hope they return.

Anemone quinqueifolia in the pot. I thought none had germinated, but there is 1 plant. One is better than none. I still want to find some False Rue Anemone, Enemion biternum There could be several hog peanuts germinating in this area too? There's an Endodeca/Aristolochia that hasn't showed up yet either. I wish the Jacob's Ladder would start self sowing.

This is a native Heuchera, but I'm not sure which species? It's flopped from watering. These Saxiphrage species are a little tricky to grow. They like moisture but need good drainage.

Dicentra eximia. I've added 3 plants. I'd still like to grow Squirell Corn and a yellow Erythronium.

The Primula meadii are looking good. I just need some Pedicularis canadensis to grow with them. I will need a host grass too. There's a large Hypericum prolificum to the left that seems out of place in a prairie.(not pictured).

Lonicera flava. This is it's first time blooming. The buds are fatter than the buds on the Scarlet Honeysuckle. I still want to grow Lonicera dioica and Lonicera canadensis. And I will continue to kill the invasive Asian bush honeysuckles and Japanese honeysuckles. The Lonicera reticulata/prolifera is a cool plant too.

Erigeron pulchellus. It seems to be spreading slowly. I just weeded out a lot of Chickweed, Veronica and weedy Erigeron from these Robin's Plantain. There should be a lot of Common Milkweed shoots popping up in this area soon.

https://greathollow.org/news/new-publication-on-the-value-of-invasive-plants-to-birds/ according to this study morrows honeysuckle was a better food source for birds via hosting arthropods than some of the native plants it was competing with. I need to read the rest of the paper because I wonder what arthropods specifically were eating it.

I see a lot of invasive honeysuckles and they destroy the ecology of woodland edges where they smother shorter natives. It would be great to eradicate them all. Keeping invasive honeysuckles alive while doing other restorations will just add more years to the eradication of them. I cant see why arthropods would be more numerous on invasive honeysuckles because they usually have specific native host plants. He doesn't give enough explanation for the arthropods. If the invasive honeysuckles are the only food sourse then they should leave them, but they should be planting native berries to replace them. I scattered a bunch of Lonicera prolifera in a bed, but Im not sure what they will look like, but I hope they can be identified when little. There are a couple small honeysuckles that look invasive in that bed now. My Diervilla and Coralberries spread by suckers. The Coralberry sends out suckers in a straight line, making the suckers easy to pull up, but Diervilla's suckers go all different directions, so they always start popping up in the middle of nearby plants.

Woa, lots to read! Well, honeysuckle. I haven’t been able to fight it yet this year.. The Japanese one is growing over all sorts of things. It does currently smell really nice. I did fight some wisteria this weekend. It’s also a lost cause. I have been trying to get rid of it for years. Even with Roundup.

It’s odd how so many plants exclude South Carolina, as seen in Jay’s map above. Copper Iris is another one. Mine is blooming. My daughter and I released a Luna and a Polyphemus today. She had a fitting shirt on :)

My potted blue flag Iris are coming back, but the blue flag in the ground is way ahead of them. They sell the orange Iris here at some native plant sales. The Louisiana Iris are nice too. Did your daughter find local moth eggs to raise? Those large Saturnid moths used to be common when I was a kid, but they're not common anymore. I could go years without seeing any. There were a couple white butterflies mating and looking for hostplants in the garden today. The only cabbage family plants they can use are the Shepard's Purse and Iodanthus pinnatafidus.

Lillium michaganense and Lilium philidelphicus. They survived the winter and establishing them now seems hopeful.

A gentian?

Camassia sciloides getting ready to bloom.

Starry Solomon's Seal. I don't want plants growing in the path, but I'll make an exception for these. They obviously want more sun than they have now.

A white Viola striata with Achillea gracilis and Hydrangea arborescens.

Shepard's Purse Brassicaceae

Viola striata and Chelone obliqua.

Future native groundcovers Fragaria virginiana and Circaea candensis with columbine.

This wild strawberry spreads faster than Mock Strawberry.

Aralia nudicaulis, Trillium grandiflorum, Sambucus cannadensis

This native yarrow needs to be in a spot with poor rocky soil. It will never play well if included in a prairie planting in rich black soil. It's presently growing on top of whorled and short green milkweed. I love the ferny foliage. I stick all my labels in the ground and they all end up laying on the ground come spring?

Jay, the caterpillars were from our yard, and my brother-in laws across the street. Their property is more wooded in the back.

Any idea what this plant might be? It came in the pot with the poppy mallow I ordered.

And he is showing off :)

Iris, I don't recognize your stowaway but my google lens says it's Honeyberry, Lonicera caerulea. They are grown for their berries. It might be? The leaf veins and pubescence on young stems fit Honeyberry. I've always wondered what they taste like.

I visited 2 preserves today.

I have a green trillium.

Blue Eyed Mary. Collinsia verna

Lakeside Daisy, Tetraneuris herbacea.

False Mermaid, Floerkea prosperpinacoides.

Canada Violet? I want some.

Canada Lousewort, Pedicularis canadensis.

Claytonia virginica, Spring Beauty

Whitish-blue Sisyrinchium, Blue Eyed Grass. I love the color and I'm going to collect seeds.

Jack

That honeyberry is interesting, I wonder if it's good. Jay, nice pics from your garden, and nice finds at the preserve.

This little guy snuggled up on the Cunila

Awesome pics Skip. I love the arrangments! I didn't know you had Enchanter's Nightshade. I have so much work to do. I just moved some white trillium, Monarda bradburiana, Agastache foeniculum, 2 Hypericum kalmianum, Diervilla lonicera. My Fragrant False Indigo is going to bloom for it's first time after seems like 4 or 5 years. I was digging the new holes in ground that had old landscape fabric covered with stones. Were the Spiraea latifolia and tomentosa easy to grow from seed? I've gotten a couple Gillenia volunteers.

Really nice pictures, Skip and Jay. I am going to stick the hitchhiker plant in a pot once I plant my mallow. Would need to go get some soil first, but just going somewhere is still not so easy these days. Still tied to the yard by a baby monitor to keep track of my dementia dog. Need to time my shopping to her naps. They are pretty short for such an old dog. Still waiting and hoping for the cicadas to show up. Nearby towns have a lot of them. A good rain might help, we were about 4 inches short of that in April. One of my Amorpha had a serious growth spurt, and is starting to bloom. There are an awful lot of yellow jackets this year.

Wow that Amorpha is awesome, I have some little tiny seedlings in a pot from last year to plant out. Did you get much rain over the winter?

Jay the Spiraea weren't hard to start but they didn't grow much in the first year. I started them in a winter sow gallon jug then picked them out and put them in a 38-cell deep plug tray in the fall. I fertilized them last week and they have already grown more than they did during all of last year. Maybe they would have grown a lot more last year if I fertilized them properly or used a potting soil that came with fertilizer in it. I'd like a lot more Gillenia, you have any pictures of yours in vegetative growth at this time of year?

Gillenia trifoliata.

The red shoots are Gillenia trifoliata. With Antennaria plantaginifolia, Prunella lanceolata, Aruncus dioicus and Blephilia hirsuta.

We did have enough rain over the Winter. At times too much. There is some in the forecast for the weekend. Hope it happens. Are you planning of having any garden tours this year? From the pictures, your yard looks ready for it.

I really like Amorpha of all kinds. Wonder why I don’t see any around. They are also not offered at the native plant sales, or local nurseries. The bumble bees agree, they are loaded up :)

Water willow is also starting to bloom. My prized few flower milkweed came back. The Venus flytraps are not looking great though. Wonder why. I have somehow killed a bunch over the years, but they should be happy in the bog garden.

A good friend with a lot of bog plant experience told me that Venus Fly Traps prefer the soil to be a little dryer than what Sundews and Pitcher Plants like. I just take pictures of little scenes Iris, but my yard as a whole looks like a war zone. Hopefully after I get the back fence redone, and all the beds finished, it will look presentable.🙈

Trillium luteum, Aralia nudicalis. The Sarsaparilla spreads by rhyzomes, and it has great medicinal value.

Osmorhiza claytonii, Trillium luteum, Trillium grandiflirum.

Carex species?

Yellow Pimpernel, Taenidia integerrima

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum

Woodland Sedum, Sedum ternifolium

Cream Violet, Viola striata

Heuchera americanum?

More pics.

Amsonia illustris

Fragrant False Indigo, Amorpha nana. Finally blooming

Wild Hyacinth, Camassia scilloides

photobombed by Cleavers. Looks like there might be a Blephilia cilliata back in there.

Blephilia cilliata

a different plant. I have way more hirsuta than cilliata

Lonicera flava

I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. These are the only ones we should have been growing all allong. I still want Lonicera dioica and Lonicera canadensis, reticulata and oblongifolia if I had the room. I collected a bunch of Lonicera reticulata seeds and tossed them. I don't know what the seedlings look like? I've pulled up a few honeysuckle seedlings this year, because they looked like the invasive kind. It's like a lot of people who are unknowledgable can kill a Red Mulberry because they think it's a White Mulberry.

More pics.

Hydrangea arborescens, Achillea gracilis, Panicum virgatum? These grasses are confusing. The native grasses seed around too, so it's hard to decide which ones to save

Silky Aster with the reddish stems. It prefers sandy or gravelly soil. Symphyotrichum sericeum.

Some young Coreopsis palmata.

Robin's Plantain, Erigeron pulchellus

Native Sweet Flag, Calumus americana, Blue Flag Iris, Iris versicolor.

Jacob's Ladder, Polemonium reptans, Woodland Phlox, Phlix divaricata, Pink Turtlehead, Chelone obliqua.

Seedlings of Hog Peanut, Amphicarpaea bracteata, Cream Violet, and an unknown, but hopefully Clematis pitcheri.

Starry Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum stellatum, Tall/Early Meadow Rue, Thalictrum dasycarpum.

Leatherwood, Dirca palustris. These were a 3rd or 4th attempt, and finally I managed to keep them alive. The plants were from Missouri Wildflowers were in excellent condition. Merlin the owner is very passionate about native plants, and is always checking out different locations.

This is the White Rattlesnake Root, Nabalus/Prenenthes albus. It never grew last year after I thinned out the nearby wild geraniums, but it has risen from the dead, and there's another seedling of this to boot 😃, in the front of the house, after I scattered seeds. The downside is that I had no success germinating the related Nabalus racemosa. There's another awesome species Nabalus aspera, that is only found in very high quality prairie remnants, like pioneer cemetaries. Seeds for aspera would be hard to come by unless?🚗

Carex blanda. Not the most geaceful looking sedge. I'd love to grow Carex plantaginifolium. It's leaves look like ribbons. Now I'm missing Pink Tweedia with it's ribbon-like petals.

Hydrangea arborescens. It would be nice if they finally bloomed. I'd take this native type over all those phoofy monstocities that a lot of native plant blind people fawn over. Prairie up people!!!

Wild Quinine, Parthenium integrifolium. Good to have around if you are prone to catching malaria like me.🦟

Tall Thistle. It looks prickly but it's not. Of course it can't stay there and thug out my Quinine. These native thistles have a knack for vollunteering in the most God awful, awkward places. It's bittersweet having to cull these thistles but there are many others in suitable locations.

Bottom plant Rosinweed, Silphium integrifolium, Upper Prairie Dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum and Htpericum peoluficum, Shrubby St. John's Wort. I'm thinking of placing the Hypericum in a spot to use as a shrub. It's form doesn't fit my prairie theme, or maybe my idea of what a prairie should look like is wrong? I do pack things too close together, and the Hypericum starts shading them as it grows over the season. Last year I hacked it back severely to fix that issue, but this year I'm really in the mood to see a bunch of St. John's Wort flowers.

I had to tear this bed apart because the Bush's Poppy Mallow invaded everything. The Callirhoe bushii has been parasitizing my poor New Jersey Tea for at least 3 years if not more! Prior to that there was a big clump of Golden Alexanders that were harassing the Ceanothus! I wasn't sure if the 2 seedlings on the left were New Jersey Tea or European Buckthorn. They were buckthorn and I sent them to you Iris. Just kidding. They are slowly transpiring outside on the cold stones. I also dug out a huge mat of Purple Love Grass. I don't like the way they look when the clumps start looking enormous. I have a 3x3 ft. clump of grama grass that I'm going to thin out

and a big Prairie Dropseed clump. At some point in the near future, I will be excavating the entire root system of the Ipomoea pandurata. The Wooly Pipevine is growing in 3 beds now. I don't much care for Tradescantia ohioensis and Allium cernuum in big clumps either. I think they look better more spread out growing with grasses.

There is 1 Fameflower that I see, but I'm hoping for more. I pulled out a few larger weeds, but I still need to weed out the Partridge Peas, or they will shade out the Phemeranthus/Talinum calycinum comepletely. And above the ever growing Shrubby St. John's Wort looms.

I just got my 3 Asclepias exaltata from Joyful Butterfly. If I had known there plants looked this good, I would have ordered more species. That's awesome that your Few Flowered Milkweed returned Iris!

Skip, there's a vollunteer Gillenia below the grass. I think I deadheaded all of my Gillenia last year, but I'm going to let them go to seed this year. I only have 3 plants now. Most of the native plant people in Illinois grow the other species Gillenia stipulata, American Ipecac. I like stipulata too. Stipulata has a more wild look to it, while trifoliata is more shrubby. I have a Lactuca in this bed that spreads everywhere. It appears to be spreading by thread-like roots. It can't be from seeds because I pull them out before they bloom. Once I bring the bed down to ground level, they should be easier to deal with. Maybe it's the raised bed that's making them so agressive? Also some Prunella got into the bed and I fear it may have thugged out and killed my Violet Wood Sorrell. The wood sorrell can't take any competition. I'm eradicating all the Prunella from the back yard beds. I still have a lot of Prunella at the other place to ward off the creeping charlie, but it's getting out of hand in some places over there too.

Great pictures again, Jay! No idea how you manage to post them, as soon as I try more than 2 of them, my reply goes poof and doesn’t post. But I am going to try again :)

Found some first instar Spicebush caterpillars on my little Spicebush replacements. Still have no idea why my big Spicebush died. I didn’t plan on raising any butterflies this year, but saw wasps trying to open all the skipper leaf pockets on the Amorpha, so I stuck the Spicebushes in a tent. Easy enough since they were still in pots.

Does any of you grow wild basil? I did get two plants. Guess native north of me, but it is edible. That’s my excuse.

Didn’t even get half an inch of rain, there is another chance tonight. Rosy maple moth time has started.

I grew a Wild Basil plant, Clinopodium vulgare last year. I have to see if it came back. I hope I didn't mistake it for Creeping Charlie or Purple Deadnettle and pull it out by mistake. I didn't know that wasps will open the skipper tents. I've grown Clinopidium arkansanum before and killed it.

I am kind of surprised that I am not killing more plants with my current lack of time. There is a penstemon blooming its little heart out under a St.Johns Wort, a Baptisia in the middle of a massive patch of ashy sunflowers.

I got “food insecurity” on behalf of the little Spicebush caterpillars. I have no idea how much they eat while caterpillars since I never raised them. Messaged a nearby nursery, they are about half an hour away. One of the employees is in the local garden group. He posted recently that they are adding some more native plants. Surprisingly they said they have a few. Went there today. They had 3 of them, I got two. I think 32 dollars for one of this size is really good. Compared to the little sticks I ordered, it’s actually great.

They look fantastic for $32. I planted my 3 Poke Milkweeds, and last night I had a panic attack thinking the deer might eat them. Sure enough when I looked at them they had been munched on, but only slightly. I have chicken wire around them now. Maybe I should put out a scarecrow or a fake wolf statue? I think I may have lost all my Cunila. The Bushes Poppy Mallow killed them. It would be nice if some vollunteers showed up. There is severe weather that will hit here tomorrow morning. There are so many asters everywhere, it's hard to remember which ones I planted, and which ones are vollunteers? I've been pulling out a lot of them. I bought 3 Sarsaparilla, Aralia nudicaulis 3 years ago and 2 of them died. The remaining plant is starting to sucker and now I have 3 plants again. The roots have great medicinal worth, so if they start overpopulating, I can harvest them.

Jay, I hope your weather isn’t too severe. From what I have seen the risk up there is not over yet. We had thunderstorms yesterday. Nothing severe, but a lot of lightning. Might get more tomorrow into Thursday. As long as it’s just rain. Really don’t want large hail. I should really try to get more of the potted stuff in the ground. Don’t think you can have too many asters :)

Jay, thanks for posting the picture of the Gillenia. Hope your weather isn't too bad. Where did you get your Prunella? I wouldn't mind that growing in my lawn. I had some but I'm not sure if its still around . Are you getting anything off those plant lists?

Iris, nice score on the spicebush! I am still waiting for my little sticks to get that size. The vine's flowers are a really cool color, what species is it?

I was watering the plants a minute ago and noticed the bladdernut is flowering. A moth flew out of it and was flying around my headlamp.

I planted these is 2016 or 2017. Took a really long time to get this size. They are supposed to sucker but I haven't seen any sprouts yet, I was hoping to transplant them to other places because they're also supposed to be deer resistant and black walnut tolerant. I wanted to plant some in the back by the spice bushes. I also have some hop tree seedlings from last year that I should pot up. And I have a volunteer winged sumac, Rhus copallinum, growing in my front bed by the Rhododendrons, I want to plant it by the street between my driveway and my neighbors property, they would hate that though.

The vine is Carolina milkvine. I have never seen Monarchs on it, but the milkweed tussock moths used it. I have bladdernut, but it never bloomed. The deer keep it pruned to 3 feet. It’s a nice row by now. This was one of the plants I received when I ordered something else from a sketchy online nursery. Even took the Name that Plant Forum a while to figure it out. Why would your neighbors hate winged sumac? Because of the suckers? It does have the most beautiful Fall color.

They are more conventional gardeners, I don't think they would recognize the beauty in the sumac or appreciate the growth habit and suckers.

My neighbor planted a sumac as the main tree for his front lawn. Then he planted daylilies and those red flowered Penstemon that are weak, sickly hybrids of a Southwestern colorful Penstemon, with an eastern species. They are claimed to be hardy but they're not. The foliage on them is ugly too. Anyway, after a few years there were sumac suckers covering my neighbor's whole lawn. The sumac has dissapeared. He offered me a piece of sumac, but I said no. If I had the room, I'd love to have a grove of sumac. I don't mind my Devil's Walking Stick suckering, but at some point, I may need to start culling the suckers. Arailia spinosa has the largest compound leaves of any plant in North America. Skip, I don't remember where I got the Prunella, but pretty sure that I grew it from seed. It spreads agressively from seed. That makes it great as a ground cover to beat back non native invasives. I'm just using it as a ground cover, but it can be part of a natural lawn. It will take mowing and is virtually indestructable. I'm keeping it away from all my other native species, except in the shade bed under the oak, where creeping charlie is bad. In that bed Im using Pilea pumila and Circaea canadensis for the same reason, and the creeping charlie makes it hard for other native seeds to germinate in that area. I'm not happy that the Prunella invaded my Violet Wood Sorrell. Those plants are special and need open areas. There's also a Lactuca species in that bed that is a nightmare. Hopefully I can remove it's extensive root system when I lower that bed to ground level. The Wooly Pipevine also has a massive root system that is sending up suckers covering 3 beds. I'm going to comepletely remove the Wooly Pipevine and Ipomoea pandurata. They both sucker into and mess up my other natives. I will plant a piece of Pipevine at the other place alongside the shed.

The bed before I weeded out the Prunella

After weeding out the Prunella. The Blue Eyed Grass and Penstemon now have room to expand. I also just planted a bunch of nasturtium seeds around the edge. The leaves and flowers taste great in salads and a butterfly host plant and great pollinator plant. An expeeiment? The Obediant Plant and Pink Turtlehead will need to be thinned out next spring. I'd like to use the Viola striata as part of the edging, with a whiter Blue Eyed Grass and Jacobs Ladder. I only have 1 good Polemonium plant, and I don't see any seedlings, but I need a bunch more.

Frank, The head of my Native Gardening in Illinois group, that I'm an 'expert'🙄 in gave me 9 Symphyotrichum shortii plants. I was actually at the woods a few weeks ago thinking it would be nice to grow Short's Aster. Charlie's days are numbered in this area. A powerful storm knocked a lot of leaves off the cottonwood tree.

When the Hydrophyllum appendiculatum bolts and blooms in it's 2nd year, it shades out the shorter plants that don't normally have competition. Coralberries normally have arching stems, but this Coralberry switched directions, and is now growing vertically. They sucker agressively, but the suckers form a straight necklace that can be easily pulled out in less than a minute. Much easier to deal with, compared to Diervilla lonicera which cements itself into the ground with a tangle of suckers going in different directions.

Laportea canadensis. There have been a few Red Admirals around. I put some fruit out for them. I wonder if they will think that Jewels black plums are as tasteless as I do?

It should be illegal to sell appealing looking tasteless fruit!

Amorpha fruticosa. My friend doesn't appreciate the beaty of Carex jamesii. You can see the mowed and unmowed sedges in the background. Scotts wants everone to believe the only acceptable ground cover is 1 inch tall carpeting pumped with herbicides and pesticides. They want to destroy any ideas about native ground covers that require little maintainance! I'm making progress with healing his plant blindness. I do weed and tidy up his non native plants to get the oppirtunity to plant natives there.

Native Highbush Cranberry, Viburnum trilobum from Dandy_line. Coralberry, Symphoricarpos orbiculata, Missouri Gooseberry Ribes missouriensis, Creeping Charlie,Glechoma hederacea.

Shady Oak Bed. I hope the Woodland Sunflowers bloom this year. They must be a delicacy for deer. This bed is a hot mess, but a fun challenge. As the agressive perennial sunflowers are nibbled, they will continue to spread by the roots. There must be some kind of compound in Rudbeckia and Helianthus species that attracts deer?

This area was seeded with Prunella lanceolata. It's doing a good job of keeping the Creeping Charlie out. It almost looks like it's repelling the creeping Charlie? The Prunella leaves hug the ground, preventing vines like Creeping Charlie from moving through them. The Creeping Charlie will continue to be a problem as long as it remains in the lawn. I wonder if changing the soil ph using wood ash might make the lawn less habitable for Charlie?

There will be a lot more space to plant when this Creeping Charlie is pulled out.

This website is so stupid! These are the plants that I want the worst. I wrote a detailed explanation about why, but house ate it. The first photo is what this forum looks like to me. All the other forums look normal?

I don't think anything cans stop creeping charlie. Acid mine spoils, radioactive fallout, fire, it'll be back. I need to spend a few hours pulling it out all over the place at my house. Maybe 2'4-D weed and feed type product would take it out, but that stuff will end up taking me out too so I'd rather not use it.

Jay, I am really loving your little garden tours here. Thank you so much for sharing. We also had some powerful storms around. Not too bad here, just some flattened plants. Did get 2 inches of rain. My pandurata might finally get somewhere. I hope it does. Would love some more, but this one was some serious effort, so probably not going to start it again anytime soon. Learned about the cat bells plant.Loved the looks of it, and actually found plants to order. Here I go again. Ordering plants when I am so far behind with the cleanup that I don’t have room to put them. Bog candles are taking over the world. Need to do something about that.

Houzz hasn't fixed my issue. I need a magnifying glass to read the comments. The hailstorm a couple days ago broke some branches on my Arailia spinosa. It's been raining 24/7 here.

I'm not going to the plant sale. It's a 4 hour drive. There's another native plant sale this weekend that's much closer. I might go, but I need to look at the list first. Skip, does your native Lilium philidelphicum send out offshoots? I'm certain that I only planted 2 lilies in 1 spot, but now it looks like 4 lilies are growing there. One was michiganense and the other was philidelphicum. I've tried germinating tons of Lilium superbum seeds twice with double dormancy with no germination. This is the farthest I've gotten with native lilies.

I still have not been able to grow the superbum. Tried 3 times. No idea what I did wrong. Our native plant sale is tomorrow. After looking at the list, I am not going. Plus my husband is still a bit traumatized from the chaos two years ago. So am I :)

I dug up this little unknown tree this Spring. It was growing against the house wall by my porch. Put it in a pot to see what it turns out to be. Looked a bit like a peach? Saw a tiny caterpillar on it today that looks like a Tiger Swallowtail. Not sure at this “bird poop” stage though. Any thought of what the tree might be? Never seen cats on my peach trees, should probably look up if Tigers would use it.

It's a Willow. I'm guessing it's Black Willow, Salix nigra. The other 2 most common willows in South Carolina are Salix caroliniana, Carolina Willow and Salix babylonica, Weeping Willow. I want to grow a willow. The nice willow that vollunteered in a bog pot dried out and died.

https://edgeofthewoodsnursery.com/trees-for-butterflies#:~:text=Willows%20provide%20food%20for%20the,spotted%20Purple%2C%20and%20Viceroy%20butterflies.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/V7ZbNu5ZnCq5LxFu/?mibextid=oFDknk

Hail damage on the Devil's Walkigstick, Aralia spinosa

I need to plant more sedges into the Prunella groundcover. And some Northern Sea Oats and sedges to replace a carpet of Creeping Charlie, Glechoma hederacea on a hillside. I want more Clearweed, Pilea pumila and Enchanter's Nightshade to cover the ground too. These slightly taller plants keep the Wild Ginger under control. Fresh Prunella taste like mint bubblegum. Long term plans are to have this bed filled with all the spring ephemerals in this bed too. It's constant editing. Slowly but surely the Creeping Charlie is losing its foothold. I'm totally open to trying other native groundcovers. Tweaking the restoration over a long period.

Golden Alexanders in a shadier spot. They don't get as shrubby in the shade. Laportea canadensis, Wood Nettle. I'm going to add a couple native Tall Nettle, Urtica gracilis for the Red Admirals. They must be able to smell nettles from great distances? I definately need a lot more Clearweed, and I need a few False Nettle. I have'nt seen any Boehmeria cylindrica coming back anywhere? It's a beautiful plant. It was kind of magical seeing False Nettle and Water Willow growing at the shore of the canal in the very same spot I released a snapping turtle a year earlier.

This Jack in the Pulpit was in a clump of Wild Geraniums that I moved. It's doing better than the geraniums are.

Early Figwort, Scrophularia marilandica

The Collinsonia canadensis looks lush from all the rain. I hope it makes seeds this year. It hasn't produced seeds in the past 2 seasons because of droughts.

Giant Waterleaf, Hydrophyllum appendiculatum. Very closely related to the genus Phacellia.

The first Wild Columbine to bloom in this bed from scattered seeds. Drummond's Aster in back.

The Jack in the Pulpit that was mistaken for Poison Ivy and pulled out has grown back.

1. Mauanthemum, Solomon's Plume

I've been weeding out Canada Snakeroot before it goes to seed, but it keeps coming back. Before I learned they were Sanicula canadensis; I thought they were Buttercups.(Ranunculus) or White Avens, Geum canadense. They are native, and possibly a Black Swallowtail host plant. There are a few plants that all have 5 leaflets, but they are easy to tell apart. Sanicula canadensis. Anemone canadensis, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, and Panax quinquefolia. The 1 Ginseng plant returned, but it's encased in Wild Ginger. I'm going to be thinning out a lot of the Asarum and using it in other places, including under a large, old Blue Spruce.

The deer have been trained to eat invasive bush honeysuckle seedlings.

I moved this Sawtooth Sunflower from my front yard to the hill at the edge of the shady oak bed. It would have comepletely taken over my front yard. The shady oak bed ends at a hill that isn't steep. It goes right into the neighbor's property. I don't know how to describe their yard, but if the cannibal family in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre lived in the midwest, their yard would look like the neighbors. They think getting back to nature means letting all the invasives in your yard do their own thing. There is a large above-ground swimming pool that looks like it's been abandoned for decades, and it's filled with Phragmites. They have let the Phragmites grow right up to their house. The Phragmites is filling a valley close by a train track. The whole valley has caught on fire before. It's unbelievable that they carelessly alliw such a fire hazard to their house? There are tons of garbage all throughout their yard. They seem to have different people living there all the time, kind of like the Manson family. Elmer the neighbor has been mowing the hill and he mows the Sawtooth Sunflower. I'm going to try to explain to him that if he stopped mowing there, I can make the hill look beautiful which would benefit everyone. There's really no reason he needs to mow there, considering how he's let the rest of his yard go to hell. The Sawtooth Sunflowers are indestructable, and they will continue to spread if they keep getting mowed. I'm going to spend a few hours Sunday ripoing out as much Creeping Charlie as I can. I'll have a much better idea about arranging the bed, without all the Creeping Charlie clouding my view. I'm going to loosen the ground underneath them, so when I pull them out, most of their root fibers will come out.

I used to watch this gardening show on PBS years ago.

https://youtu.be/uyJvlhWodPY?si=GORGORlHS95bY50b

I can see Willow in my mystery tree. Guess I will see if the caterpillar on it is going to eat and grow.

Did you go to any plant sales today? I did plant some of the potted stuff. Including a devils walking stick. It was just constantly falling over in the pot. Hope it’s happy in the ground. How old do they have to be to bloom? My order from Toadshade arrived today. Came in two boxes. One was fine, the other one a complete mess. Repotted, and hoping for the best.

This is the 4th or 5th year that Ive been growing Aralia spinosa and it still hasn't bloomed. There are now 4 more smaller suckers growing. They will be crowded if I don't move some of them. I hope the suckers will have enough roots developed to make it on there own. It looks like there are 2 Ginseng plants this year. I only remember there being 1 last year. I need to do a major thinning out of my Wild Ginger. It's preventing the other natives from self seeding. Thr Jack in the Pulpits are having a good year. I didn't go to any sales. I still have a lot of plants in pots that need to be planted, and I have so many other plans. They seem to be having native pop up plant sales lasting into fall now, so there are still a lot of chances to buy something on my wish list. I think more bigger native nurseries have started supplying plants for the sales. My Sweet Flag has it's 1st flower. It looks so prehistoric.. I weeded out the Obediant Plant thst keeps trying to come back and take over again. I weeded out Obediant plant at the other place too. The Carex jamesii is spreading like crazy into the grass. It's something native gardeners work hard to accomplish, but the Carex is doing it on it's own. A Carex lawn would make getting rid of the Creeping Charlie a lot easier. I planted 3 Short's Asters and moved a clump of Canada anemone, some Wild Ginger and violets. Then I dug up some of the Carex that were being mowed and placed them thoughout thr other natives. I had some vollunteers that I thought were Prairie Dropseed, but they are a Carex species with thin hair-like leaves. At first, I didn't get why botanists are in love with Carex, but I'm really starting to like that genus. And the seeds feed birds and other wildlife. I think a Baptisia tinctoria came up in the sandy bed, and it's big enough to bloom. I thought the 1 or 2 tinctoria that I planted there never made it. The dirt in the sandy bed is sloped, and there are several digger wasp holes in it. If I had a lot of space, I'd make a sandhill for the Digger Wasps. My Meehania cordata is looking great.

I don't know what this narrow leaved plant is. But it doesn't look like a weed?

Erigeron pulchellus and dark red Penstemon digitalis

The Ostrich Ferns seem happy in that spot. Another Daisy Fleabane to pull out.

The Showy Milkweed has flower buds.

Lilies

Lily

Baptisia tinctoria? At 1st I thought it was a very large Acmispon americanum.

Whoa lots going on in here. Can't respond to everything but enjoy reading it all. I don't have any philidelphicum growing in the ground. My Lilium superbum does seem to sprout multiple stalks from the same root system. I got my wife some other gifts but also made her a little arrangement for mother's day.

Honeysuckle aphids have destroyed the blooms and new growth on my coral honeysuckle. Where are all the wasps and lady beetle larva when you need them?

Jay’s many plants give me a lot to look up. I have no idea how you keep up with everything

Skip, your bouquet is just beautiful. I bet your wife was thrilled.The wasps are probably all in my yard. I had flowers delivered from my older daughter. The delivery lady said she felt like she just entered some secret garden. Made my day. Even though I am so far behind, a lot more stuff is starting to bloom. I guess that distracts from the mess :)

Looks like a tiny cricket frog made his home in my lotus pot.

Hello again. Been a long time since I last posted. It appears I now have my logon back, but we'll see.

Jay your plant with the long leaves, maybe Tradescantia? Skip and Iris your plants look so great. I'm just coming out of winter now, except there really wasn't a winter to speak of.

I made a large posting with many photos and - they got trashed.

Hi, Dandy! Nice to hear from you. I am still having trouble posting here, especially with pictures. Writing it in my notes. At least if it disappears, I can just copy and paste. Often have to post with just one picture, than edit my post later to add another. Doing a load of laundry or something seems like enough time to wait :)

Rainy day here. I guess I jinxed it when I said my man of the earth might finally take off after all these years. Deer are loving it.

I was mad that my friend mowed a nice clump of Tall Bellflower, but now the deer are eating them down to the ground. And my Beebalm. Thank goidness they have ignored the Trillium.

My native Sweet Flag had it's 1st flower. The Passiflora lutea hasn't emerged yet.

Leatherwood, Jack in the Pulpit, and Virginia Creeper

Tall Meadow Rue. About 7 ft.

Virginia Snakeroot and Hairy Wood Mint. Special guest appearance by Hog Peanut and Common Blue Violet.

Giant Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum biflorum var commutatum.

Crested Iris, Maianthemum stellatum, Lilium michiganense, Lilium philidelphicum, Sanguinaria canadensis. At what stage is your Bloodroot in northern Minnesota, Dandy? I found a nursery selling Lonicera canadensis. Unfortunately I would have to pick them up, and the nursery in in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

Hi all. Be patient Jay as I'm sure L. canadensis will show up here somewhere. My blood root just stopped blooming.

Caulophyllum thalictroides in bloom. Not very showy but the good stu will be in faal/winter with the big blue berries.

• Large-flowered Bellwort

Perfoliate leaves

Continued

Bellwort and Trillium

JITP-Jack in the pulpit

Aesculis Ohio Buckeye

Smilax, not blooming yet

Continued

Tamarack-native around here but wants to be in wettish ground, which I don't have .

Blackhaw which I bought 5 years ago and is doing poorly, but it's way out of its geography.

Bloodroot

Aralia racemosa just popping out of the ground. i expect it will be 5' tall in another week.

Ptelea, Wafer Ash? I transplanted this in last year. I have high hope for it.

continued

Sessile-leaf Bellwort-diminutive compared to the large lowered.

Red-berried Elder, earliest flowering plant in my yard, this will have berries in a ew more weeks.

A field of Elderberry. Lily of the valley in front. Must eradicate!

Paper Birch-this clump showed up about 4 years ago.

continued

Two more volunteers. Where did the River Birch come from I wonder.

Pin cherry in bloom. Balsam Fir, White Pine, etal.

Reclaimed area. There were about a dozen oak in this spot which I removed about 8 years ago(which everyone ripped me for it!). Nothing else grew because of them except white pine which predated the oaks. I added the Balsam Fir, White Spruce and yellow birch, The rest are native volunteers.

Jay, lots going on in your yard. Is it still too early for you to get the cicadas?

Dandy, great pictures. Glad you were able to post them. Are you harvesting elderberries for yourself, or are you leave them for the critters?

Well, saw today that the new spicebushes I purchased as additional food for the caterpillars I found on my tiny “sticks” are covered with a lot of tiny cats. Not sure what my plan B is. Could be that these will mostly be picked off by wasps by the time the ones I raise in the tent will need the additional food, Still would hate for this to happen though. The ones in the tent are growing. Seems there have been fewer butterflies in recent years, but more than plenty of wasps. Not sure what’s wrong. Still hardly any hummingbird visits.