Native Plant Suggestions
Redthistle
15 years ago
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Carla
15 years agoRelated Discussions
WANTED: bog / marginal plants
Comments (4)I highly recommend American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea) which would do well in the shallower areas of your pond. At the pond edge I would recommend various native irises. Some that are native to your region include Iris tridentata (a totally awesome and completely under utilized iris that is one of the latest of all iris species to bloom in the summer), Iris virginica, and any/all of the Louisiana species such as Iris fulva, Iris hexagona, and Iris giganticaerulea. If you buy seeds, bear in mind most of these will take 2-3 years to bloom. (At least that the case for me in Ohio.) Here is a link that might be useful: Native Iris Species Website...See MoreFL Native Plant Scty Fall Native Plant Sale Oct 10 Port Orange
Comments (1)thanks! I'm passing this along......See MoreWhat Topics / Speakers for Conference
Comments (4)Local speakers are always a plus because their travel expenses are low. Here's some suggestions: - Joel Greenberg, author of A Natural History of the Chicago Region - Steve Packard, Chicago Audubon and one of the leading ecological restorationists (is that a word?) in the area - Debra Shore, editor of Chicago Wilderness - Al and Barbara Wilson, co-stewards of Lake-in-the-Hills - Michael Jeffords, photographer for Illinios Steward magazine I've seen all but the last at different seminars and they are all capable and interesting speakers. I know that Jeffords does seminars but I've never been to one. His photos are absolutely stunning. Further afield, Rick Darke is a landscape designer and author based in Pennsylvania who also does some very inspiring presentations. I've never been to a Wild Ones seminar but isnce it's in the area next year could be a possibility. V....See MoreEdible landscape
Comments (9)I agree with the comments of the others. It also is important to study your sunlight patterns at different parts of the year to understand which areas adjacent to structures are shaded at which times of the year. In some cases, you can use that shading to your advantage. As a rural resident, I want to add that every living creature of every kind will enjoy every edible plant (and many that we human consider merely ornamentals) you have, so don't plant too much too soon without fencing and other protection because, if you do, you may find that the deer, rabbits and other creatures are devouring your plants just about as quickly as you can plant them. I cannot grow much of anything that is not fenced in so that deer and rabbits cannot get to it, and there's lots of other hungry animals and insects (and birds) that will devour every edible thing you plant, so have a plan in place. You might want to grow your lettuce in containers in the beginning, in order to have it high enough above the ground that the rabbits can't eat it. I grow some lettuce near the house in containers that are about 2' tall, and grow the rest in the fenced-in garden, which is a combination of vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers protected by an 8' tall fence. In our early years here we had a shorter fence and too many creatures found ways over it or under it and devoured both ornamental and edible plantings. While edible landscaping is wonderful, when you are rural or semi-rural it can be very hard to do it unless you have adquate measures in place to exclude wildlife, the neighbors' cows or goats that get loose, neighbors' dogs or cats (as well as your own pets) that like to dig, etc. I protect your fruit trees with tomato cages their first year or two to keep the deer from eating them or beating them to death and use hardware cloth or plastic tree protectors to keep rabbits from nibbling the bark and girdling the young fruit trees before they get a chance to grow. My advice is to go slow and figure out if the wild critters expect to come eat everything you plant. I finally had to largely give up on the idea of having any sort of edible landscaping around the house and just focus on the fenced garden. Otherwise, everything I plant just turns into Deer Chow and Rabbit Chow. I now have two very large fenced-in garden plots with ugly 8' tall fences and grow most everything within them. The actual landscaping around the house itself is just mostly shrubs, trees and groundcovers, with just a few flowering plants that the wildlife generally do not feed upon (but in drought years, they will even eat plants that they normally leave alone). For the most part, ignore those lists entitled "Plants that deer won't eat" or whatever. The deer do not read those lists and I have learned they will eat almost anything if they are hungry enough (and they often are indeed hungry enough). The battle to protect fruit trees (and peaches in particular) from hungry squirrels is an ongoing saga here. My fruit trees largely are not inside the fenced garden (though I am starting to plant more fruit trees inside fenced areas) and I have to fight the birds, squirrels and deer for every piece of fruit we harvest. Bird netting helps, but it is not even bird proof and certainly not squirrel and deer proof....See Moregnabonnand
15 years agomommyfox
15 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
15 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
15 years agoroselee z8b S.W. Texas
15 years agoRedthistle
15 years agoltcollins1949
15 years agoRedthistle
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15 years agoAlice W
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoroselee z8b S.W. Texas
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9 years agoUser
9 years ago
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