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It's Not About Cleaning Up

4/17/2024

It's spring so garden articles and social media pages are abuzz with information on how to tidy and clean up your garden beds in time for the growing season. And you know what? That terms "tidy up" and "clean up" are very problematic.

There is nothing dirty, unclean, or wrong with how gardens look after winter. Why do you have to "clean up" your garden? Are the inlaws coming over to judge you and break up your marriage? If you are going to go out there and remove dead plant material there better be a point to it. Points that count include but are not limited to:

1) You're trying to increase seed germination and many seeds need sunlight at the soil surface so you're trying to get light to touch and warm up said soil surface. Therefore, you are removing material that is currently shading the soil surface too much. This might include cutting back plants really low, raking out meadow beds, or even using fire.

2) Removal of diseased material or material that is actually, really, smothering other plants to the point they actually, really, can't push through (rare). Our experience is that the smothering aspect is rare.

3) Tidying up visible areas that demand said tidying up for reasons, alas, not connected to ecology and ecosystem function. For example, the front yard lawn-to-meadow conversion of wilder foundation beds where "cleaning" is a good thing for neighbors to see you doing, because seeing active management might help them understand you aren't just "lazy" or don't care.

Your spring garden -- and all of the spent plant material -- are intentional and they are still sheltering insects and other fauna that don't all emerge on the first warm day like suburban mowers. Some insect and bug species won't emerge for weeks and months yet, in fact. In nature we don't see birds or squirrels or prairie dogs cleaning up meadows or woodlands. We are the only species that removes native vegetation, replaces it with unnatural arrangements of plants that may or may not be suited to the site or one another, and then treat these assemblages as closets or living rooms that need spring cleaning. We create more work for ourselves and I don't know why. And for some reason if you don't participate actively in this work, you are dubbed an outsider and even an outlaw. Cleaning up is just another term for oppressing nature -- but if you do it with a purpose, in sync with habitat and ecosystems, it can be a more strategic and lighter tool whose specific actions lead to specific ecological goals.

On Daffodils, Climate Change, and Colonization

3/13/2024

Daffodils and snowdrops are not a sign of spring anywhere in North America. And they aren't all that helpful to insects or bugs.

This time of year there's not (typically) supposed to be that much if anything in bloom -- at least not where you think it should be (the ground plane). That being said, there are plenty of things blooming by me, disturbingly early this year, like pussy willow (Salix discolor), American elm (Ulmus americana), red maple (Acer rubrum), ground plum (Astragalus crassicarpus), and pasque flower (Anemone patens) that if there was anything (native) out a month earlier than is typical, there would be resources -- especially for generalists. Yesterday on the maple there were some fly species and honey bees, which is typical to see on maple; as you may recall from previous posts here, honey bees are livestock and a nonnative species that steals resources from native bees while easily spreading disease.

Regarding snowdrops and daffodils, you're not helping pollinators with pollen / nectar resources if there aren't any pollinators yet emerged, especially those who co-evolved to use specific plants that aren't yet active. (And if anyone can provide a study on daffodil pollen nutrition compared to early-season native plant resources in various ecoregions, I'd appreciate seeing it.)

But I wonder, with all these willow, elm, maple, pasque flowers (see image below) blooming weeks early, what will pollinators that specialize or rely on using them do when they eventually emerge at the usual time? Maybe there will be other things in bloom as spring rolls on early thanks to human-caused climate change? (And what will some trees, leafing out now, do when we hit 20 later this week?) This is the problem with climate change, and why, as gardeners, I think it behooves us to think and act more locally, which in turn confronts the larger systemic issues up the chain in our culture. (I often feel that native plant proponents get easy vitriol because they're also trying to say larger things about culture as a whole, things we don't want to confront, are unable to confront, or are ill-equipped / unprepared to confront because they are so large and so systemic we just shut down at the enormity and complexity of it all.)

Is planting daffs or snowdrops causing ecological harm? Probably not. But greenwashing them by pretending / assuming they have benefit -- in large part because you likely want to see more early spring color than the local ecosystem / ecoregion provides -- is part of horticultural colonization and human supremacy, not concern for the environment or the plight of insects and bugs.

I've tried hard not to write this post this year -- as well as the last several years -- because it feels like I'm simply just trying to start something, because ultimately we need to come together. Folks who disagree, which is totally cool by the way, will call this post out as simple native plant dogma. First, labeling is a way to dismiss an idea the rubs you the wrong way or makes you uncomfortable or asks you to think outside a comfort zone, and second, what about the prevailing dogma of dominant / traditional hort that is all about colonization and privileging the human first in a landscape? Which is an extension of just about all of western culture.

We need a deep, deep rethink and daffodils, at least in the hort world, often become that flashpoint as we reckon with how hort is a part of our privilege, and how our identities are so wrapped up in it we feel we need to defend that privilege because we assume we're being personally attacked when larger systems are being critiqued (same thing applies to capitalism or even sexism / racism, but that's a whole new topic and added layer so let's just stick to pretty flowers and for whom those flowers are pretty -- and yet social justice is tied to environmental justice, just ask the entire ecofeminist wing of activism and philosophy, as well as deep ecologists).

Personally, I feel daffodils, especially, take me out of my home place, remove me from this region, and also -- quite simply -- look very out of place in a meadow or prairie. I also feel that planting them is an act of being unhappy with what is, not appreciating your local ecoregion, or fully celebrating the local rhythms and realities of place -- but that whole conversation might seem too woo-woo for some folks, and that's ok as I address it more in A New Garden Ethic.

Now, there are no plant police. No one is coming to fine you or remove your daffodils like the legit plant police will do when a neighbor reports you for having anything but lawn, including an errant dandelion let alone a meadow garden of natives or daffodils with natives (who wants to discuss the pros and cons of dandelions yet again in a future post?).

So, in summary, daffodils are primarily just for you. If you're ok with that hey, no one is coming with a threatening letter or an orange sign staked into your garden, so enjoy your privilege to plant what you like. Just, please, stop pretending or assuming daffodils and snowdrops are for wildlife -- that's where the issue really flounders. And thank you for having less lawn or doing something different than a typical monoculture lawn.

Native Plants For More Formal Design

3/10/2024

Well, let's say native plants -- and some cultivars -- that lend a bit more orderly shapeliness to a bed, even if that bed is a "wilder" or "messier" bed-hair matrix of short warm-season bunchgrasses or sedge species. And please note, this is just a starter list, and the plants may not work for your site conditions or ecoregion, but that's not the point; the point is to show you how to rethink plants when we desire to put them into slightly more unnatural garden design boxes that suit our aesthetic goals. In other words, sometimes we want plants to fit into certain boxes they are not inclined to slide into because we have our own ideas of what nature should and can be (are gardens art, and if so, how much art should they be / how much dominance should humans have -- aka read A New Garden Ethic). If that sounds like an indictment, well, maybe it is, but the reality goes that many people contact me asking about herbaceous perennials that can fit into a more formal or modern garden design aesthetic. Here are some plants I use that might work for that.

Heuchera richardsonii -- large, maple-like basal foliage leaves, with tall, erect, vertical bloom stalks in mid to later April. These plants could easy be massed in formal squares or triangle, or in rows. The blooms and stalks show better in a thicker planting, however, while the foliage is a nice contrast to the thinner leaves of sedge and grass species.

Baptisia australis minor -- This is going to be a bit hit or miss because I think it's based on ecotype, but about half of my specimens -- after 5 years or so -- develop a nice mounded, rounded shape that's roughly 18x18 inches or even 24x24 inches. The smooth, oval leaves contrast nicely with a matrix of short bunchgrasses, while the springtime bloom stalks reach about 6-12" above the foliage. As the foliage continues to grow they overtake and help round out the jet-black seed pods from those once-taller bloom stalks.

Echinacea pallida -- More open an airy than Echinacea purpurea (mainly due to thinner stems and more basal-type foliage), the flower stems stay pretty stout and erect at 2-3 feet tall while being jet black in winter. This species provides a nice vertical, sculptural accent.

Liatris aspera or Liatris ligulistylis -- Similar aspects to EP above, vertical stems don't take up much visual space and could be arranged in such a way to create an short allee of herbaceous perennials above shorter species of other plants.

Allium cernuum -- Nodding onion gets about 12x12 inches oar even up to about 18" tall. While the overall shape is not as rounded former as something like Allium 'Millenium' which also has more blooms in a tighter presentation, this straight species can be arranged in geometric patterns or recurring masses to help the eye move across a semi wild or more formal / geometric pattern.

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies' -- Let's call it a large, oval to rounded mass of green until mid to late fall when it's covered in tons of flowers. Mine get about 2-3' wide and 18-24" tall after a few years, and a great at mimicking overused spreader conifers or meatball boxwoods.

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae 'Purple Dome' -- Suggesting this one with the caveat that it's legs, by mid summer, get covered with sedge or shortgrass species since this cultivar is prone to legginess where bottom leaves on stalks die (which very well might be due to chrysanthemum lacebugs more than anything). Place it among some Bouteloua curtipendula or B. gracilis and you're good to go.

If you need something taller and thicker with more stalks and gravitas, maybe look to Eutrochium purpureum. If you're looking for tall and architectural with stems that withstand strong wind, maybe something like a plantain, either Arnoglossum atriplicifolium or A. plantgineum. The former gets nice maroon stalks.

Freak Warmth Does Not Equal Early Garden Clean Up Time

2/26/2024

Right now much of the country is experiencing mid to late spring temps 1-2 months early, which means the social media channels are all abuzz with "clean up the garden" chatter and asking when folks are doing it. (Our Anemone patens is blooming nearly a month ahead of schedule!) For many, they are starting way too early, even as others clamor for a clear and easy light switch moment when they can start working. Well let's dive in.

I am a little frustrated with the unending oversimplification of "don't clean up the garden until temps are in the 50s." You know what? People CAN handle nuance and I think are craving it so they can make better, more informed, local decisions. We don't have to dumb it down or make it so simple that everyone does the same thing everywhere -- that's what led us to the problems caused by lawns, mulch, over fertilizing, and hosta.
So let's do this:

1) Do you HAVE to clean up the garden? Why? If it's just because you're bored and it's nice outside that's not ample justification. Are you cleaning up to allow more sunlight to hit the soil surface so flower seeds can germinate? Are you getting rid of diseased material? Often, there's no real need to clean up. Not doing so (especially too early) will allow whatever is overwintering to take its time and emerge when it needs to and when, hopefully, the plant community around it is ready to provide resources. Maybe you at least leave SOME areas as they are and never touch them, rotating such areas year to year. Maybe you just clean up the front beds to appease neighbors a bit and show you are intentionally managing the wilder space. Lots of variables here that are highly local.

2) Air temps have nothing to do with when to clean up -- if you have to clean up. Generally, if you want to go by temps, go by soil temps at or above 50 (in Nebraska we have a wonderful resource that provides a general baseline and I suspect you have something similar in your state: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/soiltemperature). Soil temps at 50 is about the time some plants start stirring again, and in a normal year around these parts wouldn't be for another month or so, but this year looks to be weeks early. Just because it's weeks early doesn't mean you should rush outside; not every species can or will adapt to a changing climate, and certainly not this fast (or even in decades), so give them a break and don't step on them or pull back the blanket too early. It's still winter. IT'S STILL WINTER. Our air temps at HQ are 25-30 degrees ABOVE NORMAL right now. It's not spring. It's NOT SPRING -- even if we never get cold again, so much is not ready. (In fact, we will be hitting 15 in two nights.)

3) Just the phrase "cleaning up the garden" feels problematic. It implies the winter garden is messy or dirty -- and as you know, we already have an image and phraseology problem with "messy" when it comes to natural gardens. Maybe in order to help shift the paradigm we shouldn't see the gardens as needing a clean up. How many prairie dogs, squirrels, birds, raccoons, and other assorted fauna to do you see "cleaning up" the prairie or forest? Why are you throwing away all this good bird-nest-making material and free mulch? Let's look at the majority of sedge (Carex) species that really don't even need mowing or trimming back or cleaning up -- their dead leaves provide good soil amendments and weed control and, a few weeks into the growing season, won't even be noticeable with all the new growth. Same goes for leaving some forb stems at 12-18" high for the 25% of native bees species that are cavity nesters (Zizia, Echiancea, Asclepias, Eryngium, Eutrochium are some faves here).

Obviously, the above advice needs to be shifted regionally, as those in the south start garden chores (ugh) weeks and weeks sooner than folks in the north. This climate change thing is really going to mess up a lot for gardeners and the wildlife they may be gardening for as activities and emergence times get out of sync. Perhaps the best we can do is to do keep doing less and bear witness to the strange times we've created, then call out those strange times and advocate for an end to larger practices that cause climate change -- including much in the landscape install and maintenance world.

If you're itching to get outside and do something, remove more lawn and prep the space for new beds. Build some cues to care (benches, arbors). Or, enjoy that you don't have to work, sit back and soak up some sun, enjoy an iced tea, and appreciate that you have a landscape that doesn't require constant tending and messing, just like you planned on and wanted when you started down the natural garden road. Even better, get involved in local and regional advocacy to end habitat loss and burning of fossil fuels -- we shouldn't even be having this garden management conversation for another few weeks.

Why a Clover Lawn Isn't Helping All That Much

2/12/2024

We know all about the impact urban lawns have on the ecosystem, from pollution to habitat loss. We've heard the stories about bees and butterflies and birds struggling to find food and host plants for their young in urban areas. And we're bombarded with possible solutions that we can follow at home as we make authentic searches into ourselves about what we can do and how we can get empowered.

One of the many solutions proposed to help pollinators, like bees, is a dutch white clover lawn. It might be the only plant comprising the lawn, it could be sprinkled in among a fescue or other turf-type grass, or it might be part of a slightly more diverse community of native and exotic groundcover plants like wild violets and wood sorrel and dandelion.

But dutch white clover is not an effective answer to habitat or even other environmental issues caused by wall to wall carpeting. The big question we need to be asking ourselves is how much lawn-type space do we really need? Why? (And why so much around business parks and corporate offices?) How can we at least greatly reduce it or even eliminate it? The goal of gardening for wildlife and habitat is not to switch out one monoculture for another monoculture or near monoculture -- the goal is diversity. Diversity in plant species, plant type, height, blooms, bloom times, winter structure, etc.

Here are some of the drawbacks to a dutch white clover lawn:

It's still a monoculture or near monoculture with limited resources for adult insects and their young.
It's an exotic species that co-evolved with honey bees. Thus, primarily honey bees will be using it. Honey bees are an exotic species that out compete native bees, spread disease, steal resources, etc.
If the goal of an alternative lawn is to end mowing, a clover lawn still does need to be occasionally mowed. A short meadow only needs mowing 1x per year in the spring cut down.
The ecosystem services of a short, 6" tall or less groundcover are far, far fewer compared to a slightly taller meadow garden of 12-18" in height.

What are ecosystem services, anyway? Here's a partial list:

Diverse blooms for a variety of pollinators at different times of year. Different flowers for different needs.
Host plants for insect and bug larvae, most often native plants that fauna co-evolved with. No host plants, no new insects.
Cleaning and cooling the air (thicker, lusher, taller plantings do it better).
Cleaning, amending, rebuilding the soil (thicker, lusher plantings do it better with deeper root systems).
Reducing stormwater runoff during extreme weather events (thicker, lusher, taller plantings do it better).
Overall habitat for a diverse set of species (thicker, lusher plantings do it better).

The primary reason for a lawn or lawn-type landscape, especially in suburban contexts, is a play space for kids. The assumption being kids need to kick a ball around or play croquet -- that's playing. In our neighborhood, the average size of a lot is around 7,500 square feet, and the house will take up around 1,500 feet, the driveway another few hundred, plus patios, sidewalks, and decks. There's very, very little room left for tag football, soccer, tossing a novelty flying disk, etc so most kids end up in the streets, which is obviously not advisable unless you live on a cul-de-sac.

However, what a less-lawn landscape provides is increased areas of play, not less. We're talking creative play, and we're talking contact with other species which has been scientifically proven to build empathy. Contact with nature increases critical thinking skills and imagination and ability to work with others. Contact with nature increases exposure to beneficial microbes which reduce chances of kids developing allergies. A more natural landscape -- one with taller grasses, flowers, shrubs, and trees -- creates infinite habitat of possibility for imaginative and out-of-the-box play that lasts for hours, not to mention ideal hide and go seek habitat. (Books by Richard Louv will be of great interest on this topic.)

Kids don't need lawn. They need diverse habitat, and they aren't getting it at home or school. Instead, there's still this pervasive fear that nature is out to get us and our kids. Flowers will invite wasps -- beneficial predators which are simply carnivorous bees -- and dense plantings will expose kids to ticks (lawns expose kids to chiggers which are also pretty awful). Ticks are a valid concern, and strategies to design a space and work with wildness are included in this post.

A dutch white clover lawn is a very small incremental step above a turf-type lawn. While it's hopefully not being mowed every week with a machine spewing out environmental toxins, being maintained with dangerous herbicides and fertilizers that directly threaten kids playing on lawn or their drinking of polluted water, a clover lawn's environmental benefits are otherwise only marginally better than a traditional suburban lawn. If it's a baby step, it's a very small baby step, and unless it actually leads to more significant change it's a step that doesn't really matter.

Perhaps the clover lawn -- pushed by another problematic call-to-action in No Mow May -- suffers the same psychological issues as that surrounding butterfly bush; namely, that we think we are doing something beneficial but discover there's more nuance and more to learn, which feels both overwhelming and even a little incriminating. (Butterfly bush is not a host plant and only provides resources for a very limited number of insects, while becoming invasive in some parts of the United States.)

The goal of this post is not to to make anyone feel bad, but to explore that if our goals truly are ecological gardening that's climate resilient and sustainable and benefits all species to the max, a clover lawn is a pale imitation of even a low meadow with diverse layers and plant species. There are a cornucopia of free posts on this site about how to create a lawn-to-meadow conversion in sun or shade, as well as the more in-depth video classes and, of course, the book Prairie Up. Hopefully, perusing them will leave you empowered and ready to rethink pretty, unlawn America, and garden for the community in engaging ways. And, if you're worried about local weed ordinances we've got that covered, too. You are the change we all need to see. Every garden matters.

A Different Take on Monarch Butterfly Populations

2/9/2024

Over the last decade-ish the poster child of insect conservation and rewilding has gone through peaks and valleys; after a valley the word on the socials is that monarchs are doomed, insects are doomed, we are doomed, plant milkweed (it better be native, with associated native plant communities to build HABITAT not just trophy cases of plants). So sure, all of that, but even this doomer -- who freely admits the ship is generally sinking so why not scream loud and push all the buttons -- is a little tired. Whatever we're doing IS NOT WORKING. We're missing something, some secret sauce.

Here's Chip Taylor:

"Q: Will monarchs recover?
Taylor: Catastrophic mortality due to extreme weather events is part of their history. The numbers have been low many times in the past and have recovered, and they will again. Monarchs are resilient."

And here's Karen Oberhauser:

"Insect populations are notorious for their annual fluctuations, but this value is concerning. It is the second lowest ever reported; only the winter of 2013-2014 was lower (0.67 ha). In 31 years of measurements, only six years have declined over 55% from one season to the next and a drop this dramatic has never before occurred after a year as low as last year’s 2.21 ha. While monarchs did rebound after the low of 2013, numbers this low leave the population more vulnerable to catastrophic events, like a winter storm in the next month before monarchs leave their wintering grounds, or weather conditions that lead to low reproductive success in next spring or summer [too damp, too dry, etc]....

There are concerning indications that the conditions that are bad for monarchs are becoming more common due to human-induced climate change. Additionally, there is strong evidence that a two decade decline from the mid-1990’s through about 2005 was driven by loss of breeding habitat. The amount of available habitat sets a ceiling for how many monarchs can be produced in a “good” year, and that ceiling is lower than it was in the past. Restoration efforts appear to be just keeping pace with ongoing habitat loss, so there has been little change in habitat availability over the past 20 or so years."

As someone living on the edge of the former tallgrass, I can tell you the primary breeding range in the northern Plains / Midwest is gone. It's just gone.

Climate change and habitat loss. Those are the words we need to hear and absorb and reckon with. Words that rile up lots of folks, and that's fine by me. We are in a mass extinction caused by us, by our human supremacy. We are all, directly and indirectly, supporting ecocide. I am right now, running this computer off of coal, about to eat a dinner that traveled too far to get here, on land surrounded by monoculture of one form or another. But the master's tools will not bring down the master's house.

I believe the things that have the greatest impact are the things that are in people's faces, that make obvious the issues, that make us truly uncomfortable and shake us from our easy complacency (which, by the way, is exactly how we're being played by those with so much of the power and wealth -- fight about Taylor Swift, be upset about the cost of milk, get the new phone at a discount, here's this manufactured crisis and this crisis but whatever you do don't actually look behind the curtain; heck, they know you don't want to anyway).

So this is about far, far more than monarchs.

What can you do?

1) Rip out your front lawn. All of it. This spring. Not because that will "save monarchs" or any other species, but because this will create a breach in the status quo. Good trouble. Education. Bearing witness. Giving hope something to sink its teeth into. Also, getting folks re-accustomed to nature after JUST 70 YEARS of urban monoculture nirvana; for 99.9999% (that's 4 nines) of our history, it's been in the immediate presence of diverse plants and animals. We need to get re-acquainted, and not with gentle steps of deeper foundation beds. Whole yards. Half of parks. All of industrial parks around corporate HQ.

2) Start a social media page. Start a community action group or get involved in one. Put fire to the feet of city officials. Start local. Get the bluestem roots movement going. This is not my strength or skill set -- that's #1 -- but it is for many of you. We need all stripes here.

3) Sure, donate to local nonprofits working for conservation and restoration, but also those working for social justice among our species, too -- and the environment is so tied into social justice for humans. It's all related, intertwined. I just read a study that urban areas which are more resilient to community trauma (think violence) have vast greenspaces and trail networks.

Prairie up.

New 2023 Books Gift Guide

11/21/2023

Here are a few books newly published this year which you might want to consider at least for yourself, if not someone else. Maybe you can add your own in the comments section? It's a rather simple guide but I heartily recommend them all, so go explore and learn like never before. It's been a great book year!

Ticks, Natural Gardens, & Kids

9/22/2023

Anytime I post a meme that espouses kids don't need lawns to play in -- that in fact kids are healthier if they play in more biodiverse habitat -- a cavalcade of responses ensue about ticks. Fair enough. To be sure, the diseases that some ticks carry are terrible and can impact us for a lifetime (so can covid, another zoonotic disease just like lyme), and a variety of viruses and pathogens, as well as dirty outdoor urban air and dirty indoor air in schools and office buildings. I don't know if the tick argument comes about as genuine concern or simple whataboutism, in any case, let's take an initial stab at ticks; I'm sure I'll add research over time here just as I have for the honey bee vs. native bee post.

First, it's well established that kids need to be outside running around, touching, breathing it all in, getting dirty. Richard Louv's books are a great starting point. Kids who spend time outside are less likely to develop allergies as they are exposed to a wild world of microbes. Kids playing in nature develop better balance and stamina, they cultivate empathy for others through interaction with wildlife, and they become more creative in their thinking and response to challenging situations. Kids with classroom window views of more diverse habitat have higher tests scores and are better able to work in groups. Heck, hospital patients with views of trees recover faster. KIDS NEED NATURE. And so do adults. Get your 10 minutes of sun at midday to get that good dose of daily vitamin D, for example.

So back to ticks. It's easy to see the symptom -- there's a tick latched on to my skin -- and freak out. I do. I have. I will continue to do so. But saying we need to protect kids form interaction with nature because of ticks is a bit problematic because the benefits far outweigh the risks (maybe true for sending kids to school with no HEPA air filtration).

Ticks will thrive even more in the future thanks to us. We are a big problem. Of course we can also be the solution but that's unlikely to happen. Tick populations and their diseases will thrive with climate change: as winters warm, as ecoregions shift and change, ticks will grow in populations.

Habitat loss is a big one, too, in particular if we focus on lyme disease and especially in the northeast, where I'd say 75% of tick concerns come from when I have the "kids don't need lawn" conversation. Deer are not vectors for lyme disease (even though deer do breed ticks like crazy) -- white-footed mice are. Without large, intact habitats, as well as fewer fragmented habitat like we see in most urban and suburban and even semi rural areas, those mice will thrive due to a lack or predators. Fewer foxes and wolves and coyotes and owls and snakes (yes, snakes are good!) mean more mice.

So we have climate change and less habitat, the two core issues we must address, otherwise the tick issue won't go away. We also love to live in nature -- homes in forested areas and near lakes fetch top dollar for a reason. Now, we should always practice safety first -- we get flu vaccines, and polio vaccines, and chicken pox vaccines, we buckle up in the car, we look both ways before crossing the street, we bring water on long hikes and maybe a first aid kit. So we should absolutely tuck pants into shoes, wear insect repellent, and do tick checks, among other strategies. But like anything else, even basic precautions aren't always enough -- stuff happens -- but it doesn't mean you throw the baby out with the bath water and proclaim only lawns as healthy places for kids to play in. Heck, we haven't even addressed all the poisons put on lawns to maintain their lush monoculture goodness, let alone the fact lawns don't hold a candle compared to meadow gardens in cleaning the air or soil, or reducing stormwater runnoff -- or, ahem, providing habitat for tick predators and predators of other species that are disease vectors.

As for what we can directly control in our home landscapes, hey, I've seen ticks on our front door. Still, there are some things we can do design wise in small suburban spaces and larger rural ones. The low-hanging fruit is simply wider paths to explore the landscape, say 4-6 feet wide. Ticks usually latch on by questing, which is reaching out their front legs into the air as they balance on the tips of foliage. We can also, obviously, work to increase the biodiversity and habitat structure to foster predators. (Do note that the opossums-eat-10,000-ticks-a-day-thing is a myth.) Little patches of lawn make nice places to picnic or stargaze in, while also providing negative space -- a design technique that helps show order and intention in a wilder landscaper (it's a cue to care).

If you are able to use fire in your landscape, it's a great management tool to increase biodiversity and reduce ticks. Ticks don't like fire, says Kyle Lybarger of Native Plant Habitat Project. In fact, you'll find more ticks in woodlands than grasslands. As for No Mow May, mowing less does not increase tick populations. But you should probably also not participate in No Mow May. If you live in the Great Plains, the invasion of eastern red cedar trees increases tick populations.

Ticks aren't going anywhere. And they suck. Ahem. I will scream and nearly pass out when I find one on me like anyone else, but knowledge is power -- and habitat is key in reducing tick populations AND in fostering physical and mental health for ourselves.

Pollinators Don't Justify Exotic Plant Choices + Human Privilege in Hort

9/4/2023

Here are some reasons why seeing an adult insect on an exotic plant's bloom isn't justification that it doesn't matter what you plant and / or we've so wrecked the world the answer will always be plant diversity to mend the fabric:

Identify the species. Is it a generalist or specialist? Native or exotic? Is it gathering pollen or using nectar.
What else is in bloom nearby? Nearby means with a few yards, the entire garden, and at least several city blocks. Maybe there's no better option?
Get out your chemistry set -- what's the nutritional make up of the pollen and / or nectar? Is it "better" or not? Is it what that adult species requires?
What habitat does this insect need to thrive in? Is that available on site or nearby? Habitat for nesting etc.
Does the insect requires a host plant for its larvae, and are those available?

And I want to say this, too, which I explore in A New Garden Ethic: when we use casual observations to justify our beliefs, that does not a peer-reviewed-and-replicated-study-in-you-region make. No matter where you fall on the plant origin spectrum, observation is just step one.

A common argument is, again, that we've so altered the world that plant diversity is key to supporting wildlife and adapting to all the changes we've caused. That's hogwash. It's also a defense of human privilege and supremacy, aka greenwashing, and an avoidance of critical thinking and certainly empathy for other species -- and it's totally ignoring that we need to dismantle the extractive, colonizing systems that CONTINUE TO ERODE LIFE (systems of which mainstream horticulture is a part of). Was that a lot? It's in the book, and we go through it a lot slower there in those pages if you're willing to take the ride.

Native plants HELP SPECIES ADAPT TO CLIMATE DISRUPTION. It gives them a fighting chance. It gives evolution a very small window to do its thing (see book). Most species can't and won't evolve within decades as climate disruption speeds along faster and faster. But this belief that we know better (human supremacy) than millenia of co-evolution is a little absurd, disgusting, and racist toward other species. That's right. Because another thing you'll often hear is that native plant proponents are racist, practicing some sort of eugenics by privileging plant species local wildlife have evolved with. No, it's racist to violently colonize a place, to replace a culture with another, and assume you are better, that what you do is benign, and that gardens are privileged art and thus natural and thus devoid of having any sort of environmental responsibility. (Did I mention a certain book?)

For a long time horticulture has been a colonizing force -- just consider the global plant trade, or how many invasive plant species are escapees from gardens. Plants are also often named after white males who "discovered" them. It's systemic human (and white and classist)) privilege, and until horticulture reckons with its hand in colonialism -- of humans and ecoregions -- any discussion about native vs exotic plants is just a pecking on the surface (Star Wars reference!).

The real conversation about indigenous plant species is about running roughshod over other cultures, human and plant and animal, and being unwilling or unable to notice and process the repercussions because they "make us feel bad" or feel too much like "shaming" (also something you'll hear a lot in reference to climate change and social justice anything for POC or the LGBTQ community or sick people or old people). Often, when someone feels shamed it's because they're being asked to do some difficult introspection that confronts a comfortable, self-defining ideology or dogma (which can occur all over the plant origin spectrum) that, when destabilized, makes us feel unmoored and lost. Again, A New Garden Ethic flushes this all out (it was published 6 years ago and is in its fourth printing, fyi).

This is hard work. It will make us feel very uncomfortable. It's good that it does. It's natural. And it's necessary if we are to grow. Confronting systems of privilege and power will never be without pain -- and that's exactly what native plants are about, whether we know it or not. Native plants don't bring division to horticulture -- horticulture does by privileging aesthetics for one species over what the rest of the planet needs, and doing it via violent colonization. Native plants are just the spotlight brought to bare on some uncomfortable realities we'd prefer to remain under the rug. To some, that makes native plant proponents feel doubly threatening -- not just that they are about "limiting" plant choices for a privileged species (natives aren't really limiting), but that the discussion is also about the systems in place that we lash on to which provide stability to our reality; just when we thought we had something figured out, it proves to be more complicated. But c'est la vie -- and thank god, too, because it's exciting to learn and grow. We are gardeners, after all, and the lessons never, ever end.

So I ranted. It's an opinion. A very different one, probably, and one that has irked plenty for around 10 years now. There's plenty to agree and disagree with, which I'm sure you will below -- just keep it civil please or we'll delete / close comments.

TLDR ---- Above all else I want this to be where we come together to think critically and evolve our thinking in the garden: we all value plants, we all honor and treasure them and the wildlife we see using them. But it's long past time to deeply and fully explore the ramifications of gardening, the connections it has to larger socially systemic issues within and beyond our species, and how gardening as we've known it is no longer tenable -- and that's exciting and hopeful, not something to be angry or depressed over (at least not for any longer than we have to be to cultivate change -- see the book when it explores the five stages of environmental grief and how we're all processing grief right now).

On Weeding -- When, How, Why Not To, and Patience

8/24/2023

When you disturb a site -- plant a new garden -- you WILL have weeds. These weeds are usually annuals, but they can get pretty thick in certain circumstances (especially in seeding projects where it takes longer for plants to mature, and where germination isn't always guaranteed if dependent on timely rains).

It's important to rethink weed management in gardens the first 1-2 years. For example, hand pulling every last intruder is both impractical and problematic; for the latter this means every time you pull a weed you create more soil disturbance, bring up more weeds seeds to germinate, and potentially exacerbate the issue.

In a sown meadow space, some folks recommend keeping the area mowed at about 6-12 inches the first year to reduce weed seed germination. I've worked on projects where this was helpful AND detrimental. Why detrimental? The space was sowed at such a high rate (over 200 seeds per foot) and using a healthy dose of biennials and annuals, that letting those early-succession species take off provided superior weed control -- even though we still had plenty of weeds. Luckily, it's harder for most to tell what is a weed and what isn't when there are so many flowers in bloom early on.

When there are more manicured / intentionally planted beds using potted material, there are some traditional strategies to reduce weed competition in years 1-2, such as a thin mulch layer (we recommend just 1-2 inches so there are / will soon be more soil gaps to allow desirable plants to self sow and fill in, thus creating a living green mulch sooner while fighting weeds sooner). Some pros try a pre-emergent, granular herbicide, especially for spring plantings. But the best strategy you can take is plant density -- planting at 12 inches apart or less -- and deadheading problematic weeds. The goal is always to cover the site ASAP and not allow invasive weeds -- like musk thistle -- to get a foothold, and that's where deadheading really helps.

If you're planting into a known weedy site -- especially one with aggressive species like creeping charlie -- it might be a good idea to prep the area for an entire growing season before planting. If you solarize, this means a 4 weeks on / 2 weeks off with the plastic (kill plants, let new weeds germinate, kill, repeat), or similar treatment with glyphosate (let weeds grow to 4-6" then kill a few times -- each time it will be less and less). Using cardboard may not be always be practical if you have large areas or are seeding.

It has been one heckuva year for weeds in 2023. A super dry winter and spring AND early summer, followed by much rain in July. This produced a bumper crop of weeds and later in the season. Luckily -- and as is most typical -- the weed pressure has been mostly from annuals such as crabgrass and foxtail, both of which are almost always out competed by desired plants within 1-2 years as those annual seeds need light to germinate (and often won't get it if shaded by warm season bunchgrasses and forbs if planted densely in layers).

Unfortunately, we never know what's in the weed seed bank when we prep a site by killing lawn -- and spray-killing lawn is preferred vs. sod cutting or tilling, because more site disturbance = more weeds by the truckload. Each space is unique, with unique hydrology and weather and even microclimates. It's been a very surprising year with plenty of hiccups in our landscapes, but patience and staying the course is critical. When we are ready to give up that's usually just about the point when the corner is being turned.

Remember, a weed is an undesirable plant in a place we don't want it. And weeds thrive where there's an opportunity -- open gaps with little competition. Nature abhors a vaccuum. In a new garden -- whether planted or sown -- desirable and necessary plant competition may be 1-3 years away. Patience is critical as the ecosystem rebalances and heals itself from a long history of colonization.

A Zoo Prairie Ups!

7/28/2023

Here's a super cool story by gardener Asa Wood who used Prairie Up to create a cool landscape at the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend, Indiana. A lot of lessons here of the ups and downs that should inspire us all. Enjoy!

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In January of 2022 I was presented with an opportunity to design and plant a large native plant garden at our local zoo. The zoo director, who is a good friend of mine, was telling me about the exorbitant prices landscape companies had quoted him for the area surrounding the zoo's new giraffe exhibit. Before I could stop myself, I offered to landscape the entire area for the price of the plants but only if I could do it with all native plants. Josh agreed and I was suddenly in charge of the largest garden project of my life! I am a hobbyist gardener and had been working on my own native plant garden for roughly 3 years, but I had no formal training and had never designed such a large and public garden. I was completely overwhelmed at the thought!

As luck would have it, this was right around the time I ordered a copy of Prairie Up. I had read other garden design books that focused on a "natural" look, but many of them relied on exotics and cultivars for their completed compositions. Prairie Up focuses almost exclusively on native plants and how to put together a cohesive plant community. The lists of plant combinations and tips on matrix planting were especially helpful. The lessons of "right plant, right place" started to make sense and I began to formulate my own list of plant combinations. Plants were considered for their light, water, and soil requirements, bloom period, structural elements, and years to maturity. In some areas, I purposely used plants, such as lanceleaf coreopsis, that would put on a show in their second year while other slower maturing plants, such as prairie dock and royal catchfly, get established. This strategy has worked very well so far.

After figuring out my total square footage, I realized that I would need upwards of 4,000 plants to complete the garden. As suggested in the book, I created drawings that were to scale so I could start to visualize the final planted space. It was then time to contact a wholesale native plant nursery and start the process of placing a large order and setting delivery dates. I am a member of our local Wild Ones chapter and was able to organize a group of Wild Ones volunteers for three planting days at the zoo. I arrived early in the morning to lay out my plugs and the volunteers came in behind me and planted. It was a community effort and I could not have finished this garden without the help of so many dedicated volunteers.

The area to be planted was largely backfill from the construction of the giraffe enclosure. Though I had chosen plants that can handle some pretty rough conditions, I decided to amend the soil with some compost supplied by out city's organic resources department. This turned out to be a mistake in the long run. The compost carried a heavy weed seed load and weed control has been by far the biggest thorn in my side ever since. I can not over emphasize the importance of vigilant weed control in the first year of planting. Hand pulling weeds and clipping off seed heads of annual weeds has slowly started to turn the tide in favor of the natives. Prairie Up had a suggestion of using a cover crop which I decided to try this year. I spread a half pound of plains coreopsis seeds throughout the garden and have been very pleased with the results. The coreopsis is not only pretty, it has helped to suppress weeds and still allows enough light to reach the perennials. In retrospect, I underestimated the hardiness of our native plants and I should have skipped amending the soil all together.

Overall, the response to this garden has been overwhelmingly positive. The zoo director commented that he thinks more animals live in the native plant garden that all the rest of the zoo combined. Every time I stop by to do a little weed control, the place is buzzing and twittering with bees, butterflies, and birds. The butterfly weed (all 200 of them) was loaded with monarch caterpillars this spring and flocks of gold finches visit the coreopsis seed heads daily. The swells of color change every week as a new species reaches its peak and another fades. I am anticipating the blooming of 100 rough blazing stars blooming against a stand of showy goldenrod in the coming weeks. I see visitors stop and take pictures against backdrop of blooming natives. Native plants are now a part of the memories these families are making together at the zoo. I really could not be happier with the progress of this garden.

Plant list:

Prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi)
Grey-headed coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)
Hoary vervain (Verbena stricta)
Rough blazing star (Liatris aspera)
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurwa)
Lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
Black eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Calico penstemon (Penstemon calycosus)
Dense blazing star (Liatris spicata)
Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)
Western sunflower (Helianthus occidentalis)
Side oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa)
Pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida)
Purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea)
Prairie dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum)
Rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium)
Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Royal catchfly (Silene regia)
False sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)
Tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris)
Hollow Joe Pye (Eutrochium fistulosum)
Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
Plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria)
Wild petunia (Ruellia humilis)
Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa)

Site Prep -- Solarizing With Plastic Pollution

7/19/2023

This a post I've been thinking about for a while but for which I didn't want to spend time moderating comments. It's a topic I address in classes and webinars and certainly in Prairie Up.

I know people are super adverse to using glyphosate to prep an area for a native plant garden. Of course. I certainly don't love using the stuff, however, it has its benefits -- especially in the garden install world (time, efficacy), invasive weed control world, habitat restoration world. Anyway, I've discussed these points in detail on the blog and in the book -- including the fact that horticulture vinegar is more toxic, since I know some use it as a targeted weed killer. (NB: we don't use any product to weed in our gardens, it's all done by hand and by helping the good stuff out compete through various design and management methods.)

But the point I want to make today is about solarizing using plastic sheets to prep a site. We are, of course, all free to do as we choose and what fits our ideology and ability and timeframe and goals, but here are my thoughts on solarizing:

1) Solarizing fries soil life. And it does so over a long period of time. It sterilizes.

2) The best method to solarizing -- especially on a weedy site -- is to put plastic on for 4 weeks, take it off for two weeks to let weed seeds germinate, put it back on for 4 weeks to kill new weeds, take it off for two weeks, etc all through one entire growing season in order to exhaust the weed seed bank. I can guarantee you that if you do this in a suburban front yard you will face headwinds from neighbors -- and then again when, you know, you actually plant a garden and don't have lawn. Double trouble. And the larger the space you have to do (1,000-10,000 feet) the more problematic the entire, long process becomes.

3) All of the plastic sitting out in the sun for weeks and months is going to start breaking down. You may or may not notice -- fading, tearing, fraying, or nothing perceptible at all. In that process the plastic will likely release thousand and millions of little bits of microplastics we can't see, but it's there, just as it is from our washing clothes, walking on carpet, scraping a plastic food container with a fork, on and on. We have a MAJOR micro plastic problem and we don't fully understand what it's going to do to us. Those little bits will find their way into the ecosystem -- groundwater and air -- filtering and collecting up the trophic level from plants to insects to mice to birds and fish to people. That plastic will be around a heckuva lot longer, way way way longer than any residual from 1-2 applications of glyphosate, which breaks down in the soil quickly (of course, using it on a cornfield decade after decade DOES kill soil life and it then DOES runoff into streams etc because there's no soil life left to break it down).

There is no perfect solution to prepping a site for conversion to a meadow or other native plant garden. Again, I discuss the pros and cons of each in the book and on the website and in the online classes -- and have done so here before -- so won't reiterate in this small space. Do the ends justify the means, no matter what those means are? That's for all of us to carefully weigh.

I strongly believe it's important that we fully reconsider solarization, from the soil life being cooked to the microplastics to the obvious plastic waste of that sheet when you're done using it (do you just trash it, either now or a decade after sitting in the garage?). Hopefully, we can reflect on the complex issues without being angry or defensive, and if this post doesn't move the needle that's fine, too; this post exists to try and provide a more well-rounded response to the many posts I see regarding how awesome solarizing is, how benign it is, how green it is, and how natural it is. If anything, solarizing is as problematic as any other method, including renting a gas-powered sod cutter.

As always, if you comment please do so respectfully of one another. And I hope the above helps us think more critically, no matter what way we all ultimately decide to go in site prep. We're all in this together. Prairie up!

On Rabbits And Salad Bars in Suburbia

7/18/2023

Do you have rabbit damage in your garden?

Ready for a radical thought? It's not damage. It's nature. It's an animal using a plant to survive, and the plant was designed to be eaten.

Yes, it stinks when herbivores eat what cost money and then curtail our garden dreams, to the point where we have to pivot / alter our dreams to fit the reality -- which can be hard and frustrating, like marriage (we ARE married to our gardens, folks).

But maybe the problem with rabbits eating plants is that we see it as a problem. Also, we tend to plant this way: one specimen marooned in wood mulch (or icky rock!) not allowed to touch other plants. First off, this is like putting spotlights on the plant with flashy neon lights that say "eats -- open all night."

Just HAVING a garden is sort of the same, especially if you live in a place with few other resources -- food, shelter, general habitat -- like most urban and suburban areas.

You've put out a bunny buffet. They are thankful. Wouldn't you be? Especially when there's only lawn and concrete to choose from?
Now, if you want to see less plant eating, here are some tricks that use principles found in nature vs trying to force a square peg in a round hole (hello foliage spray of cayenne and garlic, or chicken wire, or sleeping with your plants). Still, nothing in life is guaranteed:

1) Herbivores tend to avoid plants with aromatic, waxy, or spiky foliage. Not a hard and fast rule as sometimes you gotta eat what you gotta eat, especially if not much else is available. So plants on this list we use include: Eryngium yuccifolium, Monarda spp, Blephilia spp, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium, etc.

2) Bodyguard plants. In nature plants tend to be close together and layered up, so it's a bit harder to find a tasty Dalea purpurea for example. Surrounding the really choice Pringles of the plant world with grasses and sedges can help -- because those plants tend to not be browsed. So if you're planting a shade or sun meadow using a matrix of bunchgrasses or sedge, you're already ahead of the game.

3) More plants. The more plants you have, the less you'll notice if one is topped or missing. It's pretty cool. Plus you have justification to buy more plants (also, select plants that self propagate).

4) Time and patience. As plants root out and are able to store more resources by getting larger, a little pecking here and there won't affect them too much -- in fact, it may be more traumatic to you if you tend to helicopter parent your garden.

Maybe rabbit damage is good since they are lower on the food chain and support so many other species, like predators we definitely need more of (hawks, owls, coyotes, wolves, foxes, etc) but whose habitat we've taken away. Those top predators also help keep mice, vole, and bubonic plague rats under control. And we do want to see our plants being eaten, especially if it's moth and caterpillar larvae, or leafcutter bees, or various beetles, etc -- because more pollinators AND baby bird food. We are trying to create an ecosystem, after all, to try and restore some balance up and down trophic levels, and provide a bit of habitat. We're going to have rabbits, and snakes, and mice, and spiders, and wasps -- and this is a good thing. It really is.

The Problems of and Solutions to No Mow May

6/28/2023

The last few years have seen the spread of No Mow May, a campaign that encourages folks to mow their lawns and meadows less in order to reduce fossil fuel emissions and water use as well as help wildlife. On the face of it, it seems almost too good to be true–you could do a lot of good things for the environment by doing literally nothing. So perhaps it’s not surprising that letting your lawn grow for a month has fallen short of its promises.

However, No Mow May has provided an important stepping stone for rethinking what pretty means in urban and suburban landscapes, and how these spaces can provide valuable habitat and other environmental benefits. Our yards have the potential to support butterflies, bees, and birds while also cleaning and cooling the air, rebuilding compacted soils, and reducing urban flooding through landscapes that absorb more storm water. To take the next step into creating healthier landscapes for our families and neighbors, we have to understand the flaws of No Mow May and look at these goals with more nuance.

Read on with my piece at Better Homes and Gardens....

Shade Gardens Are Sexy

5/25/2023

In the top three subjects I get asked the most about is native shade gardening. As in, the assumption that there aren't native plants for shade, that you can't grow anything in shade besides wood mulch, etc. I've talked a lot about this subject before -- on the blog and in an online class.

Here's a client's garden installed in spring of 2021. These images are from two weeks ago (so two years):

The site is a clay-loam under a mature overstory tree. It may receive a touch of direct or dappled light early in the morning. How is this garden put together, and what are the plant components?

It is pretty much a matrix of Carex pensylvanica, which runs a bit to fill in gaps and serves as the living green mulch (however, the entire site is a living green mulch and acts as a lovely soft landing for moth / butterfly caterpillars dropping from the tree above).

The forbs and emphemerals include:

Packera obovata (aurea would work too)
Geranium maculatum
Aquilegia canadensis
Polemonium reptans
Podophyllum peltatum
Anemone virginiana
Solidago flexicaulis
Eurybia macrophylla
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum

This is a very small list, and very basic. We could add a lot more diversity here while extending the season earlier in spring and into mid summer. Ephemerals would top that list, but we could also add Blephilia hirsuta and maybe even get away with Echinacea purpurea on the east and south edges near the tree's dripline. Polygonatum biflorum would be a neat early-mid spring addition for it's white blooms and contrasting foliage to the sedge. We could add in more sedge species, too, like Carex sprengelii.

However, I think aesthetically this "simple" garden creates a very nice bridge between a wild cacophony and suburban expectations of neat, ordered beds that don't look like someone vomited out flower seed and just stopped managing the space. We have enough density just with these plants to mostly out compete weeds -- something shade already helps with compared to full sun or more moist sites.

Plants were placed in masses and then allowed to express themselves. For example, Geranium shoots out seed to create scattered individuals and Packera self sows to create drifting colonies, while Solidago slowly runs to enlarge its clump.

These plants were matched to the site conditions first and foremost, but also to one another. The majority of these species compete at levels 2-3, meaning they are compatible based on their sociability index. Right now the Packera may be the only plant that needs some thinning.

The tree is happier having shade over its roots which increases organic matter and soil moisture. Wildlife is happy with more floral resources, host plants for larvae, and cover throughout the entire year. And shade gardening isn't the barrier we presume it to be. Right?

Using Sociability Rankings For Successful Natural Garden Design

4/15/2023

There's a seemingly overwhelming amount of variables to consider when selecting plants and designing a garden: height and width, growth habit, perennial / ephemeral / annual, reproduction method, root structure, fall color, winter structure, soil and drainage, sunlight, moisture levels. See? Toss in succession and the idea of plant communities and it is perhaps a bridge too far for many folks. But garden management -- the time you spend doing it down the road as well as the overall success of your landscape both aesthetically and ecologically -- depends on making the best, most informed decision before you ever dig a hole.

And I think for many, using a plant sociability index might be really helpful. If there's one thing that might be the most helpful, and certainly if the above lists feel daunting, this one might be it. Because let me tell you, the most issues for new, native plant, natural gardening folks is choosing the wrong plant for the wrong place, and in most cases that means a plant that grows too fast, gets too tall, spreads too easily. And while most plants will behave differently in a more manicured home garden than in the wild, we can still create a general baseline of behavior.

A commonly-used sociability rating or index may go something like this:

1 -- the plant is primarily a behaved clumper that stays where it is, only growing in stature over time
2 -- the plant will creep or self sow lightly
3 -- creeping is moderate or self sowing is more liberal but it won't take over
4 -- give it 5 years and the plant will easily dominate the landscape

There are caveats, as you can well imagine. Plants will perform differently in a home garden where there's less competition above AND below the soil line; in a wild prairie or meadow, for example, there could be dozens of species in one square foot. In our garden beds? Maybe just a few, too often simply 1-2. These plants, used to be being shorter or unable to reproduce as easily in the wild, will look at your more spacious and liberating bed and think "oh yeah baby, this is the life, booyah." And other specific cite conditions can influence plant behavior. For example, clay soil -- even dry clay soil -- can be a great equalizer. Why do plants flop? It's often because there's not enough competition (it's not about buttresses).

Let's look at some example species. You may not be familiar with them, they may not be native to your zipcode or ecoregion, but you're likely to know of cousins. Right now, we're speaking from where we know -- eastern Nebraska, urban landscapes, tallgrass / mixed grass / riparian woodland edge.

Level 1
Carex albicans
Baptisia minor
Heuchera richardsonii
Liatris aspera
Thalictrum dioicum

Level 2
Carex pensylvanica
Bouteloua gracilis
Echinacea purpurea
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Zizia aurea
Dalea purpurea
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
Callirhoe involucrata
Asclepias tuberosa
Monarda bradburiana
Penstemon cobaea

Level 3
Conoclinium coelestinum
Symphyotrichum laeve
Rudbeckia hirta
Schizachyrium scoparium
Senna hebecarpa

Level 4
Sorghastrum nutans
Andropogon gerardii
Helianthus maximiliani
Asclepias syriaca
Physostegia virginiana

What plants do you not want in a small urban front yard lawn conversion? Level 4, and level 3 if you don't have good plant density. What DO you want for sure? Level 1 and 2.

Another strategy is to plant like with like. So use all level 1 and 2, or use all level 3 and 4; the latter would be ideal to fight against aggressive or invasive exotic species. Once again, plant behavior is not a hard and fast rule -- we aren't working with parts to a bicycle here, but living organisms whose lives are partially dictated by the environment and climate and weather they find themselves in (just like us!). A level 3 plant may act more like a level 2 plant if the site conditions are outside what it prefers and / or if plant competition, layers, and community are thick and diverse. Take Conoclinium coelestinum, which prefers loam or loamy clay with medium moisture in 50-75% sun; put it in drier clay and it's much less aggressive (maybe even suffering a bit in August right before it blooms if it's a drought year).

So there you go. A primer on plant sociability rankings. These will vary by region and even micro climates and ecotype, but they can help provide a more cohesive, general baseline to work from -- much better than a plant tag. Over time, you're observations will help you create your own site-specific rankings to use for the rest of your life.

Just Say No to No Mow May

4/9/2023

Oh we've stepped in it now. I know. It's ok. Let's dive in and think critically with nuance -- because what no mow may has to teach us is more empowering and liberating than we could have imagined, if we move forward with intention.

The "No Mow May" movement continues to frustrate. Just letting your lawn go will not result in a lovely meadow that neighbors or wildlife will admire. If you're on an urban lot, chances are you won't be getting aster and indigo and prairie clover and coneflowers -- they aren't in the seed bank because your house was not recently built on top of a remnant prairie.

What you WILL get are a host of plants with marginal to little benefit to wildlife, and several that will be terribly aggressive: crabgrass, creeping charlie, barnyard grass. And of course invasive species placed on most city's noxious weed list, like musk thistle or garlic mustard.

There's little chance a neighbor will look at your "let go" lawn and think wow, that's cool, I want that, I understand it. There's every chance they will rightfully report you to weed control -- especially if you're not actively managing the space or designing it in some way, particularly with cues to care or making some sort of significant plant additions. It's better to design the space, to choose the plant communities that will work together AND support wildlife. Well, read some perspectives by pollinator specialists.

You want to help the environment, pollute less, use less resources, and create resilient habitat that's pleasing to both wildlife and people -- and often that means rethinking lawn and lawn-type spaces entirely. But what happens when you let your lawn go or stop mowing?

It's going to look weedy fast. Without design intention your neighbors will be less apt to get on board.
Invasive species may establish. What's in the weed seed bank? You don't know. Could be some native plants -- likely aggressive seeders -- definitely going to be aggressive exotics.
Woody plants will move in. Without constant management tree seedlings will start to grow. This could be an issue if you live on a small lot or in an area where forests aren't a habitat type. One female red cedar tree put out 1 million seeds.

The point of this post is not to push you to some hyperbole, like "well then what should we do, slather the lawn in chemicals?" It's to get you to think intentionally about your space -- from design to succession, to what you ideally want to happen and to the big leaps your neighbors will have to make when you break from the status quo.

Do you need lawn? Do you need a lawn-type space? Why? How do you use your landscape? How do you want to use it differently? What's the purpose of 4-8" tall plantings -- because at that height there are far, far fewer ecosystem services than with plants 12-30" tall (the height at which we design front yard lawn-to-meadow conversions).

Over the years much has been shared on this website about designing a landscape -- from plant selection (sociability and size) to plant succession over time. When you let your lawn go or stop mowing, there's seldom a plan that takes into consideration management or neighbors, let alone why you need clipped plants in the first place. So if you let your lawn go, think hard about a management plan that takes into consideration your ecoregion and lot size, as well as your environmental and community goals.

If we're not working smartly with a plan and a management / design goal, then we're just being lazy and ideologically polarizing for no reason. That's not helpful or neighborly. Now, I'm all for reducing mowing. And certainly for doing so in larger expanses, like business parks and city parks and golf course edges, because we have a lawn pandemic going on right now.

As for anyone who argues "baby steps," well adults should be taking adult steps -- similarly full of big dreams, big hopes, big risks, and big faith. Prairie up. Rethink pretty.

Using Latin Plant Names is Actually Easier

3/29/2023

I get it. Learning another language is hard. And in the horticulture world you're almost having to learn two at the same time -- Latin and the plants themselves.

Very often I'm asked by folks to use common plant names, the inference being they are clearer or easier or more accessible. But I have a surprise for you: common names are actually going to make life much harder for you as you begin your landscape plans. Why is that? Here's my thinking.

Common names can refer to several species at once. Also, common names can be regional. They can be cultural. They can be hyper local. It may actually feel like you're speaking Greek -- er, Latin -- to someone even though you might be referring to the same plant. It's very helpful and very useful to use the Latin because it's more precise and universal. When you're researching a plant online, you'll receive far more accurate information if you are using the scientific binomial nomenclature vs a common name -- plus, it's more likely the source can be trusted.

And it doesn't matter how you pronounce the Latin. Whatever. We all know what you're talking about. Just try. I promise, after a few goes, it'll stick and you'll be off to the races. And another point: if you have an on-site meeting with a weed enforcement inspector, using Latin names will show you are an expert and know your stuff, that the plants and gardens are intentional. It's true. Ask me how I know.

While the Latin name has a host of cultural issues -- many are named after white explorers (some with dubious ethics) and totally ignore / erase the history of indigenous knowledge and naming -- it's probably the best system we have right now. Using the Latin makes gardening easier. Now Salix like you mean it.

Why Wildlife Gardeners Need to Become Garden Designers ASAP

3/1/2023

The plain and simple fact is that any time you make yourself stand out in this culture, the culture will try to force you back into the box. Any landscape that is not lawn will be automatically seen as weedy, messy, and a general threat to the established cultural norms -- even if we all know here that a lawn monoculture is a real communal and environmental threat in urban areas.

So the very difficult task for wildlife and natural gardeners is to try and create a bridge between the common expectations of what a yard or garden should look like (and where it should be), and the fairly recent expectations (1950s) that a lawn makes you a team player in the parkification of suburbia (oh just you wait until my forthcoming Kill Your Lawn presentation -- the newsletter lands Saturday and will fill you in).

In books and lectures and classes and pocket guides, I've worked hard to try and lay out what that bridge looks like and how to cultivate it. Strangely, the below bullet points of that bridge have also led to a sort of fracas between wildlife gardeners and garden designers -- we are great at dividing ourselves as a species, but that's another topic entirely (maybe one embedded in A New Garden Ethic which is now in its fourth printing). But if we're not employing commonsense design and management principles into natural spaces -- using elements of design accepted by folks unfamiliar with natural design and thus afraid / dismissive / upset by it -- we're simply adding to the problem. A totally wild, unkempt, cacophony of lawn-to-meadow conversion is a lost opportunity, and indeed, shooting ourselves in the foot.

So what are some guiding principles for a more natural, front-yard lawn conversion that, in a few small ways (that admittedly often feel feeble and fruitless), extends an olive branch to the monoculture, resource-intensive, dominant suburban culture?

A limited plant palate based on square footage. The smaller the space, the smaller the species list should be so as not to visually overwhelm.
A cohesive, single-hued green base layer, groundcover, or matrix which ties the space together like a lawn might. This is color theory 101.
Always have 1-3 forb species in bloom at one time -- and no more. Again, the smaller the space the more this is important.
No herbaceous perennial or annual plants taller than 3-4 feet.
Taller plants in the middle or back of beds. Nothing tall within 4' of the sidewalk.
Employ cues to care that help show intention and access: paths, benches, sculpture, bird bath, arbors, metal edging, a sign, etc.
Don't use aggressive species. Research your plants to carefully match the site AND one another in the larger plant community.
Arrange seasonal flowering plants in repeating masses and drifts. Repetition is pleasing to the eye and helps show cohesion. Massing also creates a bigger beacon and reduces energy expenditure for pollinators.

It is disheartening to to see images of front yards, touted as liberation for wildlife and from the tyranny of our monocultures, without any eye toward design or accessibility that would be more welcoming to others. Again, ANY landscape that isn't clipped lawn will be an affront, but we have to do better as advocates for change. None of the above bullet points will reduce the ecosystem services we urge for as wildlife gardeners conscious of climate change and mass extinction. However, just letting plants ramble about, get tall, flop into sidewalks -- and appear totally disheveled and out of control while blocking sight lines -- is a detriment to what we hope to achieve as we work for equity among all species by encouraging neighbors to rethink lawn monocultures.

Soon enough water restrictions will force the issue, especially in the west and Plains where we're writing to you from. At some point -- even our local weed control officials admit -- we won't be able to have the traditional lawns we have now.

In the meantime, it behooves us to design AND MANAGE spaces with intention, knowing the plants and tending the space as a new kind of gardener -- not a gardener who applies herbicides or annual mulch applications or fertilizers that pollute waterways, but a gardener who learns plants and maintains a sensible balance of design and activism for a healthier future.

Spring Clean Up Doesn't Start at 50 Degrees

2/8/2023

It's starting to make the rounds again -- meme misinformation. Please ignore this advice below as temperature has nothing to do with when to clean up.

1) Various fauna "wake up" at different times throughout the growing season. They all don't magically emerge at 50 degrees. Take native bee species -- lots of them time their life cycles for different parts of the spring and summer, some not even emerging until late summer. It certainly depends on your ecoregion though when fauna emerge. Specialist bees schedule their lives for when specific plant families or genera or species are in bloom.

2) You don't want to walk in ANY of your beds at ANY time if you can help it -- you may be crushing queen bumble bees, adult mourning cloak butterflies, amphibians, beetles, bugs, spiders, etc. Plus you could be compacting wet spring soils.

3) Do you REALLY have to clean up? Why? Maybe for diseased material you do, or for highly-visible spaces where it's good to "tidy up" to appease neighbors a bit and show you're caring for the natural space. Cutting back can also help sunlight hit soil for new forb seed germination. But how much could you leave? New growth will hide much of it soon. And don't forget to leave last year's stems you cut at 12-18" tall -- those likely have bee larvae or adults in there waiting to emerge whenever they are timed to do so, again, sometime between spring and summer (not just when it's 50!).

3.5) It's possible that the original "50 degrees" met soil temperature, which is a cue to think about planting / sowing some species in spring. However, it doesn't have much to do with when fauna get moving about -- although many will be moving about by then.

Here's a handy, illustrated guide to cutting down plants in subsequent springs, what stems to leave, etc. You can find it at Heather Holm's website.

Designing a Natural Garden with Plant Communities

12/9/2022

What is a plant community? How does it form the basis of a healthy natural garden that is in sync with the local climate and wildlife, making it resilient and dynamic to changing weather and other environmental pressures? These are critical questions to ask that you won't see answers to at a nursery, on a plant tag, or in most garden design books, so let's dive in.

Plant Community
A plant community is a community of plants. Oh, did you want more clarification as it applies to garden design and management? Ok then. A plant community is a community of plants where each plant is able to fulfill its natural abilities and characteristics, within its garden niche, without being marginalized or marginalizing other plant species within the garden. What this boils down to is that no plant is so aggressive it takes over, but also that no plant is so behaved it fades out of the landscape due to other plants taking over.

A plant community is both mutually supportive and mutually combative. In the wild plants jockey and tussle for resources -- what we see in a meadow, for example, isn't balance so much as it is a blood-thirsty fight for water, sunlight, and soil nutrients. The plants in that wild community are all filling their roles: some are early colonizers, some take years to bloom, some are aggressive, some are behaved clumps, some are groundcovers, some like to have part shade of taller plants around them, et cetera.

So a plant community in a garden setting is an assemblage of plants that "work together" to foster a variety of ecosystem services, from habitat to erosion control to whatever goals we have that plants can help fulfill. The plants we've selected work together because we've researched their behaviors, from reproduction methods to bloom time and color and mature size, while also managing the space to curate the continuity of the community as it evolves and ages.

Plant Community Components
We'll have groundcover plants, seasonal theme plants at various layers, and taller architectural plants (learn about these in the online class on layers). There will be plants that spread easily by seed or runners and some that tend to clump in tight masses only. Some will emerge early in the season, fade, and then later season plants will take over the show. There will be plants that thrive in the early years, called early-succession species, to stabilize the site and reduce weed competition, then they will give way to perennials that have finally rooted out and are ready to take over. There will be grasses and sedges and forbs, but also woody plants like shrubs and trees of various sizes -- all which together increase ecosystem services and provide dynamic habitat edges where wildlife thrive.

Most importantly, the plants in this community will have evolved and be adapted to the site conditions -- sun, soil, drainage, etc. They all come from the same wild conditions, and so we know they should work well together here in a replicated natural garden bed, even if the garden bed can never be as dynamic or lush or complex as the wild plant community. Remember, in a prairie or meadow there can be dozens of plant species in a square foot or square yard. In a garden, that's often impractical and -- from an aesthetic standpoint -- often undesirable (it would lead to a messier looking garden). However, the one place you can pack in plants that are critical to the health of the site, from weed control to habitat to increased soil moisture through soil shading, is the groundcover layer; and this is especially true if the ground layer becomes shaded to a good degree by taller plants. There are a plethora of species 12 inches tall or less that love shade or part shade, from sedge to geranium.

Plant Community Management
There are always additions you can make, and again, certainly in the ground layer. The showier seasonal theme layer -- forb species that take over the aesthetic flower show in various weeks of the growing season -- may require more careful intention. This intention is where massing and drifting come into play, if those species grow like that in the wild. For example, Asclepias tuberosa is more of a loner than a big drifter of 7 plants, however, Allium cernuum loves a long sweep or drag of 15-30 plant together (especially evident because it spreads primarily by creating new bulbs underground, whereas the Asclepias sets seed aloft in the wind to scatter all over the place). This is the kind of knowledge we need to have when selecting plants for a site and when matching them to one another. Plants aren't art to place on a shelf -- they are dynamic and responsive, which is a benefit to the gardener who doesn't want to be a helicopter parent to plants.

Over time, management will be primarily addition and subtraction once the initial garden bed has established and filled in. You'll notice plant succession, and which species may have adapted too well to the site. Often, a late winter or early spring cut down will be the biggest action to take. If the garden has a significant warm-season bunchgrass component, you may need to rake out fluff every 2 years or so to encourage forb seed germination (they need light hitting the soil surface) or, if you can, the occasional burn.

A dense plant community thrives on disturbance and shifting weather patterns and climate. The community shifts from year to year, with new surprises, just as in a wilder landscape. This dynamism is a benefit, as gardens are not static statues. The dynamic nature of living organisms means the garden -- if planted densely enough with good diversity -- can adapt more easily than a mow and blow bed with just a few species, dominated by wood mulch, with lots of open gaps susceptible to stress (weeds, drought, erosion, flooding, etc).

If you want to learn much more on how to create a natural garden based on dynamic plant communities, the book Prairie Up will help a lot -- as will the even more in-depth online video classes.

Are We Rewilding?

11/24/2022

Someone asked me about the term "rewilding" and if I thought that's actually what we're doing when we replace traditional urban landscapes with gardens that use plants and plant communities endemic to the region.

This might get to be a long post, because the conversation isn't just about academic semantics. A recent thread on Twitter explored how the term "rewilding" echoes a lot of violent and privileged colonialism -- this idea that it takes people (often white) with privilege (money) to create an ideal landscape. You see this a lot with naturalistic garden design today, which is still embedded in a tradition of privilege. Even I struggle with helping folks get an echo of what they see in books and magazines -- least of which is learning a whole new way to garden with nature and not against it. But gardens are still, in so many ways, unnatural. And they always will be.

For me what we're doing is not rewildling. I know that the gardens my firm creates will never be as dynamic or rich or stable or beneficial as the prairie we eradicated not that long ago. There's just no way. The best we an hope for is an evocative echo that provides some key resources for more mobile species finding an island of refuge -- weather that refuge is among a sea of lawn or a sea of corn. The goal of our gardens is to wake us up in a time of mass extinction, to reconnect us to the world and other species, and to heal our bodies and minds (because that's what plants do, literally and figuratively). We need to experience more nature where we live and work -- that's in the urban environment for 80% of us.

Native plant gardens are not really about restoring ecological function in the ways a prairie restoration is -- there's an issue of scale here. Plus, urban gardens have to be more concerned with a balance of ecology and aesthetics. These are GARDENS after all, highly managed and curated spaces. So is a prairie restoration, alas.

So no, our gardens are not rewilding -- they are reconciliation ecology, the definition if which is: "the science of inventing, establishing and maintaining new habitats to conserve species diversity in places where people live, work, and play." That was coined by Michael J. Rosenzweig, and for our purposes here we can say that reconciliation ecology is about mending the rift between humans and other species through intentional design and management choices in the places we live. That intention includes using native plants, using local plant communities in designs that mimic wilder plant communities, reducing or erasing the use of synthetic fertilizer and pesticides and herbicides and even watering, and observing nature as it comes with an eye toward letting said nature guide the evolution of a site.

Natural Garden Design Advice Smorgasbord

11/4/2022

There Are No Shortcuts to Natural Garden Design

So much of it has to do with learning the plants, learning from plants, and embracing the hard truths they teach you. Sure, every garden echoes life lessons, but perhaps the natural garden does so even more.

Lessons in letting go of your control, lessons in stepping back and listening or observing, lessons in trying again, and lessons in giving up the thing you labored over (seeing it not as a place solely or mostly for you, but for other species).

Natural gardens can take longer to establish than a traditional landscape because in the latter the plants are kept in a perpetual state of establishment from the get go via pre-emergent herbicides and annual wood mulch applications. In the latter, plants are spaced far apart like statues or mile markers on the highway, with any self sowing or spread seen as weediness.

A natural garden will never be complete. It is rambunctious and it is determined to find its own way, like a preschooler, changing by the week, the day, even the hour. As gardeners we are forced to learn the true nature of plants, their preferences over ours, and discover the joys of constant and responsive management vs. scheduled and intensive maintenance.

But none of this easy. Not because of physical labor -- perhaps there's just as much in natural design as a cookie-cutter industrialized bed. No, this is not easy precisely because it asks us to cultivate that which we don't fully understand or may never fully understand. Plants don't come with install guides like a new fridge or bike that lead to specific and universal results. It's a leap of faith, setting things in motion and then allowing the plants to be our guide, not the other way around. In the 21st century gardens will achieve greater balance between all species, even as we struggle to navigate and survive climate disruption. I can't think of a better place to cultivate defiant compassion.

The Problem With Plant Lists

[I posted this over at Milk the Weed -- it's important to consider when getting and giving advice via online forums and social media pages. However, please note that when you work with me via an online consult, I can provide everything below as we collaborate on your landscape.]

I cannot provide you with a native plant list to try at home. I cannot do this because I am not familiar with your site conditions, which have a litany of variables including soil type, drainage, sun exposure, nearby plant communities, aesthetic and practical considerations, and of course ecoregion. And cost. Be wary of anyone who provides a native plant list and treats it as a universal prescription (this is rampant on FB). To me, this is unethical.

Now, in my articles and classes I may discuss specific native plants for specific situations, but those are just guiding examples based on my experience in my ecoregion, and in that way can serve as a launching pad for you. But they are not apples to apples. Some species might be, and that's great. In order to set yourself up for the best chance at success you need to do the research yourself. That starts with learning about your ecoregion, studying up on what's native to you (university extensions, guidebooks, even basic lists from Xerces and Pollinator Partnership), researching each plant and how they grow and where (guidebooks, reputable nurseries and botanic gardens and websites -- the more local / regional the better). And yeah, the forthcoming book Prairie Up is loaded with this information and resource tips, but they are also in the online class Starting Your Native Plant Garden.

You gotta do your homework. You really do. Winter is great for this process. And yes, it's worth it on so many levels, least of which is overall empowerment and confidence. No, all of this research is not a magic bullet -- plants are plants, weather is weather, deer are deer, etc. The plants will eventually teach you and show you the way as the landscape evolves and you with it, especially if you design with plant communities vs. plants as lone specimens. Gardens are not cookie recipes. There are no precise measurements that lead to a specific outcome -- not unless you have a full time staff and sizable management budget.

Choose the plants that work for the site and with one another (think habit and sociability aka rate of spread), and you're way ahead of the game. Let plants move about. Let them self organize. Let go of helicopter gardening. This all takes years.

P.S. -- You should probably do most of the above for exotic plants, too.

Seeds $ vs Plugs $$$

This is a good time of year to discuss seeds vs plants, especially since the concern on so many social media forums is showing design purpose.
While seeds are less expensive, it takes years for them (perennials) to develop into a sizable plant. 2-4 years. If you get rain at the right times. Dependent on soil type and ecoregion. It can then take a few more years for the plants to self select and organize into discernible patterns, like sweeps and drifts, that a passerby would interpret as intentional or "pretty."

The design of a seeding is much less controlled for the average gardener. "A sown garden is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." If there's any way to get potted plants, even plugs, and curate the species used so they match one another and the site, that might solve some long term management issues. Even simple massing of forb plugs among a grassy matrix can help when it comes to design and layout.

You can also put a thin 1" layer of wood mulch in the planted / plugged bed to show it's a "garden" -- you don't need a border or barrier per se to highlight the space as intentional (although you could trench a border). Remember though, you can't seed into wood mulch. If you're 100% seeding species then diversity is super critical. And on bare soil rates are 50 seeds per foot, if into killed grass 100-150 seeds per foot or more. It's starting to get expensive to the point where you might be thinking why not just buy plugs instead -- especially to get a garden much sooner AND control the design to appease neighbors.

Fall Color Isn't Just for the Trees -- Celebrate Herbaceous Perennials

10/19/2022

It's the time of year when breathtaking photos show autumn foliage color, primarily from northern and eastern deciduous ecoregions, as well as riparian areas on the Plains and southwest. Well folks, trees and shrubs are just one layer. Maybe they are the most obvious, but we're here to highlight just a tiny glimpse into the awesome diversity and color of the ground plain. We're looking at you, forbs and grasses and even sedges (hover over images for the scientific names). Enjoy the pictorial, which comes mostly from the online class on fall and winter garden design.

Diverse fall color comes from a diverse species palate, and hints at the beauty winter seed heads will bring.

Amonsia hubrichtii is an obvious choice, but you should also look at A. illustris for bright yellow.

Backyards were meant for seasonal meadows with a thousand ecosystem services year round.

Shcizachyrium scoparium, Bouteloua curtipendula, and Sporobolus heterolepis matrix takes over the show even through winter.

How Plant Choice Leads to Good Design and Good Neighbors

9/16/2022

Don't just dig a ten dollar hole for a one dollar plant, but also spend ten minutes researching that plant before you ever buy it. Successful, natural garden design starts at plant selection. If you end up choosing plants that will get too tall or spread too aggressively (creating a monoculture you hoped to get rid of in the first place), it's likely that as a gardener you'll feel more discouraged than you need to be.

While natural garden design is always about learning from the plants and letting them show you what they want, it's also about trying our best to select species that will work well in the site conditions, in the ecoregion, and in that chosen plant community. This invariably means plants that won't lend to the "weedy" look neighbors and weed inspectors will abhor. Of course, there are also elements of design that are critical -- like placing taller plants in the middle or back of beds, repeating groupings / patterns, and have cues to care like wide paths, benches, art, signs, etc.

In this piece we'll briefly explore several landscapes by looking at the plants, why they were chosen, and what we expect management to be.

First, it's important to note that species discussed here may not be native to you. In fact, these plant communities may not even be applicable to your ecoregion. So as you take some of this with a grain of salt, know it's always your job to learn your place and plant with local nature in mind.

The above photo shows a roughly 350 square foot bed in front of a typical suburban home. There is a matrix of grasses -- Bouteloua gracilis and Bouteloua curtipendula -- planted about 15-18" apart on center. These species become the living green mulch from which forbs emerge. All of these species can be seen growing in the wild together, and / or are from the same ecoregion and thrive in similar site conditions. This is step one to making sure your garden is off to a good start when using native species.

Second, this plant community is using each species' natural tendencies for a purpose -- to build layers and fill the ground plane, which means less weeding and erosion, and increased soil moisture and soil building. This bed was not amended. The sod was spray killed with a one-time treatment, a thin 1-2" wood mulch layer applied, and then the plugs (younger, more affordable plants) were drilled in place.

And one more aside -- notice that no plant is over 3 feet tall. This is on purpose, and part of meeting the neighborhood in the middle. There's no floppy Ratibida pinnata or Helianthus, and no aggressively rhizomatous Asclepias syriaca (which also gets quite tall). Using those species would absolutely create a weedy look to most folks.

So let's look at the species and what each is contributing to the community and design:

GRASSES
Bouteloua gracilis -- 12-18" green mulch / matrix / groundcover
Bouteloua curtipendula -- 12-18" green mulch / matrix / groundcover

FORBS
Callirhoe involucrata -- 12" vining groundcover weaving its way among other plants filling in gaps, long bloom season
Monarda bradburiana -- 18-24" clumping perennial that blooms in early summer and provides ornamental winter seed heads
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium -- 24" slowly rhizomatous (in clay soil) perennial that provides summer blooms and winter seed heads
Heuchera richardsonii -- 12" (24-30" when in spring bloom) with dense basal foliage for groundcover and contrast to thinner grass leaves
Echinacea pallida -- 24-36" bloom that provides superb winter interest and structure
Coreopsis verticillata -- 18" summer bloom, slowly rhizomatous.
Anemone virginiana -- 24-30" bloom with poofy fall seed heads
Liatris ligulistylis -- 24-36" thin spire of late summer blooms, uses a very small footprint
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium -- 18-24" mounding, shrub-like perennial with late autumn bloom, provides some formal shape

Now, there's FAR more to consider about this plant selection and arrangement, considerations such as root structure, reproductive behavior and senescence -- all topics I explore in far more detail in the online classes and my forthcoming book (December 2022 / January 2023). But all that we need to really consider for now -- from an introductory standpoint -- is that these plants fill niches, provide continuous bloom succession for human aesthetic concerns and adult pollinator needs, are host plants to lots of insects, have decent winter interest, and stay at a manageable height and spread. They are all matched to one another and the site (soil, light, drainage).

Here's a wider view and different angle of the same bed. You can see a few gaps up front that need more grass additions, which is par for the course on any garden. Even natural gardens require gardening, it's just that the management is more responsive to what's going on any given week, requires less contact time per engagement, etc. Maintenance is on a calendar, and it often require intense and long periods of physical activity (mulching, weeding, etc).

I won't go into too much detail on this site, as it's principles are almost the same as the first example -- and many of the same species were used, even though the species are starting to self organize themselves in a different way. And that's great. The Bouteloua curtipendula matrix serves as a living green mulch from which clumps of Pycnanthemum tenuifoloum emerge, from which sporadic clumps of Echinacea pallida emerge, and among which Callirhoe involucrata creeps around and fills in gaps.

Annual maintenance for this and all spaces is a spring mow on the highest setting -- about mid to late March every year. In the first year weeding is the biggest challenge, usually deadheading annual species like foxtail, crabgrass, horsetail, and ragweed (pulling brings more weed seeds to the surface). Sometimes in year 2 or 3 we'll need to touch up with additional plugs. No big deal.

Here's a mid range shot of two beds -- the first is in the foreground. But I'm using this angle on purpose to show how natural wildscaping can blend well with more traditional strategies of garden design without losing any habitat value. It's all about making solid plant choices -- and even, over time, editing out choices that turn out to be incorrect. Sometimes you have to kill your darlings for the good of the whole.

These two front yard beds are split by a 6' wide lawn path. That's one cue to care. But as you can see in that far bed, some of the plants are presenting a more formal shape. Nearest the lawn path is a Baptisia minor, which tends to look like this for me in full sun situations. Behind it are two Smyphyotrichum oblongifolium specimens (one popped up on its own -- works for me as it creates a nice triptych).

As for the rest? See how the taller Eryngium yuccifolium and Echinacea puprurea are in the middle of the bed. And the same for taller and yet-to-bloom Oligoneuron rigidum. There's a matrix or what's become a border of Bouteloua curtipendula and Schizachyrium scoparium. Then in back further still are some Cornus sericea which I coppice almost every year to keep at a lower 4 feet tall or so (coppice means cut down almost all the way to the ground -- which I do in February or March most years). So there are traditional tiers, and none of the plants is super aggressive by seed or root runners -- certainly not so in dry clay soil with good plant competition (aka plant density and layers, aka thick plant communities, aka, plants need stress to thrive).

So I know that was a lot to take in over a relatively quick post, but that's honestly why I wrote a book and created online garden 101 classes -- so anyone could dive in deeper over and over as their gardens evolved. I think the ultimate lesson is this -- try your best to research plants. And while from a design and ecosystem perspective there can certainly be a lot of variables to consider, start by focusing on plants with more compact habitat and slower reproductive methods. Once you get that base working in your garden, you can expand, experiment, and challenge yourself and neighbors more through different plant species.

In summary: avoid the weedy look by selecting plant species with shorter heights and less ability to self sow or run a lot. And make sure you mass flower species and repeat those masses. Think 3-5 plants in a clump, with those clumps repeated evenly 3-5 times in a small urban front yard.

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