This month’s Bloom Day is a native plants for native bees theme once again. I’m a lazy gardener I’ve decided. All of the shrubs presented here are low maintenance, prune and shape if you wish or let go if you don’t feel like it. Basically I just dig a hole (having good soil in the …
» Read the rest...I dedicate my bloom day photos to native plants for native pollinators.
Aronia melanocarpa Chokeberry Autumn Magic. Can a habitat garden have too many native chokeberries? Not only is Aronia a spring food source for bees, in the fall they produce berries which are a preferred food source for birds. The autumn color is stunning.
Neviusia …
» Read the rest... Andrew over at Garden Smackdown has challenged garden bloggers to list what native plants we grow in his Play Natives Forward. Of course I love this idea, and think it is a great way for us to take a mini-inventory of natives vs non-natives on our own properties.
I am dividing my list into two …
Ilex verticillata Winterberry Holly is a native shrub which been a habitat success story for me. Winterberry produces flowers that are attractive to bees and in the fall bright red berries appear which birds relish. This holly is dioecious requiring both male and female planets to produce berries so I planted three female Red Sprites …
» Read the rest...When a box of mail ordered plants arrived I was instantly charmed by a tiny Swamp Titi (pronounced tie tie) Cyrilla racemiflora packed in there. This native shrub was ordered from Nearly Native Nursery to go in my habitat garden based upon reading about it, not by knowing the plant personally. I’d never seen one, …
» Read the rest...Florida anise Illicium floridanum is a great native shrub for shady hedges or spot planting. One of the issues that I have had to face in creating a woodlands habitat is evergreen plants which grow well in shade. I am a firm believer in hedgerows and corridors for wildlife – mixed plantings of shrubs and …
» Read the rest...
