Lots of options for critters knocking over pots around here. I sowed my Buffalo clover seeds today. Maybe doing it during a (at least partial) solar eclipse is bringing good luck for it to work :)

My bird foot violet survived, but it’s not really spreading anywhere. Little crested Iris is blooming. And I guess the Fox has some kind of bird?

What kind of soil is your Viola pedata growing in, Iris? I've tried growing them twice, with no luck.

A few things have returned. Ionactis, Silky Aster, Coreopsis palmatta. The native yarrow is extremely aggressive, but it's foliage is so lush. I'm splitting it up, and planting it in very poor gravelly soil.

A camera shy Trout Lily.

Trillium emerging.

Dirca palustris

Lyre Leaf Sage.

The young, new leaves of Callirhoe bushii. It spreads agressively by seed. This one needs to be moved.

My violet is in pretty hostile conditions. Right next to the driveway. So mostly sand and gravel.

Noticed today that one of my little devils walking sticks has almost been completely eaten. These deer stop at nothing. There are just this many cages I can put up. Already saw wren fledglings. They are so grumpy looking. I wish them well, there are just so many cats left to roam wherever they want to.

Plants are looking good in your yard! I am still so far behind. Should get another round of rain tonight, so at least I don’t have to worry about watering yet.

First Monarch finally showed up today. My Carolina clover is germinating. Things are really waking up. Jay, how are your bog plants? The pitcher plants are blooming here. It was 85 today.

It was 80 here Sunday. The bog plants are coming along ok. There was a Lady laying eggs on my pussy-toes.

Blue Cohosh

Blue Cohosh

Primula meadia

Amazing variety of plants! Cool that your Dirca palustris survived. Mine did not come back.

Antennaria plantaginifolia

Erigeron pulchellus

I bought my 2 living Dirca from Missouri Wildflowers. Their plants are always in good condition. The Dirca that I got from Reeseville Ridge never made it. I may have hesitated to plant the earlier Dirca in the ground right away, so Im probably partly to blame. I still need to plant the 2 living ones in a permanent spot, once they are in great condition. The 2 native Berberis species that Ive been growing for 2 years are actually the non native Berberis thunbergii. I dug them out today and replaced them with a Calycanthus. The native Berberis canadensis only grows in the heart of Appalachia.

Dirca palustris

Native Yarrow. It's getting moved to a poorer, drier gravelly soil. It's way to agressive in this richer soil.

Another bumper crop of Enchanter's Nightshade that I can use to fill in shady areas.

Sedum ternatum is spreading like crazy in this rocky soil.

White Trillium, unknown spotted trillium, and the reddish shoots of emerging Aralia nudicaulis, near the Solidago. I'd like to have a few more Sarsapparilla.

Erigeron pulchellus

Im hoping the plant behind the Jacob's Ladder, with the strap-like leaves is Fire Pink.

I had a Clematis pitcheri growing here, with a huge Carex blanda growing beneath it. I think the Carex killed the Clematis. I dug out the Carex and planted a large Dutchman's Breeches there. The Dicentra was being thugged out by Callirhoe bushii. I removed all the Callirhoe and then moved the DB to this spot. Several little bulbets detached from the mother plant while moving it. I planted the bulbets all around the area. 3 Dicentra eximia are ariving tomorrow. Im going to move one of the 2 Tall Meadow Rue to make room for them. The Nabalus albus has reappeared after taking a year off. I may have damaged the Nabalus last year, when I was thinning out the Wild Geranium? I'll have to check those moved geraniums for any Nabalus growing out of them. I've already found a Blue Cohosh growing out of a transplanted geranium.

Year 3 of Prairie Smoke. They take a long time to establish. Need a few more.

Antennaria neglecta. These are all clonal and same sex. I need a few more plants so they can make seeds. There are American Lady caterpillars on them. Pussytoes are more reliable than the other cudweeds. Also many new vollunteer native thistles for the Ladies this year. Antennaria parlinii looks almost identical to Antennaria plantaginifolia. In the past, many observations of plantaginifolia turned out to be parlinii. Your clump of plantaginifolia is impressive Skip.

Glad to see updates from your yards. And need to look up some plants again :)

My wooly pipevine has been found. Luna moths are starting to come out. My daughter has seen a few cicada shells, so I guess they are coming out now. Really hope to see some. My red buckeye is rocking it. I am still fascinated by the blooms of pitcher plants.

Awesome plants guys! Jay, nice trilliums. I just went to Bowman Hill wildflower preserve and was blown away by all their trilliums.

I started with 7 Antennaria plugs I grew from prairie moon seed, then I started some seed from Toadshade and planted it next to the original clump, so I hope they are making viable seed now.

Iris I love that red buckeye!

Got some Mayapple popping up behind the the Dutchmans breeches

I cant see any Dutchman's Breeches in your pic Skip. Did you buy any natives from Bowman Hill? Does the sun shine?

Trying to fill in the bare spots with a diverse selection of natives.

Recently added Stylophorum and Circaea canadensis.

Raised bed in shade.

All these are Tall Bellflower. They will be beautiful.

I have the approval to plant this area out to where the Vinca have spread. Over time I will sneak natives into it until it's totally native.

Caulophyllum thalictroides. I collected Blue Cohosh years ago, having no idea what it was at the time. They declined when I cut down the Redbud that was shading them. I'm planting what remains in the shade that it needs.

Collinsonia canadensis. The past 2 years have been so dry that they didn't produce seed.

Some Tall Nettle, Urtica gracilis in a wild spot.

Wall to wall Creeping Charlie, Glechoma hederacea

Spring Beauties in lawn.

There's a dead buckthorn in background. Im going to cut it down and plant a living fence of Sambucus canadensis. Im considering removing the wooden planks and turning the raised bed into a mound.

This one Rue Anemone is all I have. Need more.

Trillium sessile, Campanulastrum americanum, Stylophorum diphylum and Mertensia virginica.

Hydrophyllum virginicum, Hydrophyllum appendiculatta.

Blue Cohosh, Wood Poppy, Early Figwort, Carex jamesii, Dead Hosta walking. The deer can help themdelves to the Hosta. They've been grazing some Carex.

Happy Earth Day!

Great pictures, Jay. I didn’t realize you have so much space to work with. Keeping you busy. Found the first tiny Monarch cat today. It’s supposed to go down to the mid 30’s tonight. The weird weather continues.

https://youtu.be/uvToYFlM-vk?si=ZSX6LaXZBLCA7m0j

Wow, you do have a lot of room Jay. Your ability to identify all the plants at such an early stage is impressive. I'm having a little trouble with that at the moment with the random stuff popping up. I let my daughter pick out some plants at Bowman Hill, she obviously picked what was in flower which was Phlox divaricata, Polemonium reptans, and Tiarella cordifolia. I grabbed an Anemone virginiana too since I haven't been able to successfully start them from seed and keep them alive. I germinated a bunch of them 2 years ago but then didn't pay attention to watering and taking care of them. The Tiarella is new to my yard too, the pot dried out for like an hour and it looked dead but I planted it and watered it and it came back. It's already looking like something that is not going to survive any dry spells but maybe once it's rooted in it will be more resilient.

I still have tons of Zizia.

Here's the Viburnum prunifolium I mentioned earlier

Here's

Wow, Skip. Your Viburnum is showing off! Looks like it would make some hummingbird clearwing caterpillars happy :) The hummingbirds seem really late this year. Have just seen 2 of them so far, and they didn’t stick around. Lots of plants ready for them. The coral honeysuckle, cross vine, and buckeye are in full bloom. So is the red salvia they usually love. Not planning to hang up any feeders. Too much trouble to change/ clean so often for fewer birds. There were so many of them just a few years ago. My little pink lady slippers are blooming. Otherwise the weeds are thriving. And I still have no idea what’s what in most cases.

I see your Dicentra cucullaria now Skip. It's filling in nicely. The viburnum prunifolium is full of flowers. Some of my Golden Alexanders spread.out of control. The Heart Leaved Golden Alexanders aren't as vigorous.

I have no idea what the plant with orchid-like leaves is?

I'd like to replace the Japanese Spiraea with a native one.

I grew Tirarella cordifolia about 30 years ago. It didn't last long. I may have killed it by overwatering. It's not native in Illinois. Heuchera richardsonii and Mitella dyphylla are native to my area. I have a native Heuchera americana I think. It's native further south in Illinois. I moved my Heuchera to where it gets mostly morning sun and it's doing much better.

Iris, awesome orchid! Those are rare around here.

Jay I'm a big fan of Spiraea latifolia, I have about a dozen plugs of them to plant later this year. I think I'll attack the Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora by the road (again) and plant them in there. Ben Vogt has some really nice gardens that incorporate Heuchera richardsonii, it's looks good coming up out of sedges and short grasses.

Wild strawberry, woodland sunflower, salvia lyrya, deer tongue grass (+mock strawberry & weeds) between the pin oak and silver maple.

Skip, Spiraea latifolia is a better species for your area. It's very similar to Spiraea alba, which is native here. It's been named Spiraea alba var. latifolia. If you read the flora it says there are 2 different types of latifolia. The other species native here is Spiraea tomentosa. I got a Heuchera richardsonii a few years ago, but it didn't last long. I neglected it because there were so many other things going on. Hopefully I can find one at a plant sale, or if not, I can try growing them from seed.

Spiraea latifolia

Spiraea alba

Spiraea tomentosa

Asian Dayflower Commelina communis

I like the coverage you have in that bed with the columbine. So which one would you want to grow, alba or tomentosa? I have both latifolia and tomentosa seedlings going. I collected the tomentosa seeds from a roadside under a power line clearing nearby.

I did a plant swap with a woman last year, I don't even remember what I gave her, something basic like tradescantia and false sunflower or something. She gave me a 2gallon pot of Asclepias tuberosa seedlings. I just kept it watered all summer but didn't do anything with it. I noticed a couple of the plants breaking dormancy so I decided I should pot them up. After soaking the root ball and pulling them apart, I ended up with 71 plants! I put 38 in a deep plug tray, 30 in 3.5" deep pots, and 1 big one and a bunch of little ones in two 4.5" deep pots. I noticed a couple Euphorbia corollata coming back too, I'm excited for that one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A gentian?

Camassia sciloides getting ready to bloom.

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

A white Viola striata with Achillea gracilis and Hydrangea arborescens.

Shepard's Purse Brassicaceae

Viola striata and Chelone obliqua.

Future native groundcovers Fragaria virginiana and Circaea candensis with columbine.

This wild strawberry spreads faster than Mock Strawberry.

Aralia nudicaulis, Trillium grandiflorum, Sambucus cannadensis

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

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

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

And he is showing off :)

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

I visited 2 preserves today.

I have a green trillium.

Blue Eyed Mary. Collinsia verna

Lakeside Daisy, Tetraneuris herbacea.

False Mermaid, Floerkea prosperpinacoides.

Canada Violet? I want some.

Canada Lousewort, Pedicularis canadensis.

Claytonia virginica, Spring Beauty

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

Jack

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

This little guy snuggled up on the Cunila

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

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

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

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

Gillenia trifoliata.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Osmorhiza claytonii, Trillium luteum, Trillium grandiflirum.

Carex species?

Yellow Pimpernel, Taenidia integerrima

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum

Woodland Sedum, Sedum ternifolium

Cream Violet, Viola striata

Heuchera americanum?

More pics.

Amsonia illustris

Fragrant False Indigo, Amorpha nana. Finally blooming

Wild Hyacinth, Camassia scilloides

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

Blephilia cilliata

a different plant. I have way more hirsuta than cilliata

Lonicera flava

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

More pics.

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

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

Some young Coreopsis palmata.

Robin's Plantain, Erigeron pulchellus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The bed before I weeded out the Prunella

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

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

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

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

It should be illegal to sell appealing looking tasteless fruit!

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

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

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

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

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

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