Beautiful Natives
I’ve had echinacea blooming in my gardens for as long as I can remember. A few years ago, I purchased a pack of seeds with the intention of starting a mass planting on the hillside behind the garage. Last year, I sowed a row of seeds in the vegetable garden in early spring. They germinated well, grew well, and I transplanted them this spring.
They’re blooming beautifully this year and the bees and butterflies are really enjoying them. I plan on saving seed from these beauties to start more and more plants. Eventually, I’ll have a HUGE swatch of them growing on the hillside behind the garage (across from the main entrance to the vegetable garden). Not only will they be much better than the weeds that are growing there now, they will provide much food for pollinators. Echinacea is probably my favorite native wildflower, I love that it’s so delicate in beauty, but tough as nails as a plant.
Do you grow any native wildflowers in your garden? Which is your favorite?
Susy, Terra Nova Gardens was infested with wild day lilies in the most unhandy places. There are still a few around outside of the garden fence that pop up here and there but they are more of a nuisance then beauty to me. There are also a few wild sunflowers that lurk around the edge of the tree line. I have considered to bring both into a xeriscape garden bed. The sunflowers are more like daisies then sunflowers but they are definitely sunflowers.
The weather here in Nebraska has been beautiful with day temps in the 70s and night temps in the 60s. The weather forecasters have given a promise that the 90s will return soon. It’s such a joy to be outside in the cooler weather right now. I’m soaking up every minute of it.
Have a great beautiful natives day in the garden.
Nebraska Dave
to Nebraska Dave's comment
Surprisingly, echinacea is not actually native to Maine. It seems that anything labeled ‘native’ just means that it’s native to the US. That said, echinacea is beautiful, grows well here, and to my knowledge doesn’t become invasive. What a wonderful plant to have growing!
to Joan's comment