Gallery
Oh the sweet perfume has all the bugs in the yard #milkweed #asclepiassyriaca #monarchhostplant
I'm so glad this arrived on a rainy day. 💞 Thank you, #dougtallamy !!! You are a tremendous inspiration! #naturesbesthope
If you haven't read any Tallamy yet, please please do!! You will feel empowered in this dreary environmental state of affairs.
Garlic Scape time!!!! Caring for the Earth through gardens can be a lot more than pollinator plants and naturalized lawns. Another amazing way to help our planet is to grow some food!!! Our food system is not healthy for Mother Earth. We can help offset use of fossil fuels used to grow and transport food in the industrialized systems that supports human populations by providing some of our own food. Plus it helps you save money, and is sure to be chemical-free (unless you plan to douse your own food in carcinogenic pesticides😶😷🤒🤮🥵😳😫😡☠🤔). Growing garlic is easy, and does not take up much space. Plant in fall, harvest scapes in June, harvest and cure garlic in July, eat year round and boost your health! I'll be selling cloves to plant this fall.
So much flora this week!!! #foxglove #cranesbill #coralbells #lychnis #peonies #rose (edible) #spiderwort (native cultivar) #sundrops (native) #wildcolumbine (native #yarrow (native red cultivar) #goatsbeard (native)
The original inspiration. My parents planted an old field with trees that I was taller than when I arrived into the world. The old field became a coniferous plantation of sorts, except not in rows...but mostly a monoculture. Through time, succession took place, and I lived and played there to watch and experience it all. Today, the land has naturalized itself to a biomass factory beneath the massive trees. Elderberries, ferns, hardwoods, dogwoods, violets, meadowrue, moss, and a massive abundance of other herbs, bryophytes, fungi and fauna. One could not ask for a better teacher. Mom and Dad, I thank you, and Mother Earth thanks you too. (I don't make a habit of speaking for others, but her joy is so obvious).
I had the great pleasure this weekend of visiting the place where my work with plants began 21 years ago. In my teens, my first job took me here. It was the most enchanting place I'd ever set foot, and I was full of gratitude, knowing immediately of the importance of my being there. Woods full of elusive faeries, I am certain. I was mentored for over 7 years by a Swiss couple with a passion for perennials and beautifying the landscape. I miss them deeply, but carry them with me to every garden I work in today. Their property is still a gem, albeit starving for a little attention. If I could, I would buy it. This could be yours for 800k. #theplacesthatshapeyou #thepeoplethatshapeyou #enchantedforest
A visit to the garden I planted 20 years ago revealed more of the poppies that stole heart away all those years ago. It really was love at first site. I still carry that love today...as you can tell by all my poppy posts this week.
This field contains millions of these caterpillars. MILLIONS!!! on #solidago #goldenrod I would love to sit and see who is coming in for a feast. I would be delighted to know the species, but am also satisfied to know that goldenrod supports many caterpillar species.
Very early in my career, I was gifted a few leftover oaks from a nursery I worked at. I feel like planting these trees took full advantage of an opportunity to feed my home ecosystem while enriching the aesthetic of the landscape.
When I see the beautiful patterns of these holes left by feasting caterpillars I can't help but feel joy and wonder how many birds my tree has helped raise. Did you know caterpillars are the #1 food source needed for baby birds? Did you know it takes over 5000 caterpillars to fledge a single nestful of chickadees? Did you know oak trees supports more caterpillar species than any other tree or shrub? 557 different species to be exact!!!
NATIVE. #desmoceruspalliatus #easternelderberryborer for the larval food source, #elderberry #sambucus
"Adult elderberry borers feed on leaves and pollen from the flower heads of elderberry, and female beetles lay their eggs near the base of the elderberry plant. Â Upon hatching, the tiny larvae bore into roots where they feed and develop on nutritious plant tissues. However, elderberry is chemically defended by potent cyanogenic glycosides, toxic compounds that are believed to be passed along from larvae to adults. A taste of these noxious chemicals during an attack may teach a predator that large blue and yellow insects are not to be included on the menu."
Source: http://bugoftheweek.com/blog/2019/8/2/admire-but-do-not-eat-elderberry-borer-desmocerus-palliatus
Poppy love. Swoon.
#nofilter This beautiful poppy takes my breath away. I got this beauty from a plant nursery I worked at 20 years ago, and relocated it from my parents' place to my own property last year. So pleased to see it has accepted its new home so graciously.
Tending Tools.
Scrubbed of soil between sites so as to not share weeds or diseases from place to place, pruners disinfected with a peroxide solution to prevent spreading diseases, and sharpening to increase efficacy. The sharpening part makes for the prettiest photos.
Resurrection of a secret garden in-progress. To be continued...
Are ya'll seeing this right now??!
Some lovely native plants to inspire what an aesthetically pleasing and ecologically functional garden can include. #canadamayflower or #wildlilyofthevalley #foamflower #walkingfern #marginalwoodfern (notice the spores at the margins of the pinnae), and #rockpolypody
Another garden planted full of pollinator treats! Mainly native plants, complimented by an heirloom peony, some native cultivars, and a few ornamentals such as irises. #fornaturegardeningandlandcare #fornaturegardening #fornature #landcare #aestheticpleasure #ecologicalfunction
All planted with a beautiful mix of native woodland herbaceous and woody plants, including young hardwoods to take over when the current overstorey ages out (or succumbs to Emerald Ash Borer). Natives are complimented by hostas and hydrangeas to contribute to the colour and structure throughout the growing season, and add to the formal style desired by the client. Our goal is to achieve at least 70% native plant cover to support the #ecosystem and #foodweb. Once established, we will be there. Loving this space! #fornaturegardeningandlandcare #fornaturegardening #fornature #gonativeplants #aestheticpleasure #ecologicalfunction
Today's before and after. This woodland garden will be a couple years in the making due to a nasty invasive called Dog-strangling Vine that will need to be persistently managed before we are comfortable to invest in plants for this area. We cut it back, sheet-mulched with cardboard, and put a thick layer of soil on top. Surrounding areas will be managed on neighbouring land. DSV is a baddie.
Our yard is bursting in flora at the moment... not many native plants are flourishing right now though. This act of doing an inventory of my gardens each week helps me see that I can improve native plant abundance a great deal more!! The ultimate goal is 70% native flora, so as to support native caterpillars and other insects, as these are a crucial food source to bird nestlings and the successive #foodweb .
Camera 2 of today's before and after woodland garden bed establishment.
Before and after of establishing the beds for a new woodland garden
The burls of this grand old maple make refuge for one of the most magical transformations in nature
Some flora happening this week alongside the lilacs (which we all know, so not photographed here). Native #chokecherry (stop and smell these flowers!!!), native #nannyberry (love those droopy leaves), #willow seeds have popped on some species, ready to set adrift with that cottony fluff! #fieldmustard (not one I would put in your garden due to invasive nature, but pretty nonetheless), #wildstrawberry (juicy morsels soon to follow - love this edible groundcover!). #blueeyedgrass (dainty and sweet, always a treat to see), Last one is a cultivated centaurea...a sweet treat for #bombus buddies
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