Nature's Garden

[JBtheExplorer]

JB, have you ever thought about submitting any of your shots to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower website? I've been going to that site to "window shop" for what seeds I want to buy, and I've got to say, not many of the pictures they have are as pretty as yours.

As I've said before, you piqued my interest in natives enough that I found that website. I needed to know if blue-eyed grass was native to Ohio. I fell in love with blue-eyed grass because of your pictures.

They have 15 pictures of blue-eyed grass. Take a look. None of them made me catch my breath and say "Oooh!!" http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=SIAN3

Looking at their pictures of it, I wouldn't have been enticed to order seeds online the way I did.
Does it bloom the first year?

Appreciate the compliment!

I'm surprised how pale many of those photos look and wonder if some are of different Sisyrinchium species, but there is always a bit of variety in true wild species. I have added photos to other sites in the past, but not that one. Of course, I also have been compiling photos of each of my plants on my JB's Native Garden site on the "My Plants" page as a reference for myself and anyone else who winds up there. I like having a photographic list of each and every native specie I have. I plan on eventually using that to help me finish my showcase here on Gardening Forums.


I've had some Blue-eyed grass grow really well the first season and others that don't do much until the second year, but I've never had any bloom the first year. They always bloom the second year even if they are small. It's well worth the wait!

When they produce seed, I collect it and then wait until Autumn to scatter it where I want it. It seems to be really easy to grow from seed. As long as they have three months in Winter conditions, the seeds seem to sprout easily. I'm using it to border my pond and have had a lot of seedlings pop up where I scattered the seeds last year.

 

[tbendl]

JB does your pond showcase link on this site go to the garden pond forum showcase?

 

[JBtheExplorer]

JB does your pond showcase link on this site go to the garden pond forum showcase?

Yep, the "JB's Pond Showcase" links to my showcase on the Garden Pond Forum.

 

[tbendl]

Wellll how nifty is that!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Wellll how nifty is that!

I have the same thing on GPF linking to my garden showcase here.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Went on a short hike today. Tons of Pale Purple Coneflower in bloom. I wouldn't mind adding these to my garden eventually. They bloom earlier than Purple Coneflower. I get jealous of places like this. I wish I could get a huge chunk of land and restore a prairie.

and

 

[Esther Knapicius]

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Been a while since I updated this post. Here's Bloodroot seen today in a local woodland. It's an awesome spring ephemeral. None were full-bloom, but they still looked great throughout the woods.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Some photos from a walk I took yesterday. Springtime walks in the woods always remind me that I really need to plant more woodland species!



Red Trillium

Woodland Phlox

Virginia Bluebells

False Rue Anemone

 

[Everbrown]

We were in Arizona last month and despite being in drought there along with being the dry season there were still things to be seen.

 

[Becky]

Great photos @JBtheExplorer and @Everbrown!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Some photos from nature's garden.

Cup Plants, a native sunflower named because it holds rainwater in its leaves. Birds, small mammals, and insects can drink from it.

Prairie species, such as Wild Bergamot and Gray-headed Coneflower.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Thought I'd dig up this old thread to share the exciting news of two habitat restorations in my area. Both of these restorations are being created to help clean our waterways as well as add habitat for pollinators and other wildlife. There will be 40+ species of native plants used for these projects. Every bit of habitat restoration makes a difference, so these are exciting times.

The first is an old farm field at a local park. 15 acres of unused land was recently seeded with native prairie species. There will eventually be a trail through the prairie so that families can enjoy the sights. I can hardly wait to see it in bloom in a few years!

The second project was announced this week. Roughly 135 acres of habitat along Lamparek Ditch will be restored using native species. I believe they will also being doing some work on the ditch to minimize flood risk in the future. The ditch is now being renamed as a Lamparek Creek. There will also be roughly two miles of recreational pathway installed, so everyone can get out and enjoy it.

Here, you can see the soon to be restored creek in yellow, and the recently restored Pike River habitat in green. These projects are connected in every way. The creek flows into the river, so clean water flowing down the creek will make for a cleaner river. The Pike River also has a recreational path, so the new path will connect to it. If you look closely, you'll also be able to find the park from the first photo toward the top of this image. While all these projects are separate, they are all achieving the same goal of healthier water that flows into Lake Michigan.

What makes it even better is that the endangered Rusty-patched Bumble Bee lives in these areas, so this is going to be a great thing for this disappearing pollinator!

 

[LouisFerdinand]

@JBtheExplorer, The trail through the prairie sounds like a wonderful feature. It is nice to view various flowers along a trail.

 

[Logan]

Lovely pics @JBtheExplorer those sort of flowers are cultivated over here and not found in the wild.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Went hiking yesterday and a local nature sanctuary. Thought I'd share some of the flowers I saw along the way.

Wild Geranium

White Trillium

Bleeding Hearts

Virginia Bluebells along the river

Shooting Stars

 

[rosmith]

I love all those flowers and colors! Beauty is everywhere, having the eye to find them all in the photographs is a real skill you have mastered. I enjoyed this thread and I'm here for now!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

The nearby prairie restoration was being mowed today. The first step toward killing off the weeds and letting the natives thrive.
It'll be interesting to see how this looks in a couple years. I know-first hand how weedy this unused farm field was before they decided to restore it. I can hardly imagine it being filled with natives. Eventually there will be a trail through it, too. So it should be fun to explore if it's done right and cared for.

 

[owenmcqen]

adorable pics.

 

[roadrunner]

I came across this article with photos of blue-eyed bees sleeping in flowers. And it reminded me of a picture I took back in 2018 of a native squash bee (I believe), I found one evening that had buried itself into the seed pod of a native Florida Rain Lily (Zephyranthes atamasca).

Turns Out, There’s A Bee Species That Sleep In Flowers And It’s As Cute As It Sounds

We need bees. They're the world's most important pollinator of food crops. In fact, it is estimated that one third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination mainly by bees. But as much as we are used to seeing them buzzing with work, they need their beauty sleep as well...

www.boredpanda.com

My Pics from 2018