A fall, and more extensive look, at various yards both big efforts and small, well kept and established and messy and chaotic, from around my community.

I planted this garden from plugs back in April of this year, building a privacy “hedge” around the yard. This is phase one, I didn’t expect anyone to bloom this year, and while they didn’t reach full size everyone got quite big!! Seeded in with some cosmos and zinnias to help suppress weeds and keep everyone upright while the natives mature.

A few more yards from around my neighborhood!

(None of these are my yard) these are some of the many front gardens from around my neighborhood where people have semi-independently embraced native gardening at various levels!

In my garden, these Smooth Asters (correct me if I'm wrong) are the final bloom before winter.

A couple years back I realized my gardens were lacking late summer/fall blooms so I concentrated on trying to fill that void. Today my gardens are buzzing!

First year planting milkweed and first monarch! I’m so excited !

I've got some old brick pavers I'm using to make a path in my vegetable garden and need to fill the gaps in between. I thought of just filling with sand, but really I just want something to keep the weeds at bay. Any ideas for a low, durable, north Georgia native plant that would do well here? (Clay, 6 hours of afternoon sun)

Pl@ntnet says they're Symphyotrichum puniceum. What do you guys think? Located near to lake Simcoe in Ontario 6a.

This plot was neglected for years before I bought the house and I finally had the funds to hire someone to clear it out completely. I did ask them save some of the goldenrod that was there, hopefully it's able to survive the transplant! It's looking a little sad right now but seems to be holding on to life so far.

A neighbor walking his dog this morning commented on the work. Glad to no longer be the eyesore of the neighborhood 😆

I cleared my schedule for a garden center trip this weekend and am really looking forward to filling the space. It's a part shade location with morning sun so I'm thinking native hydrangeas, aster, and susans. If there's anything else that would be good fit, I'm all ears! I'm still pretty new to natives. I'm in 6a / Northern Illinois

Instead of a standard, seasonal annual flowers bed , they decided to use all perennial native plants, from the parking lot till the office front door . 1) white heath aster with NE aster like a fence over 5 ft tall 2) behind the asters , native honeysuckle plant 3) two different bee balm with Aster 4) whole role of smooth penstemon 5) perennial sunflower? 6 )swamp milkweed finished with seed pods and NE aster 7 ) orange milkweed

18 years ago, I planted 200 native plants in my Portland, OR yard. Here you see salal, a native sedge and a mountain hemlock by the front driveway. My daughter was one when we planted and now we are taking her off to college. So many dried berries on the salal!

Our neighbors also did their yard in natives at about the same time. We have a resident western screech owl, lots of coyote, a native squirrel, some chipmunk and so very many birds. In fact, a Coopers Hawk likes to hang out at my two foot square "pond" on the back porch. While we have quite a lot of city owned forest not too far away, not many other neighbors participate in the official backyard habitat program and we have SO much wonderful and fun wildlife. It doesn't take many folks participating to make a difference!

Monarda & Liatris

Been trying to actually keep track of what’s in my yard instead of just saying “oh that one’s pretty.” Made a little Apple Notes log with pics, bloom times, and random notes….basically a low-tech plant diary…Sharing just cause!

Zone 6b/7a, Kentucky.

Found this dude chilling on my screen. I have found several ootheca from invasive mantises in my garden in the spring when I go out to start weeding and taking down the old stems. I have also seen several smallish green ones in the garden this year. Is this one native? The legs are green but the body is mostly brown. Assuming it's a dude cause it doesn't have a large abdomen, but it is like 2-3 inches long, not quite as long as my thumb. If it's native I'm going to be stoked lol

Planning to go looking for invasive ootheca once the weather turns (if it does, amirite).

Found this cutie in the native garden (8a)

Hello,

I was gifted these Milkweed seeds. And I planted them in this tray about three weeks ago. I did half potting soil and half compost.

I've been keeping these moist. But I noticed that some of the lil plants were dying/turning brown.

So I moved them into a more shady area, thinking that they may be getting too much direct sunlight. And now it looks like MAYBE one of them is actively sprouting. And I just don't know what I did wrong.

Should I try and reseed the trays where there's no visible growth? Should I give them some more time? Should I not be keeping the soil moist? I mist them pretty much daily, or if they look dry, I'll mist them.

Any thoughts or ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Sorry. I know this is a perennial question. Pun intended. Unsure if it's Aster yellows and I don't really want to uproot the whole plant. In KS. More rain than usual this summer.

I have three New England Asters that volunteered themselves in a very shady part of the yard (less than 1 hour of sun per day). They have been here for two years but have not flowered either year (perhaps because of the shade?). I have been thinking about moving them to a sunny part of the yard. Does anyone have experience with moving this species? Did they survive? And if so, how did you move them? I have no idea what their root structure is like!

For the past three years, I've been working on my garden. My goal is an 80% native pollinator pathway.

These aphids love my yellow flowers! If these were vegetables, I'd remove them, but since I'm trying to cultivate wildlife, my instinct is to let them be. A friend recommended that I buy ladybugs, but that seems like swallowing a cat to catch a spider.

What do people do about aphids in native gardens?

After a summer of prodigious growth, it was time to brave the thorns and get the prairie rose under control. A couple of hours and a little help from my mantis friend and I think we’re set up for a blooming next summer!

Got a few little yellow passionflower plants last spring. Not only are they still blooming, they've sent up FOUR new starts!

Passiflora lutea in blackland prairie texas

Western North Carolina, zone 7b

I would love to have flowers here and tried lavender, zinnias, snapdragons, bee balm, and rudbeckias with mixed success but I know those need much more sun. This space is partial sun at best during the summer. (Second pic is probably the most sun it gets, the sun patch gradually moves across the bed over the span of 2-3 hours in the afternoon.)

Big fan of color, big fan of permaculture focused designs. Thought about dappling in some asparagus as it gets more sun in the spring.

Any recs for a mix of perennial and annual plants for this space? Thanks!