2023

I haven’t really updated this section, but after success growing 200 pots last year, giving them away to 7 homes, I expanded to about 550 pots this year.

Seeds planted:
Bee balm (Monarda fistulosa)
Spotted bee balm (Monarda puntata)
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)
Purple giant hyssop (Agastache scrophulariifolia)
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Golden alexander (Zizia aurea)
Dense blazing star (Liatris spicata)
Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum)
Virginia blue bells (Mertensia virginica)

2021

Many people who support environmental causes and nature in general may be interested in planting native gardens, but lack the knowledge, do not want to spend the money, or just find it too much of a hassle to learn all the ins and outs. Right now I am experimenting with growing small pots of native flowers and then giving them away to friends who fit in this category. I do not want to take away from native plant nursery businesses, but perhaps I can push others into native gardening by providing the resources to get started.

So the first attempt brought out many species we could plant in friends’ gardens, though not as many as we had hoped. Here we have Black-eyed Susan, Bee Balm, Spotted Bee Balm, Lupine, and Common Milkweed. One lesson we learned was to seed more heavily for some species, as only about half of our pots had sprouts. We also learned to plant the seeds much earlier in the year. While we did do cold stratification in the refrigerator, it would not have been an issue to simply plant the seeds earlier. This also would have benefited those that needed a cold AND wet stratification, which we missed.