Native Gardening

[addy1]

I gather seeds every summer from the plants in the yard then toss them back out in the fall.

 

[JamieB]

Look up pitcher clematis, I couldn’t get the pic to post. I’ve got those wild on the fence line, so pretty. A dusky purple color. It said seeds need to be cold stratified, that’s where they are planted before last frost right? Like in the fall.

 

[CountryEscape]

Cold stratification happens when seeds go through cold, warm, cold many times and often for extended periods of times. There is also moisture involved in this stratification. So, think wet snow/ice and then the ground thaws and it's muddy, only to freeze again. The seeds need that! Most milkweed seeds need cold stratification. Some seeds need it for 10 days, others for 3 months or more.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I looked up the Indian Paintbrush (JB, have you ever grown it, and if so, is this correct?):


The queen Anne's lace will eventually take over the dill/fennel/parsley, once I have enough of it established and can show that the black swallowtail butterflies prefer it.

I do know about Indian Paintbrush and the difficulty of getting it to grow given that it's a parasite. I've chosen to avoid it for that reason. It doesn't seem worth the effort. I've seen it in the wild and it's an amazing plant to see in person. If it was easier to grow, I'd already have it!


I believe we've talked about this before, so it probably doesn't need to be repeated, but worth mentioning for others who'd like to help Black Swallowtails: Queen Anne's Lace is an invasive non-native biennial. It's one of the common "roadside plants" that has taken over and out-competed native species in disturbed areas. You might find that it helps Black Swallowtails, but can lead to habitat degradation that affects other species in the long run. I'd highly recommend the native, and more attractive Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea), or Heart-leaved Alexanders (Zizia aptera). I tried to grow Golden Alexanders last year but sadly I had old seeds that instantly molded. You never quite know the quality of seed you get on ebay, but it was super cheap and worth trying.

 

[CountryEscape]

OMG, I did NOT know about QAL being invasive and not native. Thanks for that! I soooo want to grow Golden Alexander. I know it's growing in the State Park in Indiana where my DIL is manager, but I don't trust myself to gather the seeds. I think I'd rather spend more money and buy a plant (if I could find a plant ... working on my local nursery to offer more natives ... they are getting there!!!) or seeds from a reputable dealer!
In the meantime, must feed the swallowtails, so I am again growing dill and fennel and parsley. LOL I'm looking into host plants/trees for the tiger and giant swallowtails this year! I can't remember right now, but thinking one of them uses the tulip tree. Have to look it up this evening, but bet you know, since I think you said something about a few trees, tulip being one of them.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I soooo want to grow Golden Alexander. I know it's growing in the State Park in Indiana where my DIL is manager, but I don't trust myself to gather the seeds. I think I'd rather spend more money and buy a plant

I'm looking into host plants/trees for the tiger and giant swallowtails this year! I can't remember right now, but thinking one of them uses the tulip tree. Have to look it up this evening, but bet you know, since I think you said something about a few trees, tulip being one of them

Keep in mind with Golden Alexanders, its definitely best to get seeds or plants from a nursery, unless you know how to positively ID it. Mistakenly collecting Wild Parsnip seeds would be an awful mistake!

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar uses the Tulip tree, as well as other trees.


Last year I began adding a bunch of Common Blue Violets and Confederate Violets in hopes of attracting fritillary butterflies. Hopefully after a year or two they'll fill in and that'll happen. Great spangled fritillary butterflies are one of my favorite butterflies.

 

[addy1]

We are surrounded by tulip popular and black locust, our primary nectar sources for the bees.

 

[CountryEscape]

Keep in mind with Golden Alexanders, its definitely best to get seeds or plants from a nursery, unless you know how to positively ID it. Mistakenly collecting Wild Parsnip seeds would be an awful mistake!

This is exactly why I've not collected seeds. Wild Parsnip is everywhere in the road ditches and it's awful to mess with, burns the skin terribly, so I've steered away from it. They did positively ID it in the park, but I'm not sure where that was. I'm much more into collecting seeds than my DIL, but she has staff that collect seeds in the late summer/fall when the plants go to seed. I got rattlesnake master from there. They had a bunch of plants tagged to collect, so I found some in a different area, and grabbed a few seed pods.

I keep finding plants that I never knew were in my area! Last year, while driving staring at the ditch for new plants (I know, I'm going to have an accident and how do you tell the officer you were looking for native plants?!?), and spotted something red! Stopped and backed up and come to find out it was wild growing lobelia or cardinal flower! I've bought a plant the last two years at the Native sale, but they end up dying. I found these plants on the edge of a creek bank, so I grabbed seeds and also dug up 3 plants. I'll need to keep them moist, and probably provide some shade, but I have lots of taller plants near them, so hoping that will work. Excited!!! Anytime I find something new I get super pumped, especially when I know no one is going to mow them down before I can gather seeds.

I also found button bush. Driving along a field that is left wild, noticed about 20 eastern tiger swallowtails on it. Stopped and took pictures, then searched for the plant. I dug up 2 chunks of roots, but not sure if they will grow or not. Nothing grew on them the rest of the summer, but the stems were still pliable, so am hoping the roots were growing, and next year they will come back. I kept them in large pots (I think they were 3 gallon at least) so I could keep them watered, then planted them in the fall.

Everything in my wild flower garden is marked with an orange plant tag, so I can learn what the plants look like when they first come up and know not to pull new stuff. Crossing my fingers that this year will be the best ever, and it will get better every year after that, too.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I keep finding plants that I never knew were in my area!

When I first got into native gardening, Prairie Moon Nursery's website was the place to be. It still is. I've only gotten seeds from them a few times, but I've used their site as a resource hundreds of times. They have tons of native, colorful species, and I find their layout easy to use. They've also recently worked on improving the search and filters to find plants easier based on color, bloom time, zone, etc. I highly recommend it if you want to learn what's in your area. Each plant will have a map of its native range and all the other necessary information.

 

[Lisak1]

Thanks @JBtheExplorer - that's a great resource! I do love how the website functions - very easy to use!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Thanks @JBtheExplorer - that's a great resource! I do love how the website functions - very easy to use!

It was great before they made the search updates, and now its 10x better.
If you want to find all yellow plants, you click the yellow circle and there they all are. If you want zone 5 plants, you click zone 5 and bam! It's really helpful if you're looking for a certain color or height, or looking for something that blooms at a specific time or year, or anything else you might want.

 

[Lisak1]

I'm having fun just checking my knowledge of native plants! Oh, the things we will do to while away the winter hours!

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, just your description makes me want to check it out, too! Too late tonight. I've been up since early, getting my house ready for company, who have been here and gone now, so it's time to wind down. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I'll definitely look into it!
Oh, and today I finally had Christmas with my son, daughter in law, and grandson, Mikey. My DIL got me not only the Audubon Book "Field Guide to Birds", and "Field Guide to Butterflies of North America", but also "Prairie Plants of Illinois"!!! The pictures are all black and white drawings, so seeing them in color will be helpful on the website!

 

[Lisak1]

My DIL got me not only the Audubon Book "Field Guide to Birds", and "Field Guide to Butterflies of North America", but also "Prairie Plants of Illinois"!!!

She knows you well! Merry Christmas! haha!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Wow, just your description makes me want to check it out, too! Too late tonight. I've been up since early, getting my house ready for company, who have been here and gone now, so it's time to wind down. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I'll definitely look into it!
Oh, and today I finally had Christmas with my son, daughter in law, and grandson, Mikey. My DIL got me not only the Audubon Book "Field Guide to Birds", and "Field Guide to Butterflies of North America", but also "Prairie Plants of Illinois"!!! The pictures are all black and white drawings, so seeing them in color will be helpful on the website!

I'm not a book person, except when it comes to those exact things you listed. I have bird books, amphibian and reptile books, spider books, insect books, pond life books, etc. All are very old and out of date, most older than me, but still nice to look at from time to time and easy to transport because most of mine are small enough to fit in my pocket. In recent years, I find myself using allaboutbirds.org a lot, it's really helpful that they have the calls of each bird. My cat also goes crazy when I play the calls she's familiar with through my speakers. She thinks there's a bird outside my window. I've used wisconsinbutterflies.org on more than one occasion, too. Not for butterfly calls, of course.

The one thing I don't have is a Wisconsin native plant book, as surprising as that is. I've wanted one for years, but never get around to it.