In a previous blog, I showed the Elymus grass that had turned brown and I cut the whole bunch of them down. It seemed dramatic and dangerous at the time. As so often happens, however, Mother Nature was nonplussed.
The native plant garden isn’t pretty, perfect, or full of flowers. The goal is for it to be attractive to bugs and birds and mammals. And someday, amphibians and reptiles. So, it doesn’t have to look good to me or to any neighbors. I’m happy if it is just interesting to people so they ask questions. There is a lot of space still in my little garden that doesn’t have plants at all. Some of the seedlings and starts are just putting on their first year of growth this year. They are plants that people don’t normally see in a standard garden–things like Puget gumweed, Oregon sunshine, checker mallow, native grasses, fireweed, columbine, dock, nettle, and lupine.
Here are some photos of those little investments in the native future.
There are parts of the garden that are lovely to me (even though that doesn’t matter, of course!). This little shady corner has some happy natives with beautiful leaves.
Luckily, I’m not the only one who finds something of interest in this little corner. Look at all the holes in the large-leaved avens foliage! Excellent! So much foliage entering the food web!
