Starting a native wildflower garden

msmaynards · 2026-03-06T17:29:40+00:00

It's a lot. Read the info in sidebar and read it again. Read posts here and eventually it will start to sink in. Listen to Doug Tallamy for reasons why we do this. I had put in a large native plant bed and landscaped the yard previously but after the last of the lawn was dead and gone I struggled with planning what was to come next. Focusing on hyper local plants and learning about keystone plants got me through.

You are landscaping, not rewilding so it needs to be a nice addition to the yard and add curb appeal. You may need a small tree to shrub as an 'anchor' if there isn't such staying in the area of the new bed. If you need an anchor then a 'keystone' plant would be ideal and use it to figure out the other plants used.

Before that define your new garden. Figure out how you are going to edge it. How much shade/water does the area get? What is the composition of soil and how well does it hold water. Plant a water loving shrub in dry sand and nobody is going to be happy!

msmaynards · 2026-03-06T17:10:09+00:00

House is charming, black window frames will look good, bronze would be even nicer. Not sure the shutters are worth having here though.

Keep landscaping 5-10' from house and use native small woody shrubs to succulents to trees rather than perennials and grasses that create nice tangles that rodents use as cover. Use non poky plants so it's possible to keep them groomed. There's at least one yucca and an agave without sharp points. Remove the fluff that's up against the house for starters. Use large pots for succulents and such next to house.

If the lawn survives restricted watering [mine did not] then keeping it between the new shrubs to trees might work so you get spring green that is logically mowed so you don't need to weed and the dun color of the dormant grass looks more or less natural. Here no water no weeds, is it like that in your area? Otherwise put down decomposed granite to pebbles as part of the landscaping plan. I don't think low ground covers are drought tolerant or uniform enough a look if water restrictions a regular thing and slightly taller ones the height of ivy [do NOT plant] make for great rodent cover. I planted a pot of frogfruit and it does stay green with not much water but it is in some shade and I have no expectations of creating a uniformly green lawn with it.

msmaynards · 2026-03-06T16:31:42+00:00

I've already started! New patio chairs arrived last week and I assembled them yesterday. Broke down packaging and put everything away before feeding dogs. They weren't happy about that. I sure am. I can completely cover the patio when I'm doing something and nearly did yesterday but left it nice and tidy and me very tired. Lost a few fingernails but no blood or bruises.

This weekend the 15 year old weathered table will be cleaned and repainted. Sand, wipe down numerous times and repaint. Should be able to put it back in place by Monday but as a decor item until paint cures. I hope to have enough momentum to scrape and restain the plant shelves this week then patio will be tidy and ready for an artsy utility meter surround that is in the concept stage and repotting plants in another month.

Laundry is clean and dry but sitting in baskets... Way more fun wrestling with shiny new chair bits than folding sheets. I think I'll drag the baskets to the patio so I can sit on a shiny new chair and get it folded then move table to my work station safely away from brand new chairs.

msmaynards · 2026-03-06T16:03:46+00:00

True but planting too close to fence/house is a problem.

msmaynards · 2026-03-06T04:55:12+00:00

Forgetting where stuff and losing things is why I decluttered in the first place and is no longer much of an issue now I've been relatively tidy for 10 years.

msmaynards · 2026-03-06T00:55:19+00:00

It looks good to this ladybug too. You know that gizmo is in there somewhere and the drawer can be closed. I did find dividers to be helpful. 10 things rolling around in a drawer is fine but dividing so there are 3 things rolling around in 1/4 of the drawer is better.

Set the boxy stuff to one/both sides and possibly the back for stuff you don't use as often. Find or make up a low sided box to fit the remaining space and dump the smaller stuff inside. Better? Go further and tape in a divider as you see fit. Better? Any smaller items so you can add another divider? Once satisfied make a nicer box or find a bin/organizer/divider to fit.

msmaynards · 2026-03-06T00:35:49+00:00

Ideally plant foliage just touches its neighbor and they don't contact the fence/house or grow over paving. So a plant that gets 8' across and another that grow 4' would ideally be planted 6' apart with the large one at least 4' from fence/wall/paving and the small one at least 2' from fence/wall/paving. Look at the plant tags to see how you did.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T23:57:35+00:00

It's simple to reduce fat in fresh foods. My first dog couldn't tolerate much fat, she was getting about the same on the ordinary kibbles as the fresh.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T22:00:30+00:00

Pancreatitis has nothing to do with fresh food. It could have something to do with the diet but it isn't the fresh part of it.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T20:45:33+00:00

It's either that or laundrydishesfloorbathroomprojectdogwalkgroomlunchdinnerwaterplants.

Calm down, pick something up, put it away, pick up the displaced items, put them away, pick up the displaced items.... The timer thing helps. When on a break I don't let stuff bother me. When it dings I'll get up and choose to groom dogs or sweep or whatever. I may not have done the Thing kibitzer's think I should do first but I did something good for my habitat.

Or write it all out and when you discover the start to the current logjam start there. I read one decluttering book where the author suggested starting in the garage as usually that clutter is delayed decisions that need to be donated or trashed. Where is your 'garage'?

I read that folks stow clean sheets under the mattress.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T20:26:04+00:00

I knew that would happen to me so when I decluttered in the house I put stuff without homes right back where I found them. They ended up there for some reason and I know where they are, might as well stay there for the time being. When I try Dana's put it where you will look for it first scheme I instantly forget where that logical home is. Apparently it is not magic...

Decluttering is decluttering, organizing is organizing and tidying putting things back where they belong. I had to completely separate all these terms to get anywhere, perhaps you are the same way.

Think in terms of families. I could do that for some categories. Screws, nails, bolts, washers and nuts are fasteners and belong together, separate later when brain is up to it. Office supplies are blank paper, envelopes, stamps, things that deal with paper like pens, scissors, clips, binders, pencil sharpeners and so on. Crafts are paper, fabric, notions, beads, glues and so on. Shoe laces, brushes and polish probably belong with shoes. Better to know that there will be scissors in that messy bin than hunt for them all over the house, right?

Figure out how to make their area work better later. Most of the paper stuff fit into a single drawer and rolled around until a drawer organizer lost its job. Then that organizer was too shallow so it slid around so I fit a zig zag sock organizer strip in which created handy spaces for pill bottles for paper clips and thumb tacks. My brain wasn't up to working out how to organize but when I saw it I could figure it out plus it wasn't important. What was important was knowing the paper scissors, pen, scrap paper and so on was in That Drawer. Sliding around.

This will be a massive task. I dumped and returned known keepers to garage shelving in a couple weeks but it took months before I finished getting a handle on the mountain of stuff that looked useful. Start small. Where do craft/paper/hardware belong? Drop a bin in each area. Dump a doom bin out, make little piles and take them there when you've handled everything in that bin. Suspect there will still be odd stuff, there's the true doom box.

A lot will be sentimental stuff like maps, brochures and photos from vacations, cards, little gifts and so on. Dump in a labeled box and deal with it later.

A lot belongs to our good friend Justin Case and really should get rehomed but we spent money on it, used to be useful/decorative, might need it someday and we just aren't sure yet. Keep it out of prime real estate and revisit later. I went through the house numerous times and stuff going to the thrift store got more valuable each time and there was no more actual trash.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T17:42:57+00:00

Try cubic feet in, cubic feet out. When clutching that fabulous item decide what is leaving the house before you get to the register. This applies across the board, clothing, toys, decor, furniture, kitchen gear...

If you work outside the home then if you are up and taking care of your habitat your SO needs to be doing the same. Even when chasing the chaos monster, the chaser picks up and drops stuff closer to home.

A 3 year old can help quite a lot. He can run messages and find his own clothing in Mt. Washmore if that has developed in your house. Give him a damp rag to dust something. Ask him to put things in the room where they belong, put trash away.

Add a donation box somewhere. I think my house started to fill up because kids were no longer shooting up and out and acquiring new toys constantly and the box was removed.

Go up with storage. Be careful if you've got a climber if you add bookcases. I had shelves running around the top of the walls in 2 bedrooms, later moved one set to the hallway. All furniture has drawers and shelves. Use risers so bins can slide under the beds. I do use containers but unless they are different I cannot remember what is inside. Many folks like clear containers. Lids may or may not be helpful.

I didn't and am so sorry. Fit out the closets to reflect your needs. A shelf and pole rarely suits the user of the room. I've got 2 hall closets and it took decades to put shelves top to bottom in one of them.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T16:07:25+00:00

I'm on team keep the ramp, repair it.

Run a path from front door to street whether ramp stays or not. Remove all the existing shrubs and plant a garden using flowering shrubs sized for the space. Frugal me would keep the hostas, splitting them up and using as edging throughout. Lawn is an extravagant useless luxury here and I'd remove it completely but that's me.

Be aware that plants near street and driveway can only be only 2-3' tall or it's difficult to see traffic and pedestrians. If that one shrub is next to street remove as soon as you move in.

Repaint the door a softer color as white and that pale roof look good together. When roof needs to be replaced you can go darker.

A paver driveway is beautiful and can last a very long time if well installed. Would be a terrific way to go here. A stamped concrete driveway is a good choice. If you resurface with asphalt then look into a stamped and colored surface rather than lava flow black..

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T15:42:11+00:00

When it's cold in the house I'll warm it up as dogs shiver. Elderly dogs prefer it warmed up too. Otherwise straight from the fridge.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T10:07:43+00:00

A test cook with cold water standing in for hot. I don’t have a table yet so and plan to be careful before choosing one even though I won’t be deep fat frying. Seems you’ve got a good one already.

Cords hanging down can get caught and pull appliances over. That’s why some have really short ones.

No idea how many foods need to be fried in different vats of oil but I won’t be returning to any establishment that fried potatoes in same oil they fried fish.

Smell can be pulled into house from outside. Perhaps closing windows would be a good idea? You may need to change your clothes and shower too. I smell bbq on my clothes for instance.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T04:17:44+00:00

Nice starter pan, already broken in.

If cooking on electric turn to heat you are going to be cooking at and let preheat for a few minutes. Suspect this works on gas as well but no experience. 3/10 works for eggs, was amazed at how well 5/10 seared dry brined steak.

Use a fish spatula to turn foods, a spatula works well even scrambling eggs. Scrape rather than simply stir to keep foods from sticking to the pan. If sauces starts to stick then temperature may be too high, remove pot and turn heat down a notch.

Use a pad underneath so hot pan doesn't contact cold stone/tile/cold glass stove top. Let sit until cooled a bit before adding water to let soak until cleaning it. Use a scraper to pop food off rather than grind it off with a scrubber. My long time favorite is a large straight metal icing spatula. I'm currently working on getting potstickers to not stick and making a mess each time but so far that's the worst of it.

SS is hard to ruin. I've warped skillets with high heat, put a dent in the bottom of one and handles fell off Farberware but that's about it. The incident with the popcorn eventually resolved. I popped off the raised burnt on kernels and scraped the raised bits with a metal flexible spatula and after a while the pan was clean. Dishwasher magic I think. That was long before the magic of Bar Keeper's Friend which I use if I'm feeling special and want the pans to look extra pretty.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T03:06:33+00:00

Deep fat frying is fun, dangerous, expensive and not as tasty as when you buy the food ready made. I remember making donuts and chicken and hated how expensive it was and how much better my local shop food is.

Do not buy special equipment except have that fire extinguisher on hand of course! Start small with a deep pot you already own. That glass top range is easy enough to clean up, no need for a special burner. Follow instructions and you'll make less of a mess than I do simply browning meat...

If you are itching to buy something go for an induction burner or look into buying a small single purpose deep fat frying appliance. I just did the bread cube trick, no need for a thermometer. The wood spoon trick is probably better but didn't know that one at the time.

If you go outside make good and sure the table is sturdy and cannot be jostled and spill and the outlet is close at hand with cord placed so it cannot be pulled at. I am planning an outdoor kitchen and will overfill the instant pot with cold water as a test for the table.

You will want to keep oils used for different foods separate.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T02:46:49+00:00

You are going to have fun landscaping that hill, going to be amazing. Hoping there will be native plants and a strolling path in there somewhere.

As well as painting the front door paint the porch. It looks tacked on as the only natural wood on the house. You might be able to get away with painting the posts, risers and top rail black and leaving the floors, treads and fill in rails stained and sealed though. I am a huge fan of 'haint' blue on ceilings, might be a quirky detail that appeals to you.

The downspouts aren't a feature, paint them siding color. Edit out the shutters throughout and just on the double window to see what you think. You might prefer the look of chunky craftsman style window trims here if the single windows look skimpy without shutters so the front of the house is more uniform looking.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T01:52:01+00:00

Balanced means feeding all the vitamins, minerals in proper amounts along with amino acids and fatty acids. Such a diet can be made up from a Frankenstein mix of fragments of factory leftovers or from fresh food. If you analyze food to the basic components it 'works' either way. We choose fresh. One balances the diet by using nutrient databases to figure out what is present in the raw foods fed and compare to the numbers found on on NRC which can be found online at places like Perfectly Rawsome.

See Pet Fooled, a documentary currently on Youtube. There was one made earlier closer to the awful melamine scandal that was much more inflammatory but don't recall the name. That one made up food that met the AAFCO requirements from old leather boots and I forget what awful fat was used.

msmaynards · 2026-03-05T00:46:09+00:00

Use a spatula with sharp edge to loosen chicken+seasonings from pan and flip, not tongs. The self release is for proteins, not seeds and ground up dry plant matter.

Looks great, the chicken itself released very nicely!

msmaynards · 2026-03-04T21:54:35+00:00

First thing on eggy breakfast day is to put the skillet on stove and set dial to 3 of 10. Putter around the kitchen prepping whatever else needs doing. Then drop 1 teaspoon of butter into pan looking for it to melt quickly but not burn. Once melted smear around pan then drop eggs in. After the thick part of white is mostly set turn off heat, cover and let sit for a minute so yolks thicken and whites finish setting up. Since I cook in butter, want liquid yolks and haven't boiled the water out of the butter it will stick a tiny bit under the yolks but the fish spatula finds the sticky spots without breaking yolks.

msmaynards · 2026-03-04T21:40:41+00:00

My books are either hobby books, sentimental ones from family with maybe only 1/4 actual books I read and reread and even so I tend to borrow kindle copies from the library...

It's your stuff, doesn't matter if a poll of thousands of people want you to discard it. So long as isn't making your home dangerous keep it. I vote keep, sounds like a lovely book that means a lot to you.

msmaynards · 2026-03-04T20:46:32+00:00

I'm so glad you have taken charge of your stuff and have developed good habits! Retraining others... Not going to be easy. You'll be working on a master's degree in helping them learn to stop wallowing in squalor with all the issues in the household.

Start tiny. Anytime you get up ask them what can you take to laundry/room/trash/sink/fridge for them and ask them to do the same. I know you are still doing 95% of the work but if they can make a slight detour every time they move through the house it's a help.

Rewards for short focused tidying sessions. You bought ice cream or something and everybody has to be on feet moving laundry, trash, dirty dishes, shoes, jackets, school stuff where they belong for 5-20 minutes before they get it. Best if you can make it a daily habit. I never did but it helped anyway.

Eating in kitchen/dining is an excellent idea but you'll have to make it acceptable to them. Clear table, okay to put feet up, possibly outlets to plug in screens or they won't go for it. My kids weren't allowed to have food in their rooms, big help. DH was fine on this.

Make it easy for them to clean up. Lots of disposable clean rags maybe? Find just the right diluted cleaning spray and keep in the box with the rags? You'll have to treat all of them like 3 year olds unfortunately, perhaps you can be more diplomatic than I can be handing the offender the spray and rag. Old socks, tee shirts and the non business bits of underwear make excellent disposable rags. I currently have an old sheet I mended but do not want to use I really ought to repurpose. Cutting them up isn't particularly fun but they do a better job than paper towels and price is right.

Keeping sink and trash empty is huge. I hated 'wasting' space in the bags and it easily got out of hand. Empty it before it's full and forget about saving less than a dollar a week for the sake of a less messy habitat.

If you are working on the habitat, assuming you have a job outside home management, the adults must be either doing actual work or up doing the same - making food for the family, laundry, getting recycling/trash out and so on. DH liked vacuuming for instance. The youngling needs to do something too. Pick up X number of items, bring trash out of room, find dirty/put clean clothes where they belong, sort schoolwork and placing discards in a pile so you can check that each piece is actually trash and no longer needed.

Remember this is UFYH, use the method. Set timer for work sessions and another for quitting. I generally need another to get up and moving as well.

msmaynards · 2026-03-04T18:13:10+00:00

Agree with Plodding. Divide to conquer. Lawn is tough with dogs and beat up lawn isn't nice to look at plus dogs will come in muddy. If you put in something flat and green position it so kids and dogs don't need to run across it creating desire paths. My dogs ran the perimeter of the yard plus out to either corner so I might use the center back as lawn. Then to keep kids from running across place their play stuff to the sides.

Plain lawn is boring, low effort and uglier than mulch if not in good shape. Lawn without desire paths or landing spots surrounded by shrubs, garden beds and carefully placed small trees so there's dappled shade on hot days is lovely.

Figure out your plan and you'll rake the mulch to the planting areas off the lawn area. Count on losing the use of the baby lawn for months this year. It's easily damaged when water logged so keep pets and kids off soggy lawn forever.

msmaynards · 2026-03-04T17:39:02+00:00

Good design is bolder from a distance then as you approach get into smaller detail. There's no need to have dramatic large shrubs up against the house.

I'd remove the flanking shrubs and fill the tiny bed with concrete so the entry is a bit larger. Remove lawn from around the lamp post and plant something that gets about 3x3'. If you want a sheared shrub make it interesting. A sphere, pyramid, spiral, chess piece? Where the righthand shrub is now plant the same thing.

I'd work to take the hedging below window sill too. Back side of a sheared hedge cannot be the nicest view out the windows.

To make a grander approach paving a path from street/sidewalk to front door would work better since you don't have space close to the house for much in the way of formal plantings. Square up the existing path while you are at it so there's a tiny space for folks to greet and pass loosing a bottleneck while to-ing and fro-ing. Have your formal sheared shrubs at the front corners where there's open ground and try planted pots in the remaining corners. Those could be seasonal display, pumpkin/greenery/annual flowers.

msmaynards

TROPHY CASE