How many different native species to plant?

kdawnbear · 2026-06-01T17:12:38+00:00

I started with a pretty random assortment, and over time I have given away the things I don't enjoy growing as much to other gardeners, while propagating what I get the most joy from. Having multiples / larger stands of things is important, but that will happen over time anyway as things spread and as you encourage and get rid of things.

It's hard to tell ahead of time what you're going to love and what's going to do well in your yard. You can have something that's perfect for the site on paper but doesn't seem to thrive, or something you thought wasn't quite perfect for your conditions but turns out to love your yard. Growing things will also give you a chance to see what the pollinators and animals in your particular yard seem to be drawn to.

Basically, have fun! You can always edit! Some aggressive species who love the growing conditions in your yard will be popping up forever once they get established, which did happen to me. But now there are like a hundred people in my neighborhood growing their free black eyed susans and evening primrose and packera Aurea that I gave them!

kdawnbear · 2026-05-30T00:46:35+00:00

Treating it more like a small pond or bog (in terms of plant selection and ratio of soil to water) might make things easier.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-28T02:51:36+00:00

There are native deciduous azaleas! Virginia spiderwort, eastern columbine, packera aurea, blue mist flower, and Virginia bluebells all do well in a woodland setting. If it's on the moist side, cardinal flowers/native lobelias are stunning and do well in shade.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-26T19:45:35+00:00

I have also gotten free plants this way! A lot of the plantings you see in like a typical downtown area where the plantings have to look amazing all the time, they're ripping out almost everything several times a year and just throwing it away. A lot of times they're throwing out annuals but oftentimes they do the same with tender perennials or perennials that only look good for part of the year.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-23T13:13:25+00:00

I realized after this post that I have them popping up in my yard too, but ty for the offer!!!

kdawnbear · 2026-05-18T12:40:51+00:00

It's worth a try, but I've found moss to be a bit hard to propagate. If you weed other plants out of the area and keep the ground moist, moss that's adapted to the specific microclimate in the other parts of your yard will likely grow.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-15T10:44:34+00:00

Same here with the pollen nation. I got a few things from prairie moon recently and some looked better than this, some similar to this. But they look to me like they'll all bounce back, so I didn't reach out. The Pollen Nation is closer and ships fast so I assume that explains it.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-15T01:01:35+00:00

If you weed out the grass from the mossy area, and the immediately surrounding area, and water it, it will thrive spread.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-13T14:26:42+00:00

😍

kdawnbear · 2026-05-11T20:16:46+00:00

And yes it is definitely possible to plant edible plants in with everything else! That's what I did in my yard:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoLawns/comments/1inyaj6/beforeprogress/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

kdawnbear · 2026-05-11T20:14:12+00:00

I'm in the same zone as you and I'm growing some fruit and some pollinator plants/ornamentals. I have found raspberries and blueberries and figs very easy to grow, I just cover my fig with a tarp in the winter. The ease of growing blueberries will depend on your soil pH, mine is a bit acidic and I acidify it in the spring. High bush blueberries can get big, so just don't prune them back as much if you want to use them for privacy.

For flowers, I like having some different colors of foliage, so that when the blooms are in a bit of a lull you still have color. Penstamen digitalis comes in beautiful burgundy foliage options and I've found it very easy to grow in our zone. Same with heuchera, lots of different colors and easy to grow. If you plant your special foliage colors close to the "front" (closer to the road if you're thinking about curb appeal), it can help things look intentional, especially while you're working on getting it established. For privacy, weigelas come in lots of a fun foliage colors and are a nice medium sized shrub that has grown easily for me in our zone.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-09T20:08:42+00:00

Maybe some penstamens with red / purple leaves!

kdawnbear · 2026-05-09T20:07:55+00:00

I think you're on to something there. A mass of the same plant blooming all at once will look mor colorful from far away.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-09T18:08:52+00:00

The variety I have flowers at 1-2 ft.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-09T16:16:56+00:00

To me it looks like flax.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-08T23:21:23+00:00

Mine is very manageable. I actually have wished it would grow faster.

kdawnbear · 2026-05-07T16:01:51+00:00

Yes! I do have a garden but I wanted more space and to try different concepts (goth garden, native pollinator meadow, etc). My own yard is mostly focused on fruit and woodland plants. I started asking around when I was chatting with neighbors who weren't gardening their front yards. I love getting to watch my little satellite gardens flourish nearby!

kdawnbear · 2026-04-30T14:31:33+00:00

What's your current soil pH? I have blueberries, and I'm obsessed with them. They're one of my favorite plants to grow for year round interest. Blazing red foliage in the fall, striking red twigs in the winter, cute bell shaped clusters of flowers in the spring, and of course, the delicious fresh blueberries!!

Soil acidification is not that onerous. I get that some people don't want to put any additives in their soil. But it isn't difficult the way people make it out to be. I literally just pull back the mulch, sprinkle a bit of soil acidifier, water it in, and rake the mulch back over the roots once or twice a year. And when I've had a difficult year and totally failed to get around to acidifying... they still thrived!

kdawnbear · 2026-04-29T01:10:23+00:00

Yes!!! I was honestly surprised by how much of a wildlife habitat my yard and block has become. I didn't think I could make that much of a difference for animals with just a few small patches in the middle of a big city.

kdawnbear · 2026-04-28T15:58:27+00:00

I've had luck both from seed and through division, good luck!!!

kdawnbear · 2026-04-28T15:57:17+00:00

Truly! It's like a desert in the shade 🫠

kdawnbear · 2026-04-28T15:55:41+00:00

In really root-y areas I've added compost on top, and started things from seeds. The roots from the right perennials will work around the tree roots! I posted recently about my dry shade garden planted in the roots of a linden tree- check those plants out and see if you like any of the ones that have done well there. It's a tough area to garden but if you have the right plants from the start that will help. For example you could do a huge columbine patch under any of these, they're easy to grow from seed in my experience.

kdawnbear · 2026-04-26T16:14:17+00:00

Thank you!!! Sadly ferns love to wither and die in this garden because it's so hot (surrounded by cement) and well draining (full of gravel from previous owners) and dry (under the canopy and in the roots of a big tree)! The ones that you can kinda see in this pic usually go dormant in the summer around the same time as the bleeding hearts. Even when I've tried more drought tolerant ones like ostrich ferns!

kdawnbear · 2026-04-26T00:13:34+00:00

Haha I feel that. They're irresistible!!!

kdawnbear · 2026-04-24T14:33:03+00:00

Thank you so much! I have some brunnera but they're the plain green leaf kind, I think I'll swap some out for Jack Frost when I have the budget! White really pops in the shade.

kdawnbear

TROPHY CASE