#nativeplants
Kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos hybrid) and Grevillea plurijuga currently flying the flag for WA flora in the Corunna, NSW garden.
Grafted G. plurijugas are now more widely available in SE NSW nurseries (as G 'Purple Haze') and do pretty well in local conditions.
The Pollinator Partnership has published a series of guidebooks regarding native plants for most ecoregions in Canada. This is a great free resource for anyone interested in planting or encouraging local native species.
I have been using the Okanagan-Thompson Plateau guidebook for the past 3 years. Mid autumn is when I start to plan for more conversion of lawn to pollinator habitat and this document is a key reference in my decision making process.
#wildflowers #rewilding #nativeplants #bees #pollinators #butterflies #WinterSowing #zone6 #biodiversity #Okanagan
https://pollinatorpartnership.ca/en/ecoregional-planting-guides
While doing some fall maintenance in the yard I came across this item “glued” on to an irrigation stake. INaturalist has identified it as a Mantis egg sac. I am going to leave it insitu and follow through the winter and into the spring.
10/ Apfel im Schlafrock… but American
I softened and mixed the vegan butter with Eastern red cedar and yuzucello then stuck back in the fridge to harden before stuffing in the apples.
I felt like I used a lot of juniper but the taste barely registered. EUsians - eastern red cedar is a sweet, mildly herbal juniper. It’s tasty out of hand. Not like the EU juniper.
I’ve been volunteering this fall for local #NativePlants #LandRestoration efforts to protect our #Watershed, some of the spots have been lovely to work in!
Today I collected bee tubes from my 4 bee boxes. I probably had 20% success rate with these stand alone tubes. The unused tubes are now in storage and will be used again this year.
Based on their “end caps” I have three categories of tenants: smooth mud, rough mud, cellophane. Smooth mud may be wasps. Rough mud is probably mason bees. Cellophane might be masked bees.
I also have a bunch of tubes that are partially filled. Only opening them will give me an idea of what we have.
Later this week I will open up the tubes and store the cocoons until spring.
@scopes Congratulations on the progress. It appears you are enjoying the native plants and insects. It is a nature observatory right outside. #pollinators, #nativeplants
Spring 2025:
Year 4 of our conversion of lawn to pollinator garden. In January 22 X 4L milk jugs were prepared for winter sowing. Al but one with North American native species primarily perrenials. Another 500 sq ft of lawn will be converted. This will bring us to approximately 3,200 sq ft of conversion over 4 years.
Some coastal hedge #nettle is still blooming into November
At #WellandCommunityOrchard.
It is November & there's still some #yarrow blooms at #WellandCommunityOrchard
A bit more guerilla gardening this afternoon.
A section of our road was upgraded this year with new water lines, sewer line and a multi use path. The final phase of this project was laying down some topsoil followed by hydro seeding of unknown grasses.
I decided to sow a blend of native wildflower seeds to this strip. Some of these species require cold/ moist stratification which means late fall sowing is ideal. Due to the amount of traffic on this road seed loss to birds should be minimal.
Species included yarrow, brown-eyed Susan, golden aster, black-eyed Susan and blanket flower.
#wildflowers #rewilding #nativeplants #bees #pollinators #butterflies #WinterSowing #zone6 #biodiversity #Okanagan
#guerrillaGardening
4/
I used some of the yuzu peel to make gin from plants that I grow. This time I used vodka.
Coriander seed
Eastern red cedar
Epazote
Fennel seed
Jabuticaba (peel and some juice)
Lavender
Nipponquat peel
Mint
Mitchella repens
Tumeric leaf
Yuzu peel (dried)
Eastern red cedar is fairly sweet to I chose aromatics that would match/compliment it.
Meet "Cinchweed", my current favorite Mojave desert wildflower. It's beautiful, but even better, it's delicious! It has a lemony, cumin taste with a little spicy kick behind it. I've been snipping a few flowers here and there and adding them to meals here at the ranch.
Shifting our diets to include more native plants requires a little research, but is a great way to diversify our diets and begin to shift towards more sustainable ways of living.
Do you have a favorite uncommon edible native from your home?
California entomologists and other small critter people... When's the best time to pick up my leaves & prune?
The backyard is very very messy right now and I kinda want to do a massive prune and rake. But I could wait a few months if it's acting as crucial habitat right now.
#California #NativePlants #habitat #birds #bugstodon
Happy Iowa wildflower Wednesday!
As Halloween approaches, I am republishing Beth Lynch's fascinating piece on witch hazel (which I first published in 2017). Witch hazel is only native to Iowa's far northeast corner.
#Iowa #nativeplants #wildflowers #bloom
scrolling //www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/10/29/iowa-wildflower-wednesday-witch-hazel-2/
Yesterday I asked my neighbor who is an amateur #woodworker to make me a basic spindle and he did! I’m also beginning to get the hang of the #ParkAndDraft spinning technique and it works really well with the very short fibers of native cotton.
I am carding by hand and would like to figure out a DIY solution to make better cards without spending over $100 on cotton combs. Any suggestions from the #spinning community?
I can’t get enough of how unique every plant is. #cotton #NativePlants #FromSeed #Florida #gardening #Zone10
After 3 years of weekly entries I finished my 1st Perpetual Journal! I ended on the left page (Verdin 9-19-25) & started on the right page (Cloudless Sulphur larva 9-28-22). Read more: https://paulaborchardt.substack.com/p/i-finished-my-first-perpetual-journal
The native seed event I signed up for hasn't happened yet due to the government being shut down. It was supposed to be back on the 9th.
I don't know if they will do it after things open back up. I guess that will depend on timing.
But I'm going to do it at home. I have a bunch of native seeds and I'm going to scatter them in a largely unused flower bed at my home. I may even scatter some on the grass strip between the sidewalk and the street.
We'll see if any of them take.