At the end of July I went out and got some updated photos of the garden. Mostly of the butterfly enclosure and my new green bean tunnels. They were new this year and we ended up trying to do a lot more vertical growing. The garden hasn’t done the best this year because of a leak in our spigot at the house which has led to some inconsistent watering. I’ve actually decided to take a break from doing veggies next year and instead plant some native seeds in the raised beds this fall. This will hopefully help with planting next spring in the nearly native bed out front and in some other spots around the yard. We’ll see how it goes, I’m hopeful though. I’m also really glad that the enclosure is feeling more habitat like this year. Originally I had only removed a small row of blocks from the center and planted that with milkweed. Then came the bench and slowly removing more and more pavers to plant more and other host plants. My milkweed seed pods are popping open and I’m super thrilled about that since last year I wasn’t able to collect any seeds from my swamp milkweed.
The second image is Blue Giant Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) The variety I have is ‘Blue Fortune’ – this is not native but a sterile hybrid of A. foeniculum and A. rugosa bred at Arboretum Trompenburg in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is however completely covered in bees so I left it until I can fill more natives in the landscape. And after doing some more looking, according to the Xerces Society, “Members of the mint family tend to be highly attractive to bees, and giant hyssop is no exception – in fact, it happens to be one of the most attractive plants for bees and supports a diversity of pollinators. While some cultivars are still attractive to pollinators, others are less so. If you’re looking to provide the best support for pollinators, plant the straight species of giant blue hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) or the cultivar ‘Blue Fortune’ which, in a study by Mt. Cuba Center, was found to be as attractive as the straight species.” So there’s that at least..
I would go into detail on the others but I’m tired (posting this after midnight). I might end up doing a close up of different plants in a series down the road. Also how to use native plants in the landscape and design looks from other people. That’s been one of the biggest challenges I’ve had since diving into restoration planting. That’s all for now though.
xoxo,
Andrea
