https://www.reddit.com/r/NativePlantGardening/s/wwXasmNRWq
Hello all! In February of 2024 I threw down a packet of “native wildflower” seeds I confidently bought on Amazon 🎪.
I made a post after the fact and some of you took the time to point out my where I messed up. I was also given some great tips on how to remedy the situation and keep from making similar mistakes in the future. Thank you again!
The plan is to let everything grow and pull any nonnatives to use for cut flower arrangements. Then in the fall reseed any bare spots with natives in my area. Thanks to my last post I know where to find reputable vendors and I also got a handy list of alternatives to the nonnatives I put down.
Everything is still green but some are beginning to flower so I thought an update would be appropriate.
The popular girl in the group has been Gypsophila elegans (Showy baby's-breath) and honestly I don’t plan on using her for any arrangements so I had some free therapy by pulling most of them this morning.
I think the Centaurea cyanus (Bachelor's Button/Cornflower) are starting to flower? I can’t tell most of these apart until the flower honestly.
I mixed a lot of Anethum graveolens (Mammoth dill) for personal use and because last year, the Papilio polyxenes (Black swallowtai butterfly) got most of it before I did. I’ll be getting a few different milkweeds to hopefully avoid that battle moving forward.
I added some Borago officinalis (Borage) fully knowing how aggressive it can be. I will be using it for medicinal and culinary purposes. I plan on removing faded flowers and pulling the plant entirely once the flowering stage has finished. This is my first time growing and using borage so depending on my actual usage and experience I might keep some seeds for next year.
Lastly I included two varieties of Tagetes (Cempasuchil/Marigolds). I’m unsure of the specific varieties since they were gifted but I’ve grew them last year. One gets to be about 3 feet tall and the other stays roughly around a foot. I grow these specifically for Dia De Los Muertos, it eases the homesickness and helps me connect with my culture. I’m aware this is not it’s native region so I follow the same protocol that I will be using for the borage. I plan on growing these moving forward, I hope that’s okay?
So far only a few lady bugs and garden snakes hang around but I hope once the natives come in more friends will join the party.
I’ll do my best to update through the year, thank you all again. I am so incredibly grateful for your help!
by Realistic_Towel_4735
4 Comments
Holy crap I remember commenting on your post. I remember it as being from “last week” but it was almost two months ago. Excuse me while I have an existential crisis.
Yes pic 4 looks like cornflower for sure.
If you’re talking about the mexican marigolds, I’ve grown them here in texas and they have always been a pretty slow grower for me, and didn’t self seed at all. Maybe I’m doing something wrong Idk. Back in arkansas I would grow heirloom french marigolds and they would self seed a little but I mostly had to save seeds each year. The french marigolds also do well here in texas. I don’t think you’ll have a problem with them getting out of control, at least in the places I’ve lived marigolds are usually pretty well behaved.
Don’t feel bad, it’s a learning experience. Like others mentioned it’s tricky to buy seeds with no scientific names. I once bought seeds from the native seed exchange and all the way down in fine print they noted not all seeds in mix were native 🙄 I also went to a nursery with native in the name and they were so nice, they even gifted me some plants! Once I started learning enough to identify plants I realized the gifted plants were not native and are in fact considered invasive in my area. Took me a couple of years to get rid of them. Most of the plants I got from them were nonnatives like butterfly bush, which I learned is one of the most hated bushes by native plant enthusiasts. I ended up having to dig up almost all the plants they sold me 😭
Dill is a gift that keeps on giving. You may want to include italian parsley , if you like it for cooking, or better yet, Zizia aureus, the native host for black swallowtail, if it grows in your area. The problem with dill is that there may be plenty in early spring, later in the season, there is not much forage on dill, but this butterfly can lay eggs and caterpillars will feed on parsley and Zizia aureus. I had a very sad looking late caterpillar last year on my dill and I moved him to the Zizia and he fattened right up. He was not even very green when I moved him, and he started chewing up the leaves immediately.
Was it American Meadows?