When we started reimagining our yard, the part I most looked forward to was planting. I love plants and flowers. I don’t keep any houseplants (thanks to our cats), so outdoor plants are my bread and butter.
At the beginning of the summer, I thought I’d made my plant decisions (it was a goal of mine all the way back in May!). With the help of my mom and a few ideas from a landscape designer, I scoped out beautiful hydrangeas, boxwoods and mock orange. They all seemed so elegant, plus I’ve dreamed of having hydrangeas for ages. But as the summer went on, my plant order (yet to be placed, thank goodness) didn’t sit quite right with me. So I started making a few tweaks. And a few more. And I started to notice that the only plants that I felt really confident about were the native plants I had selected.
That’s when I decided to go 100% native with our plantings.
Really, it made the most sense to Michael and me. These plants would naturally thrive and wouldn’t require a lot of extra care the way something exotic forced to grow in Wisconsin would. So now, we’ve got a small garden full of native plants, most of which are very attractive to pollinators, butterflies and birds. It looks great and it’s good for the environment, too! That last part was pretty major for us. If you want to improve the world – even if that just means making life better for bees or helping a tiny lot in the city become more natural – you gotta start at home.
Here’s what we planted this year:
- Wild indigo / Baptisia
- Coneflower / Echinacea in two colors
- Black-eyed Susan / Rudbeckia
- Meadow sage / Salvia in three(!) colors
- Speedwell / Veronica
- Goldenrod / Solidago
- Phlox / Garden-variety (literally)
- Blazing star / Liatris – this one’s super cool!
- Chokeberry / Aronia
I’m hoping to add a few more perennials next spring to fill it out. I’ve got my eyes on lupine especially – we saw so much in Bayfield and we fell in love with it.
If you’re interested in planting native species at home (and home is Wisconsin), the DNR has great resources like this guide!