It’s November, cool and rainy in Western Oregon. The plants in my garden in Eugene are going to sleep for the winter, as are the bees and other insects that visited my blooms this summer.
I have been transforming my small urban yard (only about 3500 sq ft of planting space) for two summers now, following as best I can the precepts of Doug Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park movement (homegrownnationalpark.org/...), plus information on websites promoting planting native species to foster native wildlife, such as the Xerces Society’s Pollinator Conservation Program (xerces.org/...) and the National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife (gardenforwildlife.com).
So, what have I done so far, and what have I learned?
In accordance with Tallamy’s urging, I have significantly reduced the area of lawn around my house. When I moved in, most of the yard, front and back, was non-native grass that needed mowing and was poor habitat for wildlife.
The first spring I had a eco-savvy landscaping company remove the grass along a strip in front and in one part of the backyard, install a gravel and stone walkway, and cover the ground with good soil and compost. They installed two serviceberry trees and an ocean spray bush (both native), but I have done the rest of the planting.
I am lucky that the Willamette Valley’s climate is great for growing, and that there is a wonderful native plant nursery in Eugene, Doak Creek, which has a large inventory and delivers orders to my house.
So I have been ordering, planting, and gradually reducing more lawn area. Now my entire back yard is grass-free, replaced with various flowering shrubs, perennials, clover and reseeding annuals, along with sword ferns.
In the front yard I replaced lawn with a flowerbed around a bird feeder, and dug out all the grass around a dogwood tree to install various shrubs, perennials, ferns and a small wildflower patch. I took out the grass the hard way, cutting out pieces of sod and prizing them up, rather than smothering the grass and waiting for it to die.
Some lessons learned along the way:
Not everything in the yard has to be native — I inherited a Kousa Dogwood, a red Japanese Maple, and several tall Photinia shrubs – all Asian. Plus mature European Varigated Boxwood hedges that line both sides of the walk to the front deck, and some commercial azalea and rhododendron bushes. Even though these trees and shrubs don’t provide as much wildlife support as natives would, they do have some value. The Photinias are in the rose family. In May they are covered with small white blooms that bees love. The azalea and rhododendron blooms also can provide nectar. Birds use the trees, Photinias, and boxwood hedges for shelter and possibly nesting sites. I have also added non-native flowering plants that are good pollen and nectar sources for insects and hummingbirds.
Not everything I planted lived or thrived — I lost two red flowering currant bushes in the back yard. They just – died. I don’t know why. But another red flowering currant in the front that replaced a hydrangea bush has grown tremendously and flowered profusely this spring. I also lost several of the native perennials, and had to move some that weren’t doing well where first planted. So it goes.
I may have gone overboard with plant diversity — So far I have put in seven different native small trees/shrubs, plus two more low-growing shrubs. Then I have seventeen species of native flowering perennials and two more re-seeding annuals. Also fifteen types of other flowering plants not native to the Northwest, but which many pollinators visit. And I have some flowering herbs, plus zinnias and sunflowers in the summer. That seems like a lot, but maybe it’s okay since individual species of bees and other insects seem to favor specific types of flowers. I guess time will tell.
Some edible plants in the garden are fine —
Even though my focus has been on native species for native wildlife, I couldn’t resist having a small kitchen garden, especially for herbs. I also have a sunny site in the side garden for pole beans, with curly kale planted underneath. These plants do produce flowers that bees visit, and the parsley, kale and pole beans are potential hosts for butterflies.
Violets do colonize — I planted a couple of commercial violets the first spring, and the next year they were all over the place. Since they obviously produced seeds, I guess some pollinators did visit the flowers. The native violets I planted under the dogwood are also spreading, but more slowly.
Plants can grow big in no time, so it’s good to give youngsters a lot of room to spread — Lavenders fill out fast. My native Blanket Flowers lived up to their reputation of blanketing a space in short order.
Native plants are tough customers —
I had an 8-inch wide, rocky, weedy, poor soil space along the driveway that I dug out, added garden soil and dosed with California Poppy seeds. Boy did they take to that space! Now I have a long line of poppies that reliably come back from summer drought with the fall rains, and bloom profusely the following season. Bees just love them!
I was able to successfully divide some plants — My front flower patch under the bird feeder was filled out with divisions or seedlings of Douglas Aster, Common Yarrow, Pearly Everlasting, and Oregon Sunshine. These have all adapted well.
My butterfly/moth host plants haven’t shown much promise as yet — I was hoping with all the native species I added to my garden butterflies and moths would find their host plants and I’d have lots of winged beauties flitting around the yard. But no. I have just seen common butterfly species that would occur anyway – Cabbage Whites, Grey Hairstreaks, and a couple of skippers. My neighbor across the street has had a large patch of milkweed in her front yard for many years, but no Monarchs so far. So ‘grow it and they will come’ doesn’t necessarily work. I guess I will patiently wait and hope as my plants mature.
Bees have responded spectacularly —
On the other hand, I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of species of bees – and pollinating wasps and flies – that have shown up on my flowers in the first two seasons. These include three different bumblebees and many other bee species, including honeybees, mason bees, sweat bees, leaf-cutter bees, long-horned bees, and woolcarder bees. It has been fascinating to see which bee species favor which flowers.
What I am still working on – transforming the rest of my front lawn into a diverse flower meadow rather than just grass, and ensuring there are blooms for bees and other pollinators from spring to fall.
Now, back to collecting fall leaves to pile up around my sleeping plants so bees and other insects can safely overwinter. I’m dreaming of the first spring blooms next year.
What have you learned from your garden? Photos welcome!
And have a great Thanksgiving!