Over the last few years I have been working on getting into botany, herbalism and urban foraging. Basically I am working on trying to identify every plant I see in my neighborhood and finding what their uses are. So in my yard and walk around the neighborhood I look at every plant and try to see if I can identify it. Since its easiest to identify while flowering I guess for weeks and months until then to determine if I am right. As the seasons change I get better and better at identifying things after or before a bloom. It really brings magic and interest as I move around the world
Oh my gosh this is so me! I started by trying to figure out what our lawn was made of and now I’m seeing NPFs (Noxious Plant Fuckers) all over the place! I’ve gone through my states Noxious Plant list and I’m obliterating giant ragweed as we speak.
I’ve found so many cool facts about the history of plants in my neighbors garden, too! I’m just starting, but plants are so cool! There’s a type of invasive honeysuckle that whitetail deer love, and it tends to choke out all other plant life around it. One day, we might have whole forests of deer and honeysuckle, with not a predator in sight. Whoops, haha!
Its nice to be able to see what you should remove. I have defeating the Creeping Bellflower in my new wildflower section of my yard. (The thin strip between my fence and the alley sometimes called the Hell Strip). If you are like me and want to know what is good to have in your yard I would recommend Prairie Moon Nursery if you live in North America. The shop sells native plants and lets you filter by location, bloom season etc. in case you need to buy plants or seeds. It also has a great range map, great pictures and good descriptions in case you are interested. I highly recommend looking at the website to get plants to names
It’s a lot of Black Eyes Susans right now. But I got more longer lasting perennials under most of them. It’s super low maintenance and beautiful. I seed in the fall and sometimes the spring. I mow yearly (early spring) to kill any tree saplings and do some weeding in the spring but not much.
I’m planning on harvesting some seeds from my Susans and maybe the coneflowers this year. I usually just let them fall. It would be fun to give the seeds away or spread them around empty lots
Me too! I prune my yard of invasives and let the natives grow, cataloging with iNaturalist as I see new species. My yard was a dirt slope last summer, this summer it is full of a wonderful variety of plants! My crotchety gardener mother and aunt keep trying to offer me non-natives to transplant – I tell them I’ve got plants growing already but thank you – they say, “yeah, weeds.”
Funnily enough, my yard with milkweed, primrose, violets, tickseed flowers, black-eyed susans, a walnut sapling, pepperweed, and st johns wort (not actually native here but not as invasive as some other plants) looks better than theirs and probably requires way less maintenance.
Low maintenance vis key. I do mow mine to remove any tree saplings because I don’t want trees there. I do attempt to bring some native seeds in because the seed bed is mostly non-natives. Got to get those going.
What is your instance exactly? Like what can you tell me about it? Cause I think it may align with a lot of my interests. I get that it’s slrpnk.net and I can go to it and see what sorts of posts there are, but what I’m wondering is what can be said about it from someone that actively uses it that one may not see through a cursory browse
Over the last few years I have been working on getting into botany, herbalism and urban foraging. Basically I am working on trying to identify every plant I see in my neighborhood and finding what their uses are. So in my yard and walk around the neighborhood I look at every plant and try to see if I can identify it. Since its easiest to identify while flowering I guess for weeks and months until then to determine if I am right. As the seasons change I get better and better at identifying things after or before a bloom. It really brings magic and interest as I move around the world
Oh my gosh this is so me! I started by trying to figure out what our lawn was made of and now I’m seeing NPFs (Noxious Plant Fuckers) all over the place! I’ve gone through my states Noxious Plant list and I’m obliterating giant ragweed as we speak.
I’ve found so many cool facts about the history of plants in my neighbors garden, too! I’m just starting, but plants are so cool! There’s a type of invasive honeysuckle that whitetail deer love, and it tends to choke out all other plant life around it. One day, we might have whole forests of deer and honeysuckle, with not a predator in sight. Whoops, haha!
Its nice to be able to see what you should remove. I have defeating the Creeping Bellflower in my new wildflower section of my yard. (The thin strip between my fence and the alley sometimes called the Hell Strip). If you are like me and want to know what is good to have in your yard I would recommend Prairie Moon Nursery if you live in North America. The shop sells native plants and lets you filter by location, bloom season etc. in case you need to buy plants or seeds. It also has a great range map, great pictures and good descriptions in case you are interested. I highly recommend looking at the website to get plants to names
Oh, that’s delightful! Thank you! Good luck with the Hell Strip
It’s a lot of Black Eyes Susans right now. But I got more longer lasting perennials under most of them. It’s super low maintenance and beautiful. I seed in the fall and sometimes the spring. I mow yearly (early spring) to kill any tree saplings and do some weeding in the spring but not much.
I’m planning on harvesting some seeds from my Susans and maybe the coneflowers this year. I usually just let them fall. It would be fun to give the seeds away or spread them around empty lots
Me too! I prune my yard of invasives and let the natives grow, cataloging with iNaturalist as I see new species. My yard was a dirt slope last summer, this summer it is full of a wonderful variety of plants! My crotchety gardener mother and aunt keep trying to offer me non-natives to transplant – I tell them I’ve got plants growing already but thank you – they say, “yeah, weeds.”
Funnily enough, my yard with milkweed, primrose, violets, tickseed flowers, black-eyed susans, a walnut sapling, pepperweed, and st johns wort (not actually native here but not as invasive as some other plants) looks better than theirs and probably requires way less maintenance.
Low maintenance vis key. I do mow mine to remove any tree saplings because I don’t want trees there. I do attempt to bring some native seeds in because the seed bed is mostly non-natives. Got to get those going.
You would fit right in on our instance
What is your instance exactly? Like what can you tell me about it? Cause I think it may align with a lot of my interests. I get that it’s slrpnk.net and I can go to it and see what sorts of posts there are, but what I’m wondering is what can be said about it from someone that actively uses it that one may not see through a cursory browse
I have been trying to live a solarpunk / permaculture lifestyle one step at a time. I am starting with plants