Whether it is from heat exhaustion, dementia, or having too much on our plates, we can all be forgetful. So many times, I have had a plant pop up in my yard that I don’t remember planting, is it the garden gnomes or did I forget placing it there. I have an oak in my yard that I know I planted but I didn’t keep the label and now I don’t know which species it is until it gets a few years older. One time I panted two plants on top of each other because I forgot I had already filled in that area earlier. I give plants to friends and then they call me a month later and with questions and I can’t remember what I gave them. It is an ongoing battle but I have come up with a few memory aids to help me out. Weed bouquet That’s right, pick one of each weed and make it into a bouquet on your kitchen table. Use this to familiarize yourself with the weed and recognize it from every angle. For long term weed ID, instead of making a bouquet, make a scrapbook by pressing the weeds dry and saving them in a scrapbook. This method also works for desirable plants but I’m less willing to behead them especially when it is my only bloom. Flower photo album Find an old photo album and fill it with photos of the garden plants. They can be photos you take or cut up a plant catalog. Label each one with its name and location in the garden. This method makes me feel like the plants and I are one big family on an adventure together. I like to put the plants baby pictures next to their adult pictures just like they were my kids. Garden journal Keeping a detailed garden journal or calendar is a great way to remember what happened when. It can be fun and educational to look back over the years and see which activities or mistakes seem to repeat at the same time each year. Learning from last years mistakes by marking them down in the next years journal can warn you to remember at the right time in the future. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you forget to keep up with your journal for a while, just pick up where you are. Any notes are better than none at all. Garden amnesia is common. There are even plant labels that say “I don’t remember planting this”. It is a possibility that the gnomes or maybe a migrating bird pooped that seed there. We just have to embrace what we get and find a way to continue.

“Rewilding is a progressive and inspirational approach to conservation. It's about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes. Through rewilding, wildlife's natural rhythms create wilder, more biodiverse habitats.”   Our native gardens are rewilding by restarting nutrient cycling of biomass. Native plants and healthy soil practices help nutrients to move between plants and the soil. Native perennial plants with deep roots help to bring organic matter deep into the soil. Dead plant material allowed to remain and decay at the surface provides habitat for insect decomposers. Soils covered in native plants can grow rich varieties of fungi and have a strong mycelial network.   Our native gardens are rewilding by restoring stormwater recharge. Soils covered in organic mulch and plants can hold more water. Healthy soils and roots systems bring rainwater deep into the lower layers of soil. Multi layered canopy layers distribute raindrops and protect soil from erosion. Long lived native plants can transpire water back into the atmosphere. Water is encouraged to absorb in place instead of washing away in sewers.   Our native gardens are rewilding by rebuilding habitat for wildlife. Native landscapes provide host plants for insects that are adapted to eat them and in turn are eaten by other wildlife. Gardens provide the essential food, water, and shelter needed by birds, lizards, rabbits, and beetles. Native gardens can provide sanctuary and a refueling station for migrants on their treacherous journey. All wildlife is welcome and soon finds its own balance.   Our native gardens are rewilding by enabling natural processes.  In our native gardens insects are allowed to live and reproduce in balance with their predators. Plants can compete for nutrients or form symbiotic relationships. Soils are replenished with organic matter from decaying plants. No chemical additives are needed and are avoided to keep the whole system healthy.   Rewilding is not letting your lawn grow tall and ignoring the encroachment of invasive species. To rewild, the land first needs to be healed. Nonnative plants, including lawn will need to be removed or closely monitored to make sure they disappear as the rewilding takes place. Dead and polluted soils may need to be supplemented with compost and extra organic matter. Native species may need to be introduced to the system if their seed bank is dead and there are no native species nearby to colonize the land.   Healthy native gardening practices embrace natural cycles. We strive for biodiversity and celebrate the life we see in our gardens. We are continually learning to follow natural rhythms. We are rewilding our yards while we also benefit from the beauty of native plants.

Containers can bring native plants into areas the garden can’t reach such as balconies, porches, and driveways. Containers also look great in the garden where they add an architectural element and can highlight a plant. Containers are also useful in providing specialize soil for plants that require unique conditions, I’m thinking glade plants or pond edge. A container can even be a mini pond or water feature. Bigger is always better when it comes to containers as long as you can manage getting them into place. A container can be an investment so be sure to find out if it is safe to leave it out over winter or not. Our winter temps sometimes bust the bottoms out of my ceramic pots. Be sure to check your pot for a hole at the bottom. A hole can let out water for drainage. A pot that is meant to hold water should not have a hole. Also, as I learned the hard way, plant roots can escape through a hole and an aggressive plant that you think is contained in a container will escape into the surrounding yard. Containers seem like an ideal way to contain plants that travel aggressively underground from invading large areas. However, I have tried to contain lizards’ tail, trumpet creeper, and blackberry in pots and they have all managed to escape over the top edge of the pot. So please use my experience as a cautionary tale. To make a habitat for glade loving plants try filling the pot with sand and gravel and add a few decorative rocks to the top. For pond edge plants, line the bottom of the pot with clay and then add rich organic soil leaving a good gap below the rim for water to puddle. Most plants prefer regular potting mix, mixed with some garden soil, compost, and topped with leaf mulch. For a lower maintenance pot try rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), nodding onion (Allium cernuum), fameflower (Phemeranthus calycinus), alum root (Heuchera richardsonii), sand phlox (Phlox bifida), and purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrate). These plants all prefer average to dry, well drained soil so container living will naturally fit their needs.

A just grass lawn only supports about 100 species and zero pollinators. A weedy lawn supports over 600 species with many pollinators visiting not native flowers like chickweed, clover, and dandelion, and native flowers like violets and wild strawberry. However, letting the lawn go wild is not the same as creating a healthy native ecosystem. The non-native weeds will need to be removed to create a meadow or prairie garden. In addition to letting the lawn go weedy there are many other ways to have a lawn and still protect pollinators. Use electric equipment for lawn maintenance. Gas engines can cause a lot of pollution and are very noisy, insects don’t like that. Mow less often, mow as little as possible to still keep the neighbors happy. When you do mow, mow on the high setting to leave more flowers. Mowing in the evening can also cause less harm to pollinators and not disrupt their floral visits. Wait to mow in the spring until there are plenty of other flowers blooming. Often lawn weeds are the first flowers to bloom and early spring flowers are essential for bumble bees and other spring pollinators. In general, try not to mow until at least the end of April. Leave grass clippings and leaves. The nutrients in this common yard waste are important nutrition to insects. Fall leaves are great at providing shelter to over wintering insects looking for a safe place to curl up. I shouldn’t even have to mention this but don’t use fertilizer, pesticides, or herbicides. All of these chemicals are harmful to pollinators and unnecessary if you don’t work for a golf course.

Pollinators can be found everywhere but some gardens seem to attract larger numbers. If you have pollinator envy and want to attract even more pollinators to your yard here are a few tips. Proper garden placement and plant selection can invite even more pollinators to the native garden.   Planting tips for pollinators: Plant in the sun. Pollinator bodies need sunlight to warm up their flight muscles. Plan your bloom times to be continuous throughout the year. Try to have a few species blooming at all times that pollinators are active. This includes warm winter days. Clump plants in 3 ft square or larger plantings. Larger plantings are needed to support a sustainable pollinator population. Clumping plants together makes it easier for pollinators to find their favorite plants and forage. Space your plants correctly. Plants should be close enough that they don’t leave gaps for weeds to grow but allow enough space for them to not crowd each other as they grow to full size.   Flower traits to attract certain pollinators: Bees Bees are attracted to flowers that are fragrant. They like flowers that are blue, white, yellow, violet, purple, or ultraviolet. Their flowers often have nectar guides to guide them to the center of the flower. Bees like flowers with nectar and sticky scented pollen. Bees have a variety of tongue lengths so some are adapted to visit trumpet shaped flowers. Butterflies Butterflies like bright flowers that are red, orange, yellow, or purple. Butterflies taste with their feet so scent is not as important to them. They like flowers that keep the nectar hidden within the flower so they can use their long tongue to slurp it out. Wide disk-shaped flowers give butterflies an easy landing pad for their long legs. Butterflies also use nectar guides. Moths Moths also enjoy flowers that have large landing platforms or clusters of flowers. Since moths fly at night many of their flowers open in the early morning or late evening but close for the heat of the day. Scent is important to moths so their flowers have a sweet scent in the evening. They prefer flowers that are pale in color like pink, hazy red or purple. Moths like lots of dilute nectar deep within the flower. Beetles Beetles like stinky flowers that are very fragrant and may smell like fermenting fruit or something rotten. Beetles like lots of pollen and nectar to be available. Their flowers are often dull white or green. They prefer flowers that are bowl shaped. Flies Flies like flowers that are dark brown or purple. Their flowers can smell rotten or fetid. Flies are more interested in pollen than nectar. Fly pollenated flowers are often funnel shaped.

Wasps cause fear in many people and have a reputation for being ruthless attackers. However, wasps are good insects to have in the garden since they eat pest insects, are pollinators, and they are beautiful. Usually, wasps are busy visiting flowers and provisioning their nests and will not bother humans as long as they don’t feel threatened. Parasitic wasps are solitary and are less likely to act defensively. Larval wasps are carnivorous so wasps need gardens with an abundance and variety of insects to feed their young. Parent wasps often specialize on certain types of insect prey for their babies. They will either stock their brood chambers with piles of paralyzed prey or lay their eggs directly on the prey. If you crack open a mud dauber wasps nest you will find it filled with paralyzed spiders to feed the young wasps. Adult wasps may eat insects and or nectar. Wasps are not as good at pollinating flowers as bees because they are not as hairy. Wasps have short tongues and often visit similar flowers to the types butterflies prefer. Flowers to attract wasps include the milkweeds, rattlesnake master, sunflowers, mountain mint, goldenrods, asters, and golden alexanders. I love to photograph wasps on flowers; their iridescent bodies just look stunning with the flower’s colorful petals. Social wasps like paper wasps and yellow jackets are the more worrisome type of wasp in the garden as you may happen upon a nest accidentally in the yard. Social wasps are more likely to sting as they defend their nest. Just last month I had an unfortunate experience with yellow jackets due to a misunderstanding about territory. I thought I was walking around my garden and they thought I was attacking their nest. I will try to be more alert next time to avoid future misunderstandings. Luckily, I’m not allergic and was only stung twice before I got the message to get out of their territory.

Syrphid flies, also known as hoverflies and flower flies are very effective pollinators. These flies look a lot like bees with striped yellow and black bodies. To tell a hoverfly from the bees and wasps they mimic look for only one set of wings to indicate that it is a fly. Flies have evolved their other set of wings into halteres which they use like gyroscopes to help them stabilize during flight. Hoverflies can sip nectar and feed on pollen. They rely almost exclusively on flowers for their food and are flower generalists so they can pollinate a wide array of flowers. Flowers that attract hoverflies include trillium, prairie clover, sunflowers, blazing stars, wild quinine, pawpaw, and many others. Hoverfly larva are voracious killers of aphids. When the parent is ready to lay eggs she smells out a colony of aphids or sometimes other specialist prey. The eggs are laid on the plant next to the aphid colony. The caterpillar like larvae seek out aphids and slurp them up. Once the larva has eaten enough aphids it turns into a pupa and undergoes complete metamorphosis, emerging at a hoverfly. A less often heard nick name of the hoverfly is the good news bees. Let’s help everyone know that it is good news to have these bee mimics in our gardens.

Big agriculture is taking over large pieces of our world. When land is planted in a monoculture of corn, wheat, or soy from horizon to horizon, there is no habitat left. In the past small farms had brushy hedge rows and a variety of crops that still allowed some space for insects to live. Farms benefit from a healthy ecosystem of insects including pollinators and predators that keep pest insects under control. Industrial agriculture has become toxic to insects, using neonicotinoid insecticides to eliminate all insects in the area. Healthy insect populations feed birds and many other species who rely on them as their protein source. Integrated pest management (IPM) is a system for farmers to control pests without killing everything. It involves getting to know their field and spotting pest populations before they can get out of control. Farmers can encourage predator insects like wasps by providing flowers along fence rows. Planting many smaller fields of different crops also provides more habitat for beneficial insects and less area for one pest to cause damage. You can encourage your local farmers to use IPM. Ask about their pest management practices at the farmer’s market. Shopping at the farmers market is a great way to find the best pollinator friendly produce. Small farmers are more likely to grow organic, a variety of crops, and have wildflower hedgerows, all practices that benefit pollinators. Buying local can help influence the farmers in your area to protect pollinators. Participating in a CSA (community supported agriculture) can allow you to form a close relationship with a local farmer who will listen to concerns about protecting insects. There is probably a CSA near you that will deliver a sustainable box of food to your house every week. Local small organic farms that value wildlife is the direction we need to head into the future. Encourage farmers in your area to move in a sustainable direction by supporting them with your shopping choices and sharing your message about valuing our pollinators. Remind the next farmer you see that lady bugs eat aphids for free, but only if they have insecticide free habitat.

Blue lobelia and cardinal flower are an easy plant to grow in the rain garden. Lobelias are a good starter plant for instant gratification the first year. The flower heads can be cut back after the bloom to keep a nice tidy look. Lobelias grow easily from seed and can fill in hard to reach muddy spots in the center of the garden. They look great growing among sedges or rushes. Their blue and red blooms are a perfect complement to the many yellows blooming in late summer.   Blue lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica , grows well in wet areas of the garden in full sun. It can tolerate part shade and medium garden soil. Most leaves are at the base but it will send up a 3 ft tall flower stalk. It blooms in various shades of blue July to September. Blue lobelia will tolerate deer, heavy shade, and wet soil. Provides late summer bloom to the perennial border, wild garden, native plant garden, woodland garden or naturalized planting. Also effective near ponds or streams.   Red Lobelia, also known as cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis , grows well in wet areas of the garden in full sun. It can tolerate part shade and medium garden soil. The flower spike can reach 4 ft tall, blooming scarlet red, white or rose in July to September. Cardinal flower adds late summer bloom and height to raingardens, wet meadows, along streams or ponds, and gardens as long as soils are kept uniformly moist. It will tolerate rabbit and deer.   Lobelias, especially cardinal flower can be short lived plants. They are easy to propagate from seeds, so plan to collect some seeds each year to grow more plants and keep your population thriving. Collect lobelia seeds as soon as the seed stalks dry. The seeds are a dark brown dust and are easily blown away and lost. I like to tip the seed stalk over into a white bucket and tap out the seeds. Dropping them into a white container helps to see how many have been collected. Lobelia seeds can be kept with some damp soil in the fridge over the winter to sow in trays in the spring. Or the seeds can be directly sown onto the garden by sprinkling the seeds over the soil. Because the plants grow in wet areas the seeds will move with the water so I plant them slightly uphill from where I want them to grow.   Lobelia flowers are very attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. It looks great to plant the various colors of lobelia together creating a color variation ranging through white, pink, red, magenta, purple, blue, and light blue. The hues of color come from genetic variation and can pass on that particular shade to their offspring. Blue lobelias, especially, come in a wide range of shades of blue, purple, and white.

As a kid, there was a mulberry tree down the street that I would religiously check for fruit in the early days of summer. It had many low branches so I could climb it to collect a bucket full. If I didn’t eat all the fruit and brought some home, my mom would make mulberry cobbler served with ice cream. The delayed reward was always a challenge for me when the berries were so juicy it was hard to avoid eating them all in the tree. As an adult, I still love mulberries. Many of our parks have mulberry trees and it is a joy to bike around looking for fruit. It is easy to spot the mulberry tree along the bike trail because of the purple stain on the ground. When mulberry picking it is difficult to avoid ending up with purple fingers. I have heard that mulberry juice stain can be removed from the fingers by rubbing an unripe mulberry on them. However, I enjoy having purple fingers to remind me of the treats of summer. Our native mulberry,  Morus rubra , commonly known as red mulberry, is a stout tree that grows up to 60’ tall. “In Missouri, it typically occurs in woodlands, rocky places, pastures, fields and along roads throughout the state” (Steyermark). The early-maturing fruits of the mulberries are an important source of food to many kinds of birds. The Wood Duck, Catbird, Eastern Kingbird, Great Crested Flycatcher, Robin, Starling, and Baltimore Oriole all enjoy mulberry. Mulberry trees seem to fruit so prolifically that there are always plenty of berries left even with large flocks visiting. Not all mulberries are the same. The white mulberry, Morus alba , was introduced to the area as part of the silk trade, to feed the caterpillars. Now it is a listed Midwest Noxious Weed. The paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera , is also an invasive plant. If your yard came with a mulberry, you may want to find out if it is the native or should be removed. A down side of urban mulberries is the purple bird poop on the car.

A colony of bumblebees have moved into an old bluebird house. At first, I noticed that there always seemed to be a bee sitting on top of the box watching me while I gardened. Then I started noticing bees flying in and out of the hole to visit the near by patch of flowers. Sometimes I would get swooped by a fuzzy bee if I was weeding around the base of their home but they never bothered me. Until the day I wanted to show the bees to a friend. There weren’t any bees outside the box so I decided to poke it with a stick. You should never poke bees with a stick! The bumblebees started climbing out of their front door, maybe 10 of them, and flying around. Everyone backed up, except my friend, who got closer “I think those are brown belted bumblebees, I want a photo.” After he got his photo, he turned around and then I saw a bumblebee attached to his forehead, stinger in. I went and got the antihistamines but he was mostly worried about if the bee had been injured. It turns out bumblebees have smooth stingers so they can sting without ripping their stinger out. My poor friend had a nice swollen spot between the eyes after that. So, I will try once again to resist the urge to poke things with a stick. Bumblebees can form colonies or live solo lives depending on the species. They mostly nest in the soil but can also nest in abandoned nests of rodent or birds. Holes in the gar-den soil may indicate a nest site where bees are laying eggs and provisioning the nest to hatch a new generation. Queens hibernate over winter and then select a nesting area. The colony gradually forms over the summer until the queen dies. All of her children disperse to mate and find hibernation spots. If the old nest is used again the following year it will be because a new queen has found it. Bee nests should be marked off to decrease disturbance and also prevent friends from being stung. Bumblebees are usually very docile flying teddy bears unless they feel threatened. Having a bumblebee colony in your garden is a rare treat.

Coreopsis are yellow summer bloomers. There are 6 native species of Coreopsis native to Missouri and most of them are available at garden centers that specialize in native plants. Coreopsis establish quickly and bloom the first year. They are well known for giving a reliable bloom for the first season of a new prairie planting. All coreopsis are great for attracting butterflies and bees to their flowers and many birds including gold finch to their seed heads.   Plains coreopsis, Coreopsis tinctoria , looks great in the prairie garden. Annual yellow flower with red centers bloom June to September. A delicate looking plant growing to 2 to 4 feet tall. Grows best in full sun and dry to medium soil. It will tolerate drought, clay, dry, shallow, and rocky soil. It attracts birds and butterflies and survives deer. Good plant for areas with poor, dry soils. Excellent in large plantings.   Lanceleaf coreopsis, Coreopsis lanceolata , is a perennial sprawling 1ft tall plant with 2 ft flower stalks. It has yellow blooms May to July. Coreopsis grows best in full sun and dry to medium soil. It can tolerate drought, dry, shallow, and rocky soil. It attracts butterflies and birds and survives deer. Grows well in rock gardens, meadows or prairies. This is a good plant for areas with poor, dry soils. Self-seeding tendencies may need to be kept in check to maintain a more formal appearance.   I have a swath of lancelef coeopsis across the front of my garden and it reliably attracts large flocks of golf finches each year. I love to watch them as they balance of the stems to peck out the seeds. I’m always sure to collect some seeds for myself to save for next year. I snip off the seed heads into a paper bag and then break them up after they have dried for a few weeks. The seeds do not need any special treatment and can be scattered immediately or kept dry and cool to be planted the next spring.   Coreopsis are sometimes confused with bidens which also have yellow disk blooms at the same time. Bidens are called beggars ticks which coreopsis are referred to as tick seed. However, Bidens seeds have little barbs that stick to your clothes while coreopsis do not. Coreopsis gets the name tickseed from the tinny brown seeds that are about the size and color of seed ticks.   Coreopsis fill an ecosystem role as early establishers in disturbed soils. They spread and grow easily from seeds. They bloom in the first year and produce lots of seeds. The plants are short lived but can self perpetuate with their seeds. Because of their live fast attitude they have trouble competing with some of the other prairie plants that take more time to put down big root systems. As garden plantings mature there may be less coreopsis each year.