A close-up photo of a plant with 2 large pale pink buds with many narrow petals that come together in a point. The stems are not visible because there are many pale green leaves with lobes that are sharp thorns that are subtending the buds.
Feeling prickly today?? Here's a prickly native, purple thistle (Cirsium horridulum) that has a beauty all its own and it attracts a wide array of pollinators. #PlantMoreNatives
Photo of a shrub with bright green leaves that is just beginning to bloom with clusters of pink flowers with long stamens and anthers. A dark wooded area with a mulch path is out of focus in the background. Text says, "Pink flame azalea Rhododendron austrinum"
#PlantMoreNatives When I bought pink flame azalea 15+ years ago, it was labeled "pinxter azalea (Rhododendron canescens)", but it bloomed 3 weeks later than the pinxters. It's a flame azalea (R. austrinum) the "tell" is fine hairs on new growth & some yellow on the upper petal. Mystery solved!
Photo (probably AI) showing an overhead view of 2 fenced-in backyards with the title, "A tale of two backyards." The yard on the left shows white, paved patio & walkway, a perfectly maintained lawn and uniform shrubs trimmed into cubes. Text says, "Left: $4,200/year in lawn care. Mowed weekly. Sprayed monthly. Edged perfectly. Zero birds. Zero butterflies. Zero life." The one on the right shows a wooden deck with a small pond with bird feeders around it. About half of the yard is filled with wildflower gardens & a few untrimmed shrubs. The lawn is not uniform with a few brownish patches. The text says. "Right: $200/year. Mowed twice monthly. Native plants in the corners. Water dish on the patio. 47 species of insects. 12 species of birds. 3 species of butterflies. One rabbit family. Test at the bottom says, "Which is the better yard? Depends on whether you measure beauty in dollars or in heartbeats."
Reduce lawn acreage & let the remaining be a #FreedomLawn. #PlantMoreNatives & #StopPoisons to support birds & pollinators, to become more sustainable, to be more pet & kid-friendly, & to save $$.
Here are ideas & references to get started: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-...
Photo of a flowering stalk. The stem is square. The bilateral light blue flowers are perpendicular to the stem and at the base of each flower is a set of green bracts with reddish margins. The background is an out-of-focus mowed area and beyond that is a darker wooded area. The text says, "Lyreleaf sage Salvia lyrata"
#PlantMoreNatives Lyreleaf sage (Salvia lyrata) is native to most of eastern North America and can make quite a show in wooded areas, pollinator gardens, & unmowed yards in the spring.
For more information & more photos read my article: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2024/02/lyre...
Photo of 3 pale lavender flowers with relatively long & hairy pollen bearing stalks. More flower buds are amassed beneath the 3 in bloom. Green strap-shaped leaves are in the background. Text says, "Spiderwort Tradescantia ohiensis"
#PlantMoreNatives! Ohio spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) is native to most of eastern North America & most of Florida. It attracts pollinators, especially bees. Each day, 1 to 3 flowers bloom in each flower head, which has 20+ buds. It's edible.
greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2024/01/ohio...
Photo of a sign consisting of 5 green boards nailed to a wooden post. A wooded area is in the background. The message painted on the boards with a curly, informal font is "If something is not eating your plants, then your garden is not part of the ecosystem."
#PlantMoreNatives! To support birds and butterflies, we need more native plants in our yards and in our communities, because they play an important role in the local ecosystems. So... if nothing is eating your plants, add more natives.
Let's work together to make native landscapes the new normal!
Poster with photos of 6 moths (White-lined sphinx moth, Beautiful wood nymph mother, Eight-spotted forester moth, Cecropia silk moth, Pandorus sphinx moth, Hickory tussock moth) and 4 photos of Virginia creeper vine showing green leaves, red leaves, and blue berries borne on reddish stems. Text says, "Cool North America native moths brought to you by one of the most hated native plants: Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)"
#PlantMoreNatives! Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) appreciation post by Native Yardening. This aggressive vine is native to eastern North America & is in the grape family (Vitaceae). It supports birds & moths. For more info, here's its FNPS plant profile: www.fnps.org/plant/parthe...
Photo of branches filled with gray-colored fruit and stiff green leaves. Traces of blue sky are in the background. The text says, "Female wax myrtle (Morella cerifera)"
#PlantMoreNatives! Wax myrtle (Morella cerifera) is an easy-to-grow evergreen shrub that's native fron NJ to TX. It's dioecious (male and female flowers borne on separate plants). Female trees produce waxy fruit that feed migrating birds in winter. greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2022/01/wax-...
Photo of an orange & black monarch butterfly on a flower spike with lavender flowers with many narrow petals. In the background are more of the same flower spikes, a grassy meadow, & a wooded area. Text says, "YIMBY"
Sustainable gardeners say, "YIMBY: Yes! in my backyard" when it comes to increasing habitat including butterfly gardens and wild spaces. #PlantMoreNatives to replace lawns with bird & butterfly-friendly habitat.
3 diagrams of a small yard with a house. The top text says,"Create a plan for a landscape that's authentic to Florida with 'A Step-by-Step Guide to a Florida Native Yard." The first one shows a completed landscape with text "Assess your property Creating an overall plan is the funpart of the process and working to the plan will save time and money in the long run" The 2nd one shows the landscape marked with a grid and only a few sections planted. Text says, "Work in sections For both time and budget resons, many people find that it works best to focus on one project at a time." The 3rd diagram shows the yard with a study of the water flow. Text says, "Improve drainage You can inprove the evapotransportaion rate by increasing the leaf surface areas in your landscape."
#PlantMoreNatives! Our peer-reviewed book, "A Step-by-Step Guide to a Florida Native Yard" provides easy-to-follow guidelines to convert your yard into one that's filled with natives. Landscape drawings make it easy to visualize the various aspects of converting a yard.
upf.com/book.asp?id=...
Photo of a garden with a large pink-blooming muhly grass bunch, dozens of tall, spikey plants with purple flowers (some are leaning over), and a shorter plant with bunch of yellow flat-topped flowers. A wooden fence and a wooded area is behind the garden.
#PlantMoreNatives Who says that Florida doesn't have fall color??
Thanks to Be Floridian (Facebook page) for this photo of a beautiful fall garden.
Photo of 2 women and a child planting plants in a garden.
#PlantMoreNatives! Here's a positive story from Sue Dingwell on installing native plants for her HOA entrance in Colorado and some lessons on how to accomplish something similar in your community. beautifulnativeplants.blogspot.com/2025/10/hoa-...
Drawing of a garden where there are masses of colors. The title is, "Planning your garden --think like a pollinator." There is a lot of other text with ideas on how to bee pollinator friendly.
#PlantMoreNatives and think like a pollinator to bee ready for butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, & other pollinators. Fall is a great time to install good habitat in your yard & in your community. For more specifics, read my habitat article: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2022/10/habi...
Photo of a small aster flower head with white petals and a yellow center. A fuzzy yellow & black bee, which as large as the flower, is hanging upside down from it. Text says, "Pllinator on rice button aster Symphyotrichum dumosum"
#PlantMoreNatives #FallisAsterTime Rice button aster (Symphyotrichum dumosum) is native to eastern North America from ME to TX, including all of FL. While the flower heads are relatively small, it attracts a good variety of pollinators. It grows wild & masses of it work well in meadows or gardens.
Photo of a yard next to a salmon-colored house with a matching, vine-covered wall with a dark gate in the background. The yard is filled with a wide variety of flowering plants--yellow, pink, blue & purple. Near the house, there is a white arbor.
#PlantMoreNatives! “Fall planting” applies to sowing seeds of native wildflowers and grasses, at least here in Florida. Order seeds now from the Florida Wildflowers Growers Cooperative for spring wildflowers. Their website also has instructions for the best results. www.floridawildflowers.com
Photo of a large group of yellow petaled flowers at the edge of a meadow. A wooded area is in the background.
#PlantMoreNatives The beautiful swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) blooms in the late fall & attracts pollinators & birds. It’s native from NY to TX including most of FL. It thrives at the edges of meadows in damp soil. It should be planted more often to create beautiful habitat.
A top-view photo of a small butterfly which is whitish in the center with orange, black & brown markings on the edges of the wings. Green leaves are under the butterfly.
#PlantMoreNatives so you can host wildlife. E.g., White peacock butterfly (Anartia jatrophae), in the brush-footed butterfly family, has several larval host plants including beggarticks (Bidens alba) as shown here. Read this on building habitat: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2022/10/habi...
Photo of a group of blue fruits borne on yellowish stems at the end of a branch with oval leaves with scalloped edges. Wooded area is out of focus in the background.
#PlantMoreNatives! Southern arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum) is native eastern US. It’s a medium-sized shrub that attracts pollinators with its flowers and feeds birds with its blue berries in the fall. It should be planted more often.
Read my post: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2025/09/sout...
Photo of bunches of gras with pink blooms. Text says, "Mulhy grass Muhlenbergia cappillaris"
#PlantMoreNatives! Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia spp.) is one of the most popular native grasses in the SE US and you can see why. Its gorgeous pink flowers in late fall certainly stand out in the landscape & it's easy to grow.
Read my article: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2018/02/an-a...
Photo of a dark gray butterfly with blue & red streaks & white dots on a flower head with light lavender florets. Out of focus foliage in the background. Text says, "Great Purple Hairstreak (Atlides halesus) on Tall Elephantsfoot (Elephantopus elatus)"
#PlantMoreNatives! Tall elephantsfoot (Elephantopus elatus) is blooming now. It's a lovely, easy-to-grow Florida native wildflower that attracts a wide assortment of pollinators.
Read my article for more information and more photos: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2022/09/tall...
2 photos of shrubs with bunches of small purple fruit and green foliage in the background. Photo on right shows the fruit on stems and is labeled "Purple beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma)" The photo on left shows dense bunches of fruit growing directly from branch with no stem and is labeled "American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)."
#PlantMoreNatives! American beautyberry is native from TX to MD & all of FL. Its fruit are not borne on stalks like the Asian purple beautyberry. Know your plants when buying them. Read more about Am. Beautyberry here: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2020/03/for-...
Poster: Top panel has a photo of a row of plastic disposable cups and a tray of red and white begonias in full bloom. Text says, Annual exotics are like disposables; they sonsume energy and money and produce watse." Bottom panel is a photo of a wooden bench in a meadow of assorted wildflowers in bloom. Text says, "Choose native perennials and self-seeding annuals."
#PlantMoreNatives! Here's a visual description of the problem with seasonal plantings. Annual exotics are like disposables: they are expensive to plant season after season, they consume energy, disturb the soil, & produce waste. Plus these 'disposable' plants are not part of the local ecosystem
Poster with 2 photos. top photo shows racks of flowering plants in a store. Text says, "Conventional garden ceters are selling us an entirely new and exotic ecosystem imported from other continents." Bottom photo shows rolling meadows with mostly yellow and blue wildflowers and grasses. Blue sky and a distant mountain are in the background. Text says, " Let's restore the indigenous plants of North America. Join your native plant society."
#PlantMoreNatives! Join and support your local native plant groups & support local native plant nurseries. They are your local, feet-on-the-ground to help make native-filled landscapes the new normal for your area & beyond. Find a US native plant group near you here: www.fs.usda.gov/managing-lan...
Photo of a green-colored hummingbird feeding at a coral honeysuckle vine. The tubular flowers are reddish with a touch of coral. Dark green wooded area is out of focus in the background.
#PlantMoreNatives! Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is native to most of eastern North America.
The long tubular flowers are especially favored by hummingbirds. After pollination, fruits develop & are an important food for many birds.
Read greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2025/08/cora...
Photo of a group of black-eyed Susans in bloom. Text says, "Black-eyes Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)"
Black-eyed Susans are making a big show now in mid-summer.
Pollinator-friendly landscapes are filled with an assortment of natives and are never subjected to landscape-wide pesticides (including lawncare chemicals).
#PlantMoreNatives #ReducetheLawn #NoPoisons
#PlantMoreNatives! Read "It’s not a garden, it’s a habitat" article from the Florida Wildflower Foundation on how to view your yard & your community differently. When you build a diverse, non-poisoned habitat you invite the insects which provide food for birds. www.flawildflowers.org/habitat-not-...
Photo of a pond with a partly cloudy sky & tall pine trees reflected in the still water. A large red flower borne on the top of a long stem with many divided or lobed leaves leaning over the water from the near shore.
#PlantMoreNatives! Scarlet rosemallow (Hibiscus coccineus), with its huge blooms (about 9 inches across), is a favorite. 9 hibiscus species are native to Florida, but many others grown in gardens for their beauty & as crops, e.g. roselle.
Read: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2023/05/hibi...
Photo of flat white flower with sun rising beyond it.
#PlantMoreNatives! Moonflower (Ipomoea alba) is a night-blooming species of morning glory. It's vine that's native to most of Florida. Here’s a link to my morning glory article where I discuss the moonflowers & more: greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2025/02/morn...
Photo of a yellow petaled flower and a bud with wet green leaves in the background. Text says, "East Coast Dune Sunflower Helianthus debilis"
#Sunflowers The dune sunflower is a hardy, salt-tolerant, drought-tolerant ground cover. It grows on sand dunes in southeastern states. #PlantMoreNatives
Photo of tall trees reflected in the still water of a pond. The sun shines through the base of the trees at sunrise.
#AMomentinNature! Even when the world seems upside down, Nature heals. So please take a deep breath and do something positive for yourself and for our only planet. #TakeaHike #PlantMoreNatives #PlantMoreTrees #GrowMoreFood Because, as Joan Baez said, "Action is the antidote for despair."
