This year I continued focusing on native Michigan plants to place in my yard. I signed up to an annual plant sale at Cranbrook house and gardens in Bloomfield Hills Michigan during spring. I could order online, and I ordered various ferns, big leaf asters, and black cohosh. I needed shade loving plants since I have a whole line of trees in the backyard and these exact plants love shade! So far, the ferns are doing alright, the asters are thriving, and the black cohosh could be better.
I started planting native plants a couple years ago. I always preferred perennials since they come back every year. I made a list that I would use to search for native plants at English Gardens and Western Market, and ended up with Black-eyed Susans, echinacea, and some sort of tall perennial with tiny yellow flowers.
No longer do I fret over watering these plants or helping them thrive. This is their environment. I still have hostas, mums, and other plants that come back, So I focus on my vegetable garden. Little by little each year, I give a piece of my yard back to the native plants. Next year, I will be looking for milkweed for the monarch butterflies.
In my community, we can turn our front lawns into a planned natural landscape that helps with water runoff, which attracts bees, butterflies, and birds. This saves our sewer systems from added pressure from heavy downpours when we plant native vegetation that can absorb the extra water since southeast Michigan was originally lowlands and marshes. Detroit has consistently received historic flooding this year, with freeways becoming rivers, and cars becoming submerged. I have been lucky, I live on higher ground, however my neighbors have not been so lucky with flooded basements and streets.
If you are interested in making a natural landscape, you can go to the EPA for resources. I have also bought quite a few books on native Michigan plants and flowers. I always took an interest in minerals, mushrooms, and birds in my area, so it was odd that I didn't have a book on flowers in my library.
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