I’m a little curious how you see your garden. Do you:
- have only native plants?
- have a butterfly garden?
- remove all known invasive plants?
- have some exotic plants but are only planting natives from here on?
- enjoy watching birds?
- grow organic vegetables?
- have the most awesome tomatoes ever?
- garden to relieve stress?
- have bird houses and bird feeders?
For a little background about my garden see:
Please tell me in the comments below, What’s in Your Garden?
Ask Carole–Have a burning question about Ecosystem Gardening? Or habitat gardening for wildlife? Sustainable landscaping? Or attracting more wildlife to your garden? Ask your question here, and I’ll post the answer at Ecosystem Gardening.
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About Carole Sevilla Brown
No, I don’t have only native plants.
No, I don’t have a butterfly garden. It’s on my list.
Yes, I try to remove invasive plants.
The exotics I want to plant are food plants.
Yes, I LOVE watching birds.
Yes, I grow organic vegetables.
Yes, my tomatoes are awesome
Sometimes I garden to relieve stress. Sometimes it works.
No, I don’t have bird houses or bird feeders yet.
@Alison I love your comment “sometimes I garden to relieve stress. Sometimes it works” For me, sometimes nothing works but being in the garden watching black swallowtails, Monarchs, Chickadees, etc. certainly helps…..
* have only native plants? I have planted mostly native plants in the back woodland.
* have a butterfly garden? I have many species of natives and non-natives planted to support moth and butterfly larva, feed adult Lepidoptrans and attract and feed many other pollinators insects and predatory insects.
* remove all known invasive plants? No, but and slowly winning the battle against japanese stiltgrass!
* * enjoy watching birds? I LOVE watching bird families grow up in our nearly half acre garden.
* grow organic vegetables? I grow herbicide and pesticide-free herbs, fruits and vegetables… only once in 18 years have I used “organic” pesticide spray.. Instead, I plant habitat to encourage native insect predators, improve soil via our own compost, etc.
* have the most awesome tomatoes ever? Well, this year, we got some great Cherokee Purple and Brandywine Heirloom Tomatoes
* garden to relieve stress? YES… ALWAYS!
* have bird houses and bird feeders? I am an avid naturalist and plant to meet most birds critical needs: shelter from weather, nesting areas, protection from predators, plants for food and add ground level birdbaths. I have several Blue bird houses. I do not use bird feeders but prefer planting native plants to allow sustainable population levels of native birds. I also do not allow cats to roam outdoors.
I also restore habitat for many of our NC native Herps including Anoles, snakes, 3 species of skinks, tree frogs, green frogs and spotted salamanders.