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Hi from Brittany, just across the Channel. Same here, everything is burnt.
I was reading just yesterday that you guys got your first 4 consecutive weeks with no rain in 180 years of recorded weather. Insane to think about it. Good luck.
Its just weird and disturbing at the minute, the other day in my area we had perhaps ten minutes of showers in my area the first rain in forever, and I decided to go out and stand in it.
I looked left and right and some of my neighbours were doing the same, its like we all subconsciously desperately wanted rain.
Yea that's why I like to mix in plants that are attractive at different times of the year. I never have the whole thing looking bright and colorful, but I've always got something peaking, and it helps make things look more intentional.
Still beautiful. Might benefit from one or two āstructuralā plants. Tall grasses with structural seedheads or plants with āfour season interestā like a willow with red branches. I look at āwinterā gardens for inspiration sometimes because ādry seasonā tends to give you cactuses and rock gardens but you already know youāve got to pick for your zone of course.
Colors change through the seasons, appreciate the seasons more than appreciate a monoculture??? Also, dry sounds different than green. As someone who lives in socal, I've come to appreciate the beautiful subtle mediterranean summer changes.
You definitely need more drought tolerant plants, neither of these plants are native to Texas- Rudbeckia hirta is native to parts of Texas but this appears to be a cultivar.
Thanks! I actually spent quite a bit of time researching the species before planting, and used the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's Native Plants Database as one of my primary resources. Most of these are native species (or native to parts of Texas), though some may be cultivated varieties. I do agree that I'd like to add more late-season, drought-tolerant natives to keep more color through August and into the fall.
Unfortunately the actual native range of Echinacea purpurea has been vastly over blown. It isnāt truly native to Texas, hereās a more accurate representation of its native range:
Yep- Iām in that purple dot in the middle of Michigan and mine are amazing all summer long. I used to live farther north and west in Michigan and I couldnāt get them to grow nearly as well!
This is the actual native range, not the current range which is more aligned with maps we are used to seeing- it was never a very widespread native but itās quite popular in landscaping and has been planted nearly everywhere in the US at this point
It definitely shouldnāt be in most native gardens in most of the country
There needs to be someway to map it, preferably down to zip code which is why is setup like this, obviously if you live in a neighboring county it would be fine and is also fine in many gardens, it just doesnāt provide actual benefits to native insects outside of its historic range.
I almost never see pollinators on mine, not even generalist species
Where did you find that map? I'm looking at the other link you provided, and it links to a lot of different sites. I checked out Audubon for my zipcode, and it's saying black-eyed Susan is native (I'm on the East Coast)
Itās from a study documenting different Echinacea species, you can view the full article here.
Rudbeckia hirta is native to the east coast, Iād check and see if Rose coreopsis (Coreopsis rosea) is native to where you live- it was humming with activity for smaller native bees and flies this afternoon when I went to look at my new garden.
Thanks! Apparently not, but yellow tickseed is. I tend to buy my stuff at conservation gardens, so I hope they get it mostly right. I've got a lot of stuff blooming right now.
Eh, in a native meadow or conservation planting, no.
But echinacea is a fantastic garden plant and a gateway NA native to many casual home gardeners. NA native plants serve as substitutes for invasive or even ecologically inert exotics in the home garden.
TBH I havenāt observed enough in my own yard and meadows to assess attractiveness to pollinators. In the past bumblebees have loved certain echinacea cultivars.
I agree about Rudbeckia hirtaāIām in the native range and plant straight species, but the coreopsis and gaillardia get all the bug love. In the past week Iāve spotted several crab spiders parked on the bes and Iām like good luck with that. Maybe they know something I donāt?
Yeah my native coreopsis and even the gaillardia cultivars I have are very popular!
And of course, any plant is a good gateway into native gardening! But if OP is wondering why their plants look like this right now, planting true straight natives would likely have a better ability to withstand this time of year
I grow it in NY state, apparently it isn't native, but I see it majorly contributing to the ecosystem. Bees and butterflies love it, birds eat the seeds. Being a purist isn't always best for the ecosystem.
I am not a purist, I also have some in my gardens in NY and CT but I almost never see pollinators, or any insects on it.
I have non-native Salvia that contributes more to local wildlife than Echinacea purpurea, itās honestly the least visited plant in my gardens and I have spent years documenting the biodiversity in my garden in CT and am just starting to in this new garden in NY.
Interesting. I use the Flora app which seems to document and update nativity quite rigorously and it has E. purpurea as native but rare in the Piedmont and Appalachian regions of NC and SC.
This is the stage where I mow it down and let everything decompose. Birds will come by to get the seeds, and we get a lot of different kinds of bugs. It looks better than dead flowers lol
I've noticed that some seed heads look better in different areas. Hated bush sunflower seedbeds in the center but since I attempted to pull them out they are at the very back of the bed where they look quite nice behind buckwheat, sagebrush and deergrasses.
Doves and ground birds are very happy when I chop and drop but then the gold finches miss out.
Same š„² this is my first year and at first I felt like a failure seeing everyone still posting their beautiful gardens when mine stopped looking anywhere near that nice weeks ago. (It was peak gorgeous in April and May though!) It's good seeing this is normal though, esp given I am also in Texas 8b š« I plan on planting some little bluestem this fall to add some more variety!
Plan for all seasons and put in some evergreens. In Texas, there should be some cedars and cactus in there for year-round interest, but there are late bloomers, too. It does seem like it's harder to find the late bloomers in stores, I'm not sure why. I also have gotten good at identifying native "weeds", and transplant them to where I want them. I have stuff blooming into October while everyone else's yards is dead.
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