False Anise with a monsterous bumblebee.
#BloomScrolling
#NativePlants
#NativeBees

Five years ago, this spot was a "green desert" for local wildlife – burning bushes and butterfly bushes ruled. Now? It's a thriving native haven! Get ready for a pollinator party in a few weeks when the Monarda and milkweed explode with color. From foreign to flourishing – that's the power of native plants! #NativeGardening #WildlifeHabitat #Transformation @plants @nativeplants #nativeplants

Daily picks:
Blackberries, blueberries, jabuticaba, wild raspberries

Romano beans

Fennel, grape leaves (domestic and muscadine), mint, sheep sorrel

Yellow Columbine

Figwort in my yard. What I wish you could see are the 5+ species of native bees busy pollinating it.
#NativePlants
#BloomScrolling

Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)

I'm trying hard to do macro of native plants this year. In order to do that, you really need to go where they live and try to do your best, with handheld camera.

Canada Mayflower is the hardest I've met so far. When they say in descriptions that they are low plants living in "moist, fresh and shadowy woods", what they really mean is "muddy, full of bugs and no light". I went three times, lying on the forest floor, eaten alive by mosquitoes, trying my best not to move in low light but every time I wasn't satisfied. That foamy appearance from afar is really hard to deal with with a macro lens.

This is the only photo I like, maybe because this little brown fellow showed up. So I give up, Mayflower. For this year.

More harebells!

What invasive plants got you like this? https://www.allforgardening.com/1320815/what-invasive-plants-got-you-like-this/ #NativePlantGardening #NativePlants #RainGardens

Our #lupines are blooming daily now

Say it with me now: mycoheterotroph!!!

I love them.

Striped Coralroot

The native Virginia #strawberries / Fragaria virginiana that I've planted as ground cover are very healthy and productive. I've been eating several every day, as many as I have time to find under the leaves in my yard. Even with help from catbirds, giving some to neighbors, etc. I'm not managing to find all of them before they get overripe / spoil. My postage stamp yard can grow more than I can eat.

The berries are small, but sweet bursts of condensed strawberry flavor.

Another surprise! I didn't expect our new blue flag iris to bloom this year

Gaillardia pulchella wildflower (also called Indian Blanket, Firewheel, Girasol Rojo) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on May 4, 2025

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2025May06_birds_and_cats/2025may04_gaillardia_IMG_3502c.html

also at: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/gaillardia-3502-john-moyer.html

Spotted first monarch of the season

Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed; phlox subulata, moss phlox

Danaus plexippus, monarch butterfly

The wild bergamot is trying to escape into the tiny path I'm trying to keep these and the two coneflowers didn't bloom last summer (first year), but they definitely look well established now!
#SKyard #NativePlants

The front yard prairie is getting more beautiful with every passing day. The yarrow and geranium are starting to flower, as does the green needle grass. Sage is growing like crazy. Lots of grasshoppers (not pictured). #nativeplants #FrontYardPrairie #wildflowers #Bloomscrolling