Plant More Natives

Native plants have evolved and adapted to local conditions, making them vigorous and hardy

enough to be able to withstand winter’s cold and summer’s heat. They grow well in existing

soils and once established, they require little to no irrigation, fertilization, or pruning. Over

time, they have developed intricate relationships with other wildlife in the ecosystem thus

providing important habitat elements (food and shelter), and possess strategies for resisting

common insect pests and diseases. All these traits mean native plants are excellent choices

for drought-resistant, low-maintenance gardening and landscaping. I took this from Kim Haworth who is a National gardening association expert.

Our weather has been so terrible this year so I guess we should have paid more attention to the experts on what to plant in our gardens. If you don't want to drag a hose and pamper fussy plants...natives are the way to go. I've added a few to my gardens like cone flowers and the susans and several more. There are wildflowers native to Illinois in my woods.  I can see that with this blistering heat...these have done pretty well. Here is a place to look up the natives for Illinois.http://uswildflowers.com/stateref.php?State=IL It looks to me like we could have a very pretty garden with just plants native to our area.

Today it will hit 100 deg.with little rain in sight. The corn is withering in the fields and I'm sure  that farmers are stressing out about this. We are praying for rain in our Church......probably because we live in a rural area and it's something we see everyday. It's the topic that everyone is talking about. I would think that we might start paying  more attention to the experts who talk about climate change.  There are still some who don't believe it. We just go on like there's no tomorrow dragging that hose. This is one small way that we gardeners can help, by using our heads by recycling and planting things that require less water. There, I'm off my soapbox for this morning. I have tried, this year, to be more vigilant about what to plant and where. I've had to slow down a bit...so new things are in containers. They are kept in the same area near my water source, so when watering, I don't have to drag the hose. We haven't watered the lawn at all. At the moment it's brown and crispy. Some good rain will revive it. We just experienced a winter to remember...and now a summer to remember. I wonder what fall and winter will bring? 

Balisha