4 ms·

Milkweed, goldenrod, and joe pye plants in Michigan will bring hosts of good bees and butterflies to your yard. Even better if you grow all three.

• 0xbadcafebee 3y ago
  Another tactic (if you don't have an HOA that requires mowing) is to clear any grass out of your yard, spread a variety of seeds, and lay fertilizer and topsoil. Water regularly. Whatever springs up, leave it there, even if it's "just weeds". Two years in and you will have a thriving, self-sustaining wild garden. The weeds can act as a cover crop if you want to plant something else, and many flower throughout the year. You can pluck out the invasives of course, but leave non-natives if they're not harmful. If you're worried about it looking unsightly, once it's grown you can go in with a machete and cut down anything too tall, or take a trowel and dig up specific plants and then replant them in rows or patches. You can make borders, beds of different plants/textures/colors, walkways, etc, all from naturally occurring plants that thrive in your soil.
  • troyvit 3y ago
    We're doing something like this, and it's driving me crazy, but anecdotally the soil beneath our biggest Canadian thistle infestation appears to be the softest, most active soil in our otherwise clay yard. It appears as if other stuff might be starting to impinge on the thistle too. It's been more than two years but amazing stuff is coming up.