Create October power of nature
Created | Updated Jul 11, 2023
Create october power of nature
Fifteen years ago I decided to plant a butterfly garden around the edges of my house. Soon after I started, I realized that I should also be trying to save the bees. Fortunately, the flowers I was planting were also good for bees.
The New England asters at the top right of the enclosed picture [myporch5] have just started blooming. This was taken a few weeks ago, and now they are in full bloom. There are two more plants behind the porch railing -- I grew them from seed many years ago, and they have self-seeded prolifically. I don't need to water them, because they catch runoff from my eaves. There's a water barrel on the porch, and another to the left of it, which catches runoff from the overhang. This means that, except for the month of August, I have been able to water the plants in the rest of my yard using rainwater.
The yellow flowers in back of the porch are Paleleaf Woodland Sunflowers (Helianthus strumosus), a perennial variety that is genetically very similar to Jerusalem Artichoke. I bought four plants about seven years ago, and nurtured one of them in a pot that hung on the porch railing. In the Fall of that year, I planted it behind the porch, and it has spread through underground rhizomes to cover about thirty square feet. The sunflowers make a great groundcover, and the rhizomes would be nutritious if I ever had to eat them. They tolerate some shade.
Behind the sunflowers is a Virginia Rose bush. The rosehips have been ripening for months, and have turned red. This is a variety that can take over a fairly large space, but the sunflowers help keep it in check.
To the left, a basket of geraniums is hanging from the railing. (I always try to have something red, to attract hummingbirds. I think I saw one a few days ago.)
At the bottom right is an iris plant. This is a Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor). Sorry, but its bloom period is long past. It is so tolerant of standing water that I have seen such irises growing right in the water in a brook near the house I grew up in. The rain runoff from the eaves has kept my irises thriving for several years.
Behind the geraniums (upper left) are a couple of Swamp Milkweed plants, which are watered by rain that runs off the overhang. They have finished blooming for the season, and have started forming seedpods. In the second picture [myporch1], taken about six weeks ago, you can see their pink blossoms. I had a Monarch butterfly that couldn't leave the milkweed along. I saw it five or six times a day, every day. I expect that it is well on its way to Mexico by now.
The earlier picture has coneflowers and blackeyed Susans in the lower right. They are descendants of the flowers that I planted 15 years ago. I've seen goldfinches on the coneflowers lately. They probably nest in the oak tree in the background. There's an oak branch over my back yard. The shade keeps my yard cool in the afternoon on all but the hottest days.
I leave the seedheads on the flowers throughout the Winter, so the birds can eat them. I don't rake most of the oak leaves that fall. They make excellent mulch, keeping the soil moist even in dry weather. They also provide shelter for beneficial insects over the winter. I rake just enough leaves so there will be a passageway between the front and back yards so oil delivery people and meter readers can get through.
I bought pots of coneflowers this summer, but too many of them were hybrids that had sterile seeds. Nature is powerful, but only if you let it wor the way it was supposed to work.
