Well hello, beautiful! 😍

And the three-flowered avens go to seed! They’re so pretty.

Here’s another fun near-native. Phacelia sericea (Silky scorpion weed)
Very interesting, showy blooms.

A couple of lovely near-natives (from a province away) blooming today
Polemonium pulcherrimum (showy Jacob’s ladder) and Townsendia Parryi (Parry’s townsendia)

Last summer I planted a single bloodroot plant that I got from Trinkets and Thyme in Ontario. It withered and I thought succumbed to the heat of our summer. This little beauty was a fighter, though. Look at her now! 😍

Here’s the garden at the start of 2025. There’s lots of dried plant bits from last year’s growth. I’m looking forward to watching it come back to life. The mulch and dried leaves are absolutely teeming with ladybugs. 🐞 I’ve never seen so many in the spring. 😍

One of the great joys of gardening with native plants and with having developed this garden from scratch is watching it grow and evolve with the summer months and over the years. Pics from fall 2023 (after babies were planted and after mulching), spring 2024, and fall 2024.

This spring has been very exciting. I have maybe a dozen anemone patens plants. They typically take a few years to bloom. Last year though only one bloomed, I noticed that they were all growing well and looked strong. This spring I have been rewarded with blooms on the vast majority!

I have always loved the prairie crocus (anemone patens). After a long cold Canadian prairie winter it’s a true harbinger of spring and an important source of food for early insects. Over the last few years I have grown several plants, and last summer celebrated my first crocus flower. Here she is!

Spring is here! 😍