05/24/2026
...this is what we like. When a non-native plant (like Digitalis grandiflora - Large-flowered Foxglove) peacefully and happily grows together with native plant (Coreopsis pubescens - Star Tickseed). Generally, it's the fact, when you find the right plant for the right place in your garden = less work and care. Sometimes it's more that the plant finds it's own place. But there's also the fact that the native plants do not judge, they can coexist and enjoy the company of a plant from Europe (Digitalis, Stachys,..), Africa (Eucomis, Kniphofia,.), Asia (Amsonia, Salvia koyame, Polygonatum), or South America (Alstroemeria), without being bullied and maybe even support one another with matching growth strategy, or protective unpalatable chemicals. Many plants from various areas can be "mean", can be thugs, can smother and suppress others, no matter what their origin is. It's often us, humas, who project our ideas into plants. At the end it is the gardener who nurtures, observes, adjusts and balances the powers in the garden. Many non-native plants will also feed hummingbirds, various native bees or butterflies, but also the native insects that feed on leaf will often munch on non-natives, even when they have the choice between native and non-native plant in the same flower bed. Plant and natural world is not black and white. Lets try to judge less, observe and learn more and share our experiences, without repeating many times said "truths" or "half-truths". Lets fill our gardens with wide variety of plants and not with heaps of mulch. Lets try to achieve long and continuous flowering season and higher diversity plantings and therefore higher diversity of other life forms.
