Hit 50 native plant species in my backyard this spring

I started keeping a list of every native plant growing in my yard back in March. Yesterday I hit number 50, which was a wild columbine I found hiding behind my shed. I didn't think I'd get past maybe 30 since my lot is only a quarter acre. What surprised me most was how many showed up on their own without me planting anything. Has anyone else done a full count of what's growing on their property?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean481d ago

Funny thing is I started doing the same and got to 48 before I realized half of them were just different kinds of clover. @lucashenderson you are right though about stuff just showing up, I found a pokeweed that must have been hiding back there for years. My yard is a mess but at least the birds seem happy.

lucashenderson1d ago

Yeah dude that's awesome. I did the same thing last year on my half acre lot in Virginia and ended up at 62. It blew my mind how many things like Virginia creeper and goldenrod just showed up without me doing a thing.

victorhernandez1d ago

I saw this article about how letting your yard go wild actually helps with erosion control way better than turf grass. The deep root systems from stuff like goldenrod and Virginia creeper hold the soil way better than shallow grass roots. I'm on a hill here in Tennessee and noticed after heavy rains I don't get those annoying runoff gullies anymore. Plus my neighbor's yard floods like crazy and mine barely puddles anymore. It's pretty cool how all those "weeds" are basically doing the work for free.