Join us for a free native plant garden tour on Saturday, July 12, 12-4 p.m. (rain date: Sun, July 13). Register today! Sign up here and A URL to a map of the five gardens will be emailed several days before the event, along with a list of host site addresses.
To respect our hosts’ privacy prior to the event, a tour map of the five gardens will only be posted on our website from July 10 through the end of the tour.
Anita and Bob’s Native Plant Garden
Distinguishing feature of our garden
Our garden combines cultivars and native plants, each in mini-gardens carved from our grassy front yard. It faces the street and we get to share it with everyone who passes by.
How did we become involved in native plant gardening and what motivated us to concentrate on native plants?
I sensed that the world was never going to be the same after the pandemic. A grassy lawn all of a sudden seemed like a silly cultural affectation and a terrible waste of space. I wanted to create a welcoming habitat for bees and birds.
Native plants are sturdy and reliable, a good investment. They are magnets for all of the “native wildlife” I wanted to support. I wanted to create a healthy little ecosystem. And I am continuously rewarded — a big toad came to visit this year!
Have you encountered any unexpected challenges or surprises?
My garden teaches and surprises me every day. Examples: What I thought was dead, was just a late bloomer. Some plants like to be near each other – they thrive in a shared location. Good life lessons. I am challenged by our beautiful river birches, which we planted at the same time as our garden. As they continue to grow, they are starting to block the sunlight.
Have you grown especially attached to specific plants? (Why?)
I am fickle. I fall in love with each one when it’s at its blooming peak, and then I move on to my next love affair.
Tips for getting started with native plant gardening
Get ideas from The Botanic Garden and other gardens. There’s valuable info on the internet. Look for knowledgeable people at nurseries.
Molly’s Garden
Distinguishing feature of our garden
We thought our garden location might be a big challenge. It sits partly in shady woods, on a little hill that drains rainwater away from the plants, with a lot of shade and only irregular sunlight. How would we be able to find plants that would thrive in such a location?We found lots of options – and learned that once established, native plants are able to do just fine with local rainfall providing need water and they’re fine with on again-off again sun exposure. No irrigation systems needed after they are established.
How did we become involved in native plant gardening and what motivated us to concentrate on native plants?
We started reading about the plight of pollinators all over the US — for example, monarch butterfly populations have declined by 80% since the 1990s — largely due to loss of habitats and over-reliance on water-hogging grass. Such losses got us wondering if we could build a local environment that could help reverse such terrible losses. When the Habitat Highland Park collaboration with the National Wildlife Federation got started in our town in 2023, we knew we had found a knowledgeable community that could teach us about how our garden could make a difference. Here’s an example of our Cardinal Flowers, a pollinator-friendly July and August bloomer.
Have you encountered any unexpected challenges or surprises? Have you grown especially attached to specific plants? (Why?)
We love the delicacy of Early Meadow Rue and were surprised by its hearty ability to thrive even in low sun light and high foot traffic. It emerges in April and May and resists both Chicagoland’s very cool spring temperatures (low 40s and 50s) well into late May and the hot, humid, and increasingly dry conditions of mid- to late summer. Who would have thought these beauties could thrive in such variable conditions? They’re very cheerful and they wave at us with every breeze. We were also surprised that native plants can complement cultivars. Cultivars don’t have to be banned from your garden if you want to experiment with natives. They play well together.
Name of our garden
Molly’s Garden — it’s hearty enough to tolerate lots of shade, rabbits and other wildlife, and our labradoodle’s daily garden inspections without tempting her to eat what she discovers.
Tips for getting started with native plant gardening
Native plants come in a huge variety of sizes and shapes! Don’t assume you are limited to sunny locations or very tall plants if you want to try native plant gardening. Tall natives such as Joe-Pye or Prairie Dock are pollinator magnets and can be beautiful in the right locations. But if you have limited space, prefer low growing varieties, or just want to start small and experiment, there are many information sources that explain the wide variety of native plants, their flowering periods, and the conditions in which they will thrive. Here’s a handy guide for Illinois native plants to get started. And don’t forget to check in regularly with Go Green Highland Park for lots of articles and event information in the Habitat Corner section of the website.
