What Does Your Garden Grow?

It’s the time of year when many gardeners are completing their catalog orders in anticipation of this year’s growing season. There is a joy in envisioning how these new plants will contribute to our gardens, aesthetically and in service to our pollinator friends. But what would happen if you left an area untouched? What would your garden grow, without any intervention on your part?

Letting a part of your garden go wild would give you a glimpse into its natural vegetation. Often, you will find non-native plants. In my case, I have plenty of clover, henbit, and both lesser and greater celandine. More concerningly, I have found a few invasives, like garlic mustard and multiflora rose, which I remove promptly. I have also found several native volunteers–and you may be similarly delighted to find native species growing spontaneously in your own garden if given the chance.

A few native volunteers in my garden include: white wood aster (Aster divarcatus), common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis), and jewelweed (Impatiens capensis, pictured below), with its lovely orange flowers resembling single snapdragon blooms that attract bumblebees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Leave a spot or two in your garden untouched, and you too may find a few welcome surprises.