It's Always A Good Time to Plant

Short's aster - Symphyotrichum shortii

Green eyes - Berlandiera subacaulis

Softhair coneflower - Rudbeckia mollis
We've had more than 4 inches of rain over the past few days after a month of virtually none. Today, with the soil moist once more, made it a good day to plant. I've been growing a number of plants in the Asteraceae in my hobby nursery, Hawthorn Hill, with this purpose in mind. Asters are the best  overall plants doe pollinators and I've never been satisfied with the few choices that have been ofered by the commercial native plant nurseries. My hobby, coupled with my new blank slate of a landscape is permitting me to experiment with a number of species that are not routinely offered by others - some that have never been as far as I know. If these are successful, they will add to the species that I can offer others in the future and while they grow they offer me firsthand experience in what they might require in a landscape.
Plants in landscapes are not the same as they are "in the wild".  Biotic forces that might limit their distribution in nature can be compensated in a landscape. Seed germination that might require cold stratification, for example, can be performed in a refrigerator. I'm adding a few species, like the green eyes (Berlandiera subacaulis), that occur just down the street from me as well as asters like Short's aster (Symphyotrichum shortii) that barely get here from states to our immediate north. Short's aster has only been recorded in Jackson and Liberty Counties. I am excited to be growing a few here as it's a beautiful species that seems to be largely unknown here in Florida. It may not do well in my landscape and that experiment is worth the effort I've put in so far.
I've run out of room in my front pollinator garden so this expansion to the south of my deciduous woodland is where these new plants need to go. I've got a couple more growing on the back burner, so to speak, and then I'll be out of room here as well.  My planting goal is to have these spread and eventually fill in this front apron of open space. All of this may take a year or more, but there's no fun in having nothing left to plant or poke around with.  As I continue to plant here, I'm also doing so in my nursery. Life doesn't stop because of social distancing...

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