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Dinosaurs 🦕🌿, leaf artwork by Raku Inoue

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droplets

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It's just very important to me that you know prairie-style gardens exist.

Ok. Thank you. Carry on.

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From April 2022. What a beautiful month! I didn’t mean for the auricula primrose to be displayed so large but you know what? I was proud to have grown it from seed so why not? I hope April of 2023 is equally lovely!

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Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California

Photos by he_wanders_off

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Garden at Adachi Museum of Art, in Japan

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My largest arrangement full of one of my favorite kinds of plants. The echeveria Perle Von Nürnberg

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Mother of millions OR Mother of thousands? Regardless, this one is living up to the name!

Kalanchoe daigremontiana

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Fantastic Fenestration!

Monstera deliciosa aka Swiss Cheese Plant

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My old sweet doggo in his favorite resting spot 💚

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A botany valentine.

You can preorder my pretty & gross new picture book here.

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2021.01.11 

For the past two months I have not been able to put myself to anything houseplant related, even though I know they give me so much energy in return.

While both of my calatheas are shriveling up as the central-heated air indoors is becoming too dry for my humidifier to counteract (R.I.P. calathea roseopicta dottie) the grow lights still lie in the storage shed - mounted in a frame and all. I just.. I water. That is it. I let winter take heavy tolls on my psychological well-being.

However my Monstera Deliciosa is still gleaming as ever; even unfurling an absolutely stunning fenestrated leaf a few weeks ago. I cheer up a little every time I see it. And today that was enough to start writing again.

To anybody who is still with me: Thank you from the bottom of my heart - and may this be a wonderful new year ♡.

_Angel

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1.27.21 - blue dicks and phacelia

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Flowers for Bees!

Hey, all! 

Spring is coming up sooner than we know, and its about time for people to start planning their gardens! With news about climate and the state of bee populations, I know a lot of people are wanting to make pollinator gardens to help bees in their area, but may not know what to do asides from ‘plant flowers.’ 

So I set out to look at a bunch of websites, and use those sources, alongside my own experience as a gardener, to recommend a nice list of plants to include for a bee-friendly garden!*

Amongst all the websites I looked at, these are the ones that popped up! Bolded plants are ones that appeared a lot during this research–across at least 3 different sites, but sometimes as often as across 7!

Asteraceae (a family of plants containing asters, ageratum, calendula, coneflowers, coreopsis, cornflowers, cosmos, daisies, dandelions, echinops, goldenrod, joe-pye weeds, liatris, rabbit brush, rudbeckia, sunflowers, thistles, yarrow, zinnias, etc.)

Bluebells

Borage

Butterfly Bush (sometimes referred to by its genus, Buddleia)

Caltrop

Chives

Clematis

Clovers

Cotoneaster

Creosote bush

Crocus

Currant

Elder

Fabaceae (a family of plants containing alfalfa, clover, lupine, peas, peanuts, wisteria, etc.)

Fennel

Flowering Gum

Foxglove

Grevillea

Hebe

Hellebores

Honeysuckle

Hostas

Huckleberry

Lamiaceae (a family of plants containing agastache, basil, bee balm (sometimes referred to as its genus, Monarda), coleus, hyssop, lavender, marjoram, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage (sometimes referred to a its genus, Salvia), thyme, etc.)

Lilac

Lilies

Marjoram

Mignonette

Nasturtium

Oregon Grape

Pansy

Penstemon

Peony

Phlox

Pincushion flower

Poppy

Primula

Pussy willow

Queen Anne’s Lace

Red Maple Tree

Rhododendron

Rose

Scorpion-weed

Sedum

Siberian Squill

Snapdragons

Snowberry

Snowdrop

Sweet William

Thrift/Sea Thrift/Sea Pink

Tulip Poplar Tree

Verbena

Wallflower

Wild Buckwheat

Witch Hazel

I, as a gardener in Florida, have personal experience growing plants for pollinator gardens, and have noticed bees frequenting sunflowers, lavender, Mexican heather, bee balm, coneflowers, lantana, marigolds, milkweed, and zinnias a lot. This isn’t necessarily to dunk on other plants on the list–a lot of them I’ve never even seen in person, let alone had a chance to grow in a garden! See which ones would thrive in your area and give them a shot!

Another post is in the works regarding general planting advice, since this post is getting a bit long. Afterwards, there’ll be another post about things you can do for bees that don’t simply include planting flowers!

I hope this list is helpful to you! By all means, feel free to hop into my inbox and ask for further advice, or seek out resources on the internet as well! Happy gardening!

Sources: x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x 

* Bee friendly, but I didn’t specify a particular species, so it may be a bit honeybee-leaning. If there’s enough interest, I’ll start making posts for native bees specifically.