CottageGardener Ⓥ
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cottagegardener.bsky.social
CottageGardener Ⓥ
@cottagegardener.bsky.social
810 followers 220 following 360 posts
Southern Ontario-based wildlife gardener, animal lover, environmentalist 🇨🇦🌱 Working towards a 100% native plant garden. About 2/3rds done with removing the lawn.
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Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) just keeps on giving. Even as the flowerheads dry out at this time of year, it still looks showy. Easy to propagate and drought tolerant. Larval host for American and Painted Lady #butterflies.

#NativePlants #gardening #bloomscrolling
From pollinator food (September 21) to becoming winter bird food (this week) - Dog-tooth Daisy (Helenium autumnale), aka Sneezeweed, looks amazing in the wildlife garden. I have it next to Joe Pye, as its blooms peak as the JP fades.

#nativeplants #gardening #ontarionativeplants
One bumblebee 🐝 sheltering in Anise Hyssop this morning as we head into what will likely be our first round of overnight frost.

#inverts #gardening #nativeplants
Reposted by CottageGardener Ⓥ
Is your yard bird friendly? Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) built this nest using Spanish moss & more in a coral honeysuckle thicket. They also are the primary consumers of the honeysuckle berries. Read, "Coral honeysuckle creates habitat," greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2025/08/cora...
Vegan - because the animal suffering at the hands of animal-use industries is unbearable. Because it makes a massive difference to my environmental footprint. The health benefits are a bonus, but I’ll take it.
Staking season. 🤓

My experiments with the #ChelseaChop in late spring yielded promising results this year. Planning to be a little less conservative with it in 2026.

#NativePlants #gardening
Reposted by CottageGardener Ⓥ
A Ladybird sheltering in an unfurling bracken frond. #naure #wildlife #insects #InsectThursday
So uplifting! Thanks for a lovely post. 😀
Asters providing great colour and pollinator food in the garden today:

Flat-topped aster
Sky Blue aster
Calico aster (behind the Pearly Everlastings)
New England aster

#nativeplants #gardening #bloomscrolling #wildflowers
Ladybird / Ladybug nesting in a curled up New Jersey Tea leaf this morning . 🐞❤️

#nativeplants #inverts #gardening
Native Clematis (Clematis virginiana) in August (left) and September (right). It can be a prolific reseeder. But flowers emerge on new growth each season, so you can cut it back as needed or remove seed heads.

#nativeplants #whatyouplantmatters #gardening #ontarionativeplants
Hope the vertigo goes away quickly.
Reposted by CottageGardener Ⓥ
I was asked how to keep Japanese honeysuckle from coming back after pulling. You need to get these nodules at the base. Pulling just detaches the stem. If you leave these, they regrow. Usually giving it a purple nurple as you pull gets it out, but a soil knife works too. #invasivespecies
Insect acrobatics this morning. 🤓

#inverts #nativeplants #gardening #whatyouplantmatters - in this case, Stiff-leaved Goldenrod (Solidago rigida), which tolerates dry conditions.
Who needs all those mainstream chrysanthemums (🥱) this time of year when Bottle Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) looks so showy from late summer to first frost and provides pollinator food?

#nativeplants #gardening #bloomscrolling #ontarionativeplants
Not native plant related, I know. But this sheep is just so cute!

#sheep #animals #vegan #sentientbeings
For anyone who needs a pickmeup —Jim at your service 🫡

Did you know sheep LOVE dandelions? 🌼

Whilst we’re busy foraging flowers, our hay bales are going down quickly due to poor grazing —if you can buy the sheep a bale or two, Jim would be so HUGELY grateful:

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding... ❤️
Finally found Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa) for the garden this year and it’s turned into a gorgeous, showy plant with long-lasting flowers and attractive seed pods. Highly, highly recommended.

#nativeplants #gardening #bloomscrolling