Plant native plants, get cool visitors! A hummingbird moth visits our monarda fistulosa.

Potting up these little ᏐᏣᎾ sochana cutleaf coneflower plugs today to give away! #nativeplants

An Eastern amberwing dragonfly on last year’s monarda fistulosa seed heads #nativeplants #savethestems

Common eastern bumblebee napping on my favorite native plant, rattlesnake master, ᏎᎳᏉᏯ in Cherokee #nativeplants #bees

We’ve been waiting for you! Our first tiger swallowtail butterfly, ᎧᎹᎹ ᎢᏣᎩ in Cherokee, visit of the year #nativeplants #butterflies

Monarda punctata, a funky flower favorite, with stacked caps of pale pink and light green blooms #nativeplants

Blade Runner skies in Massachusetts today. #climatechange #climateemergency #climate

July is monarda fistulosa month! Just as our milkweed blooms are disappearing, the lavender blooms of bee balm crank it up #nativeplants

It must be clubbed Mydas fly season! We spotted this guy in our native plants today too. He’s currently hiding in the cherry plum tree. What a cool pollinator!

Join me for a talk on one of our most prized Cherokee plants, sochan ᏐᏣᎾ, also known as cutleaf coneflower, in Philadelphia on August 1. Register to reserve your spot! The event is free and meals are provided. #indigisky

Look at the pollen pants on this little sweat bee. Daisy fleabane is always welcome to volunteer in our yard. 💛🖤 #nativeplants #bees

First monarch butterfly, ᎧᎹᎹ ᎤᏲᏎ in ᏣᎳᎩ Cherokee, of the year! #nativeplants #butterflies

An American copper, ᎠᎵᏂ in Cherokee, visits our mountain mint #nativeplants

One of our first butterfly visitors of the year! An American painted lady, ᏥᏓᏫ in Cherokee, visits our swamp milkweed #nativeplants

Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt. Every American needs an education on the Trail of Tears, Jackson, and the southeastern tribes.

Squash vine borer visits our common milkweed #nativeplants

Let’s hear it for wasps this Pollinator Week! Isodontia Mexicana visits our New Jersey tea 🖤 #nativeplants

Poor soil, dry, nothing wants to grow in a blasting sun location? Get yourself some New Jersey tea, ᏥᏳᎦᎵ in Cherokee, and watch your bumbles go wild on its delicate white flowers! This is year 3 for this small shrub, and she’s really coming in to her own #nativeplants

Wildflower seeds given to Massachusetts residents as part of the DCR Growing Wild events. If you need inspiration, start here. This mix was already cold stratified by New England Wetland Plants, according to staff at the event #nativeplants

ᎠᏔᏍᎩᏍᎩ milkweed buzzing with insect life #nativeplants

Had a helper while adding more native plants to the yard today! A silver spotted skipper ᎧᎹᎹ butterfly visits our common milkweed

I’m so excited! This is our first monarch caterpillar of the year! ᎤᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗ ᎠᏓᏁᏍᏓᎵ welcome caterpillar! #nativeplants

Common milkweed living up to her ᏣᎳᎩ Cherokee name of ᎠᏔᏍᎩᏍᎩ. She’s ready to explode with pale pink blooms #nativeplants

Black raspberry, rubus occidentalis, forming berries for our birds to enjoy. I know the humans won’t get any before our wildlife devour them! #nativeplants

ᏥᎦᎵᎵ a black-capped chickadee takes a bath on this sweltering June day. If you have the space please add water sources of all sizes to your yards and native plant gardens. Our birds need all the help they can get in this oppressive heat.

ᎤᏍᏗ ᎧᎹᎹ little butterfly! A Peck’s skipper found the evening primrose added to our yard just yesterday evening #nativeplants

And here is her partner on our ᏐᏣᎾ sochan cutleaf coneflower stems later the same morning

We spotted a female American Goldfinch this morning eating seeds from the stems of monarda fistulosa left standing from last year’s blooms 💛 #nativeplants #savethestems

Artwork by Jakeli Swimmer, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

We have a special guest inspecting our native plants today! Meet Sadie, my favorite garden companion. Sadie usually works with her caretaker at Nasami Farm but today she gets to visit us!