Hello Everyone!
I was lucky enough to recently purchase an old horse farm in the Hudson Valley area of NY (zone 6B), and I’m embarking on a journey to transform most of the fields into meadows with only native, non-cultivar plants. However, I wanted to create a more formal garden closer to my house, focusing primarily on native plants.
Since I’m doing all of the work myself, I thought I’d share what I’ve managed to accomplish this fall! I’m really looking forward to seeing everything fill in next year. I’m posting here because none of my friends seem to share my level of excitement for this project, haha.
For some context regarding the pictures:
– I smothered about 2,500 square feet of grass this summer and edged the area with around 400 feet of Belgian block (which still needs to be leveled—so no judging on that!).
– I plan to remove the Catalpa tree because it’s too close to the septic leach field.
– I’ve planted over 400 plugs, with native species including:
- Deschampsia cespitosa 'Goldtau' – Tufted Hair Grass 'Goldtau'
- Pycnanthemum muticum – Short Toothed Mountain Mint
- Chelone obliqua 'Tiny Tortuga' – Turtlehead 'Tiny Tortuga'
- Echinacea purpurea – Coneflower
- Amsonia hubrichtii – Arkansas Bluestar
- Verbena stricta – Hoary Vervain
- Liatris spicata – Dense Blazing Star
- Baptisia alba – White False Indigo
- Baptisia australis – Blue False Indigo
- Liatris pycnostachya – Prairie Blazing Star
- Eutrochium purpureum – Sweet Joe Pye Weed
- Andropogon gerardii 'Red October' – Big Bluestem 'Red October'
- Eryngium yuccifolium – Rattlesnake Master
- Itea virginica – Sweetspire
If anyone has suggestions for what I can plant against the stone wall in spring (it gets partial sun with about 4-5 hours of sunlight in the early morning), I’d love to hear them. I’m already starting to edge that area and will be smothering it soon. The space is around 3,000 square feet, and I’d prefer to plant large masses that won’t require a lot of maintenance once established.
by Sure_Ticket9888