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The photos surrounding these words capture blooms in the first yard Journeywork planted in September 2022. The yard's owner, Faith, took these pictures last season and this spring. Clockwise, they are foxglove beardtongue, anise hyssop, spotted bee balm, and butterfly weed.
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Our newsletter this month documents all our spring actions that will yield more gardens of wonder in years to come. We have been as busy as...bees.
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With summer comes weeding, of course, but also sweet time to enjoy the blooms and the creatures they attract. If you participated in Pollinator Palooza, you will begin seeing anise hyssop and mountain mint flowers soon.
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When I talk about native plants, I often focus on the habitat they provide for insects and birds. As we add them to our landscapes, we are also enhancing our own habitat and the quality of our lives within it.
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May you enjoy some quality time this month watching bees and beetles, butterflies and birds. Keep reading for information about our upcoming not-a-lawn parties and weeding events!
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New gardens in North Wales & Lower Gwynedd
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Ten volunteers came joyfully together on June 9 to plant sun-loving plants in a yard in North Wales. Species included butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), aromatic aster (Symphiotrichum oblongifolium), calico beardtongue (Penstemon calycosus), black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta), and wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana).
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On June 2, a plucky team of six volunteers added flowers and sedges to a yard in Lower Gwynedd where we planted shrubs in April. This moist and partial shade area includes blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum), blue flag iris (Iris versicolor), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), golden alexander (Zizia aurea), gray sedge (Carex grayi), and creek sedge (Carex amphibola).
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Xerces Society grant at
Plymouth Meeting Friends School
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Fourteen volunteers had a ball installing 1,100 plant plugs in the new meadow at Plymouth Meeting Friends School on June 1 and June 5. The Xerces Society generously provided twenty species of pollinator plants including culver's root, dense blazingstar, blue vervain, yellow wild indigo, yarrow, and oxeye sunflower. (See below for an opportunity to check out the plants and do a little weeding!)
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This is our 5,000th plant of 2024!
Say hello to this blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum), one of the 5,161 native plants that Journeywork has added to our local habitat this spring. This is a big leap from the 1,129 plants that we planted in all of 2023.
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Want to welcome more native plants to your yard? Summer is a great time for a consultation! You can be part of the next 5,000!
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Pollinator Palooza participants share their progress
Lynore sent in a photo of her garden (below left) at the beginning of June. She reports that she lost a few plants at the beginning to a rabbit or chipmunk, but everything else has been doing well through the heat.
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Ruth used the Pollinator Palooza project as a source of inspiration for her garden (below center and right) and shares these observations, "The garden bed is really a fun experiment. With sunflower and safflower seeds from the birdfeeder that have self seeded, it really makes the bed full. I have planted other native plants transplanted from my yard as well as some of Journeywork's plugs. I've noticed more birds and squirrels lingering in the bed. Previously there was only grass below the bird feeders where birds and squirrels did not hang out. And as flowers emerge from my plantings, I am seeing more bees and butterflies. I'm looking forward to all the seasons with this new garden."
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Ruth is also a member of the Whitpain Township Environmental Advisory Council, which recently launched Whitpain Township's Sustainable Property Program. It is a wonderful initiative for Whitpain residents, and their website offers bountiful information for non-residents too!
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Not-a-lawn Parties!
You are cordially invited to visit some Journeywork yards, check out the plants, ask questions, and sip lemonade at our upcoming not-a-lawn parties.
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Four yard owners will be hosting parties, and I will be available at each event to share information about the process, the prep, and the plants.
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7/27 from 10:00-11:00 in North Wales
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8/17 from 10:00-11:30 in East Norriton
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8/17 from 1:00-2:30 in North Wales
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8/18 from 3:00-4:30 in Lower Gwynedd
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Volunteer spotlight
Mark has volunteered with Journeywork since our first project in 2022 and has given 23 hours of his time so far. Thank you, Mark! We recently asked him why he volunteers, and he responded:
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Paige introduced me to Journeywork as a place to replace some of the traditional lawn areas with native plants that will both beautify properties and help bees and birds in the pollination process. I am so tired of many of the people in town that resort to using pesticides on their lawns to kill ticks and mosquitos which in the process also kill our lightning bugs, bees, and then some birds and owls. I am just volunteering an hour or two at a time and helping to make both our yard, other local yards, and churches' yards more beautiful and effective for sustainability. Plus, it is fun.
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Let's weed!
Come have some fun maintaining two of our new gardens! We will be weeding at
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Gwynedd Friends School on Tuesday, July 23 from 7:00-8:00 pm and
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Plymouth Meeting Friends School on Monday, July 29 from 7:00-8:00 pm.
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We will have gloves available. And popsicles!
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Journeywork gives a plant grant
to Baldi Middle School
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At the end of the school year, Kimberli Hunt and her students added 84 native pollinator plants to their existing garden beds at C.C.A. Baldi Middle School in Philadelphia. Great job! Plants included black-eyed Susans, butterfly weed, mountain mint, spotted bee balm, anise hyssop, and foxglove beardtongue.
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If Journeywork inspires you to sheet mulch, start seeds, or plant some native plants in your yard, please send us a picture! Let's celebrate and support each other!
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