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While visiting family in Denver a few weeks ago, I made my annual visit to SummerHome Garden (you can see some of my photos here), Lisa Negri's generous gift of inspiration, advice, and seeds for Denver folks who want to replace their thirsty lawns with water-wise plants. Driving around the corner to see another yard I have admired, I was happy to meet its owner, Nell (above), who was out "editing" her yard.
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When you plant densely, it doesn't take long to reach a sweet spot where you don't have to weed much. As John Mark Courtney observed in his Summer Solstice talk, your weeds are just more of the species you planted. You just need to edit. You might want to keep them where they volunteer, or you might want to move them or just remove them. That's what Nell was doing while we talked. She said that she began with a few plants that she liked, not all native, and began adding more native plants to her yard as she learned more about them. She encourages her neighbors to find a plant they really like and try it. If you like it, she says, plant more. She tells them that you don't have to know everything to be able to do something. And she echoes my mantra: just start!
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The lanceleaf coreopsis in the bottom left photo appeared this year in the pollinator garden at Gwynedd Friends Meeting, gifted by a bird perhaps, or the wind. I have left it to smile upon the mountain mint that surrounds it. Some grass-leaved goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia) showed up in our rain garden two years ago, and I have let it stay, as seen in the center photo with anise hyssop that I planted.
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The photo on the right shows some of the clouds of bee balm supporting and surrounding phlox and echinacea in Gwynedd's pollinator garden. The bee balm, also known as wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), spreads easily by rhizomes and self-seeding, and I have let it spread. It is a pollinator powerhouse, supporting three specialized bees, hosting the larvae of two moth and one butterfly species, and providing food to fritillary and swallowtail butterflies, ruby-throated hummingbirds, and many other bees, beetles, skippers, moths, and wasps.
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This month's newsletter celebrates all these native plants, planted or self-sown, living their best lives in our yards, at our schools and churches, and in our parks. I hope you are enjoying the garden parties of plants and wildlife in your neck of the woods.
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Pollinator Palooza in bloom
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Thank you, dear readers who have responded to my request for Pollinator Palooza garden photos!
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If you ordered a fall Pollinator Palooza set, the pick-up will be on Saturday, September 12 from 9:00-11:00 at Gwynedd Friends Meeting. If you want to help prepare the plant sets (lots of fun!), click this button.
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above left: Jean's third year garden; above right: Inta's third year garden
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above left: Jean's second year garden; above right: Lynore's third year garden
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above left: Ashana's second year; center: Inta's garden close up; right: Brendan's first year
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July volunteers got things done!
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From planting a full sun garden in Mt. Airy in the full sun to weeding in the Plymouth Meeting Friends School meadow and the Gwynedd Friends Meeting burial ground, Journeywork volunteers built community as they improved habitat! Many thanks to all our volunteers who helped out!
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buzzing and blooming in board members' gardens
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Our board members share a commitment to supporting pollinators with native plants, whether they live here or Maryland or Massachusetts. Here are a few snapshots from their yards. Can you find all the bees?
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not-a-lawn parties
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We are having a couple of actual garden parties in August, or as we like to say, not-a-lawn parties, and you are invited! Join us on Sunday, August 16 from 1:30-2:30 in Blue Bell and 3:30-4:30 in North Wales to see two gardens that we installed last year.
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upcoming events
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We would love to see you at any of these events--if you want to help us at a community fair, please let me know!
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September 12: Pollinator Palooza pick up at Gwynedd Friends Meeting, 9:00-11:00
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September 12: not-a-lawn party in Lansdale, 1:00-2:00 RSVP here
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A Journeywork yard for sale
Faith and Bart signed up for the first Journeywork installation in 2022. Journeywork volunteers, alongside Faith and Bart, planted in their front yard, removed many invasive shrubs in their backyard, and planted there too! Hayden Remick of Remick Native Landscapes has been helping them manage their landscape since then. Now they are moving and hoping to find new owners who will love the habitat they have fostered as much as they do.
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This is from their realtor:
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Have you dreamed of owning your own private wooded oasis, while still enjoying all the conveniences of living in Montgomery County? Here's your chance. This lovingly maintained custom colonial in East Norriton township is now available for the first time, from its original owners. What makes this home extra special is that the owners invested years of work to remove all invasive species of plants on the 3/4 acre property and replace them with native perennials, transforming the rear yard into a woodland meadow and the front yard into a pollinator garden to attract butterflies. This also translates to low maintenance for the homeowner as there is little mowing required!
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looking for youth board member and intern
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Journeywork is seeking high school students interested in ecology, gardening, and native plants to serve on our board and/or to volunteer as an intern. Please click the button for more information and to apply.
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I visited Calder Gardens in Philadelphia for the first time a few weeks ago and look forward to visiting the gardens designed by Piet Oudolf again throughout the season to see the blooms and textures change.
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Through August 3, the museum is also showing 2 short films about Alexander Calder's miniature wire circus--an extra treat!
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Concrete Botany
Joey Santore tells it like it is, and I am enjoying his recounting in Concrete Botany of how he became interested in native plants through his relentless curiosity to learn how plants interact with everything around them. He has travelled the world documenting plants, and through that documentation, taught himself botany and shared his passion with others.
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If you buy Concrete Botany (or any book) through our affiliate page on Bookshop.org, you support Journeywork.
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the Journeywork journey
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We are doing consultations now for fall planting--our schedule is almost full. We can create a garden design for you, source the plants, and plan a fall installation event.
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It is not too late to become a Journeywork member and get 5% off plants from Edge of the Woods Nursery and 10% off plants from Good Host Plants. (new Edge of the Woods rate for 2026)
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