Evan X. Merz

This year I really committed to native plants. I pulled out nearly all of the non-native plants in my front yard. The only three non-native plants that remain are a Japanese Maple that the prior owner planted, a strawberry fruit tree that I planted when I first moved in, and some aeoniums that I use to shade the hottest part of the yard.

So I decided to submit my garden to the local native plants garden tour, The Growing Natives Garden Tour. I was excited to be accepted into the tour, and I used it to motivate me to spend a little more time planning and tending to my native garden this year.

That inspired me to redesign sections of the yard. I hunted down some beautiful hollow logs to act as tunnels for lizards and little critters. I added several more boulders and planted groups of native verbena and aster around them. I also moved some plants around in favor of aesthetics, which is not something I did in past years.

I made this little guide to what can be seen in my garden on the tour this year. I hope you will stop by on Saturday, March 18th, between 10am and 4pm.

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