Finalized my native seed order

 I have been dithering over this list for months now, I create it, I remove everything and start again. I add everything then I whittle it down then I read something new about another species and I add that one, then I remove something else trying to make the amount reasonable. 

Anyways, Fellabees had a sale, so I finally went through checkout and solidified my native seeds for the year. I know I missed some I probably wanted. There are a couple I may have to go to another website for- particularly there's a native Michigan lily that I really wanted to start from seed but I think only Prairie Moon has it. There's a couple obscure milkweed that I may have to go to a smaller website for.

Additionally, from Etsy I ordered Ipomea pandurata because I could find it nowhere else. 

Other then a couple small add ons, my native selection for 2026 will be the following:

Pale Indian Plantain (Arnoglossum atriplicifolium)

Tall Larkspur (Delphinium exaltatum)

Sky Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense)

Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum)

Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa)

Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium maculatum)

Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)

Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum)

Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium)

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)

Common Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata)

Early Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)

Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)

Dotted Blazing Star (Liatris punctata)

American Bellflower (Campanula americana)

Cream Gentian (Gentiana flavida)

Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum)

Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)

Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

Canada Milk Vetch (Astragalus canadensis)

Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens)

Prairie Coreopsis (Coreopsis palmata)

Smooth Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)

Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)

Green Spider Milkweed (Asclepias viridis)

Bottle Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii)

Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis)

Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis crinita)

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

Slender Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium)

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

Monkey Flower (Mimulus ringens)

Virgins Bower (Clematis virginiana)

Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea)

Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)

Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)

Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus)

Purple Giant Hyssop (Agastache scrophulariifolia)

Yellow Giant Hyssop (Agastache nepetoides)

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Downy Sunflower (Helianthus mollis)

Prairie Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta)

Sensitive Pea (Chamaecrista nictitans)

White Sage (Artemisia ludoviciana)

Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum)

Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

Prairie Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii)

Downy Wood Mint (Blephilia ciliata)

Hairy Wood Mint (Blephilia hirsuta)

Maximilian's Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)

Large Flowered Beardtongue (Penstemon grandiflorus)

Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora)

Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata)

Slender Bush Clover (Lespedeza virginica)

White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)

New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus)

Upland White Goldenrod (Oligoneuron album)

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea)

Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)

Dotted Mint (Monarda punctata)

Royal Catchfly (Silene regia)

Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata)

Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)

Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Blue Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis)

Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata)

False Boneset (Brickellia eupatorioides)

These are just the straight natives- I have a lot of nativars that are still lingering in various online shopping carts. I know it's going to sound silly, but, this bit of shopping has really been hanging over me. Every weed that comes up in my yard is pretty much an invasive other than some golden rod and asters that belong there. This will take care of the bulk of the diversity my yard was missing and it should just be little touchups from here. 

 This is an old photo of a dahlia called Daydreamer that I grew this summer. Today we had our first snow and it's cold and grey and crazy to think a month ago it was sunshine and flowers. It finally got cold enough I couldn't dawdle any longer with dahlia storage and the remainder is now stored in the crawlspace for next year. It is still supposed to warm up next week- good thing as some late peony roots are arriving and I ordered clearance bareroot roses that I need to process and store.

Day Dreamer

Seed collecting continues- I think I have found any remaining dahlia seed that was usable. The pink cosmos is still making seeds somehow- it makes so many more seeds than the Rubinato cosmos that it's a bit ridiculous. Unfortuantely, I don't remember if these are supposed to be Fizzy Rose Picotee cosmos or Apricotta cosmos as I bought both and thought I would magically just remember which was which. I was hoping to have enough of all of my cosmos varieties to be able to trade with other people for more colors, but, only the pink really made enough seeds for that. The other varieties I bought just made enough seeds to replace themselves next year and a smidge more.

I ran around like crazy before the snow taking cuttings of all of my chrysanthemums- I really should have taken cuttings a few weeks ago, these have been hit with frost so many times that they look a bit bleak. I skipped matchsticks as it looked like it was having some kind of issue and it would be just my luck to bring some loathsome virus into the house. Granted, it could just be wind/frost damage, but, we'll see what it looks like in the spring.