I live with my Mom, who needs help with IADLs now that she is pushing 90. We are in upstate New York. My parents had a plain green yard, to which I have just this year started adding plants. Mom has given me carte blanche to do whatever I like in the yards, front and back. The problem is heavy clay, acidic soil, and dappled shade. So the front yard will wait until I'm better at gardening here. [I had great gardens when I lived in Lexington, KY, but we’re talking different microclimate and very different soils.]
If possible, I’d like to crowd as many plants as possible into the back garden, to do our little part to help combat climate change. Although we always hear about trees absorbing carbon, all plants absorb some carbon, and diversity of plantings is important for plant health and for wildlife habitat. Also, we enjoy our aminal habitat, and colourful flowers like the above that are pleasing to the eye. Ideally, we’d have a colourful palette of flowers and/or leaves in every season, and minimal lawn monoculture.
Local daily wildlife currently include a variety of birds, squirrels (or skwirls as I like to call them) and (as long as we aren’t outdoors) bunnies! We also have a variety of evening/nighttime wildlife that I can’t even begin to photograph, including skunks, possums, raccoons, and groundhogs.
