Adding Diversity to the Farm
Guess where we went today.
No, not prison. Try again.
No, not Jurassic Park. These photos are from a whimsical and unusual plant nursery, Annie’s Annuals and Perennials. While we prefer to shop locally, sometimes a business is so outstanding that it is worth the extra effort. Annie’s Annuals specializes in unusual plants that are less common in big box stores. On this particular day we attended a talk about biodiversity and low water plants. This is one on several free talks we have attended. We also did some shopping choosing some of our favorites as well as some plants to take space away from weeds. Let me explain.
Have you ever noticed that, even if you completely ignore the plants in your garden, the plants change from year to year. Not by your design, but sometime birds and other creatures bring in new seeds. However, another cause is that each year’s conditions are a little different from the previous one. Periods of unusual warmth, cold, water, et cetera change which seeds will germinate at which time. Sometimes the weeds are dominated by foxtails and the next may be dandelions and the next filaree. The changing conditions select for different types of plants. The more diversity one has, the more resilient your landscape will be to changes in water, temperature, and other conditions.
Some of the plants bought today were also chosen to compete with the weeds. When I use the term ‘weeds’ I refer not to plants that I don’t want but rather to species of annual plants that grow quickly, disperse seeds, and die with little contribution to the soil health. So I purchased annuals that will shelter and care for the soil long-term to protect against compaction and evaporation. I was grateful that Annie’s Annuals had such a large selection of native annuals.
This particular day was dreary, cold, and even had a few sprinkles. Therefore the photographs I took do not show the nursery at its best. Also, since it’s the middle of winter, some of the demonstration garden plantings were incomplete and the row ends were not as spectacular as they usually are. These areas give you an idea of how the full-grown plants may look and how you could arrange them.
Here are some more pictures of the nursery.
Keyhole garden with planting still in progress
Annie’s Annuals large selection (just a part of it)
Footpath in part of the demonstration garden.
Some of the whimsical decor.
In addition to small sections of demonstration gardens, the ends of the rows have great examples as well.