"Sleep, creep, leap": Gardening's steady rewards
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Photos: Mary Claire Green for Axios
I can't remember the last time I saw so many monarch butterflies.
- For the past few weeks they've been all over the asters in our yard. Walk outside our house, and you'll see them (and so much more) on the blanket flowers, the blazing stars and the zinnias.
Why it matters: "Sleep, creep, leap" — a gardening adage used to describe the three-year growth pattern of perennial plants — has played out at our home since the summer of 2023. In the process, my wife and I have befriended neighbors and learned to love looking outside the window.
- Two years ago, I convinced her to let me turn part of our sad front lawn into a (mostly) native plants bed.
- Out went the evergreen shrubs and invasive vines. About a third of our lawn disappeared.
- In went coneflowers, bluestems, milkweeds and our state flower, goldenrod. Our neighbor divided her stunning aromatic aster and gifted it to us. Our parents eagerly offloaded plants on us too.
It was chaos. The weeds were brutal, and we had no idea what we were doing.
- We overwatered some of the plants, killing them with too much love. But we kept at it. Even in year one ("sleep"), we saw new color, insects and birds.
- In year two ("creep"), most of it came back up. We had a hot, dry summer. The lawn looked grim, but the native plants were just fine. They've adapted for this.
This was year three — "leap." Plants spread out and filled the space. They bloomed earlier and longer, and the weeds weren't nearly as bad.
- Our tallgrass prairie version of a cottage garden had arrived.
Between the lines: I'm an introvert by nature and loathe small talk.
- But I've found that these plants are my version of a suburban dad's perfect green lawn. If you want to talk plants, I'm your guy.
- Next year we'll start dividing many of our plants to share with friends, family and neighbors.
And some days, we just get to marvel at all the butterflies.
