Periwinkle Gardens

09/03/2026

Have you tried any of these 🌱

08/18/2026

Butterfly bush is the one worth singling out. It's a nectar bar and nothing else, because no North American caterpillar can eat its leaves. Butterflies feed on it and then have nowhere to lay eggs, so a yard full of it draws adults and produces none. It's also invasive in the Pacific Northwest and parts of the East.

Daylilies and daffodils are less harmful and equally useless. They occupy space and feed almost nothing.

The caveat on natives: native to your region, not native to the continent. And skip the double-flowered cultivars, which are bred for extra petals at the cost of the pollen and nectar underneath.

07/25/2026

Saving your own flower seeds is one of the easiest ways to build a garden for next season without spending a dime, and these eight flowers are about as beginner friendly as seed saving gets.

Zinnias are a great starting point since their seed heads dry naturally right on the plant. Once the bloom has completely browned and dried, simply pull it apart and the arrow shaped seeds will separate easily from the chaff. Marigolds work similarly, but the technique is slightly different. Let the spent bloom dry fully on the plant until it turns brown and papery, then pull the seeds directly from the base of the dried flower, where they sit in a tight cluster of long, dark seeds with pale tips.

Cosmos seeds need a bit more attention to timing, since the thin, needle like seeds tend to drop on their own once fully mature. Checking plants every few days once the blooms have faded and collecting before they scatter will save you from losing most of your harvest to the ground. Sunflowers are one of the most rewarding seeds to save, and the timing cue is easy to spot, wait until the back of the flower head turns brown and the petals have dried and fallen away, which signals the seeds inside are fully mature and ready to be rubbed out.

Coneflowers require the cone itself to dry completely before the seeds are ready. Once it's dry and brittle, rubbing the cone between your fingers or palms releases the seeds from the spiky seed head. Black-eyed Susans are even simpler, just snip the dried seed heads once they've turned dark and papery, then crumble them to release the small dark seeds.

Nasturtiums are unique on this list because the seeds are large, wrinkled, and pea sized, and the easiest method is simply picking up mature seeds that have naturally fallen to the ground beneath the plant once they've turned tan and hardened. Bachelor's button, also called cornflower, follows the same basic method as zinnias and marigolds, letting the seed head dry completely on the plant before pulling out the long, papery seeds clustered at its center.

The common thread across all eight is patience. Every one of these depends on letting the seed head fully dry on the plant rather than harvesting too early, since seeds collected before they've matured usually won't germinate reliably. Store them in a paper envelope in a cool, dry spot once collected, and you'll have free seeds ready to go for next year's garden 🌻🌱

05/05/2026

Companion planting can be helpful, but I always treat it as a small bonus and not a magic fix for every garden problem 🌱
🥕 I do like pairing crops that naturally fit well together, like tomatoes with basil, or carrots with onions.
🌼 Flowers like marigolds and nasturtiums are some of my favorite companion plants because they add color and make the garden feel fuller too.
🍅 What helps most in my experience is still the basics: good spacing, enough sun, healthy soil, and keeping plants watered properly.
🪴 I use companion planting more as a guide for smart grouping than as a strict rulebook.
🌿 If something has not worked for you in the past, trust what your own garden keeps showing you.

04/25/2026