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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Cracked open a seed pod of white wild indigo (Baptisia alba) and was aghast to see that I was being mooned by a row of bawdy seeds.

Black seed pods against a green background.

Pale mooning seeds in a half pod held in a hand.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Although you’re tired, you’re still a sunflower to me.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

You know what’s fun? After 6 years of willing a plant to show up in your restored area, you find it. Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) has finally been discovered in Turtle Valley. Even went ahead and made a seed pod. Verification shot of milky sap exuding from tear.

Green plant with seed pod on grassy green background.

Green broadleaf outlined by white milky sap.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

And for good measure: Majestic! I like that I reread this post at least 3 times and still left the same describer in twice.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Behold the majestic cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum). This majestic specimen is every bit of 8 feet tall, with a girthy square stem.

Tall sunflower plant mostly green in a green field and wooded background and a blue sky with white clouds.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Does anyone have a guess as to what has poked into a drying stem of my Illinois bundleflower? I’m wondering if it was a bee of some sort?

Stem of plant with notches evenly spaced.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

A bumblebee bee (Bombus sp.) seeks refuge from the rain under a sunflower.

Yellow flower with bee clinging to the underside set against green background

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Released a Luna Moth (Actias luna). The tails act as sound-disrupting instruments that deter bat echolocation.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

The first observed blooming Penstemon digitalis in Turtle Valley comes just a few seconds before a low hum of encroaching bumblebees.

White flowers with a green vegetation background.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Always fun to document the first blooming lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) in the valley. grownative.org/native_plant...

Yellow flower in green field with child looking down at it.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Finally! Blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) blooming in my valley. This was planted via broadcast seed in winter 2019. grownative.org/native_plant...

Deep Purple flowers on green field background.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Happy to see many dewy common blue violets (Viola sororia) blooming In the valley today. grownative.org/native_plant...

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Taking a closer look at my first blooming Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), I’m fairly certain it’s haunted by tiny little ghosts with the eyeholes cut out of their spectral sheets.

Normal looking globular white flower with pond background.

White petals of globular flower with 2 black dots on each looking like ghost eyes.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

This Delta Flower Scarab (Trigonopeltastes delta) was a welcome visitor on one of the many Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) plants.

Striking white triangled-lined beetle on a blooming pointed flower head.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

I like how this rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) is leaning over to photobomb this shot of other flowers.

Pink, yellow and light green flowers amongst green vegetation.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Happy National Prairie Day! If you didn’t get out for it, nobody will fault you for getting out a day late!

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

www.prairiemoon.com/senna-marila... This looks like something I should have seen… maybe it was amongst all the partridge pea.

prairiemoon.com

Senna marilandica

Check out the deal on Senna marilandica at Prairie Moon Nursery

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Today I found Maryland senna (Senna marilandica) seed pods standing tall on my normal walk. I had no idea this had grown in my own backyard this year. So distressing/amazing to me how I can overlook a showy plant with bright yellow flowers. Reminder to me to take my time and enjoy the sights.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

The perpetual war. Down here I’m dealing with Multiflora rose and Japanese Honey suckle. Good luck on your front.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Yes, although I don’t have much experience with it, this is my first year doing it on my own. Here is a resource on how to implement it cceputnamcounty.org/resources/na...

cceputnamcounty.org

Cornell Cooperative Extension | Native Seeds of Fortitude: Winter Seed Sowing

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

What were you using for your spray? Curious to see what works the best. I’ve cut and used tordon on stumps with moderate success, I’ve had about 1/3 grow back.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Took out a Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) while it was pioneering across my grassland patch. I then took the opportunity to use it as a de facto seed agitator while I dragged it to the burn pile through stands of asters and goldenrods.

Cut down small honey locust being dragged through field.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Shortly after this photo, this egg case was dispatched and fed to the bluegill in our shallow pond.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Here is an egg case (ootheca) of an invasive Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis), where “dozens to hundreds” of eggs lay in wait to indiscriminately attack and kill native beneficial insects. extension.illinois.edu/blogs/flower...

Brown egg case of invasive mantis on stem of partridge pea plant.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

So much potential within the tiny, diverse crowd. After the last snow we had, I scattered these seeds in the fescue patch I’m converting into native forbs. After this picture I raked and spread them out more so as to give them some space to flourish.

Native seeds spread on snow with glove for scale.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Fire and Ice, and a splash of Spice. Let’s see if we can get this patch turned into a pollinator haven. Snow is great for highlighting what areas need to be doused with seeds to try and achieve a decent spread.

Seeds in a measuring cup against snow background

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

In order to control my fire lines I put a piece of tempered glass to good use and smothered the flames.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

When the world feels like a wildfire, put your mind at ease and prescribe your own fire. Conditions were pretty good today to get a fescue inundated patch (10m X 10m) treated with the flames.

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Reposted by JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration

Pen Brady @penbradyart.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

The painting, “Moon Embrace”, completed in 1998, features Pen’s interpretation of a bat. The influence from Northwest Coast indigenous art still dominates the image.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Hope may be small at times, but it exists nonetheless. Walking through the backyard this weekend created explosions of foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) seeds.

Foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) in bloom

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Now drink some hot cocoa and/or eat chili while you stare at your milk jug hoping that just one of the seeds will reach maturity to provide delicious tacky sustenance for some lucky Monarch caterpillar.

Sad looking taped up milk jug on a snowy porch.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Make a label and place in butchered milk jug, tape to seal so the greenhouse can stay together, then plant it in the snow.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Let’s get those precious seeds and put them into the soil. For these, I lightly cover (~1/8 inch; 3 millimeters).

Finger pointing to milkweed seed on top of soil.

Finger tip barely in soil planting milkweed seed.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Time to get messy: add 4-5 inches (10-12 centimeters) of potting soil and pour water evenly to dampen. Once it starts coming out the bottom holes you might want to stop.

Split open milk jug with soil in the bottom half.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Cut around the jug (~90%) leaving a bit intact that can act like a hinge.

Cut open milk jug showing how it can be opened after cutting through middle.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Let’s whittle some holes in the top (ventilation) and the bottom (draining). Put your gloves on fool!

Knife plunging into the top of plastic milk jug

Knife at bottom of milk jug with hole already made.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

It’s snowing here! Let’s make some cheap greenhouses for starting Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). First grab an empty milk jug - (thread 1/7)

Empty plastic milk jug in front of backyard snowscape.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Celebrated the Newness of the Year by carving into milk jugs (and others) to get some native plants cold stratified. Put them in my fall-planted chicken exclosure native butterfly garden for now.

Plastic jugs behind fence on dead leaf ground with pink flags marking native plant locations.

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Reposted by JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation @xercessociety.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

This year, we awarded 111k native plants to 457 community partners nationwide through our habitat kit program! 🌻🪻🦋 That's 457 more pollinator-friendly spaces, where people can see firsthand how wildlife can thrive. Help us build even more in 2025! 💖🐝 xerces.org/give

“Supporting Xerces Means More People Building Connections With Wildlife” A group of bright flowering native plants, planted along a city main street.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

What got me was the husk of the seed. Here’s what an actual seed looks like:

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Who knew that Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) could bite? Everyone? …Oh, okay, me too.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) seeds from this morning’s stroll, that were directly applied to an adjacent bare soil patch. Although the seed heads may look spent, I only had to tap this one once on my palm to get ~ 35 seeds out. Here’s hoping that even just one of them flowers in 7 months.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Indeed I was hoping to get to this before the birds, but I’m usually slower… There are a few seeds at the bottom of this one (a couple puffs of white are visible) but most are gone. It had been a couple weeks since any rain when this photo was taken. Maybe a deer had a go with it?

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Here is an almost-spent species of blazing star (Liatris spp.). Since blazing stars tend to bloom from the top down, I was curious if anyone else sees the opposite in how they disperse their seeds? Is it because the birds move from the bottom to the top eating the seeds as they go?

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

You will get a tailored list and an Audobon-approved local retailer for the plants. Easier than storming an unsuspecting wedding party in a castle!

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

You can just put in your zip code, don’t worry about the email address. Then you can filter by what you/the intended target of your holiday cheer are after: type of plant, caterpillar attractor, certain bird groups (African Swallows perchance?), nuts, seeds, etc.

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JT Layne - Backyard Native Plant Restoration @laynejt.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

This holiday season, Your loved ones request SHRUBBERY! For native bird-centric options, use the Audobon’s native plant finder by zip code: www.audubon.org/native-plants

audubon.org

Native Plants

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