Bee Balm Wildscapes

04/29/2026

Native gardens can be SO SLOW.

Here's my front yard, April 24 2025 (year 2) and April 24 2026 (year 3). This is the most intentional/non-chaos garden at my house and it's cool to see it come in to its own. Already you can see that the plants are off to a stronger start with their big year 3 root masses. Native gardens are SLOW, especially in shade. This will be the first year where this garden might look filled in and cohesive and not just a scattering of separated plants. And I planted this at one plant per SF! This is also the first year where I'm seeing lots of reseeding of forbs and spreading of my Carex pensylvanica. Because this was a relatively weed-free site and I used sheet mulching to prep the site I haven't done much maintenance on this garden in 2 years beyond pulling some tree/shrub seedlings, adding a few plants and spreading seeds of plants that I want more of. You can see that one maintenance task I haven't gotten around to is "find new spot for the random paver offcuts currently stacked as a wall"!

04/06/2026

What's that coming up in my yard oh it's just RAMPS

At the farmer's market last year I saw someone selling ramps for culinary use, something like $5 for 15. I thought "Wow look at those cheap hecking native plants" and bought two bundles. Reporting back to say that despite the usual neglect (AKA no supplemental water after planting, being planted beneath a Norway maple, etc) they seem to be doing fine! I'd say I'll harvest them some day but honestly I don't know what to do with ramps. Mostly I wanted them for the flex of having my own personal ramp patch.

04/03/2026

Spring is the terrifying season where I get to see if any of the native plant experiments I've done around my house will work out. The big experiment this year was this: I killed most of my front yard with herbicide and seeded a self-designed part-shade mix into the space. My mix includes a lot of species from a few different niches and I'm so curious to see what will flourish and what will quietly fade away over the next few years. If this sprouts at all. Please sprout. Please.

03/31/2026

Doing a little woodland restoration attempt at a family property, had to check out the dead deer. Little Kid was fascinated. Bigger Kid was more interested in the spray paint we brought to mark trees. Having a hard time believing that we can actually return this to something ecologically useful given all the invasives present but trust the process, right?

03/03/2026

Need help with your native plant garden? I love to help folks who want to create their own native plant garden but aren't sure where to start. I advise on site preparation, native plant selection, layout and maintenance - you will leave our consultation with the knowledge you need to do a project yourself AND tips on how to avoid common beginner mistakes.

Have an existing native plant garden that isn't turning out how you'd hoped? I specialize in helping turn underwhelming (or overwhelming) native plant gardens in to spaces you can be proud of. Reach out today to schedule a consultation and start creating the native plant garden of your dreams!

You can contact me through my website: https://beebalmwildscapes.com/contact-location/

Native plant gardening in Madison Wisconsin that is custom designed to fit your yard and budget, all supported by environmental science.

02/27/2026

Sharing the handout I gave to folks who came to my garden expo talk. One of the top things you can do to make your native plant garden project successful is sourcing your plants from a specialty native plant grower! You'll get the best selection of actual natives, in the best (and most affordable) size pots, from fantastic and knowledgeable people, and you're supporting small businesses in our community! Skip the big nursery - buy from a native-only grower!

02/26/2026

Hey Madison folks! There's a Sustainability Share Fair happening at Sequoya library this weekend, if you're interested in native plants you should stop by! There are a couple native plant nurseries in attendance and the incredibly knowledgeable Frank Hassler with will be there too. Unfortunately I've already committed the morning to a family adventure and won't be attending but this would be a great opportunity to learn about native plant resources in the area!

https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/spaces/events/sustainability-share-fair-presented-midvale-heights-community-association-66046

02/25/2026

I wrote a blog post about my favorite native plant topic - shade plants! Check it out to learn about a few of my favorite native plants for shade. Not a comprehensive design or plants that are right for every space, just a few that bring a lot of joy to me in my yard. Including the pictured plant, figwort! Which attracts a lot of my favorite pollinators, wasps! Surely I'm not the only person who loves the 'non-charismatic' pollinators?

Link here: https://beebalmwildscapes.com/favorite-native-shade-plants/

We specialize in small-scale, low-maintenance native plant gardens that sustain insects, wildlife, and the soul. We are a small woman owned business that combines years of native plant experience with a thoughtful, personalized approach to each project.

02/23/2026

Oof. Had a bit of a moment this morning reading The Lorax to my kids. Trying to blink away my own feelings and just Read Them The Story. It is hard to be paying attention. It is hard to care so desperately for two small, hopeful humans. It is hard to feel so pessimistic about the fate of our planet and still hold that hope that maybe one thing will be Made Okay and they will have their own wild shot at happiness. Anyway. I am so grateful every day that I get this space, this professional opportunity to try to make literally anything less sh*tty.

02/23/2026

Trying to keep myself from being driven crazy by winter. These little Orange Hat tomato plants from are kind of helping. A little. I still have to tell myself every day that it's too early to start anything that I plan on planting outside. Let's not talk about the 20 species of native plant seeds stratifying in my fridge right now...