"What's native to my area?" Gardeners are asking that a lot these days.
It says a lot about how thoroughly we have changed the landscape that many people have almost no experience with the plants that are native where they live.
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| historical back yard, no natives |
Guernsey is a small island in the English Channel between England and France. Although closer to France, it is a dependency of the English Crown. I visited in September (2026), here is some of what I saw
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| Guernsey landscape |
Hiking through the grassland, you see a plant with pretty pale flowers. But you can't match it in the plant book.
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| four o'clock plant |
It is a four o'clock, genus Mirabilis (Nyctanginaceae, the family of bougainvillea) and the problem is, those white "flowers" are not flowers but bracts that surrounded the base of the flowers.
We flew to Jersey, between England and France, on a very short flight from Southampton, England.
Butterflybush, Buddleja davidii is a shrub from China. It has long clusters of flowers, purple or rose, lavender or white. They attract butterflies, hence the common name.
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| butterflybush, Buddleja davidii |
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| marigolds, Tagetes, growing in a garden in Cornwall 10/1/26 |
The new book I've been talking about has been published!
