Susan Gets Native

My behind may be in southwest Ohio, but my mind and my heart are still in northern Ohio.

My last picture of Lake Erie...at East Harbor State Park.
I had to force myself to get back in the car. And once I was in there, I had to force myself to start it and drive away.
Sigh...

But I find happiness at home.

My clematis is going crazy. I planted it two years ago, I think, and this year it has taken over the recycled plant stand I put over it.

(The traditional plant trellis broke the first year, but I saved it. Glad I did.)
Now, the clematis can take over the trellis. After that, we may need to buy the house next door to accommodate the thing.
We went to Earthscapes today, to check out the native selection. It's THE place to go around here for native plants. They have everything from herbs to pre-dug trees to annuals to perennials to landscaping services. One-stop shopping.

To go shopping here, you need to dress as if you are gardening. It's muddy sometimes and there's a lot of walking involved.

And you get a wagon to cart everything around, and you also get a clipboard and order sheet to write down what you are buying and where you got the plant. (It helps the employees keep track of what's moving around) Maybe you have had similar experiences with nurseries, but I just love the place.
Usually, a small, fluffy dog named Sweetie greets us, but today she was in the house, so this was our greeter:

A Boston! I can't seem to get away from these little buggers.

She was very friendly, but a little strange. She mets us with a used napkin in her mouth, and after that was gone, she started carrying rocks in her mouth. And she would stare at a pole, like she was seeing something...but nothing was there.

I got prairie dock, false indigo and rosinweed.
Rosinweed can grow to 5 feet, attracts mostly long-tongued bees, butterflies and some wasps. The seeds are eaten by goldfinches. Herbivores are not fond of it.
Prairie dock has the same attributes (they are both in the Aster family) and prairie dock is nearly indestructible when it's mature.
False indigo blooms from now into June, and the flowers turn into seed pods up to 2 1/2 inches long that children used to use as rattles.
We don't have much shade around here, and the shade we have is all natural and not messed with. So I think this stuff will go near the prairie, and maybe the false indigo will join the hummingbird corner.

Oh, I love tree swallows. I forgave them for driving off the purple martin.
The female is busy dropping one egg a day, and I won't disturb her for a few days, and then do a nest check to count eggs. Tonight, I slowly walked toward the pole, talking softly and making my TRES twitter with my tongue (putting my tongue to the roof of my mouth and making a dome, then letting the air escape slowly out of the sides, and it sounds just like a TRES) and the female looked at me and turned her head like a dog, as if she was trying to figure out what I was saying. I just hope I wasn't cussing her out in Swallowese.

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Nellie likes to lay on the landing of our stairs.
I heard a deep, long sigh, and I started looking around for her, and had to shoot video of her.
It sucks to be her, huh.