I’ve converted the bulk of the lawn on my lot back to prairie/woodland opening, and I feel like everyone is much more chill. I now have wasps, yellowjackets, and of course bees amicably buzzing around, in addition to the WASPs telling me how much they like it.
@whatnots@hexbear.net
You might find these helpful! Prairie Moon and a handful of other nurseries have great guidance documents on plants, how to design with them, and their needs. My understanding from this guidance is that butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) requires 30 days of cold stratification prior to germination. You can mimic this by putting the seeds in a bag of sand in your fridge for 30 days prior to planting, or what works for me is to wait until the first snowfall and spread the seeds. This way they get stratification, they’re less prone to birds picking them off, and in the spring they have good contact with the soil and they get a good source of water.
Depending on your area though, it is often easier to start with plant “plugs” and supplement with seeds.
https://www.prairiemoon.com/catalogs/2023.Prairie-Moon-Nursery-Cultural.Guide.pdf
https://www.prairiemoon.com/PDF/Prairie-Moon-Nursery.Seed-Starting-Basics.pdf
this is really helpful, thanks a lot comrade! i will definitely try planting them again.