You know how it is when you find out that someone is a collector? Suddenly, it's really easy to buy them a present: you just buy something in the motif or pattern or brand or team that they collect.

I've been collecting Louisville Stoneware since college, and I've gotten some pretty cool presents that way. From the very first piece of Stoneware I was ever given (a hot brown plate) to the most recent (a julep cup), they've all been special because someone took the time to remember that I love this uniquely "Kentucky" pottery.

One such gift has been sitting around for a bit, waiting for the perfect home. It's an older, round casserole bowl whose lid has long since vanished. My aunt, who happens to be a master antiquer, knew that I'd just love it.

Of course, I did! I recognized the piece straight away as "Vintage"; a holdover pattern from Stoneware's days as the John B. Taylor Company. I knew I wanted to do something special with this piece, and so waited and waited for inspiration to strike...

And now it has!

This afternoon, Stoneware is hosting a Succulent Gardening event with Three Toads Farm

as part of their Third Thursday Lifestyle Series. This free event will be catered by Maison and will provide tips on planting and care of succulent plants. I can't wait to get some tips on how to transform my thoughtful gift into a unique decoration.

The Succulent Gardening Event will be held from 5 pm to 7 pm tonight at LouisvilleStoneware's studio at 713 Brent Street. I hope to see you there!

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Today, local garden enthusiast Retta Ritchie-Holbrook shares with us her efforts to fill her garden with native Kentucky plant species. Be sure to check out her fabulous list of resources, as well. Maybe my black thumb isn't so black after all! Maybe I just need to choose more native plants!

One of the flowers from my friend - Wild Columbine

My first true foray into gardening began when I bought a house and decided I wanted to make the landscape more appealing. My mother is an avid gardener and grows the most beautiful flowers. I guess you can say the desire to grow things runs in the family. The only problem was I didn’t seem to be very good at it. I would buy an array of bright, colorful plants only to watch them die. Sometimes, I would get lucky, and the plants would live for a few years until they became diseased, got pests or we would have a drought and I would miss watering them a few times because I was traveling for work. I would then have to yank them out and replace them. Gardening seemed like a lot of work and I simply didn’t have the time for it.

This process went on for a few years until a friend brought me some plants from her own garden and told me they were Kentucky native plants. I had not heard of native gardening at that time but those plants thrived and are still in my garden today. This encouraged me to learn more about native plants.

Native gardening or native landscaping is what its name implies: growing plants that are native to your area. I slowly started replacing my less hardy flowers with mostly native plants. They did so well that I began adding more and more flowerbeds with native plants and I’m currently in the process now of turning my backyard into mostly flowers and plants and less turf.

butterfly-weed-purple-coneflowers-celadine-poppy-rattlesnake-plant

In my garden, left to right: a.) Butterfly Weed & Purple Coneflowers b.) Celadine Poppy (Good in Shade) c.) Rattlesnake Plant

Some benefits of native plants:

They require less fertilizers and fewer pesticides.
They require less water and often do better through droughts and other extreme types of weather.
They provide shelter and food for wildlife. This also helps to manage the pests since wildlife feed on the pests, eliminating or greatly reducing the need for chemical pest control. I personally have not used pesticides for years.
They are usually not invasive because they are a balanced part of the ecosystem and have natural predators.
Native plants are beautiful, hardy and come in a wide variety of options. I recently added some native bushes, such as the spice bush, to encourage butterflies to breed there.

One of my flowerbeds doing well even after the early summer drought.

Because native plants are adapted to the local environment, they are easier to grow and create ecosystems for birds, pollinators and other beneficial critters. Now my yard is alive with butterflies, birds and more. I looked out the window just the other day to see a gold finch eating seeds out of the coneflower heads. I’ve seen several new species of birds and butterflies just this year alone that I had never seen in my yard before and I love it.