I love pollinators, so I love the native asters that spring up everywhere I don’t rip them out. Plus, the asters are so graceful and airy I just cheer them on. They’re the last things to bloom, so the honeybees, carpenter bees, and every other pollinator are on them until they go to seed.

Ditto the native autumn clematis. Yes, they’re rampant, they’re elbowing less energetic plants out of their way, but they are also beloved of pollinators.

I know some people view such enthusiasm skeptically, so I was preemptively apologizing to my next door neighbor. She cut me off and relayed one of the best compliments I’ve received on my garden: “My granddaughter calls it ‘the fairy house.'”

Well, then!

I’m not going to change a thing.