Sometimes, I simply let things happen in the garden and see what they do.
Last year, I installed cedar lattice down the property line fence. Virginia creeper showed itself the prior year, and I encouraged it to grow upward. It flourished this spring.
When the Japanese beetles hit this year, they decimated the creeper, but barely touched anything else.
Two years ago, I planted crocosmia in an effort to draw hummingbirds, and it worked. It also seems to have drawn our grasshoppers away from the rest of the garden.
This damage isn’t going to harm the future health of these plants; the Virginia creeper is already recovering. No food was lost from these pests.
Decoy planting?
Distraction gardening?
Either way, I’ll continue to keep an eye on plants that take a hit for our garden.
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