• Lilium philadelphicum (Wood Lily)
  • Tradescantia bracteata (Prairie Spiderwort)
  • Rhexia virginica (Meadow Beauty)
  • Helianthemum canadense (Frostweed)
  • Claytonia caroliniana (Carolina Spring Beauty)
  • Spigelia marilandica (Indian Pink)
  • Mertensia virginica (Virginia Bluebells)
  • Aristolochia tomentosa (Woolly Pipevine)
  • Cypripedium montanum (Mountain Lady Slipper)
  • Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-Pulpit)

Welcome to the Ausmus Ranch!

The ranch is a work in progress, but it is quickly becoming a home to hundreds of US native wildflowers, an orchard and wildlife.

UPDATE January 1, 2022: We have not added much of anything to this site since late 2019. This is because we have been working on our wildflower ID website: Wildflower ID! It is like this website, but with much more info about each species and how to ID it. Please check it out if you have the time. We will leave everything as is here, for your reference! We may one day add here again, but for now, we're working like crazy on the other site!

What Is It?

The ranch is just our back yard! But we've converted and are converting most of the areas of grass into habitats suited for growing wildflowers and the yard is gradually becoming a host to many, many native wildflowers - when we say 'native' we mean forbs, vines and shrubs that originate from somewhere in North America (as opposed to plants that come originally from Europe or Asia, like the common Tulip or Daffodil; and typically, this means the contiguous United States, Alaska or Canada, because most plants from Mexico, Hawaii or the various US territories are not hardy here). All of these plants are grown in specialized garden habitats, each of which is filled their own unique plants, as many plants do best in a specific type of habitat. The following are the gardens we have:

  • Prairie
  • Woodland Area
  • Woodland Edge
  • Conifer Area
  • Disturbed Area
  • Wetland Area
  • Desert/Southwest Area
  • Pond

The following shows a map of the yard, with a "yard plan" indicating current gardens and planned gardens. Not everything on the map is made yet into gardens, but some is, and the rest will be soon!

Here are a few images of the new location of the ranch - many changes to come!

These gardens are in the works to be included very soon, so stay tuned!

  • Fen
  • Dune
  • Alpine Rock Garden
  • Bog

Visit these pages, to see more information and pictures about our specialized Gardens and Plants.

We have recently begun writing a line of e-books designed to help people learn about growing wildflowers and naturalizing their own yards. If you are interested in checking them out, please visit here: Grow Wild

Please also see our page on Facebook, where we post near daily photos of wildflowers from around the yard: In Defense of Wildflowers