Celebrate the fall season by these top 10 ways of pumpkin decorating. From mini chalk-painted pumpkins to gorgeous hand-painted marble creations, step up your style this year with these no-carve painted pumpkin ideas. These creative painted pumpkins think outside the box with modern metallics, fresh florals, and gold studs. Get inspired to take your pumpkin …
Sweet Annie – Versatile Aromatic Everlasting
Sweet Annie, Artemisia annua, is an herb I remember from the seventies and eighties. Intensely fragrant smelling green herb wreaths were made up in the fall from the cut branches and I would see them everywhere for sale at craft fairs and outdoor festivals. I kind of forgot about Sweet Annie for a long time …
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Top 10 Seasonal Stars of the Fall Garden
Spring perennial bloomers are easy. There are so many great spring performers that you always have something blooming all spring long with little effort. Fall can be a little trickier to have a constant parade of colorful bloomers, and I always am looking for new candidates and old favorites. Mums and asters are the usual …
Native All Star Containers
Native container gardens are much easier to put together than full sized gardens. If you are new to gardening or have limited space, natives in pots are a gateway to sustainable gardening on a larger scale. Placed alone or in groups, containers are versatile little packages that can be moved around at will and easy …
Garden Art Focaccia Bread
Liking to cook, garden and design, when I noticed these beautiful focaccia breads all over the internet, I had to make some. It makes sense to decorate focaccias, as they are a blank canvas waiting to be adorned with art- edible art! Focaccias have always been my favorite easy-to-make bread in my bread machine and …
Favorite Salvias of a Garden Designer
With just over 1000 varieties, Salvia is a huge genus in the mint family, and comes in a dizzying variety of colors, sizes, and hardiness. Annual, perennial, biennial, or shrubs, most of the varieties have stunning and colorful flowers and fragrant foliage. Tolerating a wide variety of soils and conditions, Salvias need minimal water to …
No Mow May-Planting a Pollinator Friendly Lawn
Turf grass lawns are an American tradition. Everyone who has any kind of yard or property aspires to having a perfect green manicured carpet. But as we now know, grass can be a dead zone for native insects and birds, devoid of any nutrition or habitat for native species. Mowing, watering, fertilizing, and pest controls …
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Indian Pink- A Native Hummingbird Delight
Accolades from people in the know – mostly horticulturalists and native plant people – extolling the perennial Indian Pink, Spigelia marilandica, are everywhere online and in print. Flying under the radar for many people, Indian Pink is coming into its own - finally. A long-lived perennial that brings stunning colors to the summer garden, hummingbirds …
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Buttercup Bully – Beware!
Have you seen a little yellow flower that you think is very cute blooming on your property??? It forms a ground covering mat of glossy green heart shaped leaves punctuated by buttercup like flowers. You might have looked at it and thought it was the first sign of spring! If your answer is yes, get …
Welcome Spring With These Cool Season Flowers
Hardy annual flowers have become known as “cool flowers” in the flower farming industry, where these types of plants will withstand cold and actually prefer cooler temperatures. In fact, when warmer weather begins in the early summer, these annuals will fizzle out from the heat. I have plants in my containers all year long and …
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Happy Hollow Nursery – Shade Plant Nirvana
Road Trip!! Do you want a plant buying road trip to a run-of-the-mill big box store with the same old, same old? Or do you want personal attention in picking out that perfect plant? Do you have shady areas in your garden that need TLC and want the ideal plant for that perfect spot? Look …
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Hellebores: Curing the Late Winter Blues
Gardeners and Hellebores Ok, drumroll here....I think I can say that Hellebores are my favorite perennial plant. A well-kept secret of garden enthusiasts, Hellebores should be more widely known to serious and not so serious gardeners alike; this is a plant that is worth seeking out. What other plant resists deer, neglect, likes shade-even deep shade, is …
Tips for Living in Harmony With Deer
There is no such thing as a 100% deer resistant plant, since deer change their dietary habits constantly according to changes in the weather and conditions. It all depends on what is available at that moment in time and from late summer to spring, deer will eat most anything. Set up your garden for success …
Native Plants in Containers
Native container gardens are much easier to put together than full sized gardens. If you are new to gardening or have limited space, natives in pots are a gateway to sustainable gardening on a larger scale. Placed alone or in groups, containers are versatile little packages that can be moved around at will and easy …
Native Plants as Problem Solvers
As a landscape designer, I am presented with lots of problems - planting on hillsides, dry shade under trees, screen and hedge choices, ground covers, deer browsed areas, replacing old landscaping with natives, and lawn makeovers - and I thought a post about what I have done will help you make better choices. More and …
New Plants and Garden Trends at Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show
Fresh off the MANTS (Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show) floor in Baltimore, I made lots of fresh contacts and found many exciting plant introductions that I want to use in my future landscaping projects. I am stoked for the 2023 gardening year and the new plants and ideas that are hitting the nursery and garden center …
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Secrets of Great Seed Starting
Everybody is into seed starting this spring because of renewed interest in gardening and there are lots of tips and tricks to this great money saving hobby that I have gathered over the years. New gardeners frequently think that you just throw some seeds from a seed packet into potting soil and place them in …
Foraged Seasonal Christmas Arrangements
Everyone is decking the halls, by cutting boughs of greens from their property and using them for decorating. Foraging is the trendy way of describing the time honored tradition of using what you already have. I even have picked up piled up tree trimmings at my local store that is selling fresh Christmas trees. When …
Homemade Gifts for Bird Lovers
Crossing out several names on my Christmas list this year, I was left with a bird lover/watcher who I knew would appreciate homemade bird treat ornaments. Feeding hungry songbirds in winter is a great way for people to interact with nature and help birds get through the tough months of winter. Studies show that bird …
Handcrafted Fresh To Your Home at McLean Nursery
McLean Nursery is gearing up for a big Christmas holly decorating season! Hundreds of fluffy festive bows are hanging from the workshop ceiling and the 'elves' are busily making the many wreaths and boxwood trees that are destined to deck the halls of some lucky customers. And those customers come back year after year as …
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Top 10 Tips for Creating Outdoor Christmas Arrangements
Christmas porch pots are the easiest method to decorate your outside entrance or deck inexpensively and quickly. If you need some pizzazz to greet visitors, create a live green arrangement with evergreens and twigs cut from your property. Jazz it up with something sparkly and you can leave it in place for weeks without any …
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Thanksgiving Centerpiece of Gourds and Pumpkins
Thanksgiving dinners require a WOW centerpiece to go with the cornucopia of food. I recently attended a floral design class with Jane Godshalk at Longwood Gardens and created a centerpiece that was a fitting accent at the table. Low enough to talk over and interesting and creative enough to grace any dining room table, I learned …
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Gingerbread at the White House
Having decorated for Christmas at the White House for several years, my fondest memories of the time spent there is the official unveiling of the intricately detailed candy-adorned gingerbread house. Gingerbread Construction & Placement The annual tradition occurs around the last day that we are feverishly decorating, when the enormous and very heavy piece of …
How to Make a Succulent Pumpkin for Fall
An easy centerpiece to whip up for your fall themed table, using a handsome pumpkin, can be done in half an hour. Integrating dried flowers, pods, and juicy succulents, your centerpiece will last for weeks. Drying flowers all summer long from my garden gave me ample stock to pick from, and I had a bumper …
Bulb 101-Tips for Growing and Deer Strategies
September means ordering bulbs and getting ready to plant in October and November. I plant bulbs in my garden every year to increase my varieties and numbers as I like to bring fresh cuts in to enjoy. The average vase life for tulips is a good 10 days! But many people ask what varieties I …
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Crimes Against Horticulture – Landscaping Mistakes to Avoid
In the landscape business for over 25 years, I have seen it all. I have worked for large landscape businesses and now run my own landscape design/build service. Meeting with many clients over the years, working on large estates to small courtyard jobs, I feel that I have observed every mistake in the book before …
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Sweet and Savory Easy Jam Recipes
When you have oodles of tomatoes coming in every day, I had to do something with them besides sauce. There is only so much sauce I can use throughout the year. So, I tried 2 recipes, one for heirloom tomatoes, mostly red, and the other for yellow grape tomatoes which had a banner year in …
Bread Art with Botanicals
Liking to cook, garden and design, when I noticed these beautiful focaccia breads all over the internet, I had to make some. It makes sense to decorate focaccias, as they are a blank canvas waiting to be adorned with art- edible art! Focaccias have always been my favorite easy-to-make bread in my bread machine and …
Elderflower/Elderberry Ultimate Guide
Elderflowers are reaching a new level of popularity because they are easy to grow and use in recipes, and have many health benefits. The sweet umbels of creamy colored flowers that can reach 12" across are so fragrant and have a unique smell - kind of like floral, creamy, and summery all in one …
The Edible Flower Garden – Petal to Plate
Edible flowers are frequently for sale at farmer's markets but most people are hesitant to take the plunge and actually eat them. Garnishes - yes, but actually eating flowers??? For most people that is a different story. But flowers can add a lot to the flavor as well as appeal of a dish. Go to …
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Make Your Own Hypertufa
Gardener's Dictionary Hypertufa (n.): An artificial and lightweight stone that gardeners can create from a recipe and mold into plant containers, troughs and any other shape. If you mention hypertufa to a non-gardener, you would probably get a blank look. But in the gardening world, it is very trendy and a sign of a serious …
Springtime in Giverny
Giverny, designed by artist Claude Monet, looks good in any season, but spring time visits are glorious! Bulbs, early spring flowers, blooming shrubs and trees, make it a impressionistic painting of flowers. Visually striking from the moment you step foot in the garden, most people upon entering, pause and let it all soak in before …
Scotland’s Gardens, Islands, and Castles
I am traveling to Scotland in July and am very excited about seeing parts of Scotland that I haven't seen before and visiting favorites that I want to go back and see. I will be leading a small group of intrepid travelers, some new and many repeats of my previous tours. My garden tours are …
Deer Resistant Landscaping
Deer resistance is a huge buzz world in the gardening world and for good reason. Many of us battle these animals daily and too many just throw up their hands and give up. All it takes is to educate yourself on the many possibilities that are available - both native and non-native - and throw …
Planting a Pollinator Friendly Bee Lawn
Turf grass lawns are an American tradition. Everyone who has any kind of yard or property aspires to having a perfect green manicured carpet. But as we now know, grass can be a dead zone for native insects and birds, devoid of any nutrition or habitat for native species. Mowing, watering, fertilizing, and pest controls …
Hellebores-Deer Resistant, Low Maintenance, Shade Perennial
Gardeners and Hellebores Ok, drumroll here....I think I can say that Hellebores are my favorite perennial plant. A well-kept secret of garden enthusiasts, Hellebores should be more widely known to serious and not so serious gardeners alike; this is a plant that is worth seeking out. What other plant resists deer, neglect, likes shade-even deep shade, is …
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Great Backyard Bird Count 2022
The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) runs from Feb 18-22, 2022, which is an unique opportunity to get the family involved in this popular hobby to record bird sightings. An event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of bird populations, the GBBC is a great …
Stars of the Garden – David Austin Roses
David Austin Roses evokes trusses of fragrant many petalled blooms hanging on an arbor in the quintessential English garden. I have seen many of these examples over the years in my travels in the UK and also the western part of the country, but in the Mid-Atlantic region, this effect is harder to get, but …
Secrets of Great Seed Starting for Experts and Beginners
Everybody is into seed starting this spring because of renewed interest in gardening and there are tips and tricks to this great money saving hobby. New gardeners frequently think that you just throw some seeds from a seed packet into potting soil and place them in a bright window and hope for the best. But …
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Now is the Time to Winter Sow
After a hectic year of non-stop landscaping work, I have some time on my hands and discovered 'winter sowing'. I started doing it last winter in a small way with Bells of Ireland and was so successful, that I am winter sowing in a big way this January and February to save my precious time …
Bird Feeding Station From Recycled Christmas Tree
Recycling a fresh cut Christmas tree into a bird feeding station is the ultimate repurposing of your Christmas decorations. Setting up my old tree next to my bird feeders gave me hours of enjoyment watching birds feeding, chirping, and feasting - not to mention the squirrels pigging out! Just watching the squirrel antics kept us …
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Fire & Ice at Longwood Gardens
If you haven't had a chance to get to Longwood Gardens this year for the 'Fire & Ice' Christmas decorations, you still have time. Scheduled to be open until January 9, 2022, the decorations were over the top. Each year I think they can't outshine the previous years, but 'Fire & Ice' was fantastic! Opposites …
Deck the Halls With Foraged Christmas Arrangements
Everyone is decking the halls, by cutting boughs of greens from their property and using them for decorating. Foraging is the trendy way of describing the time honored tradition of using what you already have. When spruce cones start to form on trees, I venture out with my long reach pruners and snip them off …
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Bird Lover’s Homemade Gifts for Christmas
Crossing out several names on my Christmas list this year, I was left with a bird lover/watcher who I knew would appreciate homemade bird treat ornaments. Feeding hungry songbirds in winter is a great way for people to interact with nature and help birds get through the tough months of winter. Studies show that bird …
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Christmas in Dried Flowers
It's that time of year when all of our fresh garden flowers are gone and we turn to those that we dried or preserved for the long winter season. For my post on the rebirth of dried flowers which were very popular in the 70's and 80's, go to Dried Flowers Back From the Dead. …
White House Christmas – Gifts From The Heart
Christmas at The White House is magical - both for volunteer decorators and visitors. And I got to be a decorator again for the fourth time this past Thanksgiving week and never tire of doing it. People from all over the country converge on The White House on Thanksgiving week to decorate the People's House …
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Christmas Porch Pots for Instant Pizzazz
Christmas porch pots are the easiest method to decorate your outside entrance inexpensively and quickly. If you need some pizzazz to greet visitors, create a live green arrangement with evergreens and twigs cut from your property. Jazz it up with something sparkly and you can leave it in place for weeks without any care. Long …
Christmas Decorating with Holly at McLean Nursery
McLean Nursery is gearing up for a big Christmas holly decorating season! Hundreds of fluffy festive bows are hanging from the workshop ceiling and the 'elves' are busily making the many wreaths and boxwood trees that are destined to deck the halls of some lucky customers. And those customers come back year after year as …
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Porch Pots for Instant Fall Color
Porch pots are an old fashioned way to decorate a deck, porch, or other entrance to and give you instant fall color. Burning bush, dogwood, viburnums, hydrangea flowers, and other fall colored branches are available for the taking along road sides or your property. Foraging in the Wild Burning bush has escaped to the wild …
Should I Leave the Leaves?
"Should I leave the leaves? " is a question I am getting more and more frequently. With all the recent information flowing out about "re-wilding" and keeping things "natural", I wanted to address the dilemma of raking or not raking your leaves. You certainly don't want to bag them up and add to a landfill! …
Top 10 Ways to Decorate Pumpkins for Fall
Celebrate the fall season by these top 10 ways of pumpkin decorating. From mini chalk-painted pumpkins to gorgeous hand-painted marble creations, step up your style this year with these no-carve painted pumpkin ideas. These creative painted pumpkins think outside the box with modern metallics, fresh florals, and gold studs. Get inspired to take your pumpkin …
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Garden Mums for a Last Blast of Color
Garden mums should be in every garden for that last blast of color before the first freeze withers everything. One of the last plants to bloom before frost, I savor the blowsy colorful flowers that come in a range of reds, oranges, and pinks. Attracting many pollinators as they are the few things that are …
Buckeyes Are Blooming – Summer Garden Queen!
Bottle Brush Buckeyes are blooming everywhere and if you are in the know, you are planting more of them. Attracting hummingbirds, butterflies, and other native pollinators by the dozens, this native is a great understory plant for shady woodland areas. Deer and rabbit resistant, it forms a dense, mounded, suckering, deciduous, multi-stemmed shrub which typically …
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Home Grown Bouquets at #BouquetoftheDay
When COVID reared its ugly head in March, I started to spend a lot more time at home as my garden travel schedule was cancelled. Trained as a floral designer, and also an avid gardener, I decided to grow more plants that I can use in floral arrangements using my preferred method "garden style". Arranging …