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 …
Continue reading "Top 10 Seasonal Stars of the Fall Garden"
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 …
Continue reading "Native All Star Containers"
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 …
Continue reading "No Mow May-Planting a Pollinator Friendly Lawn"
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 …
Continue reading "Indian Pink- A Native Hummingbird Delight"
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 …
Continue reading "Native Plants in Containers"
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 …
Continue reading "Native Plants as Problem Solvers"
What's blooming in my garden? Elderflowers!! 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 package! All cultivars look very similar with their shrub-like plant structure, compound leaves, and big, beautiful clusters of white …
Continue reading "Elderflowers: Growing, Picking & Harvesting"
American Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana, is aptly named as the latin name means beauty +Â fruit. The purple jewel-like berries are arranged artfully on cascading branches of this wonderful deciduous and deer resistant shrub. Native to the central and southeastern United States, it is found naturally growing in open meadows and woodlands. A nutritional powerhouse, with …
Continue reading "Callicarpa – Beauty + Fruit Combine for a Great Native Plant"
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 …
Continue reading "Buckeyes Are Blooming – Summer Garden Queen!"
Native vines are a totally underused plant in Mid-Atlantic gardens. Filling gaps, covering walls and fences, and a great vertical element in any garden, vines can be used to attract native butterflies and insects to your garden. Vines are useful if you don't have a ton of room and usually grow quickly and form almost …
Continue reading "Top Three Native Vines That Attract Butterflies, Bees, and Hummingbirds"
