By Claire Jones
Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic, and Aromatic Ah....The fragrance of lavender! Evoking many memories, like wandering through blooming fields of lavender on a hot summer day buzzing with bees. This is one herb that if I were on a desert island, I would want to grow! Growing lavender in my garden every year is essential and I …
Continue reading "Lavender – The Queen of Herbs"
Recently, I had the opportunity to test drive a battery-powered weed whacker and blower on my property. Having used a battery-powered blower in the past that was cordless, I was very skeptical about using this one because my experience was not good. Underpowered and short lasting, I always was frustrated and went back to using …
Continue reading "Eco-Friendly Equipment for a Eco-Friendly Garden – ENHULK Cordless Tools"
Keeping honey bee hives means you will likely encounter swarms, honeybees that split off from a mother colony. A natural reproduction process, swarming can happen to any beekeeper, so you should be prepared when it occurs. It is a sight to behold when the swarm is in full flight. The season of swarms is typically …
Continue reading "Honeybee Swarm Bonanza"
Lilies are my favorite flower. They last a long time in the garden, are usually fragrant, make great cut flowers, and pollinators flock to them. Oh, and they are so easy to grow! All these attributes make lilies my go-to flower to plant every year to increase my varieties. But some lilies just increase …
Continue reading "Stunning Black Beauty Lily"
In my garden travels around the world, I am always looking for new and different plants. After a recent visit to Sissinghurst, I observed a plant that I really wanted to try at home, having never seen it before. Beautiful in flower, the foliage is quite attractive too. Cerinthe major atropurpurea , featured at …
Continue reading "How to Plant and Grow Honeywort, a Pollinator Favorite"
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 vertical room and usually grow quickly and form …
Continue reading "Growing Vertical with the Top Five Native Vines for Pollinators"
As earth stewards of our amazing planet, we can appreciate the potential importance of all species to the continued existence of a complex ecosystem. But there are some that stand out and do the heavy lifting. Specific integral species are more important than others to the sustainability of an ecosystem and are called ‘Keystone Species’ …
Continue reading "The Benefits of Planting Native Keystone Plants"
As a landscape designer, an increasingly frequent request from clients is getting rid of their lawn and replacing with more natural alternatives, like a pollinator friendly meadow. Water hogging and pesticide laden lawns are being replaced nowadays with different varieties of grasses, flowering plants (weeds!), and other perennials. Rewilding is a term that is being …
Continue reading "Meadow 101 – How to Install and Maintain a Beautiful Meadow"
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 …
Continue reading "Lesser Celandine is Taking Over the World"
Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) is an early blooming, perennial bulb in the Lily Family (Liliaceae) native to southeastern Europe. Not a true Hyacinth, the common name comes from the resemblance of the clusters of the small, bell-shaped, cobalt-blue flowers to upside-down clusters of grapes. Grape hyacinth is hardy in zones 3-9. Many people dismiss these common …
Continue reading "Grape Hyacinth – Animal Resistant, Long Lasting, and Beautiful"
Ok, drumroll here....I think I can say that Hellebores (Helleborus x hybridus) hybrid Lenten Rose, are my favorite perennial plant. A well-kept secret of garden enthusiasts, Hellebores or commonly known as Lenten roses should be more widely known to serious and not so serious gardeners alike; this is a plant that is worth seeking out. …
Continue reading "A Passion for Hellebores"
Native plants are so important to all our pollinators, but the most important are the early spring ones-plants that flower in late winter into spring- that will keep the pollinators fed when there is a dearth of nectar. I keep honeybees and observe that when I have a warm sunny day over 45 degrees Fahrenheit, …
Continue reading "Top 10 Early Spring Native Plant Choices"
