By Claire Jones
Early spring bird feeding changes almost overnight. All winter the feeders were busy — chickadees arguing, sparrows squabbling, woodpeckers tapping on frozen mornings — and then one day in March, silence. Nothing has gone wrong. Your garden has simply shifted from cafeteria to nursery. Early Spring Bird Feeding: The Winter Transition During winter, birds survive …
Continue reading "When the Bird Cafeteria Becomes a Nursery"
Many concerned gardeners want to transition their home garden dominated by non-natives to a more pollinator friendly native garden once they realize the benefits to the environment. Native gardens increase biodiversity, connect to natural ecosystems, and provide habitat for native wildlife. The goal for planting natives in your garden is to contain at least 70% …
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"
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"
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 …
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Can a native plant also become invasive? I get asked this question a lot and it is more than a simple yes or no. The short answer is yes, when a native plant takes over your flowerbed and prevents or crowds out other flowers, both native and non-native, from growing. What is an invasive plant? …
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Plant portraits of two under-used and under-appreciated perennials- Culver's Root and Bear's Breeches
If you want to grow the ultimate flower buffet for butterflies and bees, try Joe Pye Weed. When there isn't much else blooming, Joe Pye will surprise you with fuzzy pink umbels of flowers that flying insects clearly relish. I planted only one plant of the great late summer bloomer, Eupatorium dubium, 'Little Joe', which …
Continue reading "Butterfly and Bee Magnet, Joe Pye Weed"
Visiting the Delaware Botanic Garden in year two, one year later than my original visit, was an eye opener in the evolution of a major public garden. Even working as a landscape designer/installer, I was surprised at the great strides the difference of a year makes. For my first year post, go to DBG-From …
Continue reading "Taking Root: Delaware Botanic Garden’s Progress Report"
Garden Design magazine known for its in-depth articles and awesome images has a clean and easy to read design, free of ads. Over the years, I have started and stopped my subscriptions to different gardening magazines, but I will never give up this one. I don't review many print publications, but I felt that …
Continue reading "Garden Design Magazine-A Good Read"
Native or non-native in the garden: Which is better? Simple- everyone knows the answer to that question...Natives of course! As gardeners, we have been bombarded with information about the value to wildlife of native plants and the more natives the better.
Butterfly Bush, Buddleia davidii, has been getting a lot of bashing lately from garden writers, ecologists, and conservationists. Attacked from all sides by master gardeners and other garden professionals, I am sticking to my guns on the benefits and pleasures of planting it.
