This week: Merry Christmas Fern!
Hello, A little evergreen adds structure to wintertime gardens, and one little evergreen is Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides). It is a short-...
This week: Winterberry Holly Struts Its Stuff + Announcement!
Hello, Read (or scroll) to the end of this week’s email for some Blooms to Bees news! Now, on with the show. The best part about snow on the ground is having...
This week: American Holly for the Holiday Season
Hello! A quick reminder that on Saturday, December 7, I’ll be at the Swissvale Night of Lights Holiday Market from 4-7 pm, peddling garden-themed gifts. The...
This week: Majestic Sycamore + Thanksgiving Freebie
Hello! Since it is Thanksgiving week, I thought I’d feature a classic American native tree—the Sycamore (and a Sycamore-related download if you make it to...
This week: 5 Shade Trees for Curb Appeal
Hello! Ever notice how lovely it is to drive down a tree-lined street or walk through a shade-dappled neighborhood? Neighborhoods with mature trees are...
This week: Highbush Blueberries for the Birds
Hello! Do you know that a common fruit is also a gorgeous, widely available shrub perfect for attracting birds? Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium coryumbosum) is...
This week: Carolina Silverbell, a Tree with Fall and Winter Appeal
Hello! Autumn isn’t only for leaves but also for seed pods, too. One of my favorite seed pods hangs from the Carolina Silverbell tree (Halesia carolina or H....
This week: Fall Garden Checklist
Hello, While the autumnal equinox was way back in September, the temperature and the trees agree that fall is finally here! And with that, a slew of garden...
This week: Fall Seed Collecting
Hello! While the varying bloom periods of flower species mean that you can collect seeds beginning in the spring and throughout the summer, fall is a time of...
This week: Fall Seed Collecting
Hello! While the varying bloom periods of flower species mean that you can collect seeds beginning in the spring and throughout the summer, fall is a time of...
This week: Uncommon Snowberry
Hello! Though I’ve been a student of native plants for years, I recently encountered a northeastern native shrub that was totally new to me: Common Snowberry...
This week: Grow Your Own Pawpaws
Hello, It’s Pawpaw season! This relatively unknown fruit has a big claim to fame: it is the largest fruit native to North America. September and October are...
This week: A Great Many Uses for Great Blue Lobelia
Hello! Hold onto your hat—we’re discussing a plant with many uses by wishful thinkers: Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica). Sprouting from the same...
This week: 3 Volunteer White-Flowered Asters
Hello! While walking my dog the other day, I passed three varieties of little white asters blooming along the street. All three were volunteer plants (or...
This week: A Turtle Lookalike in the Garden?
Hello! Do you have a shady spot in your garden that needs a late summer highlight? Or maybe you’re aiming for a classic cottage garden vibe. Chelone lyonii,...
This week: Goldenrod for the Garden
Hello! Sometimes, there are native plants I don’t like. For example, I rarely recommend Goldenrod—a well-regarded Keystone species—to clients. However,...
This week: Silver-Spotted Skippers Prefer Pink
Hello, First, thanks to everyone who visited the Swissvale Farmer’s Market. It was lovely meeting you and talking plants! Now, to the main event: a...
This week: Sweetgum Trees, My Favorite Nuisance
Hello! Read all the way to the end for a fun announcement if you live in the Pittsburgh area! Now, onto the regularly scheduled newsletter. Sweetgum...
This week: Jerusalem Artichoke, a Super-Spreader
Hello! This week, I discovered I’m growing Helianthus tuberosus, or Jerusalem Artichokes, in the “I’ve been given this seedling” section of my garden. While...
This week: A Round of Coralbells for the Garden
Hello! This week, we’re reaching back into the mailbag to answer a reader question: Why do some Coralbells look lackluster by mid-summer while others are...
This week: Keeping Track of Your Perennials + Digital Freebie
Hello! Do you lose track of what you planted in the garden? I do. So, whenever I bring a new plant home, I pull the tag off and chuck it into a gallon-sized...
This week: Nuts for American Hazelnut
Hello! Blame it on Nutella, but I imagined all edible hazelnuts came from Europe. Little did I know there was a species native to the eastern half of the...
This week: Garden Phlox, a Cottage Garden Star
Hello! Did you know that there is a whole flock of native phlox? Phlox subulata (Moss Phlox) and P. divaricata (Woodland Phlox) are spring bloomers, but P....
This week: Container Gardening with Native Plants
Hello! I’m working on a project for a client who wants to grow native plants in a large planter instead of a typical annual display. Her house is directly on...
This week: Spacecraft or Flower?
This week, I noticed that Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) had begun blooming. While unfortunately underused, this native shrub greatly benefits...
This week: A Different Purple Coneflower
Hello! If you thought the only purple coneflower game in town was the classic Echinacea purpurea, think again! Pale Purple Coneflower, or Echinacea pallida,...
This week: Purple Coneflowers, a Garden Workhorse
Hello! Upon creating a page on bloomstobees.com that lists all the plants profiled in the newsletter alphabetically, I realized I’ve never fully extolled the...
This week: Solve Landscape Problems with Ninebark
Hello! Do you need more privacy in your backyard? Do you have an unruly slope you'd like to tame? Or, maybe you want to add more multi-season interest to...
This week: Uncommonly Useful Common Elderberry
Hello! This week, Common Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is in bloom. This native shrub is a wonderful addition to an edible garden and is recommended for...
This Week: 3 Native Perennials for Early June Blooms
Hello! Early June can be a tough time for perennial flowers in the garden. Eastern Bluestar, Wild Blue Indigo, and Golden Alexanders are fading, and summer-...
This week: Incorporating tall native perennials into your garden
Hello! Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of giant-sized native perennials? Joe-Pye Weed, Ironweed, Culver’s Root, and even New England Asters...
This week: Spiderworts and all
Hello! This week, Tradescantia virginiana, or Common Spiderwort, is blooming in my garden. Spiderwort is a throwback plant that your grandparents or great-...
This week: Add Drama with Blue False Indigo
Hello! It’s only the second week of May, yet Baptisia australis (Blue False Indigo) is blooming in my garden—easily two weeks early. Welcome to an early...
This week: A Native Spring-Blooming Bulb? Try Wild Hyacinth.
Hello! I am especially fond of spring-blooming bulbs: crocus, snowdrops, tulips, and daffodils all make me excited for the end of winter. I always plant them...
This week: Mayapple, An Unusual-Looking Native Plant
Hello! There are a handful of native plants that I consider otherworldly because of their unconventional looks—Skunk Cabbage, Bear Corn (a topic for another...
This week: You have my permission to kill this plant.
Hello! A few weeks back, I mentioned that West Virginia White butterflies are mistaking Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) for Cutleaf Toothwort, which is...
This week: Amelanchier, a Tree with Many Names
Hello, Serviceberry is in bloom! While I call it Serviceberry, you may know it as Juneberry, Shadbush, or Shadblow. These are all common names for the...
This week: Twinleaf’s Fleeting April Blooms
Hello! Let’s add another flower to the list of early spring bloomers: Jeffersonia diphylla, commonly called Twinleaf. The common name gives a major...
This week: Cutleaf Tooth-what?
Hello! Finally, flowers! This week, I noticed Virginia Bluebells and Cutleaf Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata) blooming in the park. Although Cutleaf...
This week: Talking Moss
Hello! Over the past few weeks, I’ve had two garden coaching clients who either had or wanted moss lawns. This is good news because removing moss from lawns...
This week: Identifying Emerging Perennials
Hello! Remember how you left your plant debris up all winter to provide seeds for birds, habitat for bees, and winter interest for your own enjoyment? Your...
This week: Short Native Shrubs for Foundation Plantings
Hello! We’ve all seen houses where the rhododendrons or arborvitaes planted along the foundation now reach the second story of the building. Or maybe you’ve...
This week: Native Seeds to Plant This Spring
Hello! On Thursday, I spotted a Spicebush shrub blooming in the park. That combined with the reddish haze of flowers clouding the Maple trees tells me spring...
This week: A Different Kind of Cabbage Patch
Hello! Let's discuss a native wildflower that is just coming into bloom, one that I find fascinating and mildly disturbing: Eastern Skunk Cabbage...
This week: A Sourwood Crush and Amsonia News
Hello! I have a crush on my neighbor's Sourwood tree (Oxydendrum arboreum). Against all odds, it is thriving in a 15-foot space between the sidewalk and...
This week: Try Native Canadian Wild Ginger Instead of European Ginger
Hello! Welcome to the latest edition of “Plant This, Not That!” European Ginger European Ginger (Asarum europaeum) is a glossy-leaved ground cover that adds...
This week: My Favorite Magnolia Is Not Pink
Hello! Here in Pittsburgh, the big bell-shaped pink flowers of the Saucer Magnolia put on a show every spring for a few days. Then there's a cold snap, and...
This week: Northern Maidenhair Fern for Deep Shade
Hello, I'm on a fern kick this month! Let's take a look at the Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum). With its telltale dark stems, this fern is an...
This week: A Troubling Native Fern for Troublesome Spots
Hello! A problem in one context, a solution in another—that’s the life of the Eastern Hayscented Fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula). If you’ve ever been...
This Week: Tree Design with Easy Scale Drawings
Hello! Native trees are a major win for the habitat. Consider the difference one tree makes. First, the sheer volume of a tree’s canopy provides significant...