This week: Choosing goldenrod for the garden
Hello! This week goldenrod came into full bloom in my garden. However, this particular goldenrod was unintentional—it’s a volunteer plant that popped up on...
This week: Say hello to Helenium!
Hello! Fall is quickly approaching here in western Pennsylvania. Nights are cooler and summer blooms are fading. Yet some flowers are still going strong!...
This week: All about native Baldcypress
Hello! I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite native trees, Taxodium distichum, the Common Baldcypress. This tree grows up and down the eastern...
This week: Blue Mistflower blooms
Hello, Do you have an out-of-the way soggy spot that only gets as little as a handful of hours of sun a day? There’s a plant for it: Conoclinium coelestinum,...
This week: Wild grape, a native edible
Hello! This week I’m kicking off an occasional series all about weeds. The common axiom—a weed is simply a plant in the wrong place—is often true! Perhaps we...
This week: Bee balm, beloved by bees and hummingbirds
Hello, Monarda, sometimes called Bee Balm or Bergamot, is a common native perennial that is a standout mid-summer pollinator plant. An added benefit? The red...
This week: Why bees pollinate
Hello, My Joe Pye Weed is blooming which means it is buzzing with pollinators. I’m not skilled at identifying insects, but I appear to have a lot of...
This week: Summer Azure butterfly pollinates
Hello! Today I was able to spot (and poorly photograph) the Summer Azure butterfly, scientific name Celastrina neglecta. Though it has a wingspan of just an...
This week: ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ is an unexpected coneflower cultivar
Hello! A few years ago I picked up a couple Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ plants at a big box store due to my pesky habit of buying pretty things. This...
This week: Culver’s Root blooms
Hello! This week I noticed that Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginicum) is starting to bloom. Culver’s Root is an eastern North American native. Like many...
This week: Garden gnomes
Hello, Garden art takes many forms. As I was flipping through The Garden: Elements and Styles by Toby Musgrave, I spotted an article about the humble garden...
This week: Reverting to type
Hello! I was at one of my favorite ice cream haunts the other day and noticed a landscape curiosity. A dwarf blue spruce had what looked like a regular blue...
This week: Early Sunflower blooms
Hello! My garden is around a week away from being filled with coneflowers, butterfly weed, and lots of other great native flowers. One favorite that began...
This week: Tips for living fences
Hello! This week I helped my parents add more privacy to their back yard by planting a native hedge. Unlike meticulously trimmed boxwood or privet (invasive...
This week: Evening sundrops
Hello, A few years ago I was browsing the native section at a local nursery and spotted some sundrops. Generally, Oenothera is a low-growing plant with a lot...
This week: Meet Amsonia, my favorite plant
Hello! Sometimes I feel like a broken record because I can’t stop recommending a certain native plant to Blooms to Bees clients—Amsonia. Let me tell you why...
This week: Red Buckeye Blooms
Hello! I was at Pittsburgh Botanic Garden this past week and noticed that they had several red buckeyes (Aesculus pavia) on the grounds. They were...
This week: Ninebark blooms
Hello! More and more begins to bloom every week this time of year—very exciting! This week I noticed that my Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) is blooming....
This week: Wild geranium blooms
Hello! I’m pleased to announce the blooming of Geranium maculatum, affectionately known as cranesbill or wild geranium. This low-growing native perennial has...
This week: Ephemeral native Virginia bluebells
Hello! A few springs ago I planted a bag of bare root Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica). Nothing ever came of them until this year when one finally...