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...
This week: Getting schooled on insects
Hello! I’m in a class at Phipps Conservatory called Important Insect Groups to Know (and Love?) that’s all about identifying these little critters. So, this...
This week: Native flowering dogwood blooms
Hello! This weekend Pittsburgh had nice weather so I spent some quality time doing garden work—pulling weeds, filling bare spots with eco-grass seed, and...
This week: Natives by name
Hello! Now that it is plant shopping season, it’s time for a binomial nomenclature hack to identify native plants. Back in the 18th century, Linnaeus came up...
This week: Flowers for moonlight
Hello! If you spend most of your time in the garden after the sun goes down, you can still enjoy its beauty by incorporating a few moonlight-friendly plants....
This week: Compost confessions
Hello! I must confess that I’m bad at compost. My expectations exceed the abilities of the Earth Machine compost bin that I got at a Pennsylvania Resources...
This week: Eastern redbud blooms
Hello! This week the forsythia, crocus, and daffodils are in their glory, and the buds on my Eastern Redbud tree are getting ready to bloom. The Eastern...
This week: Favorite purple native plants
Hello! This week the daffodils began to bloom in Pittsburgh. Spring has sprung! Soon lots of plants will be in flower, and if you’ve ever seen my garden, you...
This week: No-mow grass as a lawn alternative
Hello! For years, I’ve been removing grass from my yard and replacing it with native plants. I’m not a fan of grass because it requires a lot of maintenance...