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...
This week: Tulip poplar, a very tall native tree
Hello, I read unfortunate tree news this week. A tulip poplar that was over 100 feet tall was illegally cut down to make way for a new house in Washington,...
This week: Ready-made native garden kits
Hello! With March mere hours away, it’s time to start making garden daydreams a reality. Every plant matters, so the more native perennials you can plant,...
This week: Are fungus gnats living in your houseplants?
Hello! I have to ask you a personal question. Do your houseplants have fungus gnats? If you’re a chronic over-waterer, you probably do. They look like fruit...
This week: Seed starting supplies
Hello! While it’s not yet time to start seeds indoors to sow outside after the last frost, it’s certainly time to start planning! Starting vegetables or...
This week: How to tell an American Sycamore from a London Planetree
Hello! If you can’t tell the difference between an American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) and a London Planetree (Platanus x acerfolia), you are not...
This week: Better houseplant lighting
Hello! A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that over-watering and poor lighting are two of the top reasons why houseplants fail to thrive. This week, we’ll...
This week: Identifying trees in winter
Hello! This weekend I took a class through Phipps Conservatory on winter native tree identification. It was my first in-person class there since Covid began,...
This week: Are you over-watering your houseplants?
Hello! This week I attempted to kill my Cyclamen houseplant. I only bought it a month ago, and then and all its leaves turned yellow and died. Good thing I...
This week: Baptisia’s remarkable winter foliage
Hello! Winter is finally setting in. Pittsburgh had its first substantial snow this week, and some of perennials that had been holding onto their leaves...
This week: starting native perennials from seed
Hello! Last year, I collected a lot of milk jugs to try winter sewing native perennial seeds. Winter sewing is necessary because many native seeds require a...
This week: Sedum brings autumn joy to butterflies
Hello! This week we have another entry into the dead plant gallery of winter beauty: Hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude,’ better known as Autumn Joy stonecrop...
This week: Allium ‘Millenium’ (that’s not a typo)
Hello again! It’s late December and there is still more to enjoy in my dead plant garden! This week, I noticed the particular beauty of Allium ‘Millenium’...