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...
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....