Changing turf to habitat under a large tree – Before and After Turfgrass lawns are needy beasts. If someone offered you a plant that required pruning every week, aerating, overseeding and fertilizing every growing season, stayed a plain...
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Thanks to Real Simple magazine for inviting Backyard Bounty and other landscape designers to provide ideas on how home gardeners can use native plants, stormwater management, reduced lawn areas, and other tactics to create a more eco-friendly...
Read moreThinking about spring and favorite plants right now. Here’s one of the best: Amsonia hubrechtii, Blue Star Flower. Amsonia is a tough native, easy to care for, gorgeous in bloom with fabulous summer texture and stunning gold fall color. In...
Read moreA client in Chevy Chase was wondering how she could attract more pollinators to her gardens- she’s filled her yard with some of the best: Asters, Joe Pye Weed, Cone Flowers…. But what’s in her neighbors’ yards? Barberry...
Read moreWhy we love conservation landscapes- Thx Monica Sirtori for finding this article highlighting entomologist Doug Tallamy’s research and the value of native plants...
Read moreWe’ve been planting Aronia arbutifolia (Chokeberry) for a while now. Chokeberry is a native shrub whose beautiful fall color is a great sub. for the invasive Burning Bush. But you get a lot more with Aronia: Flowers and edible berries. Read...
Read moreThese Evergreen Wood Fern (Dryopteris marginalis) have been in the garden for less than a month and are thriving in the dry shade under an old Maple. Great native choice if you have these conditions. More info...
Read moreDwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata) is a native Iris that thrives in part shade. It is a ‘streambank’ plant that tolerates drought and flooding- in fact it does a great job controlling erosion at the edge of a slope. 3rd picture is...
Read moreInstead of planting liriope, try Carex laxiculmis ‘Bunny Blue’. This native sedge is evergreen, thrives in the shade, and has steel blue foilage that lights up a dark corner in the garden. Thanks to Ann English of the Montgomery...
Read moreOn this rainy March afternoon, it’s cheering to look out the window and see flowers blooming. The pussy willow over our driveway is covered in white catkins. There are all kinds of rules about how you should prune a tree. I’ve...
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