Hope for the cracking dam With the New Year’s Day high temperature in the DC region expected to be in the 60’s, I walk outside thinking about the environmental changes that global warming and habitat loss engender. How not to feel a little like...
Read more
Leave the leaves….. an altogether new concept for many people to wrap their heads around. Although mother nature has been telling us what to do we insist that we know better. When we remove leaf fall from our gardens we disrupt the...
Read more
Did you know that in a single tablespoon of soil there are more soil organisms than there are humans on this planet? Or that there are 5,000 different types of bacteria in a single gram of soil? Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the...
Read more
Dear Backyard Bounty community, Thank you for everything you are doing in your garden to preserve habitat, create beautiful outdoor living spaces, manage stormwater, and increase native plantings. Backyard Bounty is honored to be part of your...
Read more
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...
Read more
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 more