If you wonder why Japanese barberries aren’t in garden centers next spring, it’s because Pennsylvania has banned the sale of this popular little thorny-stemmed shrub as a harmfully invasive plant. Japanese barberries have been a landscape staple for decades because they’re heat- and drought-tough, deer don’t like them, they’re compact, they aren’t commonly […]
Bill and Jane Allis just built a home garden in Perry County that they’ve decided to share with everybody. It’s called The Bower, and it’s a new combination native-plant sanctuary and sculpture park that covers 36 acres in the Carroll Twp. countryside not far from Shermans Dale. Six of those acres is […]
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society didn’t want to move its world’s-biggest indoor flower show outside or change the timing from end of winter to late spring. If COVID wouldn’t have come along, I’m sure the 2021 Philadelphia Flower Show would have taken place inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in early March, just as it […]
If you live in an urban setting or other more-populated/less-tree’d area, you may be wondering what all the hubbub is over Brood X cicadas, that bug that emerges en masse only once every 17 years. It’s entirely possible you may not see (or hear) a one. However, if you’re in an area […]
So many plants to pick from… but which ones are the best? One bit of homework to go on is plants that have won awards from various plant-trial and plant-selection programs. Each year, organizations of growers, horticulturists, researchers, and other plant experts bestow awards on top plant performers – some new, some […]
I hope you got your 2021 supply of seeds already. If not, you’d better get busy ASAP because we’re seeing another seed slam in which seed-sellers can’t get seeds in the packets and out the door fast enough to keep up with another huge-demand year. For the second year in a row, […]
It’s hard to imagine Longwood Gardens getting much bigger or better. This magnificent botanical legacy of industrialist Pierre du Pont already graces 1,100 acres of Chester County countryside with elegant formal gardens, fountains that rival Versailles, a meadow garden that alone covers 86 acres, and just about every plant cultivated for garden use. […]
A miniature version of the popular Knock Out rose, a super-short clematis that can be used as a groundcover, and three new dark-leafed shrubs are among the best new trees and shrubs debuting in the 2021 growing season. Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked the following for my annual January […]
Ajugas with multi-colored leaves, compact versions of two pollinator-magnet native flowers, and three exceptionally good-looking herbs are among a banner slate of interesting new perennial flowers debuting in the 2021 growing season. Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked the following choices for my annual January four-part, best-new-plants series. The […]
A showy new sweet potato vine, two heavy-blooming new begonias, and arguably the best yellow petunia yet top the list of interesting new annual flowers debuting in 2021. Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked those and more for my four-part, best-new-plants series that I compile each January – a good […]