Native Plant Profile: Baptisia australis is a springtime carnival of early-season color.

I have two other Abies concolor here (I know, there’s evidence of my former“everything in threes” insanity again), the other two grown naturally, unshorn, and therefore quite different-looking. I won’t tell you what I paid for the big guy, all thick and a perfect pyramid and already near 10 feet tall when he came to me to live on my hillside of a backyard, among the crabapples and a giant island of ornamental grasses. The others were scrawny little things, maybe 3 feet high, though each is more than 15 tall now.The white, or concolor fir, a Western American native species ranging from Colorado to Southern California, New Mexico and into Mexico, can grow to 100 feet in the wild, apparently, but in a garden setting you are more likely to see it get to 30 or maybe 50 feet in time, and half as wide.Its long needles, which are particularly silvery-blue in the cultivar ‘Candicans,’ curve outward

Native bees species (like the mining bee above on the wildflower boneset) don’t get as much attention, and other insect pollinators even less, but without our wild pollinators we’d enjoy far less biodiversity, both in plants and animals—because they’re key to the food web, which would otherwise break down. To get to know some of these unsung heroes and the critical roles they play, I spoke with Heather Holm, author of the book “Pollinators of Native Plants,” which teaches us how to identify and attract and appreciate them in our gardens and beyond. (Enter to wi

In the early 1990s, when I was working on a book called “The Natural Habitat Garden” with my friend Ken Druse, we traveled the country interviewing native-plant enthusiasts and photographing their gardens. One memorable stop was the home of Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland, outside Wilmington, which today is the botanic garden called Mt. Cuba Center, with more than 50 acres of display gardens on more than 500 acres of natural land.I’d never seen native terrestrial orchids before, or the vivid red and yellow wildflower called Spigelia marilandica anywhere, and that day I learned that some discerning and forward-thinking experts such as Mt. Cuba’s first horticulture director, the great Dick Lighty, were already busy selecting “better” forms of native plants for garden use–a trend that has accelerated and become one of the hottest areas of contemp

10 AM-4 PM: Margaret Roach garden open, plus Broken Arrow Nursery plant sale, Copake Falls; suggested donation at door to the Garden Conservancy, but no reservation required (and no donation to just shop the plant sale). (Directions to the garden, in tiny Copake Falls, NY, 12517, will be on the Garden Conservancy Open Days website.)native plant events with dan jaffe9:30 AM-11:00 AM: “For Us and Them: How Native Plants Can Feed Us and Pollinators,” with Dan JaffeWant to create a garden that is inviting, and delicious, for “us and them” — people, and pollinators alike? Join Dan Jaffe, co-author of Native Plants for New England Gardens and longtime ecological horticultur

We talked about matching plants to habitat, of course, but also why evaluating their habits–do they spread by rhizomes, or are they clumpers?–is key, too, among other considerations. Not all goldenrods (or milkweeds, or fill in the blank) are created equal).Read along as you listen to the June 3, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotifyor Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).getting to know native plants, with uli lorimerMargaret Roach: Congratulations on your recent change of job, Uli, and-Uli Lorimer: Thank you. Yes, it’s very, very exciting times.Margaret: Before we go on kind of a virtual walk among the wildflowers together, tell us about the new job and the new name for the former New England Wild Flower Society.Uli: Sure. The organization made the first moves to change the name a

JOIN US for our fourth annual Moth Night, part of the citizen-science project called National Moth Week, and organized by A Way to Garden and Friends of Taconic State Park in Copake Falls, New York. BYO picnic supper if you please–we’ll provide dessert treats–to enjoy while you learn Moth 101 from top experts, then experience nature after dark with them and just have fun.Note: This is a free event, but if you wish to donate to the Friends of Taconic State Park to help us offer honoraria to more experts to lead more nature programs like this one, there is an extra button on the ticket form for that. Thanks.Brigette Zacharczenko, a PhD UConn-Storrs entomologist, and Dylan Cipkowski, who has been surveying the moths of Columbia County, N.Y., as pa

Wherever you garden, he has advice to help you think about what to look for in a garden-worthy native and more, and how to really define native, anyway. I learned the concept of ecoregions—about choosing plants not because I live within a particular county line on a manmade map, but instead guided by larger forces of geology and natural habitat.Read along as you listen to the July 23, 2018 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here). Plus: Enter to win a copy of the new book, by commenting at the bottom of the page.selecting garden-worthy native plants, with dan jaffeQ. I haven’t been to Garden in the Woo

I decided to invite one to the show to find out. Here to help is Head Gardener Timothy Tilghman, of Untermyer Gardens Conservancy in Yonkers, New York, an ambitious restoration of a historic landscape that he’s been undertaking with his team since 2011 and gaining lots of praise in the press and from visitors. (That’s Timothy watering the greenhouse flats of annuals, below.)Read along as you listen to the Feb. 25, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).hot annuals, with untermyer gardens’ timothy tilghmanQ. Hi, Timothy. It’s me again.A. No, it’s always fun to hear from you.Q. Needing more plant ideas again. We should probably just as an introduction for people who

Scott Freeman is Principal Lecturer in Biology at the University of Washington and author of various biology texts. His latest book, though, is at once a tale of his family’s 17-acre project that involved salmon and reforestation while tackling invasive species, and how each of us can engage in a role of stewardship with the earth, and live a more present and engaged life as a citizen of the planet.“Saving Tarboo Creek” tells a story of ongoing ecological restoration, which Scott says “is really just gardening with native plants on a big scale.” But how do you know what to plant on a ravaged site, and in a world of changing climates? [Top of page: An aerial shot of the Tarboo Valley and bay, looking down the cre

Figuring out which plants are native locally is one key first step, and at the bottom of the transcript is a list of some places to help you start in that search, no matter where you garden (including how to find your state’s list, and then your county’s from there). Up top, those are native Trillium erectum and Geranium maculatum in a shady bed at Ken’s.Speaking of native plants, we also tackled a listener question about pruning Magnolia grandiflora—the evergreen Southern magnolia.  And on the subject of collector plants, Ken confesses to his latest acquisition—probably the most expensive single bulb he ever bought.Ken Druse needs no introduction, but I’ll offer one anyhow. He’s a prolific author a with hit books like “Making More Plants” and “The New Shade Garden,” and “Natural Companions” (affiliate links).

How can we each become more informed native plant consumers? I asked Uli Lorimer of Native Plant Trust, who has made a career of working with native plants. He was longtime curator of the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and in 2019, he became Director of Horticulture at Native Plant Trust, the former New England Wild Flower Society and America’s oldest plant conservation organization, founded in 1900.We must learn to “think holistically and not just from the human’s perspective. Like not, ‘What do I want my garden to do for me?’” says Uli.We also talked about Native Plant Trust’s extensive education program—including a full list of online courses in native-plant topics from garden design and gardening for pollinators, to plant identification—even one called “Native Species, Cultivars and Selections

TIME FOR A LESSON in winter sowing—sowing seeds in fall and early winter outside in a protected spot, a sort of easy DIY home nursery for making more plants. What we’ll learn to propagate that way are specifically seeds of native plants—both meadow perennials, like asters and Joe Pye weed, and also various shrubs and even trees.