Plant Profile: Royal fern (Osmunda regalis)
Karen Royal fern is a deciduous perennial found on all continents except Australia. Its family, Osmundaceae, date back 230,000,000 years to the Permian days before man and other mammals but when…
Plant Profile: Osage Orange Maclura pomifera)
This deciduous small to medium sized tree is a native in parts of Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma but has spread widely through the Great Plains where was planted in the…
Book Review: Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love
A home is more than just a house; it is the landscape around the house too. With this premise author, Julie Moir Messervy, takes the reader of Home Outside: Creating…
Plant Profile: Green Bullrush (Scirpus atrovirens)
This herbaceous perennial is native to North America where it is found in wet lands such as marshes, low meadows, pond and stream edges, and drainage ditches. In spite of…
Plant Profile: Butcher’s Broom (Ruscus aculeatus)
Butcher’s broom, also known by many other common names including knee holly, is a low growing broadleaf evergreen shrub native to the Mediterranean and western Europe. The thick, glossy, dark…
Plant Profile: Swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius)
Swamp sunflower, also know as narrowleaf sunflower, is a herbaceous perennial native to eastern United States from the mid-Atlantic to Florida, west to Texas where it grows in wet areas…
Plant Profile: Igiri Tree (Idesia polycarpa)
This unusual deciduous tree is a native of China, Japan, and Korea, and is noteworthy for its leaves and fruits. The heart-shaped leaves are large, up to 12” across, are…
Plant Profile: Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago)
This deciduous large shrub or small tree native to eastern North America where it may be found on forest edges and along roadsides. It has erect to arching branches and…
Plant Profile: European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)
Like other members of the genus, European ash is not especially ornamental but is a large deciduous tree that does well in inhospitable places. Growing up to 80’ tall, it…
Plant Profile: Norway Maple (Acer plantanoides)
Some of us have fond memories of “helicopters” swirling down from maple trees, breaking them open and sticking them on our nose. If you share this memory you may have…