Trees

A New Respect For Serviceberry

I am going to start out by admitting that I have never been impressed with serviceberry. The first serviceberry or shadblow (Amelanchier spp.) that I encountered was in Pennsylvania in 1996. I was told that it was an impressive, native tree that was being promoted as a replacement for the over-used Bradford pear. When it flowered, [...]

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Peking Lilac

First of all, last week was pretty awesome. The weather in Maine has been pretty good and then on Wednesday, we had our spring board meeting for CMBG in Chicago. It was in the mid-80′s when we landed in Chicago and tons of people were out running and biking along Lake Shore Drive. On Thursday [...]

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Sophora prostrata

I am highly influenced by the convergence of beautiful photography with fantastically different plants.  Such was the case when I stumbled across a post at Leila’s about some houseplants that she is testing out. This image of Sophora prostrata made me gasp.  I am obsessing over those little baby fern leaves – and I must have one.  I found them [...]

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Hoar Frost & Winter Gardens

Have you ever heard that bit about their being lots of Eskimo words for snow? True or not, it is a fact that we more commonly use words for things we experience commonly.  So I offer that as an explanation for why I (at least) haven’t really ever heard of hoar-frost.  Frost has always just been [...]

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Cistus Nursery

First of all, at least once per day, I make sure that I work with plants. I either look, touch, prune, read about, design with, or order plants. That is why I love my job. Currently at work, we are finalizing our orders for the spring planting season. I needed a few plants for a [...]

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Japanese Flowering Apricot: A Tree of Nostalgia

This is the first year of school for our kids in New England. My wife grew up in Pennsylvania and I grew up in North Carolina. During our school years, we became accustomed to a week long Spring Break, usually around the Easter holiday. In New England, we learned, our kids get two, one-week breaks [...]

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A Spicy New Magnolia

January of 2013 was cold. As my first January in Maine, I was not prepared for the lack of light and just how frigid it can get here. One thing that has really been fun and helped alleviate the cold this winter was pouring through all of the catalogs and placing orders for new plants [...]

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