The Punctual and Playful Purple Martin

Pre-COVID times, my family and I would vacation annually in Corolla, one of the northern most seaside towns in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Elaborate, three-story mansions act as surrogate homes for traveling families who ache for a salty, languid retreat amidst a fast-paced, technologically pressurized world. Among these houses, there were a few that sat along the beach which, in particular, displayed similarly elaborate upright structures constructed of white “gourds” arranged on spokes laterally around a central hub. Flitting in and out of the circular doorways, their liquid song spilling into the ocean air, Purple Martins would greet our crew as we shuffled to the beach. Collectively, we found them charming and soon they became a welcomed symbol of our time together in the Outer Banks. Imagine my surprise several years later when I’d find myself at Pleasant Run, face-to-face with some of the most well-designed Purple Martin houses I’d ever seen - and right here in New Jersey!

The Hidden Magic of Redbuds

Last week, we covered a notorious garden volunteer, Viola soraria, a native groundcover with a sordid history that has some scratching their heads as to why we would even bother selling it (I make my argument here and will die on this hill). This week we’re taking the alternate route and telling you about quite the opposite - a small, native tree that, very genuinely, we have a hard time keeping in stock due to their popularity and covetousness. That’s right - of course, we’re talking about our native Eastern redbud, Cercis canadensis.

Viola soraria: Friend, Foe, or Fritillary Feast?

It’s always a hard sell trying to convince someone that the “weed” they’ve been ripping out of their gardens for as long as they can remember is actually a beneficial (albeit mildly aggressive) native plant. One of the most notable, perhaps, of plants considered an offense to the native gardener’s senses is none other than Viola soraria.

Magnolia Madness!

The unraveling of magnolia flowers signifies the arrival of true spring, and this year we’ve been blessed with warm enough weather that ensures blooms won’t be destroyed by an unexpected frost. In both the landscape as well as our production houses, the magnolias are springing to life, tempting passersby with their delicate floral fragrance. Despite our meager human attraction to the large, varied, prehistoric flowers, magnolias have evolved specifically to seduce Coleopterans (beetles), Dipterans (flies), and Hymenopterans (bees, wasps, and ants). Some Central and South American magnolia species play host to scarab beetles, who not only pollinate the flowers, but also derive nutrients from the petals and utilize the large floral spaces as shelter for reproductive activities.

Vibrant Vernals

Happy spring, everybody! Although March is in its lion-before-the-lamb phase, it’s been nothing short of relieving to experience the arrival of warmer, longer days: the orchestra of birdsong is hitting a crescendo with previously southern-flown winter migrating species reclaiming their territories in our temperate Northeastern forests and wood lines; bright yellow daffodils and purple crocuses promise the return of color to our favorite outdoor spaces, signaling the true beginning of the new growing season.

Spring Housekeeping

Golden, Like Daylight

We’ve made it. The unofficial beginning to spring rides in at midnight, signaling longer sunlight hours and promising warmer days ahead. Snowdrops hang their nodding white flowers in silent agreement, while daffodils, tulips, and the rest of the bulb world are at the precipice of their annual exhibition. Some of the first crocuses are starting to appear, meaning true springtime isn’t far behind. Meanwhile, the most discerning horticultural eyes are able to discern the fattening of foliar and floral buds on woody shrubs and trees, the perking-up of evergreen groundcovers and shrubs, and even the emergence of some insect companions.

Winter Wrap-Up

Can you believe we’re just a little over a week away from the beginning of Daylight Savings? Maybe you can - after all, the days have been getting noticeably longer, the weather is slowly warming (although perhaps falsely), and the eyes of spring are beginning to peek out from their slumber.

Seeds of Hope

We’ve been hearing the word “ruderal” thrown around a lot lately. Ruderal plants are the rough-and-tumble baddies that take over in some unlikely circumstances: disturbed roadsides, slopes, poor soil conditions, drought-prone areas, burn sites, etc. You name a difficult growing situation, and there’s a ruderal plant ready to take charge.

Heart-Healing Horticulture

Right on the heels of Valentine’s Day, and with so much uncertainty and turmoil in the world, we’d like to take this week to remind ourselves to reflect and feel comforted in our heart spaces. Yeah, it sure does sound like New Age woo-woo, but speaking as a life-long existential nihilist to you, dear reader, forcing some positivity into our internal selves is rather cathartic.

New Years Resolutions & New Directions

Happy 2025, friends! We’re back and ready for a brand new year of growin’, nursin’, and slingin’ plants.

It’s a jam-packed January starting as soon as next week. We are proud sponsors of the New Directions in the American Landscape’s (NDAL) Annual Symposium, split across two fantastic event spaces over the course of two weeks.

Plant Couture & This Year's Hottest Color

Year's End Wrap-Up Notes

As we wrap things up for 2024 and begin to reflect on the months behind us, we want to thank you for your continued support and friendship throughout the year. Despite unprecedented weather-related challenges, some production hurdles, and an entire reconstruction of our website, this has still managed to be our most successful year to date.

Gardens of Gratitude

Seed Season

You’ve been told to “leave the leaves”, but this is your sign to Save The Seeds! Spent seedheads of native (and even non-native) flowering perennials are vital to the success of many overwintering insect and bird populations. Not only do birds ravage the remaining nutritious seeds, but some bees and wasps have been found to burrow into spent stems and plant cavities for protection from winter conditions. Sure, perennial genera like Echinacea and Rudbeckia are known beneficials as seedy, textural components in the winter landscape, but what about plants with some real pizazz? After all, if we’re gonna leave the seeds, we may as well enjoy what we’re looking at.

Follow Me Down the Yellow Vine Trail...

Typically, autumn is all about the stunning array of color abound in our landscapes, chalked up primarily to the deciduous shrubs and trees that dot or woodlands. Vines tend to always get a bit obscured by these rose-colored (or red, orange, or purple-colored, so to speak) glasses that we wear this time of year, despite offering as many ornamental and ecological benefits as their more grounded kin. This week, let’s chat native vines that sparkle in the landscape with bold yellows during spring, summer, and fall.

Hocus Pocus, Fall Color Focus!

Speaking of Halloween, by this time next week, the trick-or-treaters will have long been sugared up, Jack-o-Lantern candles will have been long extinguished, and the mad rush to get ready for the holidays will have begun. Before we get too ahead of ourselves on the calendar, let’s take a moment to really revel in the final days of early autumn – crisp, fallen leaves, pleasantly chilly mornings, and the final buds and blooms of the season.

Pink Pony Plants

October is a month immersed in color throughout the horticultural world. Typically, pink is not one of the colors that comes to mind during the spooky season, with the exception of hot pink ribbons representing the global call for action against breast cancer and championing the brave individuals who’ve fought brazenly against the disease.

Fat Bear Week

For those of you waiting with baited breath for the annual celebration of Fat Bear Week, wait no longer. Starting this past Wednesday, October 2^nd, and continuing until 9pm Tuesday, October 8^th, the elimination tournament between four large, furry contenders rages on – only the fattest will survive. 

Happy National Public Lands Day

In celebration of National Public Lands Day, we encourage you to get out and explore your closest designated National Park, Historic Site, Recreational Area, Monument, Military Park, Seashore, Scenic Trail, or Reserve, and take in the natural beauty that has been preserved within our local seven-state region.

Fall Favorites at Pleasant Run

The wait is over! The irrefutable favorite season of Northeasterners and Midwesterners everywhere, the Autumn Equinox is ready for its annual debut this Sunday, September 22nd. In celebration of cool mornings, dark early evenings, bonfires, hayrides, and an abundance of pumpkins and apples in our futures, this week we’re introducing some of our favorite fall selections meant to bring color, texture, and variety to the landscape or container planting.

September is for Solidago

Last week, we celebrated the arrival of our native aster blooms as they begin to unfurl around the nursery. As promised, this week we’ll be exploring their phylogenic cousins, the goldenrods. It’s almost like September is designed exclusively for the parade of yellows, purples and blues that categorically make up the perennial palette of autumn, all belonging to the second largest flowering family worldwide: Asteraceae. The golden plumes of our native goldenrods, which are considered critical keystone species, are identifiable beacons of the end of summer, recognizable to even the most novice plant lovers.

Compositely Yours, Aster

Now that September has officially arrived (also known as the unofficial start of autumn, if you’ve been eagerly counting down the days to spooky season like I have), both us lowly humans as well as our plant companions are ready for well-deserved break from the summer heat. As the nighttime emerges more quickly and the sun seems wont to rise in the brisk early mornings, the purples, blues, and yellows that signal the arrival of autumn slowly begin to unravel. Asters and goldenrods are the champion perennials of late summer to early autumn, their complimentary hues playing against one another in the landscape. At a time when many other native perennials are at a standstill, these two provide critical nectar sources for pollinators late in the season.

Happy Labor Day!

Please note that we will be closed in observance of Labor Day on Monday, September 2nd.

We will return on Tuesday, September 3rd at 7am to assist you with all of your plant needs and help you get ready for all of your fall projects - please be patient as we try to catch up on pulling orders that morning. Prepare to pick up any plant material that day in the late morning to early afternoon hours.

Coneflower Crazy!

With its oldie-but-goodie status long established since the early 1700s upon classification, Echinacea purpurea really needs no introduction. Instead, we’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Good Golly, Great Grasses!

It’s been a while since we’ve taken a meander through our grassy knolls... or, at the very least, the masses of grasses we have patiently waiting in their production houses for their forever homes. With the demand for native species increasing, we wanted to take the time to highlight some wonderful graminoid options for the Mid-Atlantic and beyond. Move over, Miscanthus!

Ruderal Rhexia, Rhynchospora, & Rubus

This week has been an inventory extravaganza, with new items going onto our availability left, right, and center. Amongst the slew of new and returning plants are some lesser known and even lesser utilized species that deserve their chance in the spotlight. While we frantically attempt to broaden our materials list before the busy fall season hits, let us implore you to dive deeper into some plants that demand your attention. These plants are chosen specifically for their ability to thrive in a variety of site conditions, including recently disturbed areas, and represent textures and colors that are unmatched in the landscape.

As with anything in the botanical world, there’s a term for hearty plants that can thrive in primordial landscapes: ruderal, derived from the Latin root, rudera or ruderalis, meaning “rubble”. We want to introduce you to three selections specified for landscape areas of concern, specifically those requiring soil stabilization and pioneering by tough, gritty plants.

Re-Imagining Indigofera

If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly trying to figure out ways to get the most out of your leafy landscape companions. Whether it be eating the literal fruits of their labor, cutting fresh flowers for indoor arrangements, or learning how to make natural dyes from various plant materials, the ethnobotanical uses of our beloved garden buddies are seemingly boundless. Unfortunately, many of our traditional practices have gotten lost with time and the evolution of technology and synthetic materials – our fruits harvested thousands of miles away in different countries, last-minute bouquets of cut flowers purchased for loved ones at grocery stores, pre-made fabrics and man-made dyes that adorn our bodies day in and day out. Sometimes, the disconnect gets so overwhelming that there’s only one thing to do: return to nature. This is the season of berry-picking, frolicking through wildflower fields, and experimenting with the natural world around us, should we allow ourselves the whimsy with which to explore. The most curious of inquisitive horticultural minds may find themselves mashing and boiling plant materials to discover a heavily pigmented end result. But, where to start?

Vibrant Vitex

Summertime is in full swing all around the perimeters of Pleasant Run. Bees are buzzing, butterflies are flitting about, goldfinches are happily lapping up coneflower seeds on spent flowerheads. We’re adding new inventory left and right, getting ready for a fall season that is anticipated to be just as hair-pullingly busy as spring, and rediscovering some of our favorite selections that have proven themselves to be timeless garden workhorses.

Amongst these, our crops of Vitex agnus-castus, which I am perhaps a bit partial to, are magnificent in all of their glory. Standing proud and regal, seemingly unbothered by neither pest nor disease, with a pleasingly quick growth rate and the ability to withstand heat, salt spray, and drought, Vitex agnus-castus is as beautiful and intriguing as it is multi-functional in a variety of landscapes.

Captivating Carpinus

Maybe you’ve noticed the extreme heat we’ve been dealing with lately. We previously talked about heat-tolerant selections that are capable of thriving even in the hottest of Mid-Atlantic conditions. Still, us lowly humans need to beat the heat somehow, especially if most of our time is spent outdoors whether professionally or recreationally. Where better to find reprieve than under the shelter of a large, shady tree that also has the capacity to house and sustain wildlife? This week, we’re going beneath the cool, shadowy canopies belonging to two members of the Carpinus genus and uncovering some of the lesser-known attributes and interesting facts that make these trees so fascinating.