Kate's Newsletters

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What the Hellebore?

It’s almost Halloween, so you know what that means – it’s time to get ready for the holiday season! While you’re stocking up on Twix and Snickers bars for the neighborhood kids, most of Corporate America is already glittering with multi-colored string lights, sparkling tree ornaments, and jolly ol’ yuletide merriment. We figure if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. After all, the holidays will be here before we know it, so the least we can do is get you prepared for all of your winter projects with our massive stock of hellebores.

By Kate Irvine Deer Resistant · Evergreen · Perennials · Winter Bloom · Read More

Breaking the Grass Ceiling

For the longest time, grasses, sedges, and rushes weren’t thought of as particularly ornamental in comparison to the innumerable flowering perennials, shrubs and trees that have proven their worthiness in endless gardens worldwide. Luckily, the native plant renaissance and efforts such as Mt. Cuba Center’s Carex Garden Trial have piqued the interests of not only horticulturists, but the general public, when it comes to the incorporation of our spectacularly strappy friends into the ornamental landscape. No longer do we live in a world where Pennisetum and Miscanthus dominate the retail shelves. Slowly, those old-timey grasses are being edged off of their pedestals not only for having questionable spreading habits but, let’s be honest, there are much cooler grasses out there. Sort of like the handful we’ll be talking about this week. So, let’s strap in and take a look at some of these a-maize-ing selections! (Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves.)

By Kate Irvine Deer Resistant · Fall Bloom · Grasses · Read More

Fern Facts

It’s native fern week! It’s been a while since we’ve explored some of the diverse and fascinating fern species that we have in abundance here at the Nursery, so this week we’re paying homage to these prehistoric plants and their often unseen and underappreciated attributes. Through a brief journey into the physiological, ecological, cultural and historical uses of these North American native ferns, we hope to leave you loving them as much as we do!

By Kate Irvine Deer Resistant · Ferns · Full Shade · Native · Read More

Earth Day

Just in time for Earth Day, we’ve approached that time of the season again where lots o’ crops are working on flushing themselves out, some of them inviting the gaze of admirers with the first colorful blooms of the season. It’s almost unfair and impossible to pinpoint simply one of the many lovely early Spring-flowering perennials that we offer here at Pleasant Run, so this week, we’re going to highlight several native selections that are in full spectacle and catching our eye. Without further ado, we bring you Geranium maculatum, Tiarella cordifolia ‘Brandywine’, and Aquilegia canadensis ‘Little Lanterns’.

By Kate Irvine Deer Resistant · Native · Pollinators · Read More

Bleeding Heart Bonanza!

The last week has brought a fresh flush of flowers and foliage around the entire Nursery. Color is becoming abundant from corner to corner, blanketing the property in yellows, purples, pinks, creamy and bright whites, and verdant greens. Amongst these harbingers of Spring, the well-loved Bleeding Hearts are making their appearance – both in the landscape as well as in production here on the farm. Being as this is a beloved ornamental and well known to plant aficionados and amateurs alike, we’re gonna keep it pretty straight forward this week and let the beauty of the plants speak for themselves through photographs. (Don’t worry, we’ll give you some fun plant facts along the way, too.)

By Kate Irvine Deer Resistant · Full Shade · Read More

The Ethereal Epimedium

Huddled together in the shade of the early morning, our collection of Epimedium greets the cool air with its upright, misty sprays of spidery looking flowers. This somewhat diminutive, slow-spreading groundcover is a plant collector’s dream. Under the Epimedium umbrella exists approximately 58 species, with the heart or arrow shaped leaves and ghostly blooms presenting themselves in an array of colors, shapes, and sizes. One could enthusiastically collect Epimedium varieties over the course of a lifetime and fill a shade garden with an impressive assemblage. Our ever-expanding selection of Epimedium here at the Nursery is simply the tip of the Epimedium iceberg.

By Kate Irvine Deer Resistant · Evergreen · Full Shade · Groundcover · Pollinators · Read More

Considering Corylopsis

Corylopsis veitchiana, the artist formerly known as Corylopsis sinensis f. veitchiana, or Veitch’s Winter Hazel, is a member of the family Hamamelidaceae, known better as the Witch Hazel family. Many of the species that fall within the Corylopsis genus exhibit attractive flowering structures at the cusp of spring, later than the bloom time of Hamamelis, usually falling somewhere between March and April in the Mid-Atlantic region. The showy inflorescences of Veitch’s Witch Hazel, specifically, appear first as succulent buds in mid-winter on top of smooth, sinewy bark, slowly unraveling to reveal drooping, lime green to fluorescent yellow clusters of layered frills. The flowers appear before the foliage begins to push, making the pendulous, brightly colored blooms stand out amongst the still-barren atmosphere of the late winter landscape.

By Kate Irvine Deer Resistant · Fragrant Flower · Winter bloom · Read More

In Light of Lungwort

This week, we’re going to explore the cultural, ecological, and societal uses of a plant as old as time itself – lungwort, botanically known as the genus Pulmonaria. So, take a deep breath and let us dive in.  

By Kate Irvine Deer Resistant · Full Shade · Read More