Beyond the Garden Gate

…Step by step from town to town, sweet like justice: gardens are a queen, gardens take all my friends to the summit, gardens are the plot on the green, blooming straight home to me…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of months, and more specifically the last week, then Taylor & Travis have probably been monopolizing your screen time. You probably thought you were safe here, in the comfort of the weekly Pleasant Run email. “Surely, the crossover between horticulture and Taylor Swift has to be minimal,” you think to yourself wearily, eyes heavy from scrolling through endless feel-good videos of a pop icon finally living out her fairy tale dreams. Guess again!

Brawn & Beauty: Plants of the Badlands

In honor of the brave folks who put their lives on the line to protect our vast and beautiful country, from the amber waves of grain to the purple mountain majesties, this week we’re doing something a little bit differently. Without the unwavering fortitude and valor of our Veterans, American citizens might not be able to enjoy some of their country’s most spectacular natural parks and landscapes, amongst other things. There’s a lot to celebrate this weekend - with November 10^th marking the 45^th anniversary of Badlands National Park’s official designation as a national park, we’re praising some of the special species that make up this diverse and ecologically critical habitat. Let’s start with some quick facts about the Badlands and what makes them so special.

Flowers of the First Frost

The precipice of winter is upon us: this week, we saw our first hard frosts of the season, greeting us each morning as a shimmering blanket of delicate ice crystals clinging to any greenery that remains. The sun seems to be scarcer and scarcer by the day, barely peaking above the treetops as the first vehicles begin rolling down the driveway and already threatening to set by the time our doors close for the evening. The inevitable truth is that winter is coming, and it’s predicted to actually, maybe, be a REAL winter, snow and all. From the day of this email being written, there are exactly 48 calendar days left before winter’s arrival. But before that happens, let’s bask in the remaining days of autumn for a little while longer: starting with our first inaugural Pleasant Run Pumpkin Carving Contest, which kicked off Halloween a little bit differently this year.

Double, Double, Soil and Rubble…

Although the witches in MacBeth were known to use yew and poison hemlock in their wicked brew, they could have considered several other plants with high toxicity characteristics that are perfect for spiritually infiltrating the souls of Scottish monarchs… uhh… that are perfect for jazzing up the landscape with their beautiful (but somewhat deadly) ornamental features. While we don’t necessarily recommend nibbling on random leaves and berries that visually appeal to you without knowing exactly what they are, here are three plants that you most definitely do NOT want to experiment with culinarily that still make for lovely specimens in the garden.

Flowering Fall Favorites

With fall festivals, haunted hayrides, bonfire gatherings and shorter daylight hours upon us, the Nursery is once again beginning to brim with color. And we’re not just talking about the pending foliage changes on our various trees and shrubs (although that’s pretty great, too). It’s time to celebrate a few last hurrahs for our fall flowering favorites here at Pleasant Run. Now’s the time to be planting, and what better to use than some beautiful late bloomers to wow and intrigue onlookers? This week, we’re going to talk about five of our seasonal favorites that are currently showing us what they’ve got, starting with an oldie-but-goodie: Viburnum macrocephalum.

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.

Autumnal Awakening

It’s here! Chilly nights, chunky sweaters, candied apples, roasting bonfires, pumpkin spice everything… but lest we forget the late season blooming plants that add an extra bit of the ol’ razzle-dazzle to the fall landscape. What better to contrast the plentiful reds, oranges, and bronzy greens of Autumn than seasonal golden yellows and diverse purples? Besides: purple is a classic Halloween color, and yellow is an Autumn mainstay. Why not play it up this time of year and really lean into seasonal color palettes? Don’t worry, this week’s helpful guide to fun Fall flowers will do exactly that!

Send in the Skippers

Right on the back of butterfly week, we want to pay homage to some of the quickest workers of Pleasant Run Nursery – the skippers. True to their name, these flighty little creatures have been keeping the nursery alive with movement as they skip from flower to flower, hungrily snatching up nectar from a variety of plant material. One thing’s for sure: the skippers seem to have some favorite nectar plants, based on the abundant populations that can be observed watching certain crops for only a few moments. While the list could probably go on, this week we’re going to highlight only a handful of flowering showstoppers that the skippers can’t seem to stay away from, starting with Heliopsis helianthoides.

Beckoning the Butterflies

Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone! It’s hard to believe that we made it through summer so quickly, but here we are. While we get ready for what is sure to be an incredibly hectic fall season, the Nursery is aflutter with butterflies of all sorts. This week, we’re going to touch on some ol’ timeless classics that can be found flitting about this time of year, including everyone’s favorites, the Monarchs and the Swallowtails. We’ll also dive into perhaps a slightly lesser known, but incredibly common native species, the Pearl Crescent butterfly. Let’s ogle some pictures and learn some fun butterfly facts, shall we?

Wet Loving Natives

You may or may not have been blessed with a fair amount of summer precipitation lately. Despite this year’s earlier drought, we’ve been making up for the rain loss with near-nightly summer storms. In honor of the rain gods, this week we’ll be talking about a handful of natives that prefer moist soil conditions, and the integral ecosystem services that each is responsible for.

Tropical Tricksters

With the dog days of summer upon us, many of us are craving a break from the humidity and bustle of getting ready for fall. However, what better to celebrate these muggy, hot days than by highlighting some tropical-esque perennials? If you can’t get away this summer, have no fear – we have just the right selections to bring a tropical feel to your landscape. So, hop on the safari bus and let’s get exotic!

Picturesque Pinks of Summer

This time of the year, yellows and pinks dominate the landscape. Carnation, flamingo, bubblegum, baby pastel, and Barbie-appropriate hues create a pattern of cohesive pink shades throughout the Nursery gardens and production houses. So, this week, we’re paying homage to only a handful of the poppy pink palettes that we offer, ranging across shapes, sizes and species.

National Moth Week

Happy National Moth Week! We hope you’ve been celebrating by exploring and tracking down your local moth populations, à la Steve Irwin. If not, don’t worry – we camouflaged ourselves with moss and sticks, hunkered down beneath some decaying logs for an afternoon, and managed to creep around long enough to get these shots in celebration of the national holiday. Enjoy!

Something for Everyone

This week, we’re highlighting something for everyone to suit a variety of site conditions. We have woodland groundcover, Sedum ternatum, sunshine-loving native shrub, Hypericum x ‘Blue Velvet’, and the unique but underutilized meadow perennial, Eryngium yuccifolium. Each of these natives play critical ecological roles in the landscape, from providing crucial nectar sources for pollinators, to soil stabilization, and everything in between.