#193 09 March 2024

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here's some valuable things I wanted to share with you to cultivate your gardening skills.

  1. ​This month, I interviewed Julie Witmer on The Plantastic Podcast. She shares her journey on becoming a passionate garden designer in Pennsylvania. She talks about how she was influenced by figures like Christopher Lloyd and Beth Chatto and her continuous learning and problem-solving in gardening. Julie's expertise shines through with her design business, her homeschooling practices, and helping families design better spaces with plants. We talk about aligning gardens with personal desires and the environment; how with writing, teaching, and engagement she shares her knowledge and love for plants; how to layer plants and how to think about a garden; her daily routines of observing seasonal changes; and how we can make gardening accessible and enjoyable for all. Enjoy the show!
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  2. ​Pacific Horticulture highlighted the living fossil Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood). I never knew that Albert Einstein praised the propagation of this species.
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  3. On Awkward Botany, Daniel is celebrating the year of pollination and getting into the weeds of the science of how plants mix up their genes. In a recent post he shared the wonder of viscin threads that Oenothera (evening primrose) and Rhododendron (azalea) species have that hold their pollen grains together.
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  4. I never dreamed I would read about some of my favorite southern clematis like Clematis texensis (scarlet leatherflower) and Clematis glaucophylla (white-leaf leatherflower) being grown in Ukraine. But, Margaret Roach wrote a wonderful piece about Floret Flowers documentary "Gardening in a War Zone" about Alla Olkhovska and the 120 clematis she grows in wartime of her country. Enjoy this gift NY Times gift link to the piece.
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  5. ​Joseph Tychonievich wrote a fabulous post on GardenRant about the myth of the straight species or wild type plants. He clarifies the terms associated with cultivars, nativars, and wild plants.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

P.S. An erratum. I wrote recently about my fascination of Erythronium albidum (white trout lily) and shared that I suspected it to be a bulb instead of a corm. Well, I was dividing some the other day, and I took it upon myself to cut open one that I had damaged. Sure enough, there are no scales on the inside. It's a corm! I've updated the blog post with text and a picture.

P.P.S. I got the nicest compliment about my Botanic Bootcamp #1 Success with Seed Sowing. Jackie said, "Lots of great information in clear, concise form. I did Master Gardener training and honestly, you did a much better job communicating the information. I got a lot out of this session. I winter sow a lot of native seeds, but my approach thus far has been a bit haphazard. You have encouraged me to be a bit more methodical about it, but also to just try more experimental sowing to see which method is more successful. Also, I tried starting some vegetable seeds inside last year and it didn't go fantastically. I am now willing to try again. I truly appreciate your enthusiasm." Thanks, Jackie!

#192 24 February 2024

Good day, gardeners! I'm ecstatic because plant•ed now has over 1,000 subscribers!!! Hooray!!! I want to say thanks to all of you who have joined me along this journey of learning about plants over the past four years. I do look forward to seeing what we are going to learn together!

I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here's some valuable things I wanted to share with you to help you become a better gardener.

  1. ​This week, I write about the joys of discovering Erythronium albidum (white trout lily), in the past few years here in east Texas and almost 20 years ago back in Tennessee.
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  2. ​Gardens Illustrated shared some of Fergus Garrett's favorite plants. I, too, find I can't live without Chimonanthus praecox (wintersweet).
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  3. ​Research from Colorado State University has shown that green roofs can offer flowers earlier in the season to pollinators compared to plants at ground level. The authors stated this timing creates a wider window of bloom for insects.
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  4. From what I see on Instagram, Hamamelis vernalis (Ozark witchhazel) are starting to pop further north. Ours has already bloomed here in Texas. As this short piece from the Arnold Arboretum stated their intense fragrance in the winter is necessary to attract what few insects are out.
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  5. ​An ongoing research project from Oregon State University suggested that copper pressure-treated wood used to build raised garden beds has limited leaching into the soil and no increase in copper in the produce grown in the beds.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

P.S. How do you feel about petunias that glow in the dark?

P.P.S. Did you know that Amsonia (bluestar) seed germination can be enhanced by nicking the end with fingernail clippers? You can learn that and much more in my Botanic Bootcamp session Success with Seed Sowing!

#191 17 February 2024

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here's some valuable things I want to share with you to help you grow.

  1. ​This week, I reflect on my recent visit to the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens and how I learned about the heat tolerant Pachysandra procumbens 'Angola' (Allegheny spurge).
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  2. ​A friendly reminder that my first Botanic Bootcamp session Success with Seed Sowing is $29 (40% off through February 20)! In this session, you'll learn about the science of seed germination and practical strategies you can employ to germinate better! Here's an excerpt from the session on why we propagate from seed in the first place. ​
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  3. ​Mt. Cuba Center released their Amsonia (bluestar) report. It's chocked full of great information on selections in the genus.
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  4. I had fun speaking to the Memphis Master Gardeners this weekend alongside Jason Powell of Petals from the Past. He was selling plants, and I was thrilled that he had Fothergilla milleri 'Redneck Nation' (dwarf witch-alder) available. Research a few years ago demonstrated that a new species of Fothergilla occurred in the deep south in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. This selection comes from that southern genetics, and I'm hopeful for it having better heat tolerance for me in east Texas. Michael Dirr shared a few years ago in an article on Fothergilla that it was a great performer. ​
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  5. ​Researchers in HortTechnology studied seven different types of organic potting substrates and their influence on tomato seedling emergence and later growth. They often contain higher nutrient levels due to compost, which can burn seedlings but later help plant growth. Seed Catapult from Ohio Earth Food was one of the best for both seedling emergence and later growth.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

P.S. Can we grow buildings?

#190 10 February 2023

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. I've had a fun time this week in Charlotte, NC speaking to the Charlotte Garden Club, hence the newsletter is a few days late.

Here's some valuable things I wanted to share with you to help you become a better gardener.

  1. ​I'm so excited to announce the launch of Botanic Bootcamp! I've been working for months developing a system for delivering online education to help gardeners grow, and I'm so proud to say that session #1 Success with Seed Sowing is live.
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    If you're wanting to grow more plants from seed, then you'll learn from this engaging two-hour bootcamp. Practical tips will help you reduce the time it takes to germinate seeds from scratch and reduce the effort needed. You will learn seed basics, the science of seed germination, and the practice of starting seed from sourcing seed until it is ready to go in the ground. This session is priced at $49, but through February 20, it's discounted 40%. And, later in mid-March I'll be answering any questions that participants had.
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  2. ​The Juniper Level Botanic Garden and JC Raulston Arboretum have once again offered their Index Seminum for seeds to professional horticulturists. You can choose seeds, and they will send you a packet. But, hurry. The deadline to fill out the form is February 16.
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  3. ​Need inspiration for dry areas? Karen Chapman shared some ideas from the beautiful Beth Chatto gravel garden in a recent post.
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  4. ​Georgia Silvera Seamans wrote about identifying plants in the winter. I never knew there were seven classifications for tree bark. That's a really helpful framework to help parse out trees sans leaves.
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  5. ​Later this week on February 17, I'll be speaking to the Memphis Area Master Gardeners on flora with a southern flair. If you're in the area, feel free to stop by and say hi! And, then on February 21 I'll be speaking to the Ecological Landscape Alliance on strategies to teach horticulture. It's a virtual symposium, and you can use the code Ec0Fr1end20 for a 20% discount! Register here.​

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

P.S. Could your garden power your electronics one day? Maybe based on this new fuel cell prototype.

#189 03 February 2024

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here's some valuable things I wanted to share with you this week.

  1. ​In this month's episode of The Plantastic Podcast, I interview Scott Beuerlein, Manager of Botanical Garden Outreach at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. We talk about his circuitous journey into horticulture, the synergy between plants and animals at the zoo, their plant trials program, achieving the highest level of ArbNet accreditation, and how they engage their community. Scott also gives us a glimpse into his creative process with writing for GardenRant and Horticulture Magazine and some advice on how to plant better based on his experiences at the zoo. Enjoy the show!
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  2. ​I stumbled upon a wonderful essay on the soon to be emerging Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) written by Craig Holdrege.
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  3. A conversation about Asclepias (milkweed) having better success with mycorrhizae led to me to see if there's any research to back it up. Sure enough research published in Ecosphere showed that native mycorrhizae can have a positive impact on Asclepias plant growth and latex production, though the effect is not consistent across species. They also noted that commercial mycorrhizae could have negative impacts on growth.
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  4. ​This Woody Plant Seed Manual from the USDA and the National Forest Service is a wonderful resource. The first section goes into detail on the practice of woody seed propagation, and the second section focuses on germination requirements for different genera. ​
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  5. ​This week at Ephemera Farm we are enjoying the emerging flowers of Claytonia virginica (spring beauty). They've been blooming since the first week of December, but around Groundhog Day, they really begin to ramp up.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#188 20 January 2024

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here's some valuable things I wanted to share with you this week.

  1. ​I'm making preparations for the coming growing season by tackling tasks that are better done in the winter. I find a notes app handy to capture such thoughts throughout the year.
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  2. ​Adam Woodruff shared his design approach recently on LinkedIn and how he uses Procreate and layers in the process. It was really helpful seeing how he thinks about using this simple program for design.
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  3. ​David Bellangue wrote about pawpaw, spicebush, and persimmon on Center for Urban Habitats. These three are great native hardy plants that have tropical family roots.
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  4. ​For something out of the Twilight Zone, Wageningen University & Research, which is one of the premier horticulture research institutions in the world, has announced that electromagnetic energy has been shown to increase plant growth. The technology increased (Ananas) pineapple biomass by 19% and Anthurium (laceleaf) by 47%. I'm curious to learn what the physiological mechanism is.
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  5. ​I've always been a sucker for beautiful winter bark, and Jess Brey wrote about those trees that enchant us sans leaves. The camouflage pattern of Pinus bungeana (lacebark pine) has long made me weak in the knees.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

P.S. I worked over the holiday getting all my previous newsletter content onto my website Meristem. You can now view previous messages under the NEWSLETTERS tab. If you're looking for a particular item, you can also use the search bar at the bottom of the page to search for topics. What do you think?

#187 13 January 2024

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well (and warm!). Here's some valuable things I wanted to share with you this week.

  1. ​In early January, I delight in discovering the seedlings of plants that will blossom in a few short months. It is even better when they are native wildflowers.
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  2. ​Great Dixter is hosting for the first time ever a five-month symposium on creating layered plantings and how to take advantage of succession planting. He gives an overview on this recent episode of The Gardenist. I'm registered!
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  3. ​If you still need some help shutting down the garden before the cold sets in, here's some tips I shared this week.
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  4. ​Eliza Greenman wrote about heart rot in orchards. She shared how there is an opposing theory that instead of it being bad it creates habitat for a plethora of microorganisms, which in turn provide the tree with its own compost.
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  5. Along a similar vein, in this week's Dig Delve Dan Pearson writes about celebrating the life of an old apple orchard and rejuvenating it with newly grafted stock.
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As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

P.S. Later this month, I'm launching Botanic Bootcamp, a collection of hour-long, value-rich videos that will help you hone your skills in all facets of horticulture including design, science, propagation, ecology, plants, install, management, and more. You can become a member or purchase individuals sessions. If you want to help start shaping them, fill out this simple Google form and let me know what you want to learn about the plantastic world of horticulture!

#186 06 January 2024

Good day, gardeners, and Happy New Year! The newsletter turns 4 years old this week! Yay! Thanks for joining me on this journey of learning about plants.

Here's some valuable things I wanted to share with you.

  1. ​This month for The Plantastic Podcast, I interviewed Janet Draper, the sole gardener Energizer Bunny of the Smithsonian’s Mary Livingston Ripley Garden for 26 years. Janet shared the impact of internships at Mt. Cuba Center, Kurt Bluemel’s nursery, the famed perennial nursery of Countess von Stein-Zeppelin in Germany’s Black Forest, and Beth Chatto's Plants and Gardens. We discuss why it matters to know how to identify a plant from seed to flower, how she continues to create dazzling combinations in the garden after many years, and how friends helped restore the garden after it was trampled during an inauguration. Enjoy the show!
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  2. ​Anelise Chen wrote about her love of beeches and their demise due to the foliar nematode in Arnoldia. It was one of the most beautiful and touching essays I've ever read.
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  3. For the garden designers out there, Bentley Ruggles shared this gem of a video on LinkedIn from famous designer Mike Lin where did an entertaining demo of how to draw better.
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  4. A few years ago I shared in plant•ed about the Beal experiment at Michigan State where seeds were buried in the ground 140 years ago and are extracted every 20 years to see if they still germinate. The last time they excavated them in 2021, Verbascum (mullein) still were able to grow. Now research has shown that the seeds were a hybrid. This research matters because it gives people an idea of which weed seeds can last the longest in seed banks.
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  5. As we head into the new year, a good resolution for gardeners everywhere is to do better about keeping track of plant names and where they are planted. Scott Beuerlein shared his simple photo and folder approach on GardenRant.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#185 30 December 2023

Good day, gardeners! And, an early Happy New Year to you all! For the end of the year, I decided to do a deep dive back to see what were some of YOUR favorite items in the newsletters over the past year. It helps me better understand your interests, and for some it is a reminder of the best content you may have missed the first time around.

Here are the top ten external links that you read.

  1. ​On the Roof at Lurie Garden on GardenRant
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  2. ​Peter Korn's Pioneering Nursery and Garden near Malmö on Gardens Illustrated​
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  3. ​An Evaluation ​​Study of Hardy ​​Ornamental Grasses from the Chicago Botanic Garden
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  4. ​Perennial Trials Reveal Top 9 Performers in Rocky Mountain Conditions from Colorado State University
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  5. ​Monarchs in Flight Outdoor Throw Pillow designed by Karen Barnes
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  6. ​Chelsea Chop or Spring Perennial Pruning from Jenks Farmer
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  7. ​Thirty Ways to Make Your Garden Look Older from Garden & Gun
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  8. ​Nurturing Nature in Your Yard from the NY Times
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  9. ​A Field Guide to ​Roadside Wildflowers a​t Full Speed from The Prairie Ecologist
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  10. And, the most popular external link was Habitat Piles: Turning Garden Debris Into Shelter and Sculpture from Gardenista.

And, here are the top five blog posts I wrote that you enjoyed.

  1. ​Plectocephalus americanus | American basketflower
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  2. ​An Afternoon at Hillside​
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  3. ​Lycoris radiata | red spiderlily
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  4. ​The Plants of Oudolf Field​
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  5. And, the most popular post I wrote (beating out the external links for number of clicks, too) was A Morning at Oudolf Field​

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants. I so appreciate you opening the newsletter and engaging with the valuable knowledge, wonder, and craft that I share. I'm looking forward to another plantastic year with y'all!

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#184 23 December 2023

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Good day, gardeners! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I do hope that Santa was good to you and yours.

As we wrap up the year, I want to say thanks to the over 900 of you that subscribe and read these newsletters. I know your time and attention is valuable, so I do appreciate you sharing that with me. I have fun things and podcast interviews in store for 2024!

With the holidays, no new newsletter this week, but enjoy these previous posts on Christmas at Williamsburg and some holiday decor we did here in Texas a few years ago.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#183 16 December 2023

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here's some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. I was so excited that Fine Gardening asked me to write about the science of growth strategies. This informative article detailed how plants evolved into three categories based on their interactions with stress and disturbance—competitors, stress-tolerators, and ruderals. And, I wrote how gardeners can use this knowledge to their advantage. Enjoy the read!
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  2. ​Carol Reese shared in Arnoldia about her family deciding to grow Diospyros kaki (Asian persimmon) in north Mississippi.
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  3. Most arbor efforts focus on tree planting, but this article in The Guardian argued maybe we should be focusing more on tree establishment.
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  4. ​James Golden mused on how he edits his garden and shared some photos of its winter structure.
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  5. Recently on travels home to Tennessee, I admired Ilex decidua (possumhaw) along the fence rows. These underused natives shine with their red berries at this time of the year. And, if you're looking to mix it up, try a yellow-fruited form like ‘Finch’s Golden’.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#182 09 December 2023

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. As promised, plant•ed has a slightly new look but still has the same great content! Please let me know if you see any glaring issues or if there's formatting problems.

Here's some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you this week.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

P.S. I’m super proud of my wife for having her monarch butterfly pattern pillows for sale on Target! She's had the goal for one of her designs to be licensed with a major company this year, and I'm happy that happened for her. Maybe it's an idea if you're still looking for a gift for your pollinator pals. ;-)

#181 02 December 2023

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. A heads up. I’m migrating plant•ed to a new newsletter platform. You may notice some design changes in the newsletter over the next few weeks, but the content will still be just as awesome!

Here’s some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. This month, I interview David Hoffman on The Plantastic Podcast. David Hoffman is Chief Operating Officer at Hoffman Nursery in North Carolina. In this episode, we discuss the role of ornamental grasses and the way their growth patterns affect planting strategies. We also cover green infrastructure and how it is being implemented in various urban communities to clean up water and create healthier urban environments. David also talks about the challenges of managing a nursery and the importance of consistency and innovation. Enjoy the show!

  2. This daily light integral tool from CABA is pretty cool. Daily light integral is a measure of the photosynthetic light that hits an area over the course of the day. It pulls data from NASA’s Power Project to model. You put your email address in, and then you’re prompted to enter an address. It will then generate a readout to show you how much light your location receives on average each month during the year. This bulletin from Purdue University delves more into what daily light integral is, and there’s some handy charts to determine how much light different species need.

  3. This article in The Seattle Times details how native tribes used trees without destructively harvesting them. There’s some great illustrations to help illustrate the concepts of test holes, split planks, bark peels, and bent boughs.

  4. If you haven’t started yet, now is a great time to start thinking about planning and ordering seed for next year’s garden! All-America Selections has announced eight new winners for 2024. The broccoli ‘Purple Magic’ is high on my list to try for next year!

  5. This week at Ephemera Farm, we are enjoying the fall color of Acer floridanum (southern sugar maple). They are turning the woods in front of our house a buttery yellow. This tree is a great underused native that deserves to be grown more in the nursery trade.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

P.S. This video of crown shyness is a neat phenomenon.

#180 25 November 2023

Good day, gardeners, and for those of you in the United States, a late Happy Thanksgiving! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here’s some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. This week, I share some inspiration from a recent visit to Chanticleer in November. Even when the garden is closed, there’s still nuggets to glean.

  2. The USDA released a new hardiness zone map! Many areas have seen a half-zone shift. While Nacogdoches where I live stayed 8b (even though we went from a northern 8b to a southern 8b), my homeplace in Tennessee shifted from 7a to 7b. This NPR post has the best visualization to see the change from the 2012 map to the 2023 map. Just keep in mind that these maps are based on the average lowest temperature a region saw from 1991 to 2020, not the coldest temperature recorded like when we hit -6°F two years ago during Winter Storm Uri when 8b was more like 6a for 8 hours!

  3. Black-stemmed bamboo is currently flowering at Duke Gardens. On average, Phyllostachys nigra ‘Bori’ bloom every 120 years or so; therefore, for many it is a once in a lifetime experience.

  4. Leslie Halleck educated readers on the different types of Christmas cactus that bloom between now and Easter. Learn more on her blog.

  5. This week at Ephemera Farm, my Thanksgiving snowdrops are blooming. Galanthus elwesii var. monostictus have returned in better numbers than last year and seem to be increasing in number. I have such fond memories of seeing them en masse at Montrose in North Carolina.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#179 11 November 2023

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here’s some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. This week, I write about one of my favorite asters for the late season—Symphyotrichum drummondii. It’s an insect magnet, and the froth of flowers looks great.

  2. A heads up if you are in Fort Worth, TX area. I’ll be presenting “Naturalistic Planting for the South” to the Fort Worth Garden Club at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden at 10:00 am Friday. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hi!

  3. When I was in Louisiana a few weeks ago, I learned of vegetable called a mirliton or chayote (Sechium edule). This squash family member is used in cooking similar to how you use summer squash. I’m eager to get my hands on some seed and try it.

  4. Making the garden look older is a great way to add a sense of permanence in design. If you’re wanting to make your garden look older, this list of ideas from Garden and Gun will be helpful.

  5. This week at Ephemera Farm, I’m cutting down the annuals and tropicals that frost wiped out a few weeks ago to start a new compost pile from the debris. These guides from South Carolina and Ohio are nice refreshers on the process, and I always go back to this wisdom Christopher Lloyd shared many years ago.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#178 04 November 2023

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here’s some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been the past couple of weeks, here’s your answer. This past Thursday night, my students and colleagues celebrated our grand opening of our new terraced trial garden in the Plantery with our annual Fall Plant Fair. Read on to learn more about this project that has kept me busy over the past year.

  2. A heads up if you are in the Philadelphia area. I’ll be presenting the keynote “Hort2Culture: Connecting Plants with People” at Ecological Landscape Alliance’s Regenerative Solutions for Resilient Landscapes at Longwood Gardens. Come say hi and learn about how we can help share the love of horticulture and ecology with others.

  3. Scott Beuerlein wrote of propagating Asimina (pawpaws) on GardenRant. I really liked his seed sowing strategy he mentions.

  4. I recently learned about Aaron Bertelsen’s monthly newsletter where he focuses on an eclectic take on edibles. I also like how he has a southern hemisphere perspective for those readers that are from down under.

  5. This week at Ephemera Farm, we had a decent frost (29°F) that nipped most of the tender plants back, but the late season asters keep blooming. I covered the vegetables with floating row cover to provide some extra protection for them. If you’re looking to up your season extension game, I really like this 6 foot wide pipe bender for electrical conduit from Johnny’s seeds. It makes perfect hoops for covering crops.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#177 14 October 2023

Good day, gardeners, and happy annular eclipse day for those of us in the Americas! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here’s some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. In this month's episode of The Plantastic Podcast, Susan Poizner shares her passion for fruit trees. Susan delves into key practices for successful fruit tree care such as mulching with compost or manure, the cycles of fruit tree growth, and the significance of proper pruning. She shares her wisdom on choosing the right varieties, using holistic sprays for pest control, and fostering biodiversity around fruit trees. Her commitment to community involvement and storytelling in education shines through. This episode provides a delightful and informative journey through the world of fruit trees and is full of value to help everyone become better a orchardist.

  2. A heads up if you are in the St. Francisville, Louisiana area. I’ll be speaking at the Southern Garden Symposium this Friday, October 20 on “Gardening Australis: The Craft, Inspiration, and Wisdom of Growing a Flora with a Southern Flair.” Come say hi and learn about many great plants that call the south home.

  3. Fergus Garrett is hosting a virtual seminar Sunday, October 15 on “Planning ahead for Spring and Summer” using his famous mind maps (one page example here). I’ve already booked my ticket for 7 pm UK time / 1 pm central, and I look forward to learning how he stages tasks more into the winter to help Great Dixter get ahead for the next growing season.

  4. Many of the grasses we love for fall like Andropogon ternarius (splitbeard bluestem) and Muhlenbergia sericea (pink muhly grass) have awns, bristles in the inflorescence that glow in the low light. Shannon Currey shared this and more about grasses in this recent post on Izel Plants.

  5. This week at Ephemera Farm, I’m enjoying our asters like ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ and ‘Purple Dome’, which in its second year has been even more impressive than 2022. I wrote about some new varieties I’m trying last year.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#176 23 September 2023

Good day, gardeners, and happy first week of autumn! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here’s some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. This week, I write about the harbinger of autumn, Lycoris radiata. It’s a great bulb for reliable color in early autumn, and if you can find 500 bulbs like I did, it’s even more spectacular.

  2. A new subscriber found the blog by looking up perfoliate leaves like those found on Lonicera sempervirens (coral honeysuckle) or Silphium perfoliatum (cup plant). And, since I just taught about them in class a few weeks ago, I had to do a deep dive on theories about why they evolved. The two most prominent are they either help reduce herbivory or they help pollinators find the flowers.

  3. The NY Times has a great article about an alternative lawns project at Cornell University. They used Danthonia (oatgrass) and various wildflowers to create attractive plantings. It’s a gift article, so let me know if there’s any issues with accessing it.

  4. On GardenRant, Susan Harris wrote about visiting Ed Snodgrass and his green roof farm. It’s been 10 years since I last visited, but it is great to see his approaches to stressing plantings for increased diversity.

  5. This week at Ephemera Farm, I put up my pea trellising. I’ve come up with a nifty way to quickly erect a structure for their support.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

P.S. If you like to listen to music in the garden like I do, check out my autumnal playlist. It’s got 200+ songs on it I’ve curated for your fall folksy feels.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#175 16 September 2023

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here’s some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. This week, I write about growing my great-grandfather’s cowpeas from seed that I saved some 16 years ago.

  2. This piece on The View from Federal Twist by Anke Schmitz details the ending of naturalistic planting research at Hermannshof in Germany. Thanks to Giacomo Guzzon for translating it.

  3. Research at the University of Gothenberg showed that having both honey bees and mason bees pollinating cherry trees resulted in greater yield than just either type of bee alone. They hypothesize the synergistic effect comes from the solitary mason bees changing the honey bee foraging behavior. While I have known that having multiple cultivars of a plant can increase yield, this case is the first time I’ve realized that having different bees could have a synergistic effect on fruit production.

  4. Garden Media Group has come out with their 2024 trends report. They focus on seven personas—digital, bold, enchanting, eclectic, elevated, hopeful, and punchy.

  5. Over the past few weeks at Ephemera Farm, we’ve gotten over 2 inches of rain! After an incredible long dry period, I have been celebrating. It’s amazing how fresh things look once again. Our two native rainlilies—Zephyranthes chlorosolen (evening rainlily) and Habranthus tubispathus (copper lily) are blooming. You can distinguish the genera apart because Zephranthes flowers are straight up while Habranthus have a slight bend.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared

#174 02 September 2023

Good day, gardeners! I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well. Here’s some knowledge and inspiration I wanted to share with you.

  1. This month for The Plantastic Podcast I interview my friend and mentor Bryce Lane. Bryce taught over 20,000 students in his 34 years at NC State as one of the top horticulture educators of our generation, and he hosted In the Garden with Bryce Lane, which won Three Midsouth Regional Emmys. We talk about the craft of teaching, his friendship with the late JC Raulston, and the power of story with plants. Even if you aren’t a teacher, there are skills and techniques from this episode that will help you share the love of plants with others.

  2. I’m adding more grasses to my garden next year. Many of our warm season grasses don’t establish well in autumn, so I plan now for planting later. This report from Chicago Botanic Garden gives a good overview of some of the best cultivars on the market.

  3. If you’re looking to improve the digital capture and knowledge management of your gardening team, check out Caleb Melchior’s latest in Land8.

  4. NASA is offering tree seedlings that flew around the moon on the Artemis I flight in 2022 to help promote STEM in education and communities. Species offered include sycamores, sweetgums, Douglas firs, loblolly pines, and giant sequoias.

  5. This week at Ephemera Farm, our Eragrostis spectabilis (love grass) is blooming. Though short lived, this native grass looks so lovely with its froth of panicles in autumn.

As always, thanks for welcoming me into your inbox each week to share what I’m learning about plants.

Cheers, and keep growing!

Dr. Jared