Gardeners including myself want to add more, more, more native plants to their landscapes to support pollinators and birds and other native wildlife, but if our beds and borders are already established? Do we have to erase them and start over? Making room for habitat-style planting, even in an established garden that includes many “collector plants” from other parts of the world, is the topic with my friend, garden writer and photographer Ken Druse, along to help.
Figuring out which plants are native locally is one key first step, and included at the bottom of the transcript is a list of some places to start in that search (and how to find your state's list, and then your county's from there).
Speaking of native plants, we also tackled a listener question about pruning Magnolia grandiflora—the evergreen Southern magnolia. And on the subject of collector plants, Ken confesses to his latest acquisition—probably the most expensive single bulb he ever bought.
In a recent phone call, today’s guest, Tim Johnson, used the phrase “bio-productive gardens,” and it stopped me. What does he mean by that,...
Today’s guest didn’t have to convince me to be wild about woodpeckers, because I already am—utterly so. These charismatic, hardworking birds make oversized ecological...
I’ve answered a lot of garden questions in my time as a garden journalist, but nobody has asked more of them than today’s guest—who’s...
