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Edge Of The Woods Native Plant Nursery, LLC

Specializing in plants native to mid-Atlantic ecosystem

March 9, 2021

Five Spring Garden Maintenance Tips

Most Important Tip – No Stress!

Tend your native plant garden as neatly, or as informally, as you like.  Keep in mind, we’ve never yet heard a bird, bee or butterfly mutter “I wish they’d tidy up this place.”  Many insects require leaf litter, birds nip seed from dried seed heads, and some butterfly life stages look like garden debris.

Tidying up is a balancing act between aesthetics and habitat.  The first step in creating this balance is allowing plants to re-seed throughout the bed.  This creates a living tapestry and eliminates the need to mulch around every perennial.

The second step: give up control.  The plants will tell you where they want to be.  Say you pick a perfect spot for an aster in your garden.  But, about a few feet to the left, there are micro-differences in the soil that create an even better spot.   The seed will fall, germinate, and thrive in the best spot for the plant.  The original plant may remain, or it may languish.  No worries: they have it under control.

Each season, plants will shift in response to the weather and soil.  Follow their lead, tidy up after them as you need, fill gaps with new plants, and sit back and enjoy the show.

Here’s the Five Tips:

Here are 5 things you can do this spring to help make this happen:

  1. Trim perennials if the birds have finished eating the seed heads.  If you see delicate seedlings popping their heads up, Return the leaf-blanket to them as they gradually end their long winter nap.   Leave as much leaf litter as you possibly can– many over-wintering insects and butterflies need them, and in fact look just like dead leaves!
  2. Learn what the native seedlings look like so you don’t unwittingly weed them out. If you aren’t sure, let them be.  Once they bloom, you will know what they are. Be sure to yank undesirables before they set seed.
  3. Do not over-apply mulch. The goal is to allow the plants to spread throughout the garden — mulch will inhibit this.   A half inch or so to help preserve moisture and to cool the roots of the plants is enough.
  4. Don’t use a pre-emergent herbicide (such as Preen) to keep weeds at bay – it will keep your native plants from spreading by seed.
  5. Let the plants tell you where they want to be. If you see a ‘hole’ in your garden, perhaps the plant you put there was not suited to the site. Replace with a different species.

Article by Louise Schaefer / Native Plant Maintenance

Recent Posts

  • Opening for the Season April 1 2021
  • Five Spring Garden Maintenance Tips
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2 days ago
Climate-Wise Landscaping

Replace the seasonal non-native plantings that need to be replaced every few months with native perennial borders. And instead of wide spaces of mulch between the plants, place them close together so that there is little room for weeds. This practice is part of climate-wise landscaping because it reduces soil disturbances, which reduces the carbon released to the air and it reduces the large footprint of repetitive production and transport to supply new plants every season. The perennials will last for many seasons and require much less labor.
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2 weeks ago

Trees, trees, and more trees! Oh, and shrubs, shrubs, and yes, more shrubs! We have a wonderful selection of native trees and shrubs available now. Woody plants provide interest all year long, height to the garden, vital habitat for wildlife, and years of satisfaction as you watch your plant grow into a mature specimen! They are the foundation of our greater, forested ecosystem spanning most of eastern North America, which historically covered nearly 100% of Pennsylvania’s landmass. Today, forested land still makes up the majority of Pennsylvania’s total land area, at about 58% coverage. Below are some of the trees we have now, keep an eye for another post soon about shrubs :)

Available now:

*Trees*

Shagbark hickory
Shellbark hickory
Red maple
Sugar maple
Red oak
Willow oak
Black oak
Shumard oak
Pin oak
Beech
Sycamore
Fringetree
Red bud
Carolina silver bell
White pine
Red pine
Virginia pine
Pitch pine
White spruce
Red spruce
Eastern Red Cedar
American linden
Sassafrass
Bald cypress
Franklinia
Sweetbay magnolia
River birch
‘Heritage’ River Birch
Yellow Birch
Mountain ash
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2 weeks ago
Timeline Photos

Yay!! Happy April!! Today is the day everyone, we are open for the season. We’re open today 9am - 4pm

We have a lot of our favorite woodland wildflowers and spring bloomers available now and others in production. Read below to see what we have available today!

Available now:

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadense)
Liverwort/Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)
Blue woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata)
White woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata ‘May Breeze’)
Allegheny spurge (Pachysandra procumbens)
White trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cuccullaria)
Squirrel corn (Dicentra canadensis)
Wild bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia)
Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides)
Shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia)
Freckled violet (Viola sororia ‘Freckles’)
Twin leaf (Jeffersonia diphylla)
Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia)
Woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
Golden Alexander’s (Zizia aureus & aptera)
Bishops cap (Mitella diphylla)
Pussytoes (Antennaria sp.)

And more!!!

Stop in today, we have tons of BEAUTIFUL native trees, shrubs, and perennials available now! Keep an eye for a post later about some of the trees and shrubs we have available now!!
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2 weeks ago
Natives Plants for Your Yard: the Next Step

Grassleaf Barbara’s Buttons ( Marshallia graminifolia ) are beautiful Florida natives suitable for a fairy tale garden… Is native ga...

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Testimonials

Friendly, knowledgeable people, large selection of native plants, trees and shrubs. Great place!

Jeremy

Edge of the Woods Native Plant Nursery, LLC
A WBE Certified Woman Owned Business
Promoting Native Plants Since 2003

2415 Route 100, Orefield, PA 18069
(610) 395-2570
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