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Weekly plant profile! Get it before it goes! New This Week June 16, 2025 Preeminent Pollinator Plant: Mealycup Sage Weekly plant profile! Get it before it goes! When we talk about Pollinators, we love to focus on host plants and all the great native plants that support the complete life cycle of pollinators, but there are so many annuals and herbs that are also beneficial to pollinators. They provide valuable pollen and nectar sources throughout the growing season. And with so many that bloom throughout the summer, they are not only great food sources but also stunning and rewarding blooms for us humans too! This week we want to spotlight a Painters pollinator favorite: Salvia farinacea or Mealycup Sage! While it sports a name only a mother could love, this steady and sturdy bloomer is your garden's new pollinator sleeper agent! Known for its long blooming and vibrant flowers, it attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Fabulous in the garden en masse, it's a dependable annual flower that can grow in part shade and it tolerates poor soils. And as a good-sized sage, but not overly large, it’s perfect in containers. Mealycup Sage 'Victoria Blue' Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue' Annual (tender perennial z8-10) Full sun-part shade Grows 1-2' tall, 10-18'' wide Beautiful deep blue flowers summer to fall; compact, densely branched habit Mealycup Sage 'Victoria White' Salvia farinacea 'Victoria White' Annual (tender perennial z8-10) Full sun-part shade Grows 1-2' tall, 10-18'' wide Pure white flower spikes summer to fall; compact, densely branched habit And don’t forget about these other great annuals for pollinator plants: pentas, zinnias, cosmos, lantana, verbena, cuphea, mints, basils, catnip, borage, anise hyssop, many other annual sages and many more! Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Plant bulbs now for a spectacular spring display! New This Week September 16, 2026 Bulbs Have Arrived! Plant bulbs now for a spectacular spring display! The wait is over! Our bulbs have arrived! Click the list at the bottom for the full availability and prices, but remember that they go really fast! So if you have your heart set on something specific, don't sleep on it! And if you are new to planting bulbs, read more on bulb basics here: www.paintersgreenhouse.com Sow Today, Smile Tomorrow: A Beginner's Guide to Bulb Gardening Beginner bulb-planting basics. A Q&A with Painters Greenhouse manager on choosing, planting, and what's available for you this fall. Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

A customer from Black Mountain recently returned from vacation and was worried to find the leaves on his blueberry bushes changing color in early August. What was going on? New This Week August 25, 2022 Is There Something Wrong with My Blueberry Bushes? A customer from Black Mountain recently returned from vacation and was worried to find the leaves on his blueberry bushes changing color in early August. What was going on? A customer from Black Mountain recently returned from vacation and was worried to find the leaves on his blueberry bushes changing color in early August. As a first-time blueberry grower he was concerned and reached out for advice. Luckily, we were able to inform him that his blueberries were showing very early fall color - this has been an odd summer with extreme moisture and temperature fluctuations and many shrubs and trees are turning sooner than usual. Do make sure to note if your blueberry leaves are turning reddish-orange or more of a yellow shade. While the oranger shades are typically indicative of the beginnings of fall color and natural leaf loss, yellow coloration can mean chlorosis - that the plants aren’t getting enough iron. This is a common issue during particularly wet summers (ahem! 2022!), and can easily be tested with a pH kit - if your soils show a high pH, then we suggest adding some iron sulfate or pine needle straw or feeding with an acidic fertilizer. This isn’t as common an issue in our area as our clay-rich soils tend to be quite acidic (which blueberries like) and typically contain plenty of iron, but if you're not sure if your blueberries are entirely healthy, then it never hurts to test your soil! Have your blueberry bushes started turning? What else is starting to show color in your yard? Tag us in your pictures on facebook or instagram so we can see! We have lots of blueberries along with many other edible tree and shrub varieties ready for planting when our Fall Season opens September 9th! View our Fall Tree & Shrub Availability List . Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Your Giant Ferns are Growing In for Spring New This Week October 17, 2023 Behind the Scenes with Painter's Famous Ferns Your Giant Ferns are Growing In for Spring Those famous Painters ferns are being grown in for you to take home next spring! Peek behind the scenes as we cultivate these giant tropical beauties. Freshly planted Boston Fern plugs (they arrive as tiny 1" square babies!). Kimberley Queen Ferns are more upright, don't shed, and can tolerate a range of sun exposure. Here they are after a month of growing. Production Team members hard at work transplanting rooted ferns from pots to their final homes in hanging baskets. Painters grows thousands of tropical ferns each year, and several varieties, so you can get just the right one... or two!... or more! See you March 6th! Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Bursting with color and exuding a cheerful charm, Zinnias are a popular choice for both beginner and experienced gardeners. New This Week June 13, 2023 Plant of the Week: Zinnias Bursting with color and exuding a cheerful charm, Zinnias are a popular choice for both beginner and experienced gardeners. With their stunning array of blooms in shades of red, orange, yellow, pink, and more, these annual flowers bring a delightful touch of summer to any garden and also make for beautiful cut flowers. From compact varieties perfect for containers to towering cultivars for eye-catching borders, there's a Zinnia for every space! Zinnias are truly one of the most colorful, long-blooming annuals you can add to your garden. They come in endless colors, patterns and shapes. Zinnias thrive in full sun, with adequate air flow (super damp summers can cause some mildew issues). Make sure to wait to sow or plant until the soil warms up, as they need heat. Profuse bloomers, often a healthy plant will bloom from late spring up until frost if deadheaded and fertilized occasionally. To be sure you have zinnias in full bloom the whole season, you can sow or plant a second batch mid-summer to extend and improve the bloom period. As part of the Asteraceae family of composite flowers (which includes sunflowers, coneflowers, daisies and more), Zinnias are beloved by bees, butterflies, moths and hoverflies. While they are not native plants, these annuals provide additional nectar to pollinators looking for food, especially in later months or periods between various native blooms. We highly recommend mixing them in with your milkweed, salvia, asters, goldenrod, joe pye, agastache, verbena and other pollinator supporting plants! The most beloved by pollinators are the single-flowering, and especially the taller cultivars such as Benary's Giants. We currently are sold out of the giants, but do have several beautiful colors of disease resistant, single-blooming zinnias available. Bees cannot see red, but will still be attracted to red or orange zinnias, likely because they are attracted to the ultraviolet markings on the petals. Many flowers have UV pigments on their petals that are invisible to the human eye, but that seem to be designed to attract pollinators - highlighting where the nectar (and pollen) can be found. Try this at home! You can find an ultraviolet flashlight for $20, and have hours of fun in the dark getting a glimpse at what the world looks like to many pollinators and other creatures that see this spectrum! The Owens recently did this, but unfortunately only had a cellphone to document this zinnia glowing with UV at the center. Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

To Celebrate Catawba Falls! New This Week April 29, 2024 Plant Feature: Dichondra 'Silver Falls' To Celebrate Catawba Falls! We love this vigorous and reliable accent plant! It has small, rounded and soft, pewter-colored leaves on silver stems that trail over the edge of pots, window boxes, planters, hanging baskets, or even rock walls. Your own cascading falls! It’s heat and drought tolerant and reliably stands up to high temps and even humidity, as long as it’s not overwatered or grown in soggy soil. And it can recover quickly if watered after wilting–which makes for a very forgiving hanging basket or porch pot! 'Silver Falls' in a sweet Part-Shade combo pot Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ can easily be grown in full sun, but will grow in partial sun as well. Providing as much light as possible will encourage denser growth and preserve the silver coloring. Dichondra argentea 'Silver Falls' Annual Full sun-part shade 4-6'' tall, 2-3' trailing Silvery circular leaves spill luxuriously from containers in waterfall fashion, lending a romantic, dreamy atmosphere to any space Can be kept indoors in bright light until warm weather arrives Aka silver nickel vine Find it in the Painter's Main Greenhouse Aisle 3 along with an abundance of gorgeous trailing and upright accent plants to add textures and color. Find items for sun and shade; we have a lot of fun components for your baskets and other planters. And while we are celebrating Silver Falls, let’s celebrate our own neighborhood falls… Catawba Falls Trail is reopening to the public with a reopening celebration in one month and we can’t wait! After two years of phased improvements to the trail, we are all thrilled to rediscover and reconnect with this natural treasure. Plan your trips to Painters and then take in this beautiful corner of WNC! Find out more by following the US Forest Service Grandfather Ranger District on Facebook @nfsnc or visit www.g5trailcollective.org/catawbafalls to subscribe to Catawba Falls updates. Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

A perfect blend of beauty and resilience! And a rare find! New This Week March 9, 2026 Shrub of the Week: Desert Orchid 'El Nino' A perfect blend of beauty and resilience! And a rare find! Do you want to: ...attract more hummingbirds and butterflies? ...bring colorful, fragrant blooms into your garden spring through summer (rebloomer!)? ...plant a shrub that is low-maintenance, deer-resistant, and drought-tolerant? ...add a new specimen to your landscape that will be a conversation starter and the envy of all your neighbors? If you answered “Yes!” then let me introduce you to the x Chitalpa - Desert Orchid ‘El Niño!’ Chitalpas are a rare hybrid between two different native North American trees: Southern catalpa ( Catalpa bignonioides ) and desert willow ( Chilopsis linearis ). The name “chitalpa” is nothogeneric, or a combination of two parents’ names. The first hybridization of the two took place in the 1960s in Uzbekistan, and the first introduction of Chitalpa in the United States wasn’t until the 1980s. Since then, the Chitalpa has only had a few varieties introduced and remained a rare find. After two decades of research, North Carolina State University’s Mountain Crop Improvement Lab * released ‘El Niño’ in 2023. ‘El Niño’ was selected for superior performance in drought and heat tolerance, repeat blooming of pink-violet flowers on new growth, and a compact growing habit. This showstopper of a shrub grows fast, re-blooms throughout the summer season (it may take a couple years to establish before blooming), and handles both dry and moist soils. With our fickle weather of warm, wet, dry, hot, etc. it’s comforting to know there’s a plant that can handle it all. Photo credit: Proven Winners: https://www.provenwinnerscolorchoice.com/product/el-nino-desert-orchid/ Desert Orchid ‘El Niño’ x Chitalpa Family: Catalpa and Chilopsis are both in the Bignoniaceae family. This family is named after Jean-Paul Bignon a French royal librarian from the 17 th century. Plants in this family are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions and often have large, showy, bell-shaped flowers. This family is also known as the trumpetvine family. Native Range: Both parent lineages of the Chitalpa are native to North America. Southern catalpa is found in our Southeastern U.S. region growing along wet areas. Desert willow is native to the arid regions of Southwestern U.S. x Chitalpa ‘El Niño’ was developed in Mills River at the Mountain Crop Improvement Lab. Fun Fact: The orchid-like flowers have a fragrance similar to a mix of vanilla and ripe melon. The showy blooms attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Growing Conditions: Soil: Can tolerate a range of soils, both dry and moist conditions Sunlight: Full to part sun Height/Width: 10-15’ tall and 8-10 wide Zones: 6-9 *If you’re not familiar with Mountain Crop Improvement Lab, they’re located nearby in Mills River – you can check out their work here: https://mcilab.cals.ncsu.edu/ We offer many plants that were bred by Mountain Crop Improvement Lab and we will highlight some of the ones we offer here at the greenhouse and why they’re an improvement in a later post. Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Help Both Honeybees AND Native Pollinators! New This Week April 14, 2025 Honeybee Help Help Both Honeybees AND Native Pollinators! We’ve experienced a massive loss of honeybee hives over the 2024/25 winter across the U.S. - up to 70%! Yes we love honey, and we appreciate their work pollinating our edible, ornamental and native plants - but honeybees are most critical to our food production. Many of us have heard the statistic that 1 in 3 bites of the food we eat are reliant primarily on honeybee pollination. With the big losses this year, it's predicted that we will see less of crops such as melons, apples, pears, cucumbers, peppers, almonds, and of course- honey at the grocery (and that we will see price increases). Why we continue to see declines in honeybee populations is not fully understood, but the hypotheses are in line with the same issues threatening native pollinator numbers -- human development leads to climate change, and more immediately, to increased habitat loss and pesticide use. These pressures weaken honeybees and open the door to viruses, mites, and colony collapse disorder. Honeybees are not native, so some of their best foraging is not on native plants, but many honeybee forage species are also great food sources for native pollinators. (A few of the plants listed on the below honeybee forage list are potentially invasive, so we crossed them off.) While honeybees may have the potential to outcompete native bees, you can reduce that risk by planting more food for all of them. Native bees and other pollinators are often specific in their food needs while honeybees are generalists - so increasing both the numbers and diversity of your pollen and nectar producing plants is best to ensure adequate food for everyone. Honeybee on a native Redbud If you're looking for the plants we grow at Painters that provide the best forage for honeybees, we have added honeybee stickers to the signs of all we currently have in stock. These are all also good plants for native pollinators, though native plants are going to of course be best for our native pollinators (and a few of those stickered are not native). Reduce or omit pesticide use - if you must use pesticides, be intentional and do your research ... even organic-safe pesticides can kill bees if applied at the wrong time of day or to plants in bloom. Provide a stable water source - honeybees need water both for drinking and cooling their hives. Shallow dishes are best, but require frequent refilling in the heat of summer - regardless of depth, make sure pebbles or plants provide islands for them to climb onto. Leave plants and debris for nesting sites and shelter - an immaculate yard with no dead stems, leaf matter, or piles of branches doesn't give bees, pollinators or birds the habitat they need to flourish. Visit this link to view a list of the best honeybee forage for our area by season: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTkSbHpTZkM1LbjYhBKgB7aU1D24gxXsdiwwJBKRkCfTF0XQeTu86c5tPsw34nq3g/pub Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Three Varieties this Season New This Week April 1, 2024 Plant of the Week: Geum Three Varieties this Season We love this beautiful low maintenance, reliable, and adaptable plant! Geums are both an early blooming flower and also a long blooming flower, so you can enjoy their vibrant color throughout the season! And pollinators love them! With mounding foliage, they are a relatively low growing plant and the blooms provide height without obstruction. The leaves can be semi-evergreen for fall and winter interest. Their long graceful stems and gorgeous blooms make for a great cut flower. We are carrying three varieties at Painters this season. For current prices, sizes, and availability see our Growing List: https://www.paintersgreenhouse.com/growinglist Perennial (z4-8) full-part sun, 16-20'' tall and wide Masses of semi-double, cheery orange blooms early summer through fall, beloved by butterflies and excellent for cut arrangements Beautiful and carefree, deer and rabbit resistant, easy to grow Aka avens Perennial (z5-9) full-part sun, 2-3' tall, 1-2' wide Masses of showy, semi-double, rich scarlet-orange blooms late spring to early summer Prefers moist, fertile, well-drained soil Deer and rabbit resistant; attracts butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees Perennial (z5-9) full sun, 1' tall and wide Charming, ruffled, peach-colored blooms all season; deadhead regularly for best display Compact habit; suitable for containers Thrives in rich, moist, well-drained soil Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Native and Shade-Loving Spring Wildflowers New This Week April 8, 2024 Plant of the Week: Foamflower Native and Shade-Loving Spring Wildflowers Foamflower, or Tiarella cordifolia, is a Painters favorite among spring wildflowers. And it’s blooming in the forests of WNC right now! Get out and enjoy it in the wild, and then head over here to Painters to bring some home to your own shade garden. Native to the woodlands and forests of the eastern US, foamflower usually grows under deciduous trees in hardwood forests, but you can also find it along streams in mixed wood forests. It appreciates evenly moist soil and full or partial shade. The dense mounding leaves can also make for a nice groundcover or woodland border. The pink-tinged, white blooms grow on long thin stems above a dense mass of lobed foliage. When in bloom, these light and feathery flower-spikes can together resemble a gorgeous foamy assemblage. From the beautiful full leaves at the base to the delicate almost starburst shape of the blooms rising above, foamflower adds an artful architecture to your shade-loving garden. Plus it’s an easy-to-grow native plant. It prefers full or part shade and moist, well-drained soil. Snip the spent flowers after blooming to give the plant a tidier look, if you prefer. Painters has two varieties at two price points this spring. Tiarella cordifolia , Foamflower NATIVE perennial (z4-9) part-full shade, 9-12'' tall, 1-2' wide Thrives in moist, rich, well-drained soil Dainty white-pink blooms early spring Tiarella wherryi , or Wherry’s Foamflower NATIVE perennial (z3-7) part-full shade, 1' tall and wide Wands of airy white-pink blooms late spring Thrives in rich, moist, well-drained soil; excellent for woodland edging Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Honeybee Helper and All-Around Supportive Shrub New This Week April 14, 2025 Plant of the Week: Winterberry Honeybee Helper and All-Around Supportive Shrub Given its common name, this seems like an odd plant to be featuring in April! But winterberry is an extremely beneficial plant for honeybees and other pollinators, providing both nectar and pollen in late spring to early summer. Ilex verticillata , or Winterberry, is a slow growing native deciduous holly. The common name refers to the red berries that mature in the fall, providing winter color in the garden and food for birds and small mammals. To produce berries, the plant must be properly cross-pollinated with a male and a female plant. You need at least one male plant for every 10 females, roughly; and these the pollinator plants should be within a reasonable distance of each other ( less than 50 feet away or so). Photo credit: CC-BY-SA-3.0 , Self-published work , Photographs by Fritz Flohr Reynolds But this is the time of year for the (itty bitty) flowers! Winterberry flowers are bee-pollinated, meaning bees and other insects help transfer pollen from male to female flowers. The almost inconspicuous greenish-white flowers provide nectar and pollen, which are essential food sources for native bees, honeybees, and other pollinators. Winterberry is an excellent hedge with year-round visual interest. It works well in a variety of soils, but thrives in moist, acidic soils. It is tolerant of shaping, but keep in mind that the flowers appear on new growth so prune in early spring before new growth arrives to still provide for the bees! Winterberry 'Southern Gentleman' Ilex verticillata 'Southern Gentleman' NATIVAR deciduous shrub (z3-9) part-full sun 6-10' tall and wide Ideal background shrub; thrives in moist, acidic soil, tolerant of wet, boggy conditions Chief male pollinator for female varieties (e.g., Sparkleberry and Winter Red); plant 1 male for every 10 females Winterberry 'Sparkleberry' Ilex serrata x verticillata 'Sparkleberry' Deciduous shrub (z5-9) full sun-part shade 6-10' tall and wide Hybrid female cultivar with dense, heavy fruiting Requires a male for berry production (e.g., Southern Gentleman) Foliage turns yellow-bronze in fall, dazzling winter berries feed the birds Resistant to deer and fire Winterberry in winter! Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Locally Made and Now For Sale at Painters New This Week May 25, 2026 BioCHAR for Your Plants AND the Planet! Locally Made and Now For Sale at Painters Have you ever heard of Biochar? Maybe. Have you ever found it for sale? Unlikely. BioCHAR is known to some for its gardening benefits, but it can be very hard to come by - especially 100% true bioCHAR. We were recently approached by Suncrest Mulch Yard with their new bioCHAR product, and we are really excited to be the first retailer selling it! So, what is Biochar? Biochar is based off Terra Preta, a dark, fertile soil that was created by indigenous peoples thousands of years ago in South America, and which still remains highly fertile today. Modern biochar is made from a wide variety of organic materials such as agricultural waste, plant residues, wood, bone, etc., and is created via mechanical pyrolysis. Using the heat released by gas combustion, it is cooked at temps between 840-1200F and the finished product can be created in just minutes to hours. Rather than contribute to climate warming, biochar production produces beneficial gasses and acts as a carbon sink, meaning it absorbs excess carbon dioxide and thereby helps to slow climate change. AND, this carbon sequestration can last for over 1,000 years! So, how is it different from charcoal? Charcoal is typically made from wood products, cane sugar, peat, coconut or petroleum. It can be made in a chimney or woodstove by burning wood with minimal to no oxygen at a temp of around 750deg for long periods, or by a more modern pyrolysis method. It is primarily used for cooking, heating, and water filtration, but is not beneficial for garden use and depending on ingredients may even be harmful. Additionally, the creation of charcoal produces gasses that increase atmospheric carbon dioxide - unfortunately adding to the greenhouse effect. So, what's the big deal? We are thrilled to offer Suncrest’s biochar at Painters for your potted plants and gardens! Suncrest biochar is created from sustainably sourced wood, including reclaimed timber downed during Hurricane Helene . Using this wood decreases the risk of forest fires in WNC while creating an amazing environmental product. This may be hard to wrap your head around, but biochar is very porous and has a massive surface area… a few ounces of biochar can have the internal surface area of a football field! How cool would it be to say this product is improving your houseplants and gardens while also benefitting the planet for centuries to come? Garden Benefits: Adding biochar to your soil increases porosity , allowing for increased aeration and easier root penetration, and the large surface area means plenty of room for housing beneficial microbes. Biochar acts like a magnet for macro and micronutrients , making them easily accessible for plants that need them. It also acts like a sponge, significantly increasing the water holding capacity of your soil . It can help with erosion by promoting stable soil aggregates, level your soil pH (biochar is naturally alkaline), and perhaps most importantly, trap and lock away harmful toxins and heavy metals, thereby keeping your soils and plants cleaner. And best of all… biochar requires a one-time application–the benefits will last way longer than you’ll be around! How to use Biochar at home: Biochar works best when ‘activated’ - meaning mixing it into soil or a compost mix and watering it thoroughly. For potted plants, simply mix biochar into the soil at a ratio of 1 part biochar to 9 parts soil and water it in well. For gardens, simply sprinkle the biochar over the soil evenly, mixing it into the top 2-6” of soil with a rake, then water in well to help the soil settle and activate the biochar. 1cf bag of Suncrest Biochar covers about 8-10 sq ft. Suncrest Biochar - 1 bagged cf (comes with instructions) Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

For Your Home or Soon-to-be Summer Porches New This Week March 24, 2025 Full and Flowing Houseplant Baskets For Your Home or Soon-to-be Summer Porches We are reaching the time of year where one of the most commonly asked questions at Painters is about hanging baskets for sun and shade. If you are one of those shade-seeking plant lovers, consider these new and newly restocked houseplant hanging baskets! These are certainly great choices to refresh your winter houseplants indoors, and they are also a nice option for folks with their eye out for some shady porch greenery just down the line. Those porches and patios are soon to be in use during the summer--we just have to "hang" in there until the warm weather gets going! As always, be mindful of sunlight and humidity conditions according to each plant's specific needs. Most plants in this list will require medium to bright indirect light--a perfect choice for a covered patio. Some are more tolerant of even lower light so you can tuck them even deeper into the corners and fill up your space! Click on the photos below to dive in! Names and quick tips on each. These prefer bright indirect light: These can tolerate a little lower light without too much fuss: These will all appreciate good warmth and humidity to thrive! These frequently masquerade as annuals but can also be grown as houseplants: Happy Houseplanting! (And do remember when you take them home, wait for nighttime temperatures to consistently stay above 50°F or more to move them into colder spaces. Hardening off time might be shorter when moving to a covered porch, but remember these are tropical plants and will perform best with warmer nighttime temps.) Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Plant Feature and Sale through March 8th New This Week March 2, 2026 Japanese Black Pine Plant Feature and Sale through March 8th This pine tree has a lot of character! Attractive, dark green needles are paired per fascicle and grow at the ends of bare branches. Silky, white, candle-like terminal buds sit upright on the branches and contrast with the green needles. These candles form in fall and will elongate through winter before budding. Japanese black pine has a flat-topped pyramidal form with no prominent central leader. The tree’s silhouette will age to an irregular form with a spreading crown and pendulous branches. Annual growth is an average of 1 foot per year and reaches a height of 12-15’ in 10 years. Tolerant of heat and salt, deer resistant, drought resistant when established. Would make a great addition to a Japanese inspired garden, bonsai, or as a screen. Japanese Black Pine Pinus thunbergii Native Range: Japan and Korea Fun Fact: The irregular growth, flat-top, and curved trunk make it a great specimen for bonsai. Growing Conditions: Soil: thrives in rich, moist, well-drained soil Sunlight: prefers full sun, but can tolerate light shade Height/Width: 20-60’ tall and 12-20’ wide Zones: 5-9 Current Availability Click for Plant Lists

Show Them How Beautiful Beneficial Gardens Can Be! New This Week April 21, 2026 It's All About Perception Show Them How Beautiful Beneficial Gardens Can Be! A great way to celebrate the earth is to plant as many native plants as you can. Maybe you've already done that--your yard is full of natives of all shapes and sizes, you have brush piles for the birds, you wait to mow and to cut back your perennials, you leave the leaves... and sometimes you get in trouble for it. Or maybe you're about to embark on a pollinator garden makeover and are worried about town or HOA ordinances. Regardless, incorporating some of these tips in your yard can help identify it as a purposeful space. Let others know why it looks the way it does when it does (not just due to neglect), and consider using techniques to make it more appealing to the average homeowner (without sacrificing wildlife benefit). There are many tools for bridging the gap between sterile lawns and invasive hedges and wildlife-focused gardens--the more we encourage others to emulate rather than critique our yards, the more we can help the planet! “Cues of Care” are landscape elements that are incorporated with the goal of showing others that your yard/gardens are intentionally managed. This has become increasingly important for those living in cities, suburbs and HOAs, as many folks view wildlife habitats as ‘messy’ or as harboring/attracting undesirable animals and insects (rats, snakes, wasps, mosquitos). While a balanced habitat rarely causes any pest issues (and often reduces them), and the way your yard appears should not matter to others, the reality is that there are (dated, often misinformed) ordinances in place in many neighborhoods. And if you design a space that is beautiful as well as beneficial, and add elements that are widely considered appealing (water features, edging, garden art, pathways, etc), then you are likely to increase interest in your space and perhaps act as the catalyst for others to make similar changes to their yards. Signage A great way to spread the word on the importance of planting for wildlife is to qualify for and purchase one of National Wildlife Federation's Certified Wildlife Habitat signs. They’re attractive and a great way “to communicate the impact and intent of your garden to neighbors.” We also recommend BeeCityUSA’s signs that you can download and print for free such as this Low Mow sign, or, when smothering grass/in the early, less attractive steps of a wildlife space, this Pollinator Habitat in Progress sign. The Xerces Society also offers a wide selection of lovely, informative options. The NWF recommends that along with wildlife habitat signage, befriending neighbors and showing them the magic of your space goes a long way - a bit of personal connection, education, and beneficial exposure can quickly change perception. Alongside that (if you’re not the chatty type, then maybe lean into these harder), there are some other cues that can make a big difference in the way your yard is viewed by others. Ornamental Natives & Nativars Especially if you’re one of the only kids on the block with a native dominated space, then it definitely helps to incorporate as many ornamental natives as possible (and to design your space with some regard for color theory or texture). Including species and nativars with pretty blooms, interesting foliage and colorful berries can help with human appeal while also supporting wildlife. You can also choose compact nativars to create a ‘tidier’ appearance -which means you have space to plant more! ( R ead our blog on natives vs. nativars to learn that all native cultivars are not the same in terms of wildlife benefit, and that it is important to use wild type natives along with nativars or other ornamentals.) Borders, Paths & Art Other ways to help folks recognize your yard as a purposefully cultivated/curated space is to incorporate borders, fences, paths, hedges, and islands of plants. This helps with the ‘tidy’ aesthetic - even if you let things go pretty wild within each planted/protected area, if you highlight or frame them to some extent it’s helpful. Even better - add some stepping stones, boulders, garden art, bird baths and bird houses. And even the smallest of water features can provide critical wildlife support, bring beneficial and beautiful wildlife to your space and add a lot of charm. These all can make your space more enjoyable, easy to navigate, and more welcoming, while helping to calm any concerns or misunderstandings. And these updates don’t have to be pricey - simply using stones or large branches to delineate areas can be lovely! Incorporating these fences, borders and paths along the periphery of your yard is helpful also - you want to keep plants from falling over into sidewalks or neighbors’ yards to avoid complaints. These gardens are less than a year old and plants are still emerging in spring - yet they are very obviously curated spaces due to borders, benches and paths. Sources: NWF, BeecityUSA & Xerces Society Photos: Angela Esmond's lovely gardens! Current Availability Click for Plant Lists