IT IS CRUCIAL TO FEED THE POLLINATORS AFTER THEIR LONG JOURNEY.

Is your garden ready for them by having plants that will be blooming to provide food for their arrival?  It is SO important to feed these pollinators after their long journey as they are vital for producing crops and fruits along with the survival of plants.    Click on the red link below and you can read about these early blooming plants.

Best Early Spring Flowering Plants to Attract Pollinators

How about some gorgeous spring blooming bushes?  A couple that are outstanding due to their many blossoms are Rhododendrons and Azaleas.   Azaleas do best with morning sun and afternoon shade.  Their blooms are vibrant colors, i.e. oranges, yellows, pinks and reds, with a mild fragrance.  Plant a couple of these together and they will be showstoppers.

Rhododendrons are an elegant spring blooming shrub.   They will do ok in full sun but do nicely with afternoon shade.  The common one is PJM, a soft purple/lavender.   New varieties have sensational larger blossoms.   Both of these shrubs come in various sizes.  Click on the shrub name below to read more about it.

Northern Hi-Lights Azalea
Photo courtesy of Bailey Nursery

Azalea Mandarin Lights
Photo compliments of Baileys Nursery

Azalea Rosy Lights

PJM Rhododendron
Photo courtesy of Bailey Nurseries

Nova Zembla Rhododendron
Photo courtesy of Monrovia 

Rhododendron (Ramapo)
Photo courtesy of Monrovia Nursery

Aglo Rhododendron

Purple Gem  Rhododendron
Photo courtesy of Baileys Nursery

Witch hazel is a vase-like shrub that can grow to 15′ tall.  However, with pruning you can keep it shorter and shaped.  The spring and summer foliage is green.   In fall the leaves turn to a stunning yellow/gold and apricot.  Then in mid-October to mid-November (or later) the tree produces its spidery yellow spicy fragrant flowers.  This particular witch hazel (common) needs cooler weather before it blooms, tolerating 20 degrees.  Flowers are pollinated by flies, moths, bees, wind and also self-pollination. Even though the flowers were already pollinated in fall,  fertilization of the ovaries doesn’t occur until spring when fruits (brown capsules containing seeds that develop over summer)  are formed and then explode in early fall.   The seeds are consumed by wild turkeys, northern bobwhites, jays, chickadees, woodpeckers, titmice, nuthatches and others.  Interestingly, the forked stems of this plant has been used as “divining rods,” where the stems dip down when held over underground water.  This plant is a real stand out winner in fall.

common witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
Photo compliments of Bailey Nursery

Witch Hazel flower
Photo by Eva Bronzini (pexels)

If you like to try new plants, we have some new ones we hope you like.  They each have interesting characteristics. 

Achillea (yarrow) Desert Eve Terracotta is an early blooming yarrow with big clusters of tiny rusty orange/yellow flowers.  Butterflies are attracted to this plant.

Veronica Dark Blue has abundant, full spikes of violet-blue flowers that bloom continuously throughout summer.  Attracts butterflies and bees.

Hosta Fantasy Island is a dwarf hosta for planting in front of the shade garden.  There are only a few dwarf hostas so this is a welcome addition for our hosta gardeners.

See You Tomorrow daylily (hemerocallis) produces yellow clusters of blooms that last for FIVE days.   Daylily blooms only last for one day, hence the name daylily.

Dianthus American Pie Berry a’la Mode has large pure white flowers with a magenta center on sturdy stems.  Great cut flower.  Very eye appealing

Click on the italics plant name below for more information:

Achillea Desert Eve Terracotta

Veronica Dark Blue

Fantasy Island Hosta

See You Tomorrow Daylily

Dianthus American Pie Berry a’la Mode

Since “Spring is in the Air” here are two new, exciting plants that we fell in love with and that hummingbirds and butterflies will love, too.

If you are a delphinium fan, you are going to love this new variety “Red Lark”.  Instead of all the usual blue delphiniums, this one is coral red. It is gorgeous.  Red Lark will grow to about 30″ tall.

Buddleia True Blue (butterfly bush) is another plant that will bloom from early summer to a frost.  Butterflies, especially Monarchs, love butterfly bushes.  The foliage is silver green and will grow to about a height of 6′ in one season.  Most butterfly bushes will survive our winters but can be quite late emerging in spring.

To read more about these plants, click on the red links below.

Red Lark

Delphinium Red Lark
Courtesy of Proven Winners – www.provenwinners.com

True Blue

Buddleia True Blue
Photo cortesy of Monrovia Nursery

Winter is the time for gardeners to sit back, relax and dream about next year’s garden. Look through pinterest, garden books, the internet and get ideas for improving or changing your garden. This is a fun time to dream. Visit our website as we have so many photos and descriptions of most of the plants we carry. Remember, when dreaming, that sunlight or shade and soil type play a very important part of garden design. Have fun dreaming and see you in spring!