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March 2020

Stachys "Hummelo:" A Must Have For Your Garden

By Sandra Nelson   This week’s pick is by Dan Nelson, Lead Designer   Stachys ‘Hummelo’   “The 2019 Perennial Plant Association’s Plant of the Year, this is a great plant  for the perennial bed and as a ground cover. “     Largely undiscovered by today’s homeowners, Stachys ‘Hummelo’ is a true “Must Have.”  An …

Designing A Border That Delights

By Sandra Nelson   As much as I love plants and gardening, I have always felt that my gardens were  — to put it bluntly — markedly mediocre. The individual plants were lovely, but somehow they just didn’t fit together to make the dramatic impact I dreamed of. So, with all of the extra time …

Lantana: A Must Have For Your Garden

By Sandra Nelson      

This week’s pick by Jo Ann Prieto, horticulturist and seasonal color specialist.   Lantana   “A great, sturdy heat tolerant plant that can be used en mass in the landscape and in pots as trailers.”       Each bloom a living rainbow for the garden, lantana adds a playful zest to …

Reduce Stress -- Take A Nature Break

By Sandra Nelson   With grocery store shelves emptying, schools closing, layoffs increasing, hospitals warning of patient overload, large public gatherings being banned and repeated pleas for extended periods of self-quarantine, the world is becoming a scary place. Every newscast, every online article and even our Facebook posts revolve around the pandemic and its sweeping …

Calla Lilies: A Must Have For Your Garden

  By Sandra Nelson   This week’s pick was submitted by an anonymous staff member at Embassy Landscape Group. Calla Lilies   “Peaceful…an almost indescribable peacefulness…” Simple elegance; calm, stately beauty;  exotic other-worldly grace   —  just a few of the ways that the calla lily has been described by those who love them.   Not …

English Cottage GardensĀ  -- The Original Rambunctious Garden

By Sandra Nelson   Although it was never called by name, in retrospect I realize that my grandmother’s wild and free style of gardening that I talked about last week  — her rambunctious garden — was her personal version of what we would call an English cottage garden.      Cottage gardens can be traced …

Lily of the Valley: A Must Have For Your Garden

  By Sandra Nelson       Today’s pick is by Shawn Eptig,     Lily of the Valley   I’ve heard it said that this is the fragrance of heaven.       Straight from your grandmother’s garden, the familiar lily of the valley is a hardy ground cover for shady spots. Masses of …

Connect To The Past With Heirloom Plants

By Sandra Nelson      

  My grandmother was famous in our neighborhood for her rambunctiously beautiful flower gardens. To my knowledge, she never purchased a commercially produced seed or plant. Instead, each fall she carefully collected and saved seeds from her favorite flowers, dug summer bulbs and took some cuttings to grow on …