upcoming garden events & no rake method update!
Plant shopping with Kate & Travis at Stonepost Nursery with Susannah Francoeur & Terry
Native Plant Talk at Nashua Farmers’ Exchange
Today was a fun (but damp!) excursion to one of my favorite wholesale plant sources, Stonepost Nursery in Raymond, NH.
Kate, Travis and I found some really cool native, nativar and non-native plants that will be featured and sold at our gathering this Saturday at Nashua Farmers’ Exchange.
I will be leading an informal chat about the role of native plants and how to incorporate them into our residential landscapes. We will talk about their benefits to wildlife as well as design considerations in a mixed herbaceous border. I will even introduce you to a few highly beneficial weeds!
Shop from a lovely palette of ‘pretty AND productive’ plants, including: aster, bugbane, thalictrum, rudbeckia maxima, geum, hairy penstemon, Joe Pye Weed, coreopsis, dianthus, heuchera, tiarella & more! Kate and Travis also have a great selection of seeds for some of my favorite herbs and wildflowers, including my favorite bronze fennel seen here.
Please join us at 38-1/2 Bridge St., Nashua, NH at 10:00 to learn and shop. No RSVP required. Tell your friends! View the event details here.
2nd annual plant sale to benefit community hospice house
CHH volunteers are hard at work potting up amazing plugs and seedlings for our plant sale event on May 31st. We will have plants of all sizes and types, as well as a gently used table of garden themed books and tools. We expect to have a highly diverse selection of over 1,000 plants (way more than last year!!). These are NOT plants that you will find elsewhere, so be sure to save some of your garden budget for our event! I’m gradually filling out this event page with images of some of our plant offerings. You can also follow me on Facebook where I am making almost daily updates!!
Orioles, Catbirds & Hummingbirds!
Our feathered friends have returned and are depleted from their long migration journeys. Orioles and catbirds in particular LOVE grape jelly which gives them quick carbs to fuel their nesting and insect hunting. Of course hummingbirds seek a fresh nectar source. Until our gardens can serve their dietary needs, a fresh supply of nectar (1 part sugar : 4 parts water) will be appreciated. Just be sure to offer clean feeding stations with food that has been refreshed every 2 days or so.
no rake update ~ no habitat destruction ~ just amazingly happy plants!
My no rake method
It’s a soggy mess out there, but the sun is rumored to return in a few days. I still haven’t completely tidied up the garden, and still have a few plant stems to tame.
None of my gardens have been raked, and the new emerging foliage is quickly engulfing last year’s debris. The video above was taken on 4/15/25 showing last year’s untouched debris. in my north-facing foundation bed.
Flash forward three weeks and compare the April 14th video and garden status to today’s photo that shows fresh European ginger groundcover that has completely blanketed the over-wintered plant material. Clearly, the ginger has not been inhibited at all by the decomposing debris. In fact, it is so dense that I am in the process of removing chunks of it to divide and sell at our plant sale on 5/31. So, if you want European ginger for your garden, I will see you at the plant sale!
As always, stay calm, dream of drier weather, and prepare to garden on!
~ Barb