Resources and Links

People plant native wildflowers for a variety of reasons, including supporting wildlife, filtering pollution, and reducing flooding. This week, we explore areas that have benefited from wildflower plantings and highlight their positive impact on the environment—don’t miss out!

Happy Thanksgiving! As we eflect on the blessings in our lives, let’s also remember those in our community who are facing hardship. Let’s give Robert, his team, and their dream the support they need. Thank you for your generosity, and may your Thanksgiving be filled with love, hope, and community spirit. 505;

Keep in mind that some native perennials don’t adapt well to being transplanted. These stubborn movers often develop long taproots or robust feeder roots, specially evolved to draw moisture from deep within the soil. While it’s not impossible to relocate them, doing so requires careful handling and diligent care. We're here to give some helpful tips if you're up to the challenge!

Our limited-time offers won’t be around forever. It's first come, first serve! So, we thought we’d spotlight a few unique options we’re featuring right now. Take a look, try something new, and don’t be afraid to color outside the lines!

As devoted fans of hauntingly beautiful fall perennials, we’re thrilled to help landscape professionals summon the ideal plants to make outdoor spaces truly eerie-sistible. Take a peek if you dare! 

Interested in collecting rainwater or having a water feature be a part of your garden? Watch out! Wildlife will be attracted to it (which is a lovely thing!). But it's important to add a safe entry and exit point for these curious visitors. Take a look for inspo and ideas!

Chilly nights, leaves changing colors, and the return of pumpkin spice lattes. The seasoin brings changes! So, for landscape professionals seeking options beyond the typical garden mum and seasonal kale, we have a tip or two to freshen up that garden bed! Happy fall y'all! 

Happy Spooky Season! Goth gardening is making waves on social media, and it's fantastic to see people tapping into their mysterious side—not just for Halloween. Enter if you dare... and obtain inspiration for your landscape needs!

Motivated by a post from Rebecca McMackin on social media, we reviewed recent scientific studies to provide the best possible habitat for our Monarch friends! Dive into this week's blog to learn about how you can make your landscape a welcoming beacon for these beautiful Monarchs. 

Give these giants some love! These impressive plants reach over 60 inches tall in ideal conditions within a single season! We know what you're thinking... "What if they're too unruly for my home?", which is a valid point, but don't overlook these giants! Discover how wonderful these friendly giants can be. 

Fall is approaching with warm days and cool nights. An opportune time to finish planting! As garden beds seem to head into a deep sleep for the cool season(s) to come, our tasks are not finished at North Creek! Look inside to see what fall jobs our Trial Gardens team works on. 

Head in a stump when trying to figure out what's deer resistant, dry shade, and low maintenance? Sometimes, we have to take a walk and discover the answers given to us by nature itself. Take a peek on what nature has to say!

Starting September 30, world renowned educators and plantsmen, Dr. Noel Kingsbury, Cassian Schmidt, and University of Sheffield Professor, Nigel Dunnett, will embark on a 10-session online course focusing on the ins and outs of naturalistic planting. Click link in article to register -- with North Creek's 25% discount code! 

After dealing with harsh weather conditions, from heavy rainfall to periods of drought, landscapes all over are starting to appear weary. But it doesn't have to be this way! Read all about the methods used by Mt. Cuba Center and The High Line NYC, so you can utilize these techniques for your landscapes!

In spring and early summer, delightful fragrances welcome you... You notice the alluring, lovely plant drawing you closer... STOP! You've stumbled upon an invasive honeysuckle! 

Empty areas in our planting design can appear barren and lead to soil erosion. SOS! This fall planting season, it's crucial to fill those bare spots with plants capable of withstanding the upcoming cold weather to prevent erosion.

Love our selection of Rudbeckia, but unsure which one best suits your needs? Take a peek at this week's blog to learn more about our 11 varieties! 

Over the past twenty years, we have had the honor of collaborating with Mt. Cuba, which has led to the unveiling of six selections in our Mt. Cuba Collection!

Want to add blue flowers to your landscape that's also a native perennial? Look no further! Sisyrinchium captivates with its striking blue flowers featuring yellow centers, blooming profusely from late spring to early summer.

Many people aim to improve their landscape to better support native wildlife. One way to accomplish this is by integrating a behavioral ecology concept, such as Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT), into your planting design.

Ferns, frequently underestimated, make an excellent low-maintenance choice for shaded areas in both residential and commercial settings. They embody a delicate beauty that is as tough as nails. Explore their resilience and lush green colors as we delve into the advantages of including them in gardens and the various types we have in our collection.

While on a recent tour of the Swarthmore Traffic Circle gravel plantings with Jeff Jabco, Director of Grounds and Coordinator of Horticulture at The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, a group of us inspected these revolutionary gardens. Learn more about gravel gardens in this week's edition of The Plug©.

Since 1990, the Perennial Plant Association has unveiled an herbaceous perennial to be the Perennial Plant of the Year. Take a peek at some of our favorites!

We’re deep into Iris season and about to enter the time when our native blueflag (Iris versicolor) is in its full splendor. If you’ve not worked with this emergent aquatic, this spring might be the perfect time to add Iris versicolor to your next planting design. Learn more about this beauty in this week's issue of The Plug®!

In this week's edition of The Plug©, take a trip with us through Little Island and learn 3 great take-home lessons from this creative, futuristic, and ultimately just plain cool addition to the New York City Parks system!

Nearly thirty years ago, Prof Joan Iverson Nassauer of the University of Minnesota wrote a landmark white paper, “Messy Ecosystems, Orderly Frames,” that shook up how landscape architects and designers thought of how to meet form and function in a landscape. Prof. Nassauer posits a good framework, like that of a frame to a Jackson Pollock painting, can contain and give context to a robust, effusive, ecologically healthy landscape. Although this paper may have a couple of decades under its belt, it's still as relevant today as when it was first published. Read along in this issue of The Plug©!

Are you looking to swap out ubiquitous Liriope with native Carex species to boost diversity and support wildlife in the garden? After years of working with Carex and observing how Liriope is typically used in garden design, we have learned the trick to substituting Carex for Liriope. Complete list, just this way!

With all this rain, we think it’s time to consider a very special habitat - the edges along wet areas - from wet meadows to the basin of rain gardens to lake and pond edges. These plants like their feet moist and can withstand periods of inundation like a champ. Learn more in this edition of The Plug©!

In areas where minimal or reduced maintenance levels are necessitated by limited resources of time or funds, choosing plants with low maintenance requirements and robust longevity can be a tool for meeting maintenance time constraints and aesthetic standards. Read more in this week's edition of The Plug©!

Our new cast of Shady Characters™ are reliable performers with multiple seasons of interest, perfect for customers who want more from their gardens. As an addition to your shade perennial offerings, this cast makes the shade garden a place your customers want to hang out in instead of a forgotten corner. Everything from feathery, soft foliage for effervescent groundcovers to exciting new native hybrids, we’ve got seven plants to tempt you. Do you and your clients a favor—embrace the shadier side!

One of the best design tips we’ve come across recently is to include at least one filler perennial in a garden arrangement. What’s a filler, one might inquire? Well, we’re glad you asked! Read along to find out!

Let’s make a step towards change, together! We’d like to encourage a step in the right direction through offering suggestions for potential native plant material that could be beautifully planted in an HOA community while meeting community exterior guidelines. Read along in this week's edition of The Plug®!

North Creek’s hype-man, Steve Castorani, sat in as special guest on the Native Plants, Healthy Planet podcast! Brought to you by our dear friends, plant enthusiasts, horticultural educators extraordinaire—Fran Chismar and Tom Knezick—of New Jersey-based Pinelands Native Plant Nursery.

Originally brought to North America in the 1700s as an ornamental shade plant by European colonists, English ivy has overstayed its welcome and needs to be gone once and for all! Read up on how to remove this nuisance plant in our most recent installment of our Space Invaders series!

Figuring out bloom time for a garden design and then subsequently layering blooms are two of the most important skills a designer can have in their toolbox.  It is an oft-asked garden design requisite, and a well-layered bloom sequence creates a long-lasting, pleasing display for clients. But where, prey tell, is the specific bloom time information on the plant tag?! Read along to find out! 

When we heard of the newly updated USDA Hardiness Zone map (catch yourself up HERE), we thought it was high time to address two other challenges on a plant tag that people ask us about all the time: sun preference and bloom time. This week, we’re delving into the sunny side of plant life—buckle up and throw on those shades!

Hold onto your hats, folks. This week's installment of The Plug® provides the North Creek Notes on the recently revised USDA hardiness zone map. The last update was published in 2012—needless to say, there’s been considerable and meaningful chatter about the new map designations—read along to learn the facts!

Welcome back to Part II of our peek into new selections hitting availability in 2024! Read along to learn more about these beautiful additons to our product offering!

Last week’s installment took us down the garden path of all items Landscape Plug™ worthy, as we unveiled straight species items now available from North Creek. Today, in Part I of our Garden Worthy Selections series, we’ll introduce you to standout selections that have been turning heads and making a name for themselves—over the span of several years and varied seasonal experiences in our trial gardens—the kind of name that has added NEW to their station on our product availability!

Coming straight outta our greenhouses and jumping right into your solution-driven landscape designs—if 2024 is poised to bring the heat, North Creek’s got your back! Our crew of straight species plugs are robust & rugged with a splash of whimsy & wonder—all of which can be counted on to run the garden game, no matter your heat index. 

These items are tough, coming out swinging, and bound to go yard—tried and true straight species that are now available from North Creek! 

Japanese stilt grass, or Microstegium vimineum, is a big problem in moist woodlands throughout Pennsylvania. From afar, it’s lush and green, picturesque on the forest floor. But Japanese stilt grass is no joke - it quickly chokes out all other woodland species. Learn how to properly ID and remove stiltgrass from your property & projects in this special Space Invaders segment of this week's edition of The Plug®!

It's that time of year! If you're looking for something for the gardener in your life, here are items we find useful—have no fear, we don't get any kickbacks from product promotion—we simply hope to pass on the good word, share what we’ve found garden worthy, and inspire you with your holiday gift-giving!

Last time we met on our series The Power Behind our Perennials, we were behind the scenes meeting our growers based in Oxford at Bluestem Farm. Now, we’re zeroing in on the growers who start our plant’s journey at our propagation nursery in Landenberg, PA at North Creek's World Headquarters. We're proud to introduce Kassie, Pancho, Isabel, Charles and Lalo!

We’re deep into Scorpio season and think it’s a great time to explore unusual shade plants to set the mood all year round. Everyone knows about the typical cast of shady characters—Hosta and our fabulous fronds the ferns—but why not design with more unique colorways and textures beyond the traditional shades of green?

Join us for a peek at 11 unusual perennials for the shade garden!

Better Together! As plant people, we love to go out and explore nature. While out, one can’t help but notice the beauty on display all around. Explore naturally occuring plant communities in this week's edition of The Plug©!

October 24-31 is Bat Week!—very fitting considering their association with all things spooky. But what we find truly spooky is the notion of not having bats around.

Don't let your garden go bat-free, learn how to create a bat-friendly garden through the power of perennials!

The tawny hues and subtle tones of seedheads may be more muted than the typical bold floral display, but these quieter qualities crescendo in the late summer and fall, when their melody can be most appreciated accompanying the fading landscape. Enjoy all things SEED in this week's edition of The Plug®!

We direct the spotlight of this week’s edition of The Plug®: The Power Behind our Perennials, towards North Creek’s Fab 5 Oxford Growing Team: Casey Bremer, Ryan (Butch) Butcher, Olivia DiFilippo, Cindy Goss, and Joanne Gumaer—the next generation of Bluestem Growers!

You’ve probably seen it along roadsides, spilling luxuriantly over fences, seeming to decorate trees—a vine covered with fragrant, fuzzy white flowers. This vine is evocative of fall and inarguably beautiful…but quite invasive. Read more about sweet autumn clematis, Clematis terniflora, in this weeks Space Invaders edition of The Plug!

World Wasp Day is September 24^th—mark your calendar!

Typically regarded as intimidating, wasps get a bad rap due to potentially unpleasant encounters with humans. However sharp the sting—those associated with such zaps are social wasps—which actually comprise very few of the world's wasp population. Discover the benefits of wasps in this edition of The Plug®!

Asters are inarguably excellent plants for the landscape. These fall flowering favorites are profuse bloomers, providing ample nectar for pollinators late into the season. Today we're doing a deep dive into all things Aster by featuring North Creek’s aster offering in Landscape Plugs™.

Absolute perfection. Is there anything better than masses of pink muhly grass blooming in the fall?

Autumn is when we notice the planning done by garden designers as they weave magic with perennials and grasses to evoke romance in the landscape. The winning combination of fine-textured foliage with a screening of delicate flowers creates a gentle atmosphere. Hazy plant combinations become more than a mass planting—they become a mood.

To add romance to a garden, weave groupings of hazy flowering perennials and grasses between your shrubs or bold foliage selections. The airiness of the flower heads softens the landscape, making the viewer pause and slow down. The abundance of flowers and stems countered with the delicate texture gives a screening effect to the light, especially backlit by the golden setting sun. The key is to site these plants where they receive gentle breezes for movement, especially in areas that look out on long borrowed views.

Annual mums, potted cabbage, and ornamental grasses deck patios everywhere in the fall, but we'd like to explore wonderful native plant alternatives as the season approaches. A lot of times, suggested native plant swaps lose something in translation from the original annual display plants—in timing, habit, flower form, or color.

While native plants won't be identical to their ever-accessible counterparts, part of swapping out with native plants is encouraging people to think differently about their landscapes and making native plants easy for them to try. Customers may not even know that there's a native plant alternative to garden mums, native plants that are bred to be the right scale for their home and garden containers. These substitutions won't be a compromise in beauty or function for the gardeners weaving more native plants into their designs. 

Scent in the garden is a classic way to heighten enjoyment of a space and to encourage relaxation. Layering texture, scent, color, and sound deepens the sensory experience. While roses, jasmine, and honeysuckle are traditionally the first plants that spring to mind when considering scent, there also are native plants that are delightfully aromatic.

Scent is part of a plant’s strategy to entice pollinators—attracting bees, moths, butterflies, and flies. But scent doesn’t just attract pollinators, it is attractive to us, too!

A majority of the scent profiles associated with the native plants represented in this article have a deep, musky sweetness to them—most noticeable at dawn and dusk through the summer months. Weave these beautiful native plants in and around the perennial border to increase your clients’ enjoyment of their space.

In the heat and humidity of late summer, you may notice perennial meltdowns. A summer meltdown—when generally hardy plants begin to succumb to high humidity and high daytime and nighttime temperatures—can happen to the best of gardeners.

Even the most reliable performers can get hit by a particularly bad year when consistent rains and high evening temperatures increase the prevalence of mold, mildew, and rot. As usual, we echo the mantra of right plant, right place. Choosing a plant from your locality or similar conditions is the best bet for success. However, Mother Nature is unpredictable.

In this week's Plug, we give tips on maximizing the humidity tolerance of your plants for right now, where they are planted.

This year's exceptional spring shipping season brought to you by: North Creek's Shipping Team!

This team does it all! Staying on top of everything during the busy season requires attention to detail, perseverance, and teamwork, and this team has what it takes. Their impressive work is instrumental to the business we do—ensuring that our plugs arrive happy and healthy to our customers.

After an excellent shipping season, we wanted to take a deep dive into our shipping process and thank the hardworking team that makes it happen.

Bring out your fluffiest antennae—we are beyond excited to celebrate MOTH WEEK!

It’s the 12^th Annual National Moth Week, July 22-30, 2023. A worldwide celebration of moths, Moth Week is a global citizen science project—a totally volunteer-run initiative to admire, learn about, and appreciate moths. With 160,000 species of moths in the world, we’ve got a lot to celebrate!

In honor of Moth Week, we’d like to highlight 3 interesting moths—with three plant suggestions to support them. By planting native plants, you can support moths throughout their life cycle.

Get to know our Resource Guide! In addition to our complete product listing with detailed plant descriptions, cultural information, and photos, this comprehensive publication includes plant lists for practical applications.

If you find yourself with a challenging site, it's helpful to have a place to start when selecting plants. This guide addresses a variety of common site conditions, listing plants from our product offering that serve these needs.

Perhaps you're looking for design solutions to outfit a green roof, or extend your season of interest. In addition to lists that address challenging site conditions, our Resource Guide also includes lists for inspiration for specific types of projects—we've got you covered.

Offered in Landscape Plug™ sizes LP32 or LP50, our plants are well-rooted and ready to take on your site.

Beebalm are a beloved class of native perennials belonging to the mint family. They are high impact perennials when grown in large masses, producing many flowers. Bright, colorful tubular flowers attract bees and hummingbirds while the herbal foliage deters deer and rabbits. Blooming through the summer, Monarda is a pest-proof genus and a delightful addition to the client’s garden. Read more about Monarda, including a handy bloom chart, in this week's The Plug!

In celebration of Pollinator Week (June 19-25), we inquired about how our customers and readership support pollinators, raise awareness and build support around this international celebration. As usual, you delivered! This week's edition of The Plug® features your valued feedback—from rooftops to public parks—you all are working hard and we appreciate your dedication! We hope you are enjoying the holiday week, and we also hope these earnest efforts and stories provide inspiration for your next plan of action for pollinators!

World Firefly Day is the first Saturday in July every year. This year, it will be on July 1^st. Join us in celebrating this whimsical insect as we continue to shine a light on our pollinators.
 
Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, are beloved insects to all of us who live in the moist environments of temperate and tropical regions worldwide. Their cheery blinking bioluminescent light elicits warm feelings of nostalgia as we remember evenings in summers past—making the firefly is a perfect representative for the call to action to protect habitat. Read more about how you can attract and keep fireflies in your outdoor spaces in this week's edition of The Plug®!

June is Pollinator Month. Next week is Pollinator Week. We're pumped because here at North Creek, we're potting for pollinators 365 days a year!

With everyone buzzing about pollinators, it's the perfect time to feature one of our favorite pollinator powerhouses, Pycnanthemum. 

The name Pycnanthemum comes from the Greek pyknos, meaning dense, and anthos, meaning flower, so you know what that means—many flowers and insects! Plants in this genus are known for their aromatic foliage, attractiveness to insects, and ability to tolerate even the toughest of conditions.

The following three Pycnanthemum are offered in our Landscape Plug™ collection, guaranteed to come to you in (mountain) mint condition—rooted and ready to take on your next project. Here are our top Pycs for Pollinator Month!

Leaces of three, let it be? Not if you're Umar Mycka.

As the owner and founder of Poison Ivy Horticulturist, Inc, Umar Mycka is the man to call if you find yourself in a potentially itchy situation. You see, Umar has made it his life’s mission to eradicate poison ivy (PI) from commercial and residential landscapes in and around southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware—wherever the distress calls come in from! In step with his skilled team of poison ivy technicians, Umar has masterful expertise in dealing with poison ivy infestations.

Read more about Umar and his favorite plant in this week's edition of The Plug®!

Welcome to our newest segment of The Plug^® Community Connections. In this series, we will be featuring community-based projects striving to positively impact the health of pollinators, habitats, and humans—passionate citizens of the Brandywine Valley (and surrounding areas!) that are thinking globally and acting locally.

Our first spotlight for Community Connections is the tremendous work being done just 7 miles away in Kennett Square, PA—allow us to introduce the Meadowitos Initiative!

An exciting undertaking of the Kennett Library, Meadowitos is transforming small urban spaces in Kennett Square into pollinator gardens while providing excellent ecological function for the environment and educational opportunities to borough and township residents and visitors from near and far.

We were honored to host the celebration of the 2nd Annual PA Native Species Day last Thursday, May 18th. This year's press conference was held on a beautiful day in North Creek's gardens and featured speakers from agencies highlighting the importance of taking action to conserve Pennsylvania's native species and eradicate invasive species. Thank you to the PA Governor's Invasive Species Council for this opportunity! Read more and view the press conference in this week's edition of The Plug®!

Today, May 18th, marks the second annual PA Native Species Day—a day founded to recognize and celebrate the critical role our native plants, trees, insects, fish, birds, and mammals afford the over 46,000 square miles within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Instituted on June 17, 2022, by the Governor’s Invasive Species Council, PA Native Species Day serves to educate and encourage citizens of the Keystone State to take action to sustain the wonders of Pennsylvania’s biodiverse ecosystems while in chorus with stressing the importance of reducing the occurrence of invasive species.

In concordance with PA Native Species Day and World Bee Day (occurring Saturday, May 20^th), today’s issue of The Plug® will pay homage to three species from North Creek’s tried and true plant palette with PA provenance, pollinator appeal, and pure beauty.

Our Plant Trials and Gardens team has a lot on their plate—an entire living laboratory—over three acres of garden space dedicated to evaluating our catalogue offering and potential new plant introduction genetics brought in front plant breeders, industry suppliers, and native plant enthusiasts. Through these evaluations, plant material goes through a vigorous vetting process and must meet the standards of the New Plant Principles—the plant is garden worthy, does not assert aggressive or invasive tendencies, and requires minimal additional inputs once established—in order to be considered for introduction. Speaking of introductions, we'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to our wonderful team! We hope you enjoy getting to know the muscle and might behind our collection of display and trial gardens. 

At this time of year, customers are likely to receive a combination of dormant and fresh material from North Creek—don’t fret, everything is just fine!

In winter and early spring, deliveries arriving from North Creek will contain dormant plugs, fresh plugs, or a combination of the two. Both have a mature, established root system; however, dormant plugs have little-to-no visible top growth while fresh plugs have lush green visible top growth. Newly arrived dormant material requires different care than fresh material. Learn more in this week's edition of The Plug®!

In honor of World Water Day, we here at North Creek want to raise awareness about this essential natural resource. We can all help improve our water systems by changing the way we use, consume, and manage water in our daily lives. The challenges our water systems face impel us to create inventive solutions to support biodiversity, navigate stormwater runoff more successfully, and ultimately increase resilience. Read more in this week's edition of The Plug®!

Invasive species can evoke both frustration and terror in the hearts of gardeners. Noxious and obnoxious, these pernicious plants can be caught encroaching into your beloved garden beds, taking territory heedlessly as they go...but fear not, there is a period when these plants are particularly exposed and can be dealt with, and the time is now! This time of year, before most of our deciduous native trees and shrubs leaf out, is an opportune time to spot (and zap!) invasive species in the landscape. One such species we are tackling now is the destructive and despicable Rosa multiflora. This week's edition of The Plug® is brought to you by Arden Pontasch, Plant Trials Manager here at the Creek!

Looking to replace turf lawn with a native plant alternative?

It can be intimidating for homeowners to make a leap of faith into the unknown - to tear out familiar lawn and replace it with "native plant alternatives." If you're trying to convince clients about the benefits of native plant lawn replacements, here are some great reasons.

For more information, read this week's edition of The Plug®!

Time for cutting back the garden is on the horizon! Today, we’re exploring our favorite tools for getting this big job done. We’re looking at what’s the fastest, what’s the most efficient, and what’s the most precise. Depending on what you need for your client’s space, you may need different tools for the job. Read along with this installment of The Plug®!

Right now, trees are being planted in record numbers. Farmer's fields are converting to suburban home sites to meet growing housing needs. In cities, we’re creating more and taller buildings that often shade urban environments. As shade increases in our built-up areas, so does the demand for shade-tolerant plants to fill these understory spaces. Read along as we shed a little light on tough perennials for woodland spaces, enjoy!

Carex is quickly becoming a garden favorite for designers and homeowners alike. The humble appearance of the grass-like sedges blends well with any garden scheme and provides much needed texture, wildlife food and habitat, erosion control, and winter presence. If you’ve never experimented with sedges before, let this be your sign to give it a try!

Evergreen plants provide habitat cover and forage for overwintering wildlife, help control soil erosion with active roots, and prevent winter weed seed germination by covering the ground. That’s a lot of bang for your buck. Let’s give the winter landscape more attention—here is our list of 20 evergreen forbs you can plant for winter interest!

Are you ready to dive into Part II of our New Products overview for 2023? Last week we rolled out the new Landscape Plug™ items we've added to our availability—this week we'll zero in on our new 72 & 50-plug tray liners for your upcoming growing season.

Our 2023 growing season offers an assortment of selections perfect for blanketing your garden space with a touch of vegetative relaxation. From seed-grown North American species geared to provide garden solutions to low-maintenance marvels with a touch of coziness and comfort—you can depend on North Creek’s plant palette to solve problem areas while delivering impact. Follow along here!

Starting November 21^st, world renowned educators and plantsmen, Dr. Noel Kingsbury and University of Sheffield Professor, Nigel Dunnett, will embark on an 8-session online course focusing on the ins and outs of naturalistic planting. Click link in article to register -- with North Creek's 20% discount code! 

Part III of our series entitled, Building Climate Resilience in the Landscape, covered soils, water, flora and the bigger picture. Moving into the fourth and final segment we will present some of the best plants for the job, provide a case scenario, and conclude with next steps for all of us to consider. Enjoy!

In Part III of our blog post focused on Building Climate Resilience in the Landscape, we'll dig into soil, water, flora and the big picture. If you missed Part(s) I & II, click links below to start from the beginning of this lengthy conversation. Enjoy!

Much of our land has undergone large changes that have degraded its natural productivity and ecosystem processes. How do we take land that has been degraded and return it to higher functioning levels? First, we must know what conditions create a functioning landscape.


In Part II of our blog post focused on Building Climate Resilience in the Landscape, we'll take a peek at the components that make up a functioning ecosystem.

In the face of increasing climate irregularities, there has been a call to action for those working with the natural world to build systems that are adaptive and resilient. Only a few decades ago, it was permissible for a garden to be merely “pretty.” However, with the mounting evidence of the drastic effects of climate change resulting in unexpected droughts, fires, floods, and stronger-than-ever storms, our landscapes are challenged with doing more.

Over the next few weeks, our THE PLUG posts will cover the hot topic of gardening for climate resilient gardens and how to build them. Enjoy!

Grasses are so ubiquitous that they’re assumed to be present in a landscape without conscious thought and when they’re not there, the landscape can feel like it lacks something. In Part II of Whimsical Warm Season Grasses we'll take a peek at some reliable species for pocket prairie type settings where height needs to be kept in check, and also a few species well suited for areas where room to spread out and put on a show is a must!

Often overlooked and underappreciated, warm-season grasses are the glue that holds the landscape together. Our 2-part series entitled Whimsical Warm Season Grasses, we'll dive into some standout selections for residential applications, short-height pocket prairie environments, and selections suited for larger garden spaces.

While many of us shudder at the idea of living in what sounds like an oven, people who live in hot areas acclimate to the conditions and thrive. What do desert lovers have to do with plants?

Our native plants come from different climates and environments. Depending on the environment they are from will tell you what conditions they are acclimated to and tolerate well.

Learn more about hot & humid conditions vs. hot & dry conditions in this week's The Plug®!

You may have noticed this latest addition on our website plant descriptions? We’ve added technical information for growers! Learn more about how to get the most out of this information from The Plug® Technically Speaking!

These Plants of Merit are great additions to a garden design, adding much-needed late season color and pollinator support. We even have an entire section of groundcovers for sunny or shady garden locations, perfect to suppress weeds and to plant along garden edges. Read along in this week's edition of The Plug®!

Cultivate is just around the corner—this week's edition of The Plug® will highlight items we'll be rolling out for the 2022 & 2023 growing seasons!
 
These selections range from new to the industry and straight species goodness to meet particular customer needs to customer requests that are new additions to our catalog and a couple of hard-to-find favorites that we are growing again! Check out what we’re growing for you, tried and tested garden-worthy plants perfect for your retail bench or new garden installation!

Dicentra eximia is a cornerstone of our American eastern woodland garden in the spring. Learn more about this woodland beauty in this edition of The Plug®!

Asters from North America are enjoyed the world over. This week's The Plug® explores the beauty of Asters! 

The third week of June marks Pollinator Week -- a week-long celebration which works to educate people about the diverse world of pollinators. Read along and learn how you can help!

Giving Back to our Community with help from American Beauties Native Plants, learn more about this new pollinator garden at Ziegler Elementary School in northeast Philadelphia!

You guys know we love our native plants—it’s kind of our thing—but let me tell you, we’re not the only ones! Our bees love them too, and we love our partnership with Stormbustin' Honey!

Part II of Support our Pollinators highlights specific plants that support very specific insects - those that are now rare and federally endangered. 

In addition to planting milkweed to help the Monarchs, this installment of The Plug® sheds light on specialist pollinators out there that are facing dramatic population losses, and what you can plant to help!

Friendly reminder to be on the lookout for the return of Spotted Lanternfly nymphs!

Now is the time of year to divide your warm-season grasses! Learn how to with this week's issue of The Plug®!

Beyond basil, dill and thyme -- consider some of these wonderful native perennials for your herb garden!

Learn how to ID the the ootheca (egg case) of native and invasive praying mantises.

We're proud to announce our partnership with Mt. Cuba Center in bringing their native plant selections to the gardening world! 

Top 3 tips to ensure you receive your order just how you want it!

Rock your garden designs with 6 tricks on how to know and use your plants to create a more dynamic garden design. Over our 30 years worth of experience, we've seen our plants in lots of different situations. We want to show you how different amounts of soil moisture, how you cut back a plant, and even whether it is from seed or from plug can change how a plant performs in your garden designs. 

As winter comes to a close, this is a perfect time to consider sedges in your spring garden! Come learn about our favorite 7 Carex to add to your shade garden designs.

It's that time of year again! Spring is coming and plant shipments are arriving to your worksite. Learn the differences in the plant material arriving at your door - from vernalized dormant material, emerging, or fresh growth from the greenhouse and when to plant them and how to take care of them in this week's The Plug.

Utilize a plant survival adaptation for your garden designs! We explore evergreen basal rosettes - why they exist, how they benefit your garden designs, and our favorite plants in this week's The Plug.

People talk about winter interest all the time but what about plants that still are holding their own against Ol' Man Winter even late in the season of February or March? Here is our list of plants that are still providing interest in the garden even after the winter rains, snows, winds, and general dreariness. 

Big ideas to GROW your native plant business! In this week's The Plug, we consider the obstacles that are in the average garden customer's path to growing native plants and what WE can do to make it easier for them!

Salt-tolerant plants! A list of plants that are salt-tolerant for you as winter rolls on and salt piles up in the roadsides and sidewalks. By selecting tough plants for those areas, you can ensure a long-lasting planting design enjoyed for many seasons to come!

The off-season is the perfect time to test your soil! For better soil health and planting design, knowing your soil is crucial. Learn the how and why as well as how to choose the best plants for your soil conditions. 

Want your client's garden budget to go further? Try our planting tip - mix your container sizes! Learn how and where to apply this strategy in a client's garden installation to create instant impact AND have enough plants. 

Now is the time for working on your winter chore list! First up? Cleaning your hand tools. We go through how, step-by-step, to help you during the winter downtime. 

Flower farmers - looking to expand perennial crops in your cut flower fields? Wanting to add native plants to increase the diversity of offerings and attract wildlife? Read our top 10 best native plants for cut flowers (cut flower trials performed by NC State extension).

Seedheads: the original bird feeders! If you're looking to attract birds to your garden in winter, here are our top 6 perennial genera that support the birds.

Delayed fall planting project? Here is how to protect your plants until the site is ready for installation. 

Our top 3 tips for strategies to extend the fall in the garden - a multi-pronged garden planning adaptation to changing weather in the face of climate change. 

Winter chore list? Check your new plantings for frost heave. Learn more about it in this week's The Plug!

Now is the time to order your plants for spring!

Treating leaves as a resource in the garden instead of trash is a shift in perspective. Educating your customers about the precious resources in their own backyards can be difficult which is why it's good to have some straightforward points!

Instead of garden mums and cabbage, spice up your fall display with perennial native plants that give you more bang for your buck with the ability to come back year after year and support our native pollinators!

Don't be alarmed! The plants aren't dead! Inside your boxes arriving in fall, there may be some flats with active growth and some going into dormancy. Learn what this means for the plants and your planting schedule in this week's The Plug!

Have rabbits in the garden munching all of your plants? Here is a list of plants that deter rabbits from eating them in this week's The Plug©.

We're living through another fern craze! Come see why this plant is back in fashion (tl;dr - it's low maintenance!) and our lists for all the ferns for conditions your garden designs are frequently handling. 

Royalties, patents - what's the deal? If you work in the plant world, these are the nitty-gritty details that affect the pocketbook. We explain the details of these plant protections and how it affects you in this week's The Plug©.

One of the most common questions we receive is about how to take care of large landscapes and the timing around each task. In this week's The Plug, we explore the importance of caring for large-scale landscape projects and the timing of what job should be done when. Included are three free downloads that can help you and your team schedule maintenance and care for your projects. 

Taxonomic name changes - if we ignore them, will they go away? There's been a shakedown by taxonomists in several different plant groups and we go through and explore who has been changed and how we're responding in this week's The Plug™.

What should you get planting now in August? Warm-season grasses, that's what! Give these plants, and several other varieties, the rooting time they require in the landscape before a fall frost. Learn more about what to plant now!

Meet our smooth ox-eye collection! A great addition to the summer perennial border, this plant shines in late summer as other perennials begin to fade. Learn more about Heliopsis helianthoides and some great cultivars to use in your next project.

Drought stress at this time of year is very common. For best success with your plantings, we help you identify drought stress signs in the field and give you ways to remedy this problem for now and for the future. 

In between the spring season bursting with flower power and the summer where the heat triggers another flush of heat-loving perennials, is the "bridge" period. Typically in late May to early July, this period can be a quiet period in the garden. Bridge the gap between seasons with perennials that flower during this time period.

Our final installment about our propagation series, we explore how we use divisions and cuttings as a propagating type for our plants. We interview our stock grower and find out how it's done and what are some of our greatest challenges. 

After spring and early summer perennials are finished blooming and their foliage begins to look tired, now is the perfect time to get in a client's garden and do some summer maintenance! We go through examples of plants that do well with a trim now and tips on how to do it.

The plants in this shade garden look scrawny and not like the catalog image - what's going on? In this week's The Plug©, we go through the different types of shade and why that's important to your garden design success.

For the question we receive often  - for your newly installed Landscape Plugs™, when to water, how often, and for how long. This is a thorough exploration of this topic and we hope it gives you the answers you're seeking.

Let's get behind the scenes and learn about our most frequently asked about propagation type - tissue culture!

Learn about our Floating Treatment Wetlands, under evaluation by our Plant Trials and Gardens team, as a way of mitigating algal bloom in our stormwater system and ponds. 

Learn about how North Creek propagates plant material using seed. We go through the benefits, drawbacks, and challenges to give a more rounded picture of growing with seed!

For seasonal bloom events, we go through 15 of our favorite self-sowing perennials that can be layered into a garden design for maximum flower power. 

Why reinvent the wheel? We go through a list of native plants that contain toxic alkaloids that prevent herbivory to help YOU design the deer + rabbit -proof garden of your dreams!

Is mulch necessary in a landscape? This week, we explore the reasons why mulch is and can be used, the different kinds of mulch and their pros and cons, and how North Creek uses mulch in our landscape. 

We frequently receive questions about what is the best way to remove our Landscape Plugs™ from their plug trays. We hear you! So, for those new to working with North Creek - here is the way we remove Landscape Plugs™ from their tray, don't search the box! No special tools are required!

Do you have a retail garden center or small business that sells native plants?

Then we want to hear from YOU!

We're updating the Retail Sources page on our website and would love to feature North Creek customers growing native plants for retail. We frequently have homeowners who come across our social media or website when they're looking for native plant nurseries in their area. We wish to direct these native plant enthusiasts to the retail garden center selling native plants in their area—aka YOUR BUSINESS!

It's that time of year again! Time for dividing perennials, grasses, and ferns. We explore why you should add this activity to your spring maintenance schedules, what plants to divide, when to do it, and how to do it - all in this post! Whew. 

We've updated and IMPROVED our search function on our website! See what's new and how to utilize our search options to select plants best suited for your garden projects.

Learn garden maintenance strategies for your cool-season grasses and sedges - if they need a winter cutback, how hard it should be, and when to do it - in this week's The Plug®.

Plants are arriving to your projects in different stages of growth. Learn about the different stages and how to take care of them until you are able to plant the material into the ground for your projects. 

It's the season for cutbacks in the garden for spring! We go over what tools we use, how we do it, and our timing as well as overview other methods so you can pick the perfect maintenance plan for your project needs.

Come see the restoration of the Lost Garden of Hagley in Wilmington, Delaware (right in our own backyard!).

We're melting! Here is our list (and two garden ideas!) for our native (and some non-native) plants that are tolerant of heat and humidity, especially great for gardens in the southeast United States. 

Special Bulletin: North Creek Nurseries has decided to pull Carex flacca and its cultivars from our offerings due to invasive plant concerns. Read more here about this plant and how we've come to this decision.

Do you have voles causing mayhem in your plant designs? Learn more about this garden creature and our thoughts on care for the garden in this week's The Plug.

Brrr! Here is our list (and two garden ideas!) for our native plants that are tolerant of cold! We look at plants in USDA Zone 2-5 and show that while it may be cold, these tough plants can more than handle it!

Get the scoop about working with North Creek! We answer customer's Top 6 questions about how to order plant material and how our shipping works on this week's The Plug.

The increased interest in gardening, brought about by the stay-at-home orders for COVID-19, is going strong for spring 2021. We go into the state of the industry trends from 2020. 

Two new species Baptisia added for spring 2021! Lots of requests have been made for straight species Baptisia - you asked, we listened. 

A holiday gift guide for gardeners with gift ideas* for under $40. (We asked around - these are gifts that gardeners ACTUALLY want). 

What's the best way to get rid of invasive plants? To use 'em up! We're making holiday wreaths, boughs, floral arrangements, and baskets from foraged invasive plants in our woods. Double the seasonal cheer by creating something beautiful while cleaning up your local ecosystem!

Join Dr. Doug Tallamy's movement towards increasing biodiversity and reconnecting ecosystems by getting on the map for Homegrown National Park!

Let's talk about good roots! If the ground is still workable where you are, consider doing a late-season planting with Landscape Plugs going into dormancy!

Continuing on the conversation around seed grown crops, we dive into the question of seed cultivars and genetic diversity. 

Leave the stems and spent flower heads to the insects and wildlife for habitat! Use this pleasant weather for better things - getting a headstart on those cool season weeds! Learn about the most common kinds of cool season weeds and how to get rid of them. 

Thinking about replacing your non-native turf with a native lawn? We give our top plants for the job and how to get rid of your old lawn to increase it's beauty and it's function, for you and the wildlife!

We love milkweed (Asclepias sp.) for their natural beauty and because they help the endangered Monarch butterfly but is there a whole new reason to plant this native perennial in your garden?

Learn all about Chelone - from the best place to plant them to what native insects they support - on this week's The Plug. We go in-depth of all the varieties we offer so you can choose the best one for your garden. 

Seed-grown plants have a wonderful dearth of genetic diversity in each little seed. Sometimes, this results in differences in flower color or form. We explore plants we sell grown from seed that regularly have color variation. 

Step-by-step on the best way to remove our Landscape Plugs from their trays and information about LP specifications for siting!

Choosing a goldenrod for a project? With so many Solidago species and cultivars available, we go through what we offer and their differences to help you make the best selection for your site. 

Why North Creek grows what it grows - a grower's perspective on why certain native plants are hard to find in the marketplace. 

Save time and money by utilizing our shipping racks delivered directly to your job site. Don't know what you need to qualify? Read on to learn!

A contentious subject - what to use for a project? Native plants? Cultivars? Nativars? We explore the different takes on this topic. 

Is fall the best time to plant? Get the scoop on the pros and cons of installing plants in the fall. 

Plants for modern garden design - elevate your aesthetic with modern, sculptural plant selections

Drought and disease in late summer  - what to look for in the garden and how to fix it

We're in the middle of summer and boy is it hot! We have a list of plants that not only tolerate the heat and humidity but relish it!

What to plant for beautiful blooms in June, July, and August. Design your gardens knowing what's in flower when!

IMPROVED plant search with new features and additional search requirements help you navigate our 400+ plants to find exactly what you need for each project. Get tips on how to utilize our plant search and what's new. 

It's hot out there! New plantings can be stressed as temperatures rise and precipation wanes. We give you the signs of drought stress and how often you should water in high summer. 

Meet our Panicum collection! Learn about the switchgrass varieties we offer, the differences between them, and what these warm-season grasses do for the environment and local wildlife. 

Looking for simple ways to elevate a client's garden? A list of perennials that can use summer maintenance to take the garden from good to great. 

They're Ba-AAACK! A PSA on Spotted Lanternfly.

After a couple of decades of experience working with Landscape Plugs™, here are 5 things we wish we knew when we first started using them for installation projects. 

Who CHOPPED my plants?! (We did.) Here are the reasons we trim your plants before we ship them. 

Our tips and methods to prepare a new planting site, just in time for spring installations. 

Early-season weeds are a bane to every spring garden. We round up our favorite strategies to eliminate or lessen your weed labor, making it easier for you and your garden maintenance. 

We've partnered with Kind Earth Growers to bring you more wetland plants! Learn what new plants we offer and get a complete plant list of water-loving favorites for your next installation. 

On the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, we reflect on our mission - to provide plants to improve the connection between humans and the natural environment. 

Virginia bluebells are ready to ship! This woodland favorites are a beautiful spring ephemeral that we only carry for a short time. Find out why and what other spring plants grow great with them on this week's The Plug. 

Want to add wildlife value to your kitchen and herb garden? Herb gardens are a wonderful way to add fresh taste and nutrition to your food but with these native plants, you can also provide more diverse offerings to pollinators while boosting your health!

For when you can't get to your local garden center, here is our list of reputable online plant dealers that ship directly to your door. Everything from hard-to-find plants, vegetables, herbs, flowers, shrubs, and even trees! It's all here and it ain't Amazon. 

Here it is. Beautiful plant goodness for when you're stuck inside. So, whether you're self-isolating or because of bad weather, we've got our favorite shows, podcasts, and books to help you get through this!

Now is the perfect time to order ferns in time for spring and early summer planting. We'll tell you why they're available for only a short window and teach you when is the best time to plant them. 

Are you transitioning a monoculture of lawn into a diverse pollinator haven? We're with you! In this post, we're giving you some of our favorite resources in how to add more wildlife value to your landscape. Together, we can create victory gardens for our pollinators!

New to working with North Creek Nurseries? We've made a step-by-step tutorial on how to use our availability and order with us. 

Virginia wild-rye (Elymus virginicus) is now only available through custom-grow. Learn why this plant, and some others, have been taken off our current availability but can still be grown for your landscape projects. 

It's here! It's online! See our online 2020 catalog + resource guide - full of our plants and lists for everything from what's deer-resistant to what's good to plant in a green roof. Not just a catalog - so much more!

Talking new plants and new products - what they are, how we choose them, and what's the next big thing on the horizon - with Brigitte Crawford, our New Products Manager. 

Three native sedges that cover bare ground FAST after extensive ground restoration work

Easy native plant ideas to bolster the ecological benefits to your tropical garden

12 easy native substitutes for common non-native plants in the garden

We've hit the road! Find out where the Creekers are heading for the 2020 season 

New North Creek plant introductions for the coming year!

We've introduced trial offerings! What is it and what does this mean for you?

Need some inspiration for winter outdoor decor? Planters, containers, and a tree just for the wildlife are explored for this holiday season!

As the season winds down, we reflect on some of our favorite conferences, symposia, and tradeshows to network, increase our knowledge, and gather inspiration. 

Our customer service team's best tips on how to protect your plants if your fall planting project is delayed

Maintenance for green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) - ensure longevity with proper care

Our top native plant picks to use an alternative to lawn

Are they dying?! Nope, plants shipping now are just going to sleep!

Figuring out how and why a plant didn't perform in garden design

Here's how to bring birds into the garden with the best native perennial plants to provide food + shelter. 

Increase your garden plants easily - now is an excellent time to look out for ripening seed. What to look for and our lazy gardener hacks on the easiest ways to grow natives from seed!

I got 99 problems but a chipmunk ain't one! Keeping chipmunks, rabbits, and other small animals out of your garden!

More than vinca... beautiful colors and textures to use in low-maintenance shady spots!

Plants for a foundation planting that are low-maintenance, easy, and beautiful!

Everything you need to know on what to do to prevent deer pressure in the garden!

Perennials that can take a beating and stay on top. Flower power that doesn't just WOW but helps local insects. We're taking a look at some late-season native champions for a fall show. 

From swamps to hillsides, there's a Coreopsis for every garden!

When should you plant our Landscape Plugs? Here are the advantages and disadvantages to each time frame in the growing season to figure out your ideal planting window. 

Do you have a black walnut tree removed from your garden site recently? Here are our top picks for full-sun perennials tolerant of black walnut to put in your garden, a continuation from Plug post. 

See our Landscape Plugs in action by checking out plants in public spaces! Here are some recommendations for great public gardens to visit, state-by-state.

How to protect your newly-installed landscape from persistent waterfowl pests

Why use prairie plants? Grow deeper as we explore the benefits of natives with deep roots and how they can boost your garden and its design. 

How to irrigate your newly planted Landscape Plugs through the summer, the signs of drought stress and an overview of different forms of irrigation to decide what is best for you and your site.

A month-by-month list of our favorite perennials to create a massive seasonal bloom event in the garden!

A deeper look into scheduling large landscape maintenance with two free downloadable documents to help you plan!

Utilizing Aster-relatives for filling the perennial garden with durable blooms all summer long.

A look into the calendar year for maintenance and care of large landscapes to plan and schedule weed controls methods

THE PLUG© - Landscape Maintenance Schedule

A guide to the Geraniums we offer and when they bloom

Join us, as part of the Native Plants in the Landscape Conference, in using plants to tune into the power of green infrastructure!

For the humid heat and acidic clay soils of The South, we give a list of 100+ native plants that can survive even the swampiest of weather!

Installing hundreds of Landscape Plugs™ but short on time? We introduce you to our favorite spring planting tool, the 3" auger. 

What to do if your installation date is delayed...

Controlled burns as a landscape management tool

Why are Virginia bluebells only available in spring? What about Celandine poppy?

New to working with North Creek? Here is what to expect with our Landscape Plugs™

Things are growing again...! But they're mostly weeds. A look at weed control timing. 

Using what's there- utilizing a plant's characteristics for design + function

Monitoring your new Landscape Plugs™

To mulch or not to mulch? The use of mulch in the landscape

How long should I water? The importance of irrigating newly-installed plugs in your landscape

Want to try something new? Here are 4 other plants to try beyond Pennsylvania sedge, Carex pensylvanica

What's a little rain? Checking in with our 3-year-old rain garden and learning how rain gardens help with flooding after a storm

The first step to weed management is properly identifying common weeds. Here are some of the most common weeds found in the Mid-Atlantic with recommended strategies for their control and removal.  

Here are our favorite Top 10 Native Plants to plant en masse outcompete the weeds as part of your weed management strategy

Now is the time! When to have your warm-season grasses installed at your project

Ever wanted to visit North Creek Nurseries? Come to our First Friday Garden Tour, the 1st Friday of every month to learn about our plants, how we do things, and maybe, a little inspiration. 

With over a dozen different Asters available from North Creek, here is our bloom chart to make sense of the collection and to stagger your garden bloom time for massive effect!

Visiting Brookside Gardens in Maryland, two years after renovating their parking lot using the Landscape Plug™

Investing in your garden: three of our favorite spring-time bloomers with flower power that is well worth the wait

Timing your garden cutbacks: why we prefer cleaning up our garden in the spring over the fall

Just in time for Halloween, we check out the beautiful work done to revitalize a local cemetery in Philadelphia with the Grave Gardeners

Right plant, wrong place: when good plants go bad and take over your garden!

There are black walnut trees everywhere! What to plant that tolerates black walnut jugalones

The grass 'turkey feet' is actually beloved by turkeys?? A closer look at Andropogon gerardii 

What came first? The plug before the shrub? The order to install a landscape and why

Wet feet or bone dry? How wetland indicator status helps identify suitable plant environments for planting design

Getting tiny! A closer look at tissue culture and micropropagation of plants

Divide and Conquer! A closer look at propagation through division and cuttings

Seeds for the future! A closer look at seed sowing and propagating our plants by seed

When to cut-back foliage for the Hellebore and provide polish to the Lenten Rose

North Creek Nurseries pest management: our pledge to the Pollinators, the People, and the Planet

So it begins... cutting back and cleaning up your garden in time for spring!

The marriage of beauty + utility. Seedheads in the winter for form and food.

Landscape Plugs™ in action! Tour of a native plant planting along PA's I-78!

Living mulch! Choosing evergreen groundcover plants to prevent weed germination

Please! I need plants that can take all this salt! Choosing plants with salt tolerance in the landscape

My plants have arrived and it's cold out! Now what? Fresh plants + cold weather = bad news

Why do my plants look dead? Learning about vernalization and plugs breaking dormancy in spring