Category: Home & Garden

January may not seem like a very flowery time for most gardeners, but today we’re looking at what was blooming in January in Carol Verhake’s garden in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Her garden is in Zone 7 according to the new USDA hardiness map, so if you are in a similar climate and lack winter flowers, read on to get some ideas of plants to add to your garden.

Climbing aster (Ampelaster carolinianus, Zones 7–9) is typically a fall-blooming native perennial, but if the temperatures stay mild enough it can keep going quite long into the winter.

Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora ‘Brilliance’, Zones 5–9) is treasured for the bright orange fronds in the spring, but the green fronds look great in a mild winter as well. In colder temperatures the fronds will die back, but in milder climates it will be evergreen.

You can’t celebrate winter bloomers without including a camellia (Camellia japonica, Zones 7–10). These evergreen shrubs bloom from fall to spring depending on the variety and are an essential part of the winter garden for gardens in Zone 7 and warmer.

Ceanothus go by the common name of California lilacs for their beautiful blue flowers, but this one (Ceanothus ‘Lemon Ice’, Zones 6–10) boasts lovely variegated foliage that looks good every day of the year.

Not quite in bloom yet, Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Contorta’ (Zones 4–8) will burst into flower early in the spring, but all winter the twisted branches studded with fat flower buds look wonderful.

Daphniphyllum macropodum (Zones 7–9) is a beautiful evergreen shrub with large glossy leaves set off by their red petioles.

Edgeworthia chrysantha (Zones 7–9) is an early-blooming shrub. The yellow, powerfully fragrant blooms will be open soon, but long before they open, the silvery masses of flower buds are beautiful in their own right.

And of course you can’t go wrong with snowdrops (Galanthus sp., Zones 4–9). Though most of them bloom in early spring, there are species and selections that will bloom starting in the fall and through the winter.

Hamamelis ‘Amethyst’ (Zones 5–8) is a beautiful witch hazel with reddish flower. The long, narrow petals open on warm days and curl up on the colder ones. Witch hazels are one of the best winter-flowering shrubs, even in climates with very cold, snowy winters.

Though each flower on Hamamelis mollis ‘Wisley Supreme’ (Zones 5–8) may be small, the masses together make a bright golden show.

Helleborus niger ‘Josef Lemper’ (Zones 5–9) has bright white flowers in late winter or early spring.

Lindera angustifolia (Zones 6–8) isn’t evergreen. The leaves shift from green to yellow and orange in the fall, but then, instead of dropping off, they fade to this beautiful tan color and stay on the plant all winter.

 

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This guide will not only acquaint you with the ins and outs of growing and these delightful trees and shrubs, but might also inspire you to create your own tales with their versatile and delightful fruits.

Here’s a look at what I’ll cover in this article:

Now, if you’re ready to learn more about serviceberries, let’s get to it!

What Are Serviceberries?

Amelanchier is a genus of about 30 accepted species of flowering deciduous trees or large shrubs, native to northern Africa, Asia, Europe, and eastern North America.

It’s part of the Rosaceae family, sharing kinship with apples and roses.

Species within the genus are known by various names, including chuckley pear, downy serviceberry, Juneberry, Junebush, shadbush, shadblow, sarviceberry or sarvisberry, sugarplum, wild pear, and wild plum.

Different Amelanchier species can often be found growing in the same regions and hybridization is common in the wild, so even botanists and those researching in the field are often stumped during the identification process.

Nearly two dozen species can be found growing wild and cultivated in different parts of the United States and Canada, including the popular A. arborea, often called downy serviceberry; A. canadensis, known also as shadblow or shadbush; A. x grandiflora, cultivated and natural hybrids between A. arborea and A. laevis, often called apple serviceberries; and A. laevis, commonly known as Allegheny serviceberry.

Serviceberries thrive in USDA Hardiness Zones 2 through 9 and have a wide geographical range in North America.

The appearance of serviceberry shrubs and trees evolves through the seasons, offering year-round interest.

In spring, they welcome the season with showy, slightly fragrant, five-petaled, white flowers before the leaves emerge.

The leaves are simple, alternate, and finely-toothed, turning into a splendid display of fall colors in glorious golds, vibrant oranges, and many shades of red.

In winter, the structure of the leafless, bare stems and trunks provide a stark, elegant silhouette against the snowy landscape.

The berry-like fruits, emerging in spring and ripening from green to red and finally to a dark purplish-black in early summer, resemble blueberries in their size and color.

They are all edible, but those of A. alnifolia, A. canadensis, A. oblongifolia, and A. spicata are considered the most flavorful. They are favored for use in jams, jellies, and pies, and are also a vital food source for wildlife.

Serviceberries begin to produce fruit when they reach three to five years in age, and the yields will gradually increase, reaching full production when the plant is about eight years old.

With their adaptability to a range of soil types, including light sandy, loamy, and heavy clay soils, and preference for moist, well-drained conditions, serviceberries are a versatile and beautiful addition to many landscapes.

Additionally, they are tolerant of juglone so can be safely planted near black walnut trees.

Cultivation and History

The botanical history of the genus is marked by classification challenges and hence, name changes.

An account of the serviceberry is recorded as far back as 1789 by Friedrich Medikus. The genus was later revised and expanded in Wiegand’s monograph in 1912. Further clarifications were made by Fernald in 1941.

Subsequent modifications and reclassifications of species within the genus have been made over the years, and botanists and taxonomists still disagree over many proposed additions to the list of species.

Geographically, the consensus among botanists is that the serviceberry can be found growing natively or wild in all parts of the United States except Hawaii, as well as all provinces of Canada.

While serviceberries are predominantly found in North America, their popularity as ornamentals has led to cultivation in other parts of the world, particularly in Europe.

In non-native regions, the serviceberry is primarily found in cultivated settings like gardens and parks, rather than growing wild.

The cultural history of the serviceberry is rich and diverse. The name “service” is linked to the time of year the trees bloom in areas of the Appalachian Mountains.

When the flowers opened, it was a signal that the muddy back roads that had been impassible over winter could again be traversed, allowing for circuit-riding preachers to hold their Sunday services again.

Some plant historians believe the real origin of the name serviceberry comes from a Proto-Indo-European stem word “sor,” or “sorbus,” which refers to the red color of the fruits, and this word pre-dates other stories associated with the name serviceberry.

Known as “shadberries” in New England, the spring blossoms coincide with the shadfish runs.

The edible fruit of serviceberry has long been a staple in local culinary traditions, used in pies, preserves, and fermented wine.

Native Americans used the berries to make bread. Culinary use has evolved over the years and the berries are now being incorporated into more modern dishes.

Today, serviceberry shrubs and trees are commonly available at local nurseries and garden centers. Their appeal extends beyond their historical and cultural significance, and serviceberries have become a popular ornamental for landscaping.

Thanks to their ease of care and early, cheerful spring blossoms, serviceberries are appreciated by horticulturalists for their ornamental value in gardening and landscape design.

As native species, they add biodiversity to smaller-scale ecological systems, appealing to urban farmers and those interested in food forest cultivation.

Now let’s take a look at how to grow serviceberries, beginning with propagation.

Serviceberry Propagation 

Serviceberries can be propagated from seed, from cuttings, by removing and transplanting suckers, and by transplanting purchased container-grown plants from nurseries and greenhouses.

From Seed

Propagating from seed can be a slow and uncertain process, as the seeds have a hard outer coat that requires stratification, which is a period of cold treatment, to break dormancy.

This method is not recommended as it can take a long time for seeds to germinate and grow into mature plants. Additionally, seeds collected from hybrids will not grow true to the parent plant.

If you’re motivated to try and you’ve got the time required to do so, there are a few things you should know.

The seeds should be harvested when they are fully developed but before the seed coat hardens.

This means that if you can beat the birds to them, you should collect the fruits when they’re ripe.

To extract the seeds, macerate the berries and wash them over a mesh screen. Seeds can be sown immediately in pots outdoors or in a cold frame.

Alternatively, they can be sown in an outdoor seedbed. This is best done in the fall because cold stratification will happen naturally this way.

Seeds can be kept for up to five years if you air-dry them.

Before sowing, the stored seeds will need a period of cold stratification. To do this, place the seeds in a plastic baggie with moist peat moss and set them in the refrigerator for 120 days.

Seeds can be very slow to germinate, sometimes taking 18 months or more.

Once germinated and large enough to handle, seedlings should be transplanted into individual pots and grown in a sheltered outdoor location until they are at least seven inches tall, when they can be transplanted into the garden.

If this method of propagation doesn’t seem appealing to you, let’s investigate the other ways to get started.

From Cuttings

To propagate serviceberry from semi-hardwood cuttings, begin in late summer by selecting a healthy stem from the current season’s growth, ensuring the base is hard but the tip remains soft.

You can take softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer.

Take a six-inch-long cutting, making your cut just below a leaf node. Strip the leaves from the bottom half of the cutting and then remove the soft tip growth.

You should be left with a length of stem about four to six inches long with three or four leaves at the top.

Dip the base of the cutting in hormone rooting powder and insert it into a container filled with a free-draining mix of potting soil and sharp sand or perlite.

Water the cuttings, then place them in a greenhouse or cover the container with a plastic bag and set it in a warm spot that is brightly lit but out of direct sunlight.

Maintaining moisture is key while the roots are developing, so monitor moisture levels and water consistently. Roots should begin to form after about six to eight weeks, sometimes a little longer. Keep checking the cuttings for root development and maintain consistent moisture throughout.

Ideally, for late summer cuttings, they have sufficiently rooted through the winter and can be planted out in early spring after hardening off.

Hardwood cuttings can be taken during the dormant season, typically from mid-autumn until late winter, after leaf fall and before spring buds open.

Select vigorous, healthy shoots from the current year’s growth, and take a cutting that’s at least six inches long. You can take longer cuttings and then cut the shoot into multiple sections if you wish.

With your freshly cut shoot, clip off the soft tip growth. Then cut it into six- to 12-inch long sections, at a 45 degree angle above a bud. The length of your cuttings might vary depending on the length of the material you’re working with.

At the base of each cutting, cut straight below a bud. Dip the base in a rooting hormone.

In a sheltered outdoor trench with well-draining soil mixed with organic matter, insert the cuttings about one-half to two-thirds below the surface, spaced about 16 inches apart.

Aim to bury a few buds beneath the soil and leave a few buds above the soil. Depending on the length of your cuttings, this could be about three to six inches below the soil.

These cuttings, left in the ground over winter, should form roots by spring.

Alternatively, hardwood cuttings can be kept in pots in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse until the following year before planting out in your garden. If you do this, be sure to keep the soil moist and don’t let it dry out.

Suckers

Digging up and transplanting suckers is an easy and low-cost way of producing more plants, and like cuttings, they are clones of the parent plant.

Suckers grow from the root systems, at the base of the plants. They can be removed and transplanted when they have formed their own roots.

The best time to divide suckers is in the spring when the plant is directing energy into new growth. Choose large, developed suckers with their own established root systems.

To separate a sucker from the main plant, dig the soil away from the area around the sucker before working to expose the roots.

Separate it from the main plant by cutting through the roots with a clean knife or sharp shovel. Once you’ve dug it up, you can transplant it to a new location as discussed below.

Transplanting

You can purchase potted specimens from reputable nurseries for transplanting into the garden. This is a reliable way to ensure you are receiving and planting a healthy specimen.

To transplant, dig a hole in well-drained soil twice as wide and just as deep as the root ball. It’s always a good idea to add a scoop of compost into the hole or mix it in with the backfill to provide nutrients for young plants.

Because serviceberry is a hardy native, however, it’s not entirely necessary, so don’t go out of your way to purchase compost specifically for this purpose.

Take a good look at the root ball and remove any damaged or dead roots. If the roots are bound or wrapped tightly, tease them apart with your fingers.

If you’re using an inoculant, follow the instructions on the package and add the product to the planting hole.

Set your plant into the hole, adjusting it so that the top of the root ball is at the same level it was in its original container. You may need to dig the hole a little deeper or add some soil back in to get it just right.

After you remove a plant from a container and tease tight roots apart, the size of the root ball can become larger than it first appears.

Be sure the roots have enough room to spread out naturally without crowding and dig the hole a little larger if you need to. Don’t force it into a hole that’s too small!

Then backfill the hole with soil, tamping gently as you fill in around the roots.

Give your plant a big drink of water. I recommend adding a three- to four-inch layer of mulch to the base of the plant, covering the root zone. Be sure to keep the mulch from touching the young trunk or stems to avoid potential rot.

Then step back and admire your work! Now that you’re familiar with how to plant your serviceberry, let’s discuss all of its growing needs.

How to Grow Serviceberries

As with many native plants, serviceberries are pretty easygoing in their natural habitat. Let’s explore how you can ensure the best growing conditions and how to care for these plants in more depth.

Serviceberries are a good choice for landscape designs and home gardens in USDA Zones 2 to 9.

They thrive best in full sun to part shade, so choose a spot where your plants can see the sun for at least half of the day.

These trees or large shrubs prefer well-drained soil with a pH range of 5.5 to 7.0. They do best in either loamy or sandy soils, but they can tolerate clay soils, too.

So, if you’re challenged with a clay planting site, serviceberry is a good choice for you.

These trees and shrubs are slow-growing, reaching their maximum size after 10 to 20 years.

Space your plants according to the expected maximum height and spread of the species you have selected.

For taller specimens, plant them far enough away from canopies of nearby trees that they will have room to grow.

Unless you plan to control the size of the plant by pruning regularly, allow for enough room around it to accommodate the space it needs to grow to its mature width.

As native plants, in their natural habitat, serviceberries do fine with the amount of water they receive through rainfall.

But to cultivate the healthiest, most productive plants in your ornamental garden or orchard, they may require supplemental watering. This is especially true if you want the most abundant berry harvest.

Serviceberries prefer the soil to be consistently moist but not waterlogged. So what does this mean? Check the soil!

Stick your finger into the soil about two to four inches, or as deep as your finger will reach. If it feels dry, it’s time to water. If it feels moist, wait another day and check again.

Plan to water new plantings regularly until they’re established. Once your young serviceberries are established, transition to a regular watering schedule as needed based on your local climate.

If you receive regular rainfall – at least one good soaking or multiple light showers per week – no additional watering is usually required for serviceberries.

During dry spells or droughts, be sure to check the soil and give your serviceberry additional water, as you would your other garden plants, to ease the stress of unusually dry conditions.

Growing Tips

• Choose a location in full sun to part shade.
• Plant in well-draining soil with a pH of 5.5 to 7.0.
• Provide additional water during dry spells or drought.

Pruning and Maintenance

The best time to prune serviceberries is in late winter or early spring before the buds start to open.

For the first three years after planting, you only need to focus on removing weak or damaged branches. Prune out any shoots and branches that are broken, diseased, congested, or crossing.

After this period, when the tree or shrub is more mature, you can prune more aggressively to manage the plant’s height and shape, and to stimulate new growth.

Regular annual pruning is necessary to ensure adequate light and air circulation between branches, especially with specimens that are vigorous growers.

The flowers develop on stems that are between two and four years old, so to encourage more flowering and to maintain healthy fruit production, it’s essential to prune regularly and cycle out the fruiting wood every three to four years.

This can be achieved by removing about one-third of the older growth annually.

When pruning your serviceberry for shape, consider the species you’re growing and the mature form you’re aiming to achieve. An open, vase-shaped structure might be best for food-producing shrubs, where the spread of the shrub is about equal to its height.

Conversely, some species are cultivated specifically for pruning into a single-stemmed tree form. With some young specimens, you can choose which form you want to pursue and express your vision for your own garden.

Like most native species, serviceberry will grow in a range of soil types that may or may not be highly fertile. Generally, they don’t require additional fertilization unless your soil is particularly lean.

However, if you’re interested in producing fruit to harvest, you may want to ensure you’re providing the best fertility.

To boost new growth, including flowering and fruit set, you can apply a balanced fertilizer, with an even ratio of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K), like 16-16-16, in the spring when buds break.

It’s also important to keep the root zone clear of weeds, as they compete for nutrients in the soil. So, put your gloves on and pull those weeds regularly.

I like to walk through my gardens once every week and yank out weeds that are too close to my fruit-bearing plants. That way, things remain under control.

I mentioned earlier about mulching after planting. A three- to four-inch layer of mulch creates a barrier on the surface of the soil that helps to retain moisture and prevents weeds from taking over.

Every spring, top up the mulch around your tree or shrub to maintain that three- to four-inch layer, taking care not to pile it up against the stems or trunk. Keep the mulch a few inches away from the base of the plant.

I recommend using organic mulches which break down as they age, adding nutrients and enhancing the composition of the soil. For serviceberry, I use wood chips and composted manure.

As hardy winter natives, serviceberries require no special winter care. As long as you’ve chosen a species suitable for your USDA Hardiness Zone, these plants will survive happily on their own.

Speaking of choosing a species, let’s take a closer look at a few of the most popular serviceberries.

Serviceberry Species and Cultivars to Select

Depending on where you live, you can find different varieties of serviceberry trees and shrubs at your local nurseries and greenhouses.

Usually the plants sold locally are well-suited to the growing conditions of your region. And online sellers typically tell you which Zones a plant will grow best in.

But if you’re like me and you like to learn about what’s available and have a few ideas before you shop, I’ve highlighted a few popular serviceberry species and cultivars for you. Let’s take a look!

Allegheny

Allegheny serviceberry, A. laevis, can be grown as a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree, some are pruned early to encourage a single main trunk and take the form of a small ornamental tree.

It grows up to 25 feet tall with a 15-foot spread, depending on the cultivar.

Allegheny grows well in Zones 4 to 8 and provides year round interest in the garden. The white flowers are followed by lush foliage and then the development of dark purple fruits that ripen in late summer.

In fall, foliage turns into cozy shades of orange and red before falling away for the winter, when branches create a silhouette against snowy landscapes.

This doesn’t mean they are completely immune to the effects of foraging animals, insects, and disease. But the good news is that these things are not likely to kill them.

In saying that, as with many fruiting trees and shrubs, serviceberry plants are a target for certain pests, and if you want to harvest berries, you’ll need to address potential issues for maximum production. Let’s take a look at the most likely ones to watch for.

Herbivores

As with most young or newly planted fruiting trees and shrubs, the tender bark of the trunk can be an attractive snack for bunnies. It’s a good idea to protect young serviceberry plants with a physical barrier.

I typically wrap the trunks of my young fruiting trees with plastic spiral trunk protectors, but because these plants are often multi-stemmed, I recommend making a miniature fence out of chicken wire.

Cut a length of chicken wire from a two- to three-foot wide roll, then form it into a circle around the stems. Secure it into the ground with stakes. The length will vary, depending how wide your specimen is, so measure before making your own.

Aside from bunnies, if you want to harvest the fruit, birds are a serious issue. Once berries begin to mature, they flock to feast.

I use bird netting to protect my serviceberry and other fruiting shrubs like haskaps and shrub cherries. When I see the fruits are nearing maturity, I carefully spread the netting over the top of the plant.

Birds can easily find their way under the netting if it isn’t secured below, so depending on the form of your tree or shrub, there are a couple of ways to do this.

If your serviceberry is a multi-stemmed shrub, you can drape the netting all the way down to the ground and stake or place rocks on top of the edges of the drape at ground level.

In the case of a single trunk specimen, you can gather the netting and tie it gently around the trunk.

If your shrub or tree is too tall for you to reach over the top, you might want to consider pruning it to keep it more manageable or choose a couple of lower branches or sections to cover instead.

Insects

Serviceberry trees and shrubs attract a few different insect pests, which can also vector disease. Let’s take a closer look at the most common ones.

Aphids

Aphids are common insects found in our gardens and in most cases, they don’t cause enough damage to affect the health of the plant.

In severe cases, their feeding can cause stunted growth and leaves to twist, curl, and yellow.

Aphids are tiny, soft-bodied insects that are only about two to four millimeters in length. They range in color from brown, black, gray, green, red, or yellow. They shed their skins as they grow and these white dusty flakes can be seen on leaves.

These sap-sucking bugs feed on new, young growth and unopened flower buds and can often be seen on the underside of young leaves. As they feed, they secrete a sticky waste product called honeydew that can attract ants and yellowjackets.

Honeydew can also encourage the growth of sooty mold fungus, so it’s a good idea to manage aphid populations before they get out of control.

Some cultural control methods to discourage aphid infestation are to be diligent about removing weeds, and introduce and encourage natural predators like ladybugs, which like to eat aphids.

Soft-bodied aphids are also easy to squish and can’t survive a high-pressure spray from a garden hose.

If aphids persist, I recommend an application of neem oil, insecticidal soap, or horticultural oil to disrupt their feeding and life cycles.

Blister Mites

Like most eriophyid mites, blister mites (Phytoptus spp.) are microscopic and can only be seen with the help of magnification. They are typically identified by the damage they cause, which is patches of discoloration and deformities on leaves and fruit.

Blister mites attack other trees and shrubs like hawthorn, cotoneaster, and quince, so if you have these nearby, and you notice symptoms of infestation, check all of these plants as well.

In home orchards, these mites are not considered a major pest as they can usually be easily managed. Biological control methods like the introduction of natural predators are effective, as well as dormant spraying.

The larvae are orange to green in color, shaped like a tadpole, and up to half an inch in length.

They usually appear shiny and wet because they’re covered in their own liquid waste. The adult flies are thick-bodied, quarter-inch black wasps that don’t sting.

Their feeding skeletonizes the leaves and if an infestation is severe, the foliage will turn brown and shrivel.

Generally, the damage is mostly cosmetic, but if you want to preserve the ornamental value of your serviceberry, you’ll want to get rid of these bugs.

If you’ve identified larvae on your plants, apply neem oil or insecticidal soap, spraying the foliage according to instructions on the package.

Shothole Borer

Shothole borer, Scolytus rugulosus, is a type of bark beetle known to attack fruit trees like mulberry and serviceberry.

These beetles usually only target stressed or wounded trees, so if your plants are healthy and maintained properly, these bugs shouldn’t become an issue.

Adult shothole borer beetles are tiny, about three millimeters long, and brown to black in color. The larvae are cream colored or white.

Multiple generations of these beetles cycle in one year, and the larvae overwinter under the bark of trees, so they can be difficult to eradicate completely.

Shothole borers create tiny round holes in the bark where they burrow to lay their eggs. If your serviceberry appears weak or unhealthy, inspect the bark carefully for the presence of these holes.

Pesticides are generally not a recommended method of control for these beetles.

Infested branches should be pruned and burned and heavily infested specimens should be removed completely. Burn the material to stop the insects from moving to other trees or shrubs.

Spider Mites

The most common spider mite found on serviceberry is the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi.

These bugs aren’t actually insects, they’re more closely related to arachnids. They produce fine, silky webbing, which is a telltale sign of an infestation.

These tiny sap-sucking pests cause tiny yellow or white speckles to form on leaves. Eventually the leaves will turn a bronze color, dry, and drop. Heavily infested shrubs or trees can become stunted and even die.

A strong jet of water from your hose might be enough to destroy spider mites on your plants. If that doesn’t work, you can try introducing natural predators. Lacewings and ladybugs eat spider mites, and other predatory mites do too.

My next recommendation is to try insecticidal or miticidal oils and soaps. Dormant oils and horticultural oils used outside of dormancy are generally effective at eradicating spider mites.

These work through direct contact with the mites, so a couple of applications may be necessary to achieve good results.

Disease

Native plants like serviceberries are generally resistant to most diseases, but there are a few common ones to watch for in your home gardens and orchards. Let’s explore them together.

Fireblight

Often an issue for members of the Rosaceae family, fireblight can affect serviceberry shrubs and trees.

This disease can kill young shoots and flower blossoms, cause branch dieback, and in severe cases, the plants may die. It will also cause fruits to turn dark and shrivel on the stem.

This destructive, infectious disease is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora.

It causes the bark at the base of branches to appear water soaked, then become dark, sunken cankers, and eventually dry.

Young twigs appear burned or a deep rust color. Dead leaves and fruit tend to remain attached to the branches.

Fireblight can spread to your healthy plants via insects, wind, rain, and your gardening tools.

To prevent this disease, make sure you clean and sanitize your gardening tools regularly, and always after using them on a plant known to be diseased.

Avoid heavy pruning and over-fertilization during the summer. Prune out any branches that are infected with fireblight to stop it from spreading through the plant’s vascular system.

There are no effective chemicals that will control this disease. If the infection reaches the trunk, this disease cannot be cured and you should remove the whole tree or shrub, including the stump.

If you’ve had plants with a previous fireblight infection in your gardens or home orchard, you can preventatively treat nearby trees and shrubs with a copper fungicide.

Powdery Mildew

Powdery mildew is a common fungal disease found on many plants in the home garden.

The infection causes spots or patches to form on leaves and stems of plants. These patches will appear white or grayish in color and sometimes fuzzy.

Powdery mildew is prolific in humid conditions and is more common in the spring and fall when the nights are cool, but it can occur during the summer as well.

This disease, although unsightly, isn’t a big concern for established trees and shrubs. It rarely affects the health of the plant. 

The best way to prevent powdery mildew is to ensure good air circulation by spacing plantings correctly and pruning as needed.

Fungicides can be sprayed if desired, but avoid spraying on fruits and always follow the label instructions.

Learn more about how to deal with powdery mildew in our guide.

Rust

Gymnosporangium rusts are common in members of the Rosaceae family, which includes serviceberry.

The fungal pathogen requires two hosts to complete its life cycle – one from the Rosaceae family and one from Cupressaceae family, which includes cedars and other junipers.

On the serviceberry, symptoms appear as bright orange spots on the leaves and damage is considered aesthetic, meaning that the spots just look bad if the infection is extreme.

To control rust on your serviceberry, remove damaged foliage and branches if necessary. Then inspect any nearby junipers for galls and symptoms in the late fall through winter and remove those affected branches.

Harvesting Serviceberries

Harvesting serviceberries is a simple process that rewards you with delicious fruits ideal for eating fresh or for use in cooking.

The berries are generally ready to harvest in June or July in the US, which is about 45 to 60 days after the plants bloom in early spring.

You’ll know they’re ripe when they turn a dark blue, purple, or nearly black color, resembling blueberries, and have a mild, sweet taste. Taste a few before picking all your berries just to be sure.

I recommend picking by hand in the morning after the dew has evaporated but before the day heats up, as this is when the fruit is firm rather than mushy. When they’re too soft, the berries can be difficult to pick.

Since serviceberries continue to ripen after being picked, you can choose to harvest them a little early to prevent the fruit from becoming too soft. The optimal time is when about two-thirds of the fruit on your tree or shrub are ripe.

Be mindful that birds and other wildlife also find serviceberries attractive, so as I mentioned before, it may be necessary to use bird netting to protect your harvest.

After picking, the serviceberries should be washed and then used or stored immediately for best flavor and texture.

Storing and Preserving

To ensure your serviceberries maintain their quality for as long as possible after harvest, you should first sort them, removing any debris, leaves, or damaged berries.

Next, in a strainer, rinse the berries under cool running water and then gently pat them dry with a clean towel.

I let my berries air dry before storing by spreading them on a clean towel on the counter for an hour or so. This helps the residual moisture from the rinsing to evaporate.

If you don’t plan to use your berries right away, once they’re dry, you can keep them in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator for up to two weeks.

One of the most effective methods for storing serviceberries for an extended period is freezing.

To freeze serviceberries, first arrange cleaned berries in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Pop the sheet into the freezer until the berries are frozen and firm then transfer them into an airtight container or resealable plastic bag and keep them in the freezer.

You can store these frozen berries for up to a year or more.

Another storage method for serviceberries is dehydration. Spread your clean berries on a dehydrator tray or a lined baking sheet.

Dehydrate them at a low temperature, around 135°F or 57°C, for eight to 12 hours until they are completely dry and slightly leathery.

Allow the berries to cool and then store them in airtight containers or plastic resealable bags. Dehydrated serviceberries will keep for several months up to a year in a cool, dark place.

Recipes and Cooking Ideas

Ripe serviceberries are sweet and sometimes have a hint of nuttiness to them, which makes them a tasty choice for both sweet and savory dishes. Some people claim to love these berries more than blueberries!

You can use these fruits in any recipe that calls for blueberries. Of course, you can make jams, jellies, and syrups as you might with other berries or fruit.

Substitute the blueberries with serviceberries in this spiced blueberry jam recipe from our sister site, Foodal for a mouth-watering spread or filling.

All kinds of baked goods are fantastic with serviceberries as well, like pies, muffins, pastries, and breads. If you want to try something different, check out this recipe for maple blueberry coconut oil scones, also from Foodal.

Just swap out the blueberries with serviceberries for a warm and comforting treat.

If you’re interested in fermentation, these berries can be made into wine. They also add a sweet dimension to sauces and salad dressings.

You can also make fruit leather from serviceberries. With so many possibilities for use, it’s easy to understand why these berries are so popular!

Best Garden Uses for Serviceberries

Not only are the fruits of serviceberry delicious, but they’re a great source of nutrition. They’re high in fiber, as well as calcium, iron, magnesium, and manganese.

Aside from their health benefits and unique flavor, serviceberry plants have a myriad of uses in our landscapes and gardens.

Planted in groups, they can be used for hedging or screening, or impactful mass plantings.

They also make stunning focal points and specimen accents, including anchors for foundation plantings. Taller species also provide lovely shade.

With their aromatic flowers and abundant fruit, serviceberries make an excellent choice for pollinator gardens and native reclamation projects, attracting bees, birds, and other wildlife.

Their strong roots are also good for controlling erosion. They also happen to be tolerant of juglone. Bonus!

A backyard is no place for a farm. My earliest vegetable gardens were small-scale imitations of large-scale farms. I rototilled the soil, spread bagged chemical fertilizer all around and built neat hills and straight furrows. I worked as a tractor. Then I unleashed a flood of water to fill the furrows and bring life to the land. I engineered like a god. Months later, I would make my daily rounds to harvest what I could from the hard, gray soil that was cracking under the intense summer sun. Farming was a tough life.

Did it have to be so tough? In reading about vegetable growing, I discovered that it did not. 

The key to successful gardening is taking good care of the soil. By deeply cultivating the soil and adding plenty of organic matter and natural fertilizers, I not only increased the production of my garden many times over but also entered into a new relationship with my soil. I tended it and nurtured it, and my backyard farm gradually became a garden.

Dig the soil, but don’t turn it over

If you’re making a new bed on the unbroken ground, use a spading shovel to cut the edges. Then loosen the ground with a digging fork, thrusting it as deep into the soil as you can. Rock the handle back to loosen and lift the soil, but try not to turn it over. Remember that soil is a vibrant ecosystem that suffers if it’s exposed to too much light and air. So just wiggle the fork around to make it easier for roots to pene­trate. Deep cultivation will encourage the roots to grow downward. If you can dig your bed only 6 to 8 inches deep the first year, don’t worry. Earthworms and plant roots will pene­trate even farther, loosening the soil so that you can dig a little deeper the following year. 

I don’t use a rototiller to loosen the soil. Excessive mech­anical tilling can destroy organic matter by overaerating the soil. It can also create a layer of compacted soil in the subsoil just below the depth where the blades reach. Roots will have a tough time growing down into such hard soil. Besides, tillers are noisy, smoky, and tricky to maneuver in small spaces.

Break up soil clumps, and rake out the grass. Use a cultivator or a rake to work over the bed, giving it a rough shape, breaking up clumps of soil, and pulling out grass as you go. For this task, I rely on a cultivator I’ve had for years; once I’ve completed the initial groundbreaking with a digging fork, I can do almost everything else with my cultivator. 

You’ll need to loosen the soil and break up clumps each year in preparation for planting, but it doesn’t take as much effort as it will the first year.

Feed the soil with organic matter

The bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and other organisms that inhabit your soil will convert the food that you give them (compost, manure, organic fertilizers, or plant resi­dues) into nutrients for your growing plants. As they release nutrients, these organisms are also creating humus (minuscule particles of decomposed organic matter) and binding soil particles into irregular clumps. Over time, the regular addition of organic matter will improve the structure of your soil. It will help sandy soil hold water and nutrients longer, and will help clay soil drain faster and allow roots to penetrate it more easily.

The first time I prepare a bed, I add at least 3 inches of compost. That works out to about a cubic yard for every 100 square feet. You can use homemade compost, livestock manure, commercial compost, or mushroom compost—whatever may be cheap, abundant, and available. Because this initial amending is large, it pays to shop around for a material that you can get in bulk rather than in bags. I would avoid sawdust. The high carbon content of wood products tends to reduce the availability of nitrogen in the soil. 

I rake the manure out evenly over the bed and cut it into the top 3 to 4 inches of soil, using either a cultivator or a fork. If you use a digging fork, stir in the compost with a twisting motion. If you find it awkward to reach to the center of the bed with a fork, lay a board across the bed to give you a place to stand without compacting the soil. Finally, I use my rake to blend the manure evenly and shape the bed surface. 

In the following seasons, you will need to add only an inch or two of organic matter. Remember, however, that no two years are alike—in weather conditions or in the crops you choose to grow. So be adaptable, and pay close attention to your soil. If it begins to lose its crumbly structure or gets hard or sticky, you can add organic matter in spring and again in fall. A warm summer combined with moderate watering and intensive planting can use up the organic matter quickly.

Don’t forget the fertilizer 

Organic matter is essential for the smooth functioning of soil life. But when you are growing vegetables, you cannot rely on organic matter alone to supply all of the necessary nutrients. Plants need plenty of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (the N-P-K on a fertilizer bag) and lesser amounts of nutrients such as copper, magnesium, boron, and iron (the so-called trace minerals or micronutrients).

Manure from cows, horses, or other herbivores and compost of decomposed plant material will contain most of the trace minerals your soil needs. Most soils already have adequate phosphorus and potassium. Nitrogen’s most important role is to promote vegetative tissue (leaves and stems), so it’s essential for healthy plant growth. And it is soluble, which means that it can be washed out of the root zone, away from your plants. So nitrogen needs to be renewed regularly.

I use organic sources of nitrogen to feed the soil, not chemical fertilizers to feed the plant. Organic materials have to be digested by soil microorganisms in order to release nutrients. This slower process is dependent on soil temperature, moisture, and the size, density, and composition of the organic material. The biological activity you encourage by using natural materials will improve your soil, which, in turn, will lead to healthier plants.

I use fish meal (dried and pulverized fish waste) to supply my growing plants with nitrogen. It’s available from mail-order, farm-supply, and garden-supply companies. If you want a more available organic source of nitrogen, you can use dried blood meal. It’s less expensive than a fish meal but doesn’t supply quite as wide a range of nutrients.

Here in the West, nitrogen is generally in short supply, so my standard dosage is ½ pound per 100 square feet. Your soil might not need quite as much nitrogen as mine does. To know for sure, you’d have to have it tested by a soil lab. But most gardeners can probably safely apply ½ pound of nitrogen per 100 square feet so long as it’s a slow-release organic fertilizer.

I broadcast the fish meal over the bed and chop it in with a rake. I’m careful not to rake it in because I want it to stay evenly distributed. Because our summers are dry and water is precious, I then use the back of the rake to smooth the surface flat so that the bed will catch all the water I put on it.

Now the soil is loosened and amended. The beds are shaped and fertilized. The microorganisms are ready to go to work for you as soon as you add water and plants. Just remember that you are creating more than just a garden. You are managing a simplified ecosystem. Learn to work with nature. Strive to create the conditions that allow for healthy growth. You’ll get more from your garden than you ever expected.

---

Steps for boosting your soil every year

• Loosen the soil as deeply as you can, but don’t turn it over.
• Break up clumps of soil.
• Add plenty of organic matter.
• Chop in a nitrogen-rich fertilizer.
• Stay on the paths and out of the beds to avoid compacting the soil. 

In a recent Healthy Garden article, Paula Gross mentions research indicating that mulches of oak leaves and pine needles do not acidify the soil. In view of the tendencies of woodlands in my area to have a pH of 5 to 6, whereas lawns and fields (admittedly many of which have been limed) tend to be around 6.8, I would be interested in the specifics of the research.

—Will Ferrell, Kernersville, North Carolina

Paula Gross responds: In digging deeper for this article, I was reminded that soil pH is very stable and that it takes a lot to change it. When we want to change soil pH in either direction, we turn to inorganic materials—limestone to increase pH, and sulfur to lower it—because organic materials simply won’t have a strong enough effect in our lifetimes.

I think it is much more likely that the pH difference Mr. Ferrell observes is due to the liming of turf, as he suspects. North Carolina’s Piedmont soils tend to run acidic, but of course it all depends on the exact soil he is testing. Pockets of more and less acidic soils certainly exist.

The effect of oak leaves on soil pH has been studied extensively. A paper published by Nikolai, Rieke, and McVay of Michigan State University documented no change in soil pH after six years of mulching oak leaves into established turf grass. Abigail A. Maynard’s research at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station also documented no difference in soil pH when uncomposted leaves were added to vegetable plots. (Editor’s note: You can find summaries of these studies online by searching for the authors’ names along with the keywords “leaves” and “soil pH.”)

Hard research on pine needles and soil pH is lacking, yet all university extension services I researched dispute the claim that pine needles acidify soil.

If Mr. Ferrell wants to try an experiment of his own over five to 10 years with pine needles, I can tell you he’d have an interested audience online!

We’ve been growing velvet beans (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) since our old food forest back in Florida; however, I didn’t come in contact with the “madness bean” version – the wild, brutally stinging type of Mucuna pruriens – until we lived on the island of Grenada.

The wild form is also known as “cowitch,” and will drive you mad.

Our Encounter with Madness Beans

Derek Clawson’s comment the other day reminded me of my experience with the “madness bean.”

“I did grow the itchy type once … Never ever do that if you haven’t! It produced buckets of pods but the fibers were almost impossible not to get all over you. It was a nightmare cleaning up that vine from a fence. It itches so badly for 30 plus mins you’ll itch your skin off trying to satisfy the irritation. Absolute hell. When some guy had originally sent the seeds he warned me I’d never grow it again but I thought it couldn’t be that bad. It’s that bad and I never grew it again.”

Back in 2017 I was told by my friend Mike who lived up the road on the island that there was a patch of stinging beans in one of the fields at a lower altitude, so I hiked down there to get some:

I thought we could use them medicinally, like we had done with our cultivated varieties in the past.

Yet after filming that video, my arms itched and stung for more than a day, and that was just from the little hairs that drifted off the pods I harvested! We never did do anything with those pods. I didn’t want to touch them again, even with gloves.

The pain was tormenting, and nothing seems to take that sting out.

Cultivated vs. Wild Mucuna pruriens 

The cultivated form of the madness bean (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) is still medicinal, as well as being an excellent cover crop and nitrogen fixer, and it lacks almost all of the stinging hairs. The pods will sometimes make you a little itchy, but it’s nothing like the torment of its uncultivated relations.

This spring I plan to plant a large section of the cultivated variety of velvet beans so we can harvest seed and perhaps offer it for sale. It’s hard to find in the US, and is expensive when you can find it. We’ll use it as a suppressive ground cover in the food forest to build the soil and kill off the grass while adding nitrogen, then see how much seed we end up with.

Grow the right type and it’s a very useful plant. Grow the wild type and it’s a devil. The only place I would ever deliberately plant the wild stinging form is at the edge of a property to deter trespassers. Otherwise, it’s just too dangerous.

Happy Monday!

We’re visiting with Bonnie Plikaytis in north Georgia today.

One of the most difficult design features for me to accomplish in my Zone 7 woodland garden is to incorporate winter interest. After 10 years of gardening, I have learned a few things, which I share with you today.

In our woodland community in North Georgia there are many evergreen trees and shrubs native to the property, including mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia, Zones 4–9), American holly (Ilex opaca, Zones 5–9), and a variety of species of pine trees. In the areas of the property that were cleared during construction of our home, I have planted a variety of evergreens that tend to be deer tolerant to provide a backdrop for the deciduous trees and perennials in the garden.

Low-growing Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia, Zones 5–9) and ‘Savannah’ holly (Ilex ‘Savannah’, Zones 7–9), with its bright red winter berries, frame this dormant Japanese maple (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9). The large garden boulder in front provides additional interest with its natural shape.

Evergreen low-growing plants are a real treasure. This variegated Rohdea japonica ‘Piccadilly Pace’ (Zones 6–10) attracts extra attention with its variegated leaves and red berries.

During summer and fall, the perennials and different varieties and sizes of Japanese maples that line this garden path are the stars. However, in winter and spring the hardy anise (Illicium parviflorum, Zones 6–9), anise (Illicium floridanum ‘Swamp Hobbit’, Zones 7–10), and several varieties of rhododendrons reign supreme with their evergreen broadleaf structure and early spring blooms.

Dwarf sweet flag (Acorus gramineus, Zones 6–9) is a grasslike ground cover that is evergreen in Zone 7. In this photo it is paired with ‘Autumn Bride’ heuchera (Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’, Zones 3–8) and champion wood fern (Dryopteris championii, Zones 5–8) to frame a dormant dwarf Japanese maple. Garden boulders provide year-round interest with no threat of deer damage!

Siebold’s wood fern (Dryopteris sieboldii, Zones 6–9) with its unusual shaped, leathery fronds almost looks tropical. As with most evergreen ferns the fronds do tend to look tattered in spring and should be trimmed.

This stumpery built in the fall of 2018 always attracts the attention of those visiting the garden. The evergreen ferns really stand out in winter. The evergreen ferns in the stumpery include shaggy shield (Dryopteris cycadina, Zones 5–8), champion wood fern (Dryopteris championii, Zones 5–8), autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora, Zones 5–8), hard shield fern (Polystichum aculeatum, Zones 3–8), and East Indian holly fern (Arachnoides simplicior, Zones 7–9).

Winter daphne (Daphne odora, Zones 7–9), though somewhat temperamental, is well worth its diva status. The variegated glossy leaves and dark pink flower buds in winter are stunning. In February it blooms, and the sweet fragrance is intoxicating.

Evergreen Solomon’s seal is an uncommon evergreen ground cover. It spreads by rhizomes to form clumps but is not aggressive in the garden. As a bonus it blooms in May, producing white 3/4-inch tubular bell-shaped flowers. The clump in this photo contains both Disporopsis pernyi (Zones 6–9), which has lance-shaped leaves and Disporopsis arisanensis (Zones 6–9), which has rounded leaves. Hardy begonia (Begonia grandis, Zones 6–9) seedpods are glistening in the sunlight in the background.

Sometimes winter interest doesn’t come from an evergreen at all. The dark burgundy color of the large leaves of this oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’, Zones 5–9) certainly holds one’s attention. (Note that this shrub has grown much larger than the predicted size!) The photo shows a Southgate^® Grace™ rhododendron (Zones 6–9) in the foreground and a Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia, Zones 5–9) to the side.

Our property borders a paved hiking trail. My gardening companion, Cody, is checking to see if any of his canine buddies are heading down the trail to his water bar.

We hope that you find serenity in the beauty of our winter garden.

 

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AS SHE OFTEN DOES, naturalist and nature writer Nancy Lawson—perhaps known better to some of you as the Humane Gardener after the title of her first book—caught my attention the other day.

“My yard isn’t overgrown and neither is yours,” Nancy wrote in a post on Instagram. What she went on to say is that words like overgrown are the kind that are often applied negatively to landscapes that don’t fit the manicured model, the one dominated by the mindset of the Great American Lawn.

But Nancy Lawson takes exception countering with the thought that most landscapes are in fact undergrown, as in lacking diversity and life.

Naturalist Nancy Lawson is author of “The Humane Gardener,” and then also of the book “Wildscape” (affiliate links). When she and her husband bought their Maryland home almost 25 years ago, it was anything but a wildscape. And she vividly remembers that the 2.23 acres featured, in her words, “almost 2 acres of mowed turf and a little tiny, sickly rose bush.”

Not anymore.

What does the language we are using about our landscapes say—and are we really using the best words?

Plus: Enter to win a copy of her latest book, “Wildscape,” by commenting in the box near the bottom of the page.

Read along as you listen to the Jan. 29, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

the language of the landscape, with nancy lawson

 

 

Margaret Roach: Hi, Nancy. How is it down there in the wildscape in Maryland? Good?

Nancy Lawson: Hi, yes, it’s excellent. The birds are all in their heated bird baths outside.

Margaret: [Laughter.] Yeah, lots of birds this year. We’ve had just had a cold snap and boy, some days just mourning doves alone, there’d be 40 or 45 mourning doves besides everybody else, there’d be over 100 birds at a time visiting to drink—I keep water available as well—and to feed.

Nancy: That’s wonderful.

Margaret: Yeah, it’s fun. Makes it all make sense a little bit or something.

Nancy: Yeah. I love to watch them lining up, taking their turns at the bird bath [laughter].

Margaret: And the literal pecking order; some species are bossier than others [laughter].

Nancy: Yes. That’s true.

Margaret: Who’s in charge? Yeah. So as I said in the introduction, your recent post on Instagram is where I had originally seen it, but it’s on your website in more depth. It really caught my ear. And I want to first set the scene for those who may not have read it. And you start with: “My yard isn’t overgrown and neither is yours. In fact, if you’re like most Americans, I’d venture to say that it’s more likely undergrown.”

So how did this topic come up right now, and tell us a little more about what you wrote about in brief.

Nancy: Yeah. Well, I’ve been thinking about these kinds of words for a long time. And I think I reached my breaking point with the word overgrown when my sister was going through her HOA case, where they were coming after her for her pollinator garden [above], which she eventually managed to save and help get a state law passed.

Margaret: And so this was her homeowner’s association; other people complained, and this was a case in Maryland that became a test case, a really important case. Yes?

Nancy: Yeah. Yeah. Our state delegates in our county took it on, and drafted some legislation to prevent this from happening to other people living in HOAs, and it passed. So yeah, so it was a great way of making lemonade from lemons. But I think during that time, certainly a lot of the citations my sister had been getting called her garden “overgrown.”  And whenever people contact us about citations they get either from their HOA or from weight inspection agencies, that’s typically one of these fighting words, I call them, that are used [laughter].

And so I just started to think about what is an alternative to that, in terms of how we can reframe this discussion, because it’s almost like people use it as a default. And as I noted in my article on my website, when “The New York Times” did their daily email digest that week that they wrote about Janet’s case  about a year ago, the person writing the email described her that she won the fight to keep her overgrown garden or something like that. And he’d never seen it. He’d just probably given the article a cursory read. And it just struck me that it was a way that he had chosen to write his little teaser. And it’s not even the way that the reporter, Cara Buckley, who wrote the article, described her garden. But it’s just so embedded in our minds that a lawn is a “tidy and normal and pretty,” and that anything else is overgrown. So, yeah.

Margaret: Right. So it got me thinking, your post,  both the Instagram and the longer one on the  Humane Gardener website. It got me thinking really of how tricky the subject and the language around gardening has become. And you and I have talked about this offline a little bit, but I want to talk about it out loud a little bit, too. Especially in the last decade.

I’ve been gardening for probably 40ish years or something, and I’ve been writing about it for 30-something of those years, I guess. And the tension between our one-time image of a “garden”—which used to be taken or derived from the English pretty picture books. It was a place where control was a virtue, and it was all about a pretty picture-perfect place or scene that was created.

And then now fast-forward, we’ve learned so much more about the ecosystems and about creating habitat and the other things that we can do as gardeners besides make pretty pictures [laughter]. And not to say that we shouldn’t make pretty pictures. I am not saying it should be either/or. And that’s the thing.

And so now as you and I have talked about, if I write a story about something native in “The New York Times” garden column, or even on the blog, some of the people get mad because they want to know… They think it looks—the word they usually use is “messy” [laughter] and they don’t want something messy. And then if I write about non-native things that are what we used to call ornamental, then everybody gets mad who says, “But that’s not native. Why are you writing about it?” [Laughter.]

Nancy: Right, right.

Margaret: Sorry, that was long-winded. But you know what I mean, it’s this tension. And you’re right, the language, there’s a lot of triggering—to use a contemporary word—triggering language, too. [Below, a path in Nancy’s garden.]

Nancy: Yeah. Yeah. And when I posted that post last week on Facebook, there was a lot of response from people who were excited about maybe having a new way to talk about things with that word “undergrown.” One of the negative comments that I got was from a guy who was really upset that I didn’t provide substitute words.

And the whole point is that we don’t have to see everything always… We don’t have to label everything. We don’t have to see everything always in such black and white terms. And so for me, a substitute term is missing that whole point. It got me thinking about the fact that there are a lot of renaming campaigns now, like with renaming the Audubon Society, and renaming bird names.

Margaret: Yes, yes.

Nancy: And those, you do need a substitute. You do need another word for if you’re going to change the name of a bird who’s named after somebody from the 18th century, and you want to make it a more human-friendly and bird-friendly species name now.

But these other words, a lot of them that I was talking about in that post, are conceptual words. So you don’t need a substitute for an opossum, you don’t need to call that… If you’re calling that opossum a pest, well, he already has a name. He’s an opossum [laughter]. If you’re calling a violet a weed, well, the violet already has a name. The violet is a violet. And so it’s more about looking at how we categorically lump things together as either good or bad, and just trying to see if people can take a step back from that.

Margaret: Right. As I said, one of the other words that I’m often assaulted with is that looks “messy.” And I was thinking about, well, what do they mean messy? Do they mean kid of wildish or do they mean loose? Do they mean looser than formal? Do they mean naturalistic? Do they mean full,  bountiful? Do you know what I mean? Could we free-associate a little bit [laughter], stop just slandering one another and yelling at each other?

Nancy: Yeah, exactly.

Margaret: That’s all. And I agree with you that we shouldn’t necessarily have to, because a violet is a violet, and opossum is an opossum. But the overall scene, as opposed to holding onto a picture that only one picture—a formal, rigid, well-mown and manicured to the Nth degree picture—is the only picture that’s O.K. Could we instead think about words like looser and naturalistic and full and bountiful? Could we think about those words as opposed to overgrown, messy [laughter]?

Nancy: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, people who are using the word messy, they don’t even have the naturalistic vocabulary in their head though, do they?

Margaret: No, no, you’re right.

Nancy: They’re thinking straight lines, flat mode. So yeah, it’s like there’s the absence of it, and then there’s the abundant presence of it. And when people are thinking in those two extremes, those are the words they fall back on.

Margaret: Yeah. In your blog post, you made an interesting point, which is that you say, “If you have a turfgrass lawn on most of your property, your yard isn’t in fact, pristine. It’s undergrown.” And then you say, “If you or your lawn service company apply herbicides, insecticides, synthetic fertilizers, your yard is not immaculate. It’s contaminated.”

Nancy: Yeah.

Margaret: Right? Either set of language, we can look at in a different way, and it’s not immaculate. There’s another story behind it, which is that we’ve killed off a lot of the life to make it behave that way. Yeah. We’ve subdued it. We’ve subdued thing…into submission, I mean. By that I mean into submission.

Nancy: Right. And it partly has to do with some of these things that if we’re only looking at what’s right in front of us and not considering the more hidden effects, then what people do see is something appealing, although I don’t know why that’s appealing to them, just a big expansive green grass [laughter], but it’s just what people are used to, I think. So there’s the sight problem, where they’re not thinking about things that could be out of their view, the consequences, but then there’s also thinking from the perspective of the other organisms, the other living beings who have to share that land and how they might see it or sense it in different ways.

Margaret: Which is so much what your second book, “Wildscape” is about, is listening and smelling and touching and tasting and so forth in behalf of all the creatures, really letting our doors of perceptions open up in their behalf.

So you say something else interesting in this blog post, which is that, over the years as you’ve explored these false dichotomies that have been set up language-wise, and you’ve asked scientists even, “Why do we say this? Why do we say that?” And one was “pest” versus “beneficial insect.” Tell us about that one. How did we end up doing that, setting them up as if there’s two sets of insects?

Nancy: Yeah. I was struck by that when I did my first Master Gardner training in 2005, and I had already been working at the Humane Society for a few years and was very aware of the damage that the words “pest” and “nuisance” can cause in relation to mammals in terms of people’s perceptions of them. And then I took this class and there’s whole sections of the manual on pest insects and beneficial insects, and the first question is, well, beneficial to whom, and pests to whom? Because there were a lot of insects in there that we know are actually beneficial to birds and other animals that were being labeled as pests.

And so I asked a couple of different entomologists when I did my first book, where that came from, and they were just like, “Well, it’s basically a marketing term, and it’s to try to get people to like some insects, but at least like some insects, and leave them alone.”

So there was a positive intent behind trying to come up with that word, beneficial. But I think it often makes people say, anytime they meet a new insect in their garden, “Oh my gosh, is this good or bad?” And it sets up that binary thinking right away [laughter]. And if they go look online, they might learn that it’s bad when it’s really not.

Margaret: Right. Well, where’s the line of… Yeah, where’s the line of demarcation, so to speak, if you have a black to white, a negative to positive, a continuum, where do you put the… Where’s the spot where you go over the edge?

With the “beneficial,” I get why they say it was a marketing thing, and it’s worked in the sense that otherwise, all the images I have of people are like that scene in the “Annie Hall” movie or whatever, where there’s a spider in the bathroom and she sends Woody Allen in to get it or whatever. But everyone is terrified of arthropods, insects and other arthropods… Well of most animals, frankly.

And so I guess I’m glad that they put a spin on some of them, but it has maybe backfired by this point,  yes, yes, as well.

Nancy: And as we’re talking about it, I hadn’t really thought about this in this way before, but, so take it, for example, a caterpillar. There’s Golden… What are they called? Golden Guides that were printed?

Margaret: Yes. Sure, sure. Yes.

Nancy: Yeah. So when I was little, I would buy them at the grocery store [laughter]. I still have one called pests, and it has caterpillars in it, like butterfly caterpillars, and they’re in the pest book. And it’s not that people call them now beneficial either, but they don’t call them pests anymore because they know that they feed birds and they’ve-

Margaret: Yes, just because they bite holes in some of your plants doesn’t mean that they’re pests. The ones that destroy an entire native species of trees, for example, I think those deserve to remain in the pest category. Do you know what I mean? I think the hemlock woolly adelgid is a pest insect; it’s a little bit different kind of animal, but yeah.

Nancy: Yeah. Although the used to the word, though, I know what you’re saying, but I just think about the fact that, O.K., so where that animal is from, they’re not probably a pest [laughter].

Margaret: No, absolutely not. And that’s why I think when we speak about invasive or alien or whatever you want to call it, imported, however we want to speak about it, it’s important to understand that when it’s not in its natural habitat, it gets out of control. It’s not that it’s innately out of control, it’s that humans have transported into a place where it’s… Speaking of that pecking order that we’ve started about the birds [laughter], the order is not here, and they’re strangers in a strange land, and it’s gone to hell.

So you also talk about another really loaded and confusing word, which is “weed,” which is, yeah. I have clearweed and jewelweed, which clearweed, Pilea and jewelweed an Impatiens species, plants that I love, and lots of creatures here do, insects as well as in the case of the jewelweed, the hummingbirds. But their names, their common names have “weed” in them.

Nancy: And I can’t remember if we talked about this before, but when I first started gardening here, I ripped out jewelweed and pokeweed because of their names, and because I would see them listed as weeds, and I didn’t know any better. So it’s definitely harmful for sure to have them in their common names. And then over the years, it’s made me… I try not to use that word. I try to avoid it no matter what, because I think it’s so confusing to people. And so if I’m talking about something like a ground ivy or creeping Charlie, I’ll say a non-native that can push out natives and take over wildlife habitat. Now that’s a long thing to say, but at least it’s more precise.

Margaret: Yeah. I’m still back on the “non-native thug.” [Laughter.] My short version is “non-native thug” for some of those groundcovers that erroneously, we introduced. Again, a lot of them were introduced either accidentally or because we thought they were going to be good garden plants, and they’ve gotten out of control. So I think of them as non-native thugs. But same intention to what you said.

Nancy: Right. Right.

Margaret: So I assume that the reason that you wrote about it is that you want to talk about this out loud, right? This is an important conversation for us all to have rather than just condemn “overgrown yards” and think that’s going to get us anywhere. Yeah?

Nancy: Yeah. And I started doing talks on this vocabulary framework around 2013 or so, and before I wrote my first book, and then I used that framing as some of what I wrote about in there. But I realized I had never really put it all in one place. And so it’s been bothering me that I don’t have it written down like that somewhere. And also since then, I’ve added more words to my pet-peeve words [laughter]

And yeah, I do think we spent a lot of time in my sister’s HOA case dismantling some of those words, both at the hearings and in the newsletters to the community and stuff.

And I do think that when people start to think about it, some people get upset, but I didn’t hear from as many of those this time as I have on some of the other things I’ve posted. For the most part, even people who have a lot of lawn are saying, “Yeah, you really made me think about this,” or, “I’ve been wondering how to frame this.” So, I would like to be able to just see these words loosen up a little, if not totally go away, because that’s probably not realistic. Just at least try to have people talking in a more expansive way about the plants and animals around them.

Margaret: Yeah. So I feel like, again, I want to go outside—when the snow and ice melt [laughter]—and I want to free-associate about what I’m seeing. I want to think of the new… the different adjectives?

Nancy: Yeah. Yeah.

Margaret: Yeah. I feel like this is an exercise we could all do. With the giveaway for your book, what we’ll do is that the question that people have to answer in the comments to enter to win will be to free-associate about one of these words with us. So I’ll think about that, but-

Nancy: That’s a great idea.

Margaret: Yeah. So let’s get some help with this. Right? [Laughter.]

Nancy: Yeah.

Margaret: So in the last minute or two, so what else is on your mind right now? It’s this, you wanted to get this down, and what else is top of mind right now?

Nancy: Yeah. Well, I have something in the works on color, and how our culture is so geared toward the neutrals [laughter], and the historical reasons for that. Because I’ve been reading some things about that, and I just think it’s really interesting how it might apply to our conventional landscape choices.

Margaret: Oh, not a subject I know anything about. Interesting. I have a lot of screaming gold stuff, so I’m maybe in the other end of the-

Nancy: [Laughter.] Yeah, I think you are.

Margaret: My house is dark green with reddish-orange trim, so I might be on the other end of the crazy…[laughter].

Nancy: Yeah, I love it.

Margaret: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’m always glad to speak to you, and like I said, I was really glad to read this just because things have changed and sometimes, I’m not sure if I have my footing. I see the comments, like the ones you get sometimes, too, that you were speaking about. And I don’t know, am I missing something? And I want to open up and think more widely, and do a little of this free-associating and so it was provocative to me what you wrote, and I thank you for it.

Nancy: Thank you. Thank you so much for your interest. I love talking with you, Margaret.

(All photos from Nancy Lawson at The Humane Gardener.)

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MY WEEKLY public-radio show, rated a “top-5 garden podcast” by “The Guardian” newspaper in the UK, began its 14th year in March 2023. It’s produced at Robin Hood Radio, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen locally in the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) Mondays at 8:30 AM Eastern, rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. Or play the Jan. 29, 2023 show using the player near the top of this transcript. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes/Apple Podcasts or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here).