When the world feels like it is spinning out of control, we can start from within our own spaces to cultivate change, lead with compassion, and create the kind of world we want to see—one action, and one act of kindness at a time. Here are some “action” ideas for 2025: Plant native plants Did you guess that would be the first tip?! Ok you know by now we aren't JUST trying to sell plants, native plants are sustainable and support our wildlife. It's one of the best environmenta

Let’s be honest—when most people think about horticulture, they picture lush gardens, sustainable farming, or maybe a few well-placed houseplants. But how often do we think about the Black pioneers and trailblazers who’ve shaped this field? That’s why celebrating Black History Month  in horticulture is so important. Black people have been cultivating the land, preserving agricultural traditions, and innovating in ways that impact how we grow food and care for our environment

Here’s the scene: You got really excited this spring and found us, and bought a bunch of lovely native plants for your garden that you aren’t completely sure what to do with them. You put in them the ground and now the summer is beating them up a bit. You don’t want to lose any precious plants, but it can feel like one thing after another is trying to sabotage your efforts! Here are a few simple tips to help get your garden through the heat of the summer and safe from hungry

Monarch butterflies have officially returned to New England from their incredible journey from Mexico. We had a confirmed sighting at Blue Stem Natives yesterday! Luckily we have common milkweed ( Asclepias syriaca ) growing all around the back of the greenhouse and the Monarch butterfly laid egg after egg on these plants. Monarch butterflies know to lay their eggs on milkweeds* as it's the only genus of plant that their caterpillars can eat. See the egg if you zoom in on th

I spent my afternoon sexing Morella pensylvanica , Northern Bayberry. That sounds cheeky, but it really just means determining which plant is male, and which is female. In sciencey terms, this is called dioecious , where a species’ flowers are either  male or female. Sometimes on plants this is fairly easy to determine, but for certain species, the flowers are very inconspicuous, or they don’t look much like flowers at all! Willows come to mind, as do Bayberry.  As for what t

When we think about planting for pollinators, we rarely consider anything outside of pollen and nectar. These two components are super important, of course, but there is a huge piece of the puzzle that is often missing from ornamental “butterfly gardens.”   If you want the butterflies, and bees, and songbirds, you need to be ready to support the larval stage, namely, caterpillars ! Lots of pollinators can and will visit just about any flower containing pollen and/or nectar, b