Bayscape Blog 12/29/10
New Year’s Resolutions for the Gardener
By Judy DeFiglio

Since my garden lays buried under a couple feet of snow it’s a little hard to think about spring planting. Even those blazing hot days we had this summer are just a fading memory. But as 2010 comes to a rapid end, we need to make some gardening resolutions for 2011. Here are some of mine.

1) I will plan my garden. I won’t buy a plant until I know where it will go.

Make those plans now. Don’t put it off. You know that when the weather breaks we all rush outside trying to escape our “cabin fever” from the long cold winter. We start to rake, dig and plant with a furious abandon. The rush is on and there is no time to plan, the garden is calling you. Do it now. Grab a mug of herbal tea (to remind you of that great herb garden you want to start), gather pen and paper or open your computer for those who prefer the hi-tech approach, and start your list.

2) I will incorporate more native plants in my garden.

Native plants are a winning addition to every landscape: gorgeous for the garden, good for the gardener because they are less work and great for the environment because they reduce the use of harmful chemicals. If you are starting a new plot, natives are the sensible way to go. They are low maintenance and require no fertilizer, and little to no additional watering. Even if you have an established garden you can find a native to include that will coordinate with your existing landscape. For ideas and information be sure to check the previous blogs.


3) I will only add plants to my garden that have several seasons of interest

A plant has to earn a spot in my garden. It must be more than just a pretty flower. Interesting leaf shape or color, berries, unusual seed pods, long blooming or reblooming flowers are some of the things to consider. Lots of natives have many of these attributes. Echinacea is a good example with pretty, long blooming flowers that can take the heat and drought as well as, interesting seed cones that attract birds to your garden.

4) I will do my best to pull weeds early and not use harmful chemicals to eradicate them.

Weeds can be a big problem in any landscape but powerful weedkillers can be an even bigger problem to the environment. Knowledge is the key. Learn to identify weeds and take care of them when they are young when they can simply be pulled to remove them. Weeding is good exercise and a really wonderful stress reducer.

5) I will mulch my garden beds

Mulch will reduce weeds, conserve water and give your landscape a finished look. It free at many County and Municipal Recycling Centers.

6) I will have a compost pile

Composting is the #1 best thing you can do to improve your garden. It is simple and easy. It does not smell. It’s another win/win situation. Fantastic for your garden and another great thing for the environment since you recycle lots of organic material that would be going to the landfill.

7) I will reduce my lawn size.

Everyone loves a nice, green lawn but it comes at a high cost. It is labor intensive and is causing problems for our environment. Barnegat Bay is suffering because so many homeowners over-fertilize their lawns and it runs off into the bay. Lawns also require a large amount of water to look good. Reducing lawn size can really make a difference. Try planting native grasses and groundcovers to replace some of your lawn. They are drought tolerant and also act as a filter to catch run off.

8) I will be a good Shore Steward

Find out more. www.littoralsociety.org

Happy New Year and Happy Gardening

Bayscape Blog 12/14/2010
Give Everyone a Priceless Gift this Year
By Judy DeFiglio

How’s that Christmas shopping going? Tired of fighting the mobs at the mall? Tired of having to wrap all the presents you bought and probably spent too much for? (Not to mention, the cost wrapping paper and the environmental impact of all that wrapping paper headed to the landfills on the day after Christmas.) Money is tight this year for many. The world has sustained many environmental nightmares recently. Maybe it’s time to rethink Christmas giving. Wait. Don’t call me Scrooge just yet. I’m all about giving at the holidays. Matter of fact, I think with a little planning, we can give a priceless gift to everyone .

The Priceless Gift List and Environmentally Friendly Tips:

· Give the gift of a beautiful garden. Take divisions, cutting or collect seeds to give to gardeners on your list. If you’ve already put your garden to bed, wrap up a picture of the plant with a promise to give it to them in the spring. It’s free but shows you care.

· Introduce your family and friends to the native plants. Purchase a native plant or gift certificate from a mail order nursery. They will ship plants at the appropriate time. Give a book on native plants.

· Plant a tree in the gift recipient’s name, or donate to an environmental organization in their name.

· Join the Littoral Society. Share this blog. Sign a shore stewards pledge and promise to garden responsibly and protect our waterways.


· If you feel it’s not a present unless it’s wrapped, get creative. Do a nature theme. Reuse your brown shopping bags to wrap gifts. Gather berries, pinecones, and sprigs of greens to decorate the boxes. Use biodegradable twine instead of ribbon. Or make it a family project, using food color, stamp designs on the brown paper. Your gifts will look beautiful and unique.

· Promise to be a more responsible gardener next year, increasing the number of native plants in your landscape and decreasing the use of fertilizers and pesticides.


· Start a compost pile.

· If the mall is still your thing, plan your shopping in advance. Make fewer trips and group your errands to save fuel and reduce emissions.

The whole world will thank you for this priceless gift of saving our environment.

Bayscape Blog 11/07/10
“Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly”
By Judy DeFiglio

The holiday season is upon us, and as I start to decorate my home I am reminded of yet another reason to “go native”. Native plants don’t only add beauty to your garden but can also be used to beautify your interior as well. Start singing “Deck the Halls” and head outside.
First stop, the American holly (ilex opaca) with stiff branches of dark green holly leaves and bright red berries. Nothing is more festive. Snip some holly to bring inside, but handle with care, the leaves are very sharp. I recommend placing the holly in a vase with water, if not it dries out quickly. Another native holly, inkberry holly (ilex glabra) has small, smooth, green leaves similar to boxwood and black berries that will add to your holiday décor.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without some evergreen boughs. Pines, spruce and even Easter red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) with its blue fruit, can be used to decorate, and your house will smell great too. Again, use care because the needles can be sharp. Also be careful with the placement of these branches since they may ooze sap which could damage surfaces.

My favorite native to use for winter decorating is the red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea). It’s not the flower display that’s the star of this dogwood, it’s the stems. They turn a spectacular red in winter. They look great against the snow and add color to the winter garden, but they also make an interesting, colorful accent inside. This dogwood likes to be pruned so feel free to cut as many branches as you want. The new growth is the reddest. An added bonus, several of my branches have rooted in the vase and I planted them back in the garden in spring. Virginia sweet spire (Itea virginica) also has reddish stems that can make a nice addition to a holiday arrangement.
The large flower heads of the oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) can be dried and added to wreaths and decorations. You can also snip the seed heads of our native grasses to bring indoors. Try Northern Sea Oats (chasmanthium latifolium)or switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) for a unique look.

This holiday season let’s celebrate the beauty of nature. Let your native plants do double duty and deck your halls with boughs of real holly instead of plastic imitations. Mother Earth is giving you a beautiful gift. Enjoy.

Bayscape Blog 11/30/10
Divide & Conquer
By Judy DeFiglio

I have been sharing with you all the great things about growing native plants, and while they are easy to care for and less work than other exotic ornamental, even natives need some occasional maintenance when grown in a garden setting. Especially if your garden is small, you may want to take steps to keep your plants from growing to large or spreading too much.

The easiest way to control any plant in your garden is do your homework before you start. Do a little research on the plants you think you want in your landscape and be sure you choose the right plant for the right space. That’s more then half the battle. Sun, shade, water, soil type all play a major role in determining how big your plant will grow. A little time spent on planning will save you lots of time digging and moving unhappy plants.

Even with the best research and design you may still find you’ve made a mistake or years have passed and the conditions have changed. Your garden spot used to be shady but the tree came down in last year’s storm or the neighbor’s new sprinkler is now drowning your drought tolerant natives. Don’t worry. Most natives can be moved with little problem. The exception is those plants like butterfly weed (Asclepias turberosa) that have a tap root. Here’s how: First, decide where you want to move the plant. Second, dig the new hole. Next, dig around the plant and gently lift it trying to keep the root ball intact. Finally, place it in the new hole at the same depth it was growing, fill in with soil and water well.

If you are happy with the placement of a plant but it has overgrown its space you can dig and divide the plant, replant one section in the same place, then plant the rest of the divisions in a new location or pass them along to friends. Most perennials can be divided spring or fall but a good rule of thumb is if it blooms in the spring divide in fall and if it blooms in the fall divide in spring. This way you will be sure not to interrupt the bloom cycle.

Another way to control your natives is to deadhead them before they go to seed. Simply snip off the spent flower so no new plants will grow. Personally, I usually leave a few flower heads go to seed because I enjoy a few surprises and few free plants.

If your garden has gotten out of control, divide, conquer and share the extras.

Bayscape Blog 11/23/10
Why Native?

By Judy DeFiglio
Living at the Jersey shore is a dream come true, but, if you are a gardener, it can be a challenge. The sandy soil and intense sun can stress for even the hardiest plants, not to mention the gardener. A good solution is to choose native plants. Natives have adapted to these harsh conditions so they are easy to grow and easy to care for.

Most natives don’t need supplemental water once established. Not only does that make less work for you, but it also makes it easier on your pocket The cost of irrigation can be expensive. Most importantly, this helps to conserve this valuable resource. Running a hose for just one hour uses 375 gallons of water.

Another plus, natives don’t need fertilizer, again, saving both time and money. Matter of fact, if you fertilize natives, the plants will get floppy, weedy and produce fewer flowers. Environmentally, using less fertilizer is essential as we try to prevent the destruction of the Barnegat Bay. Run off from the over use of fertilizer is a major problem for our waterways.

Native plants attract beneficial insects to your garden. These beneficials will take care of the harmful insects on your plants, allowing you to garden without the use of toxic pesticides, another benefit to the environment. Flowering natives also attract butterflies to your garden and provide food for the larvae stage.

Many natives have beautiful fruits, berries and seed heads. These provide food for birds and other wildlife as well as adding interest to your landscape.

Beautiful, low maintenance, economical, and good for the environment, this is a combination that is hard to resist. For list of native plants visit the Littoral Society website at http://www.littoralsociety.org/. Sign up to become a Shore Steward. For more information and ideas on native plants check out the other articles on this blog site. The cold days of winter are coming. While we wait for spring, why not sit back and plan your new garden full of native plants.

Bayscape Blog 11/15/10
Oh Deer! Deer Resistant Plants
By Judy DeFiglio

It seems no matter what garden topic I am giving a lecture on, one of the first questions I am asked is, “what can I plant that the deer won’t eat?” Unfortunately, my response is always, “If the deer are hungry enough, they will eat anything.” That being said, there are a number of plants that the deer are less likely to eat. Not surprising, many of the deer resistant plants are natives.
Love‘em or hate’em, deer can cause big problems in your garden. Even the most enthusiastic nature lover can get frustrated when all their hard work gets eaten in a single evening by a herd of hungry deer. While fencing is a sure way to protect your plants, it needs to be eight feet tall, or otherwise the deer can jump over it. This is a problem for many gardeners because most communities’ zoning laws prohibit fences over six feet, not to mention the aesthetics and expense of such a large structure.
Deer repellants, homemade or commercially available, can be effective but are often smelly and labor intensive since they need to be reapplied after every rain. A better solution is stop growing the plants that deer love. If deer are a problem in your garden you might want to try a few of the native perennials described below. They are all wonderful plants that are not only deer resistant but have lots of other great features to offer.

Amsonia tabernaemontana ( Bluestar) grows three to four foot tall with blue, star shaped flowers that bloom in spring and leaves that turn bright yellow in the fall.

Aquilegia (Columbine) is a spring beauty that has unique red and yellow flowers and interesting fernlike foliage.

Asclepias (Butterfly weed) is a must for anyone who wants to attract butterflies to their landscape. These orange flowers withstand the heat and drought of a Jersey shore summer.

Aster is a fall bloomer that does get up to 6 foot tall, but the pink, lavender, or purple flowers are beautiful and provide nectar for butterflies.

Baptisia australis (false indigo) seen in the above picture, has gorgeous, four foot spires of intense blue, pea-like flowers on blue-green foliage. Black seedpods in autumn add extra interest. This is one of my personal favorites.

Liatris spicata ( gayfeather) has spikes of purple flowers three to four foot tall and is another plant that butterflies love.

Monarda (Bee balm) with its stunning scarlet flowers and fragrant foliage attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to your garden.

Bayscape Blog 11/5/10
Fall for Natives
By Judy DeFiglio
I’ve always wondered why people travel all the way to New England to enjoy the autumn leaves yet overlook the gorgeous possibilities in their own front yard. Fall color is an important component of every garden. Spring and summer flowers are beautiful, the stars of the show, but by this time of year they are faded and gone. You can still have an interesting, colorful garden by including plants that have good fall color.
I make it a firm rule that before I select any plant material for my garden I learn what color the leaves will turn in autumn. Some people do consider this when purchasing trees but this rule goes for trees, shrubs and flowers. There are so many perennials to choose from so why not choose one that gives you an extra season of color.

Not surprising, many of our native plants provide the most dazzling fall color. As you travel the countryside, enjoying the fall foliage, realize how many of those gorgeous trees are provided by nature. Native plants are adapted to the climate and conditions of the area. They are healthier and less stressed then the exotics that need extra water, fertilizers and pesticides to exist here. The more stressed a plant is, the sooner it will lose its leaves, providing less colorful foliage. By careful selection of native plants you can duplicate nature’s array of brilliant color in your own landscape.

Some native plants recommended for great fall color are:
Red Fall Color-
Amelanchier (Serviceberry), Aronia (Chokeberry), Eupatorium (Joe Pye weed), Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf Hydrangea) , Itea virginica (Sweetspire), Rhus copallina (wingedsumac),Vaccinium corymbosum ( Highbush blueberry),
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood)

Yellow Fall Color-
Amsonia tabernaemontana ( bluestar),Cephalanthus occidentalis (buttonbush), Cercis Canadensis (Eastern Redbud), Chionanthus virginicus (Fringetree) , Clethra alnifolia( Summersweet)

Orange Fall Color
Fothergilla (bottlebrush)

Try some of these native plants then sit back and enjoy the fall foliage in your own back yard.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about native plants
Bringing Nature Home—How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants
Date: Sunday, November 21
Time: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Cost: $25
Location: The Frelinghuysen Arboretum
53 E. Hanover Ave.
Morristown, NJ

Dr. Douglas Tallamy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware, where he has authored 69 research articles and taught for 28 years. Dr. Tallamy’s book “Bringing Nature Home” has sparked a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being. Learn about the key role native plants play in the restoration of our denuded landscapes and how we must change our approach to gardening and landscaping if we hope to share the spaces in which we live and work with other living things.

Bayscape Blog 10/25/10
This is for the Birds!
By Judy DeFiglio

There are so many great reasons to grow native plants in your garden and one of the best ones is that many natives have wonderful berries that add interest to your landscape and attracts birds. This is the time of year that many of the plants display their red, blue and orange fruit. Along with the vibrant autumn leaves, they really add gorgeous color throughout the fall.

Welcome birds into your yard. Not only are they fun to watch, they also do a great job of eating unwelcomed insects that could harm your plants. Plant a variety of native trees, shrubs and flowers to provide a food source for the birds as well as place to nest and protection from predators.
The following are some good choices for native trees and shrubs with great fruit displays:
• Serviceberry (Amelanchier) is a tree that has white flowers in early spring and tons of red berries in the fall.
• The chokeberry (Aronia), highlighted in an earlier blog (9/20/10), also has white flowers in spring and long lasting red berries into the winter.
• The American holly (Ilex opaca) is a large evergreen tree with typical holly leaves and clusters of red berries that you can enjoy all winter long.
• One of the natives that is good for a wet site is winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata). It is a deciduous holly that has a brilliant display of large red berries after the leaves drop.
• The arrow wood (Viburnum dentatum) is a large shrub that has clusters of white flowers in late spring and dark blue fruit in autumn.
• For a different color try American beautyberry (Callicarpa Americana). This shrub is aptly named because it has spectacular lavender berries that really add beauty to your landscape.
Bird watching is an interesting hobby that the whole family can enjoy and if you plant natives that berry they will come.

Bayscape blog 10/19/10
Itea a Great Idea
By Judy DeFiglio

Pardon the play on words but Itea virginica (Virginia Sweetspire) really is a great idea for your landscape. This native shrub is a stand out in any garden at any time of the year. Itea is a multi-stemmed plant that has a suckering growth habit. Three to five foot tall and up to six foot wide, with gracefully draping stems, this plant can stand alone or be used in mass plantings. It is an easy plant to grow because it will take sun or shade, and wet or dry.

Tons of fragrant white flowers appear in June on six inch long racemes and persist into July. The dark green leaves turn a brilliant burgundy red in fall. It is a deciduous plant, but the leaves hang on until December. Even then this plant has more to offer as the red stems add to the winter interest of your garden and look great against the snow.

One of my favorites, I have planted this in several locations in my landscape. Each site has different conditions: some irrigated, some not, some shade, some sun, sometimes it’s left to spread freely and sometimes my husband (Edward Scissorhands!) has attacked it with the hedge trimmers. It has thrived in every case. I have never fertilized this plant and have always had lots of flowers. Who could ask for anything more?

Bayscape Blog 10/11/10
Blanketflower Best in Show
By Judy DeFiglio

Do you keep planting annuals each year because you want color all summer long in your garden? Are you afraid that perennials will be too much work? It’s time for you to discover the Blanket Flower (Gaillardia). These colorful native perennials start blooming in late spring and continue re-blooming until hard frost. The daisy-like flowers are red with yellow tips. They add a big boost of color to the spring garden, yet are bold enough to stand up the intense sun of summer without fading. Their color scheme also works well with your fall garden design.

Easy to care for, blanket flowers couldn’t be happier with our shore conditions. They prefer poor soil and require no fertilizer. In fact, fertilizer makes the plant get floppy and produce fewer flowers. They are drought tolerant requiring no additional water once established. Blanket flowers do reseed, giving you additional plants for next year, but they are not invasive. I love to get extra plants for free but if you have a small garden and don’t want more plants just cut the flowers before they go to seed.
As an additional bonus, gaillardias attract butterflies to your garden and the seed heads are a favorite of the goldfinch. Fun to watch and even more color for your garden!
While Gaillardia is available at most garden centers, you can grow your own from seed. Unlike most perennials they flower the first year. If the red and yellow combo does not fit your existing garden colors, you can find blanket flowers in plain yellow, or burgundy. Give the gaillardia a try and you’ll have a garden full of flowers all season long.

Bayscape Blog 10/4/10
Go Green- Go Native
By Judy DeFiglio
It is very popular now to be “Green”. You see this message everywhere you go. I think that gardeners are the original members of the Green Team. They have a special connection to the earth as they plant and nurture their garden each year. They respect Mother Nature and realize that we all need to care for this planet or suffer the consequences.

An easy way for all of us to go green is to include some native plants in our landscape. While we all love a gorgeous garden full of beautiful flowers some of the exotic (non native) ornamentals are causing problems for the environment. Many of them require constant watering, wasting this valuable resource. Some exotics have become invasive, destroying natural habitats. Others need so many chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides to keep them growing that they have become a danger to man, animals, insects and our water supply. There are hundreds of desirable native plants that are quite happy to grow in our local sandy soil without any additional water or fertilizer.

If you are new to the world of native plants you will be surprised at the wide variety of gorgeous flowers, trees and shrubs. If you thought that native plants were all weeds and wildflowers think again. While some natives do work best in a meadow type landscape, there are many that are an asset to your traditional garden bed. If you’ve tried natives and they looked weedy it is probably because you treated them like exotics, fertilizing and overwatering them. They don’t need it and don’t want it. If you are afraid to try natives because you heard they are invasive, a few simple tips will solve that concern. First learn the growth habit of the plant to determine if it will work in your garden space. Cut off the spent flowers before they go to seed. If some plants do reseed just tug them out in the spring when they first emerge.

While it may have been difficult to find native plants at your local retail outlet in the past, their growing popularity (pun intended!) and increasing demand has made the industry take notice. More native plants are becoming available locally. There are many mail order companies that specialize in native plants. Just be sure you are ordering plants native to your region.

For more information and ideas for using native plants check out littoralsociety.org and click on the Shore Stewards and the Maris Stella Native Plant Demonstration Garden.

Bayscape Blog 9/27/10
Invite Butterflies to Your Garden
By Judy DeFiglio

The butterfly is one of the most unique and beautiful creatures on earth. Inviting these fascinating creatures into your garden is easy when you use native plants. To attract adult butterflies you need to grow a variety of nectar plants that bloom throughout the spring, summer and fall so that there is always something for them to feed on. You also need to grow a variety of plants to provide food for the caterpillar or larvae. They require a different food source than the adult and each species of butterfly larvae is very specific in their choice of host plant. Butterflies native to an area prefer native plants to feed on.
Probably the most recognized butterfly native to New Jersey is the Monarch. The larvae feed on a variety of milkweeds and the adults like the nectar of milkweeds and goldenrod. Asclepias turberosa (Butterfly Weed) is an excellent native plant to include in your garden. It will feed both larvae and adult butterfly.
Butterflies need a sunny location to enable them to fly. Luckily, many native plants like asters, goldenrod and Echinacea thrive in hot, dry locations and are the favorite plants of many species of butterfly.
One important thing to remember when gardening for butterflies, do not use pesticides. If insects are a problem in your landscape try some environmentally friendly methods to get rid of pests such as horticultural soaps, beneficial insects, or a simple blast from your garden hose. Also be careful to check that the damage is caused by some harmful insect before treating. The larval stage of the butterfly does eat the leaves of the host plant so learn to tolerate some damage.
Providing habitat for butterflies is becoming critical as more native habitat disappears. Adding the following native plants to your landscape will attract these beautiful, winged creatures to your garden: Asclepias, Aster, Agastache, Coreopsis, Echinacea, Eupatorium, Liatris, Phlox, Monarda, Rudbeckia, and Solidago.

Bayscape Blog 9/21/10
By Judy DeFiglio
Choose a Chokeberry for Great Fall Color

The Aronia arbutifolia (Red Chokeberry) is a great native shrub to use to create many seasons of interest in your landscape. Dark green, glossy leaves turn a brilliant red in the fall. Clusters of tiny white flowers appear in mid-spring and are followed by bright red fruit in late summer. The plentiful berries last long into the winter. They are very sour tasting which is why the common name is chokeberry. While the fruit may taste too astringent for humans to enjoy, the berries do provide food for birds throughout the winter.
Aronia can grow in full sun to part shade and grows up to eight feet tall. It is a multi-stemmed shrub that spreads four to six feet wide and looks great in mass plantings or as a single focal point in your garden. This shrub can take a dry or wet site or anything in between. Chokeberries enjoy our acid soil and don’t need fertilizer, a real plus for the environment.
Aonia is one of my favorite native plants. I don’t know why this beautiful, easy care shrub is so underutilized by Jersey gardeners. I usually include one in every landscape I design. Give one a try in your garden and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Bayscape Blog 9/15/10
There’s Gold in your Garden- Goldenrods
Goldenrods (Solidago) are at their best in the fall garden. The large spires of deep yellow flowers, extends the summer garden and attracts butterflies to your yard. There are many varieties of this perennial native plant and all of them are easy to grow, sun loving, and drought tolerant. No fertilizer needed and that’s good for our environment. The height of the plant can be two to five feet tall depending on the variety, so there is a goldenrod to fit every garden. Particularly helpful in our seashore region is seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens) which has a compact growth habit and can tolerate salt spray.
Unfortunately, goldenrod has often been labeled a weed and mistakenly thought to be responsible for hay fever. Actually, the ragweed plant is the real culprit and it blooms at the same time as goldenrod. While goldenrod does readily self-sow and can spread throughout your garden, unwanted ones are easy to remove. If you cut the flower head off before it goes to seed it will not be a problem. To keep your plant more compact, pinch it back in June when it starts to grow.
As gardeners become more interested in using native plant, growers are making more varieties available and lots of new goldenrods have started to appear at nurseries. Check them out and be sure to get some gold in your garden this fall.

Bayscape Blog 9/6/10
By Judy DeFiglio
Ornamental Grasses
September is here. Most residents of the Jersey Shore think this is the best month of all. Bright sunny days and crisp, cool evenings make it perfect weather to be outdoors. Gardeners love September too. It is a great time to enjoy the late summer garden and anticipate the fall splendor heading our way.
If you made the right choice and planted some native ornamental grasses this year, sit back and enjoy. These wonderful, drought- tolerant, heat loving grasses thrived all through the raging heat of summer and now are putting on quite a show with their colorful, interesting seed heads. No fertilizing is required which is good for your pocketbook and extra good for our waterways, suffering from nitrogen overload. The only maintenance needed is to cut them back in late winter. What could be easier?
Schizachyrium scoparium (Little Bluestem) is one of the shorter native grasses, growing two to three feet tall, with great fall color. A good choice for a larger space is one of the Panicums (Switchgrass). Panicum virgatum grows three to five feet tall with blue-green foliage that turns yellow or burgundy in the fall depending on the variety. ‘Heavy Metal’ flowers have a pinkish hue while ‘Shenandoah’ flowers are burgundy-red.
Seed heads last all winter long, providing winter interest when most other plants are gone. In case we have another winter like last year, these grasses look great poking through the snow.

Bayscape Blog
Native Plant of the Month for August
By Judy DeFiglio 8/29/10

August can be a difficult time of transition in your garden. Many of the colorful flowers blooming in June and July have withered, especially this year with the extreme heat, and the glorious colors of autumn have yet to arrive. A great choice to fill this gap and add a spark to your landscape is Clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepperbush), our Native Plant of the Month for August.
Clethra is an easy care shrub that just about anyone can grow no matter where they garden. It grows 4 to 8 feet tall and can take either sun or shade and wet or dry conditions. Clethra has attractive dark green, quilted leaves that turn golden yellow in fall and numerous spikes of fragrant, white flowers that bloom in July and August and last four to six weeks. The flowers are followed by interesting gray seed capsules that remain on the plant into the winter. These pods are the reason that Clethra got its common name, Sweet Pepperbush.
If all this wasn’t enough to get you hooked, the flowers of the Clethra attract butterflies, so this shrub is a good alternative for the overplanted Buddleia (butterfly bush) that is becoming invasive in our area.

We are halfway through August and that means summer will soon be coming to a close, but there is still plenty to see in the garden. While many plants are suffering due to the continuing intense heat and drought conditions, the native plants in my garden are thriving. The blooms of the Echinacea (coneflower) and Rudbeckia (Black-eyed-Susans) have been going strong for over a month now and look very colorful next to the brown of my burnt up lawn. Many natives like asters, and goldenrod are getting ready to put on their spectacular fall show. The native grasses, still green without any irrigation, are developing their seed heads that will add interest to my landscape all winter long. More color is added to the late summer garden as many of the native shrubs like Aronia (chokeberry) begin their berry display. If you and your garden have suffered from the heat this summer maybe it’s time to incorporate some natives into your landscape

Bayscape Blog

Bayscape Blog
By Judy DeFiglio
Plant of the Month for July
As a garden designer, the hardest question to answer is “what’s your favorite plant?” There are so many to choose from and each one has something to love. So when I was asked to write this blog, I thought it would be hard to choose the first featured plant. Once I took a stroll through my garden, I realized the choice was easy. Black-eyed Susan or Rudbeckia, that golden yellow workhorse of the garden, is the real stand out this year. With this extreme heat and drought, many of my plants are having a tough time, their flowers withering in the hot sun, but not my rudbeckia. It just keeps putting on a show.
Rudbeckia fulgida is an easy care perennial, native to New Jersey. It can take full sun to part shade and average garden soil. This golden yellow flowers with a dark brown center grows 20 to 30 inches tall and bloom from mid- summer until frost. Once established it can handle drought and heat. If that isn’t enough it also attracts butterflies to your garden. The most popular choice is ‘Goldsturm’

Welcome to Native Shore

Welcome to Native Shore, a blog from the American Littoral Society about it's Shore Steward program. In the Shore Steward program it is our mission to restore native plants to coastal New Jersey using partnerships with private and public organizations and individual citizens.

Why are we doing this? Is there a benefit? We're doing it because 150 years of coastal sprawl has left New Jersey's natural habitats almost non-existent and many of the plants the evolved here to live and flourish in the natural climate and conditions of coastal New Jersey have all but disappeared. They remain only in a few remnant natural areas and gardens of a few home owners who remember them from their youth. And yet there are great benefits to restoring native plants, not the least of which is the return to a vibrant and rugged natural beauty.

Along the way here we will seek to educate about the benefits and beauty of native plants. We will demonstrate how native plants can be incorporated into home gardens, public parks, municipal buffer zones, and corporate and business properties and lawns. We will demonstrate how schools and civic groups can participate. We will talk about how teachers can show students and citizens can show their neighbors the benefit of a healthier watershed that derives from the addition of more native plants.

Most of all we hope to engage you in this process. we look forward to your learning about your experience with New Jersey's native plants, your advice on how to care for them and where to plant them. We seek also your help in establishing partnerships that will help us put shovel to soil and plants in the ground. Do you belong to a garden club? Do work in a company that has a flat, over fertilized lawn? Do your belong to a civic organization in your local community? Are you on an environmental commission? Do you belong to a Rotary Club? Do you work for the Department of Public Works in your town?

Do you have ideas on how we can reach out and further this process? Reach out to us, we want to hear from you.