I have a massive announcement and update to make! On Tuesday morning, I took two exams, core plus category, to become a commercial pesticide applicator. I finally got the results today, and I've passed! That means I can now register The MagiK Garden a pesticide application business.

The Garden Journal post for Week 28 (last week) is up! Features what's in bloom this week as well as a how-to guide on restoring woodland soil. Restoring soil is priority to restoring habitat, and the approach depends on site conditions. themagikgarden.com/garden-journ...

Sida hermaphrodita is a highly underrated species that is both beautiful in the garden and extremely utilitarian. For some reason it's endangered in the US, but you can use it like hemp. As usual, Europeans seem to appreciate our native plants more than we do, and we need to change that.

Garden Journal Wk 27 (highlights from the previous week) is live, including a more comprehensive list of what's in bloom in my garden in SEPA. All the species I currently have available in the nursery for sale are linked to the nursery, like this Phemeranthus teretifolius! Check link in bio!

Is your garden a bit of a dud right about now? Are you looking for inspiration? Have you been following my new Garden Journal blog posts I started 2 weeks ago? Every Monday morning, I publish a post detailing the previous week's events, including what's blooming in the garden.

Philly lily - which is commonly known as prairie lily but since it's Lilium philadelphicum, I like Philly lily more - is one I've attempted to sow and grow a few times now. Well, the third time's the charm!

So many big wins from last month, it's hard to pick just one! • Thanks to a massive windfall from the closure of Russell Gardens, I was finally able to tidy up and organize my nursery. • Many new species listed on the site! • New-to-me male box turtle spotted moving in!

My pocket pollinator paradise is looking absolutely lush, possibly my most favorite spot in the garden at the moment. Nobody would know this is right next to the road. This fits on a very small footprint. The outside of the design just gives you a hint, you need to peek in to see all of it.

There, I fixed it. This is marketing a plant that is clearly not native to place based on the instructions to overwinter indoors. When will we start holding companies accountable for greenwashing? Pot came from my mom's used pots stash. I didn't buy this. Mexican heather isnt native there.

A contender for the award for the best common name may be this species: Carex hirsutella. It's commonly referred to as the fuzzy wuzzy sedge. Easy to id, too. Havent met another fuzzy wuzzy sedge yet.

So one thing I don't get is how a post highlighting sedges ends up being my best post yet on Facebook, yet I can't seem to sell a single one at the farmer's market. Granted, I don't have this one (yet), but I have others. Still waiting for sedges to become the next collector's plant.

TIL: The plant that showed up on my property formerly known simply as Arisaema triphyllum could either still be Arisaema triphyllum or another closely-related species. I had no idea they'd split this taxon up, but not shocked. From what I can tell in the photo, the spadix does look clavate.

Another big happy moment yesterday: I found four new-to-my-awareness sedges on my property. Two of them popped up where I eradicated a lesser celandine patch. Others were present, but I kept forgetting to check when they had seed. Here's Carex gracilima in the skunk cabbage patch

Omg!!! I saved my black highbush blueberry! There were two problems. A holly had grown tall enough to shade it out entirely, and the deer kept decimating any new growth. So I cut down the holly early spring, and placed the branches around the base.

Polygonatum biflorum in my woods is so tiny and skinny, you wouldn't even recognize it as the same species. I have lots of them, but they look nothing like the cultivated varieties.

I got my free trees from the township today! This was the line an hour before pick-up time. It extends all the way back by the time it starts. You have to show up early if you want the best selection of everything. I got Tilia americana, Carpinus caroliniana, and Magnolia virginiana 'Moonglow'

Blue-eyed Marys are such a cool native winter-annual. I was really hoping to offer these this year, but only four of mine germinated, so I'll need to wait to collect seed from the ones that grew and try again next year. The trick is to get them going. Once established, they should happily re-seed.

Come see me tomorrow at the Earth Day Celebration at Skippack Village! I'll be selling all sorts of awesome native plants next to the Earthware Sustainable Goods store (10am-5pm), like this native large-flowered chickweed (Cerastium strictum) which makes a lovely groundcover!

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Mustaaaaaaaaaaard

I am definitely bringing these along this weekend to the Earth Day Celebration at Skippack Village! Stop by my booth if you're in the area!

Trillium cuneatum, aka little sweet betsy

Neglected toebeans. Antennaria neglecta. I'm changing the common names of all Antennaria henceforth.

Reminder that I'll be at the Abington Garden Festival tomorrow 1-3pm to kick off spring (event includes a free seed exchange, raffles, crafts, goats and wild animals)! Come on by with your family, and bring home some native plants to add to your garden (like the Little Lanterns in the photo)!

This is the largest bird's nest fungus I've seen yet. Usually the ones I find are a bit smaller, maybe half that size. I still enjoy finding them. They'd probably make a good dollhouse bowl or something that goes in a diorama of sorts.

I'm starting to experiment a bit with gibberelic acid. Ibought some a year ago but was afraid to use it until now. I know the dangers of overdoing it. That being said, Deno was a huge fan of them, so I wanted to give it a go and see what happens. Enemion biternatum responds well to the treatment.

Alnus incana subspecies rugosa in bloom

More cotyledons! Similar to Apios americana, it would appear Phaseolus polystachios is also a hypogeal germinator, meaning the cotyledons remain below-ground. Instead, here we see true leaves. Desmodium glabellum has interesting kidney-shaped cotyledons. Strophostyles helvola is really neat.

nevermind, back to ragebait He doesn't even notice he doesn't get many likes/views on these compared to his more thoughtfully-written helpful posts. Otherwise he just sounds like he's virtue-signaling for asspats.

Host plants for humans are starting to germinate! So far, a few of the home-grown asparagus and several cucumber varieties take the lead. Last year's brush with food insecurity plus my own past early struggles with growing veg made me decide to start adding heirloom starts to my nursery. 1/2