The MagiK Garden
@themagikgarden.com
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Backyard native plant nursery based out of Blue Bell, PA
https://themagikgarden.com
pinned post!
I will be setting up at several markets in September. If you prefer to buy plants in person instead of online, I'll be bringing a selection of my plants (each market will have some different plants) to these three markets in southern Montgomery County, PA. I can also ship most states east of Rockies
about 1 month ago
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More photos from my September sun/part-sun garden
3 days ago
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End-of-September bloom report (sunny garden part 1 - will post more tomorrow)
#NativePlants
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4 days ago
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This is the mother tree that gave me a lovely harvest of nuts this year. I gave a 5 gallon bucket full to The Naked Oak Tree Farm to grow in his air-pruning beds. I'm still finding nuts, so those I'm bringing to my booth at the festival.
add a skeleton here at some point
5 days ago
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I've decided I'll bring some shagbark hickories from a gorgeous specimen on my property to my booth at the Whitpain Community Festival. I will not likely have them sitting out. Introduce yourself and let me know if you'd like to sow them. They're near impossible to grow/find in the nursery trade.
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Resiliency in the Managed Landscape: The Case for Hickories - Arnold Arboretum
What does “resiliency” really mean in the context of managed trees in the landscape? For horticulturists like me, situated in the Upper Midwest, you might think our priorities focus on […]
https://arboretum.harvard.edu/arnoldia-stories/resiliency-in-the-managed-landscape-the-case-for-hickories/
5 days ago
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I was getting TONS of planting done yesterday where I'm in the process of restoring a vernal pool. 1.5ft down (deepest part of pool) is where I hit arkose. The 2nd photo shows freshly dug soil is moist despite it being dry and no cover. In the comments I'll list off plants. Geology app is Rockd.
6 days ago
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I do not compete with other native plant nurseries. A rising tide lifts all boats. When I noticed one of the hobby nurseries eyeing my plants yesterday, at the end of the sale, I offered to take these Dixies he hoped to sell in exchange for mine (he really wanted NJ teas). Today I planted them out.
8 days ago
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If you thought I'd brought everything to yesterday's HPS market, nope! I have over 100 species listed online, and only a tiny fraction I could fit in my car. I'm bringing even more plants, many of which are in bloom or just getting started, to today's Falling In Love With Natives tour.
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Falling in Love with Natives, Garden Tour
Falling in Love with Natives, Garden Tour on September 21, 2025 from Noon to 4 PM (Eastern Time).
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/falling-in-love-with-natives-garden-tour-tickets-1376880589909
8 days ago
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If you're in search for native local ecotype trees near Philly, southern NJ and Delaware, check out Naked Oak Tree Farm, who will be growing out the shagbark hickories from my woods. They are another backyard nursery, but they specialize in native trees. Butternut conservation is their #1 goal.
add a skeleton here at some point
9 days ago
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It was a great, busy market and lots of people went home today with new native plants! I am selling at the WNF&GA garden tour tomorrow, but I needed a breather. Kicking off (early) Jenkins Arboretum planting week w/ 2 pure American butternuts gifted from Naked Oak Tree Farm for wild shagbark nuts
9 days ago
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I love biocontrol for invasive species. There is finally one that can hopefully knock back and keep Japanese knotweed in check.
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Unravelling Maryland’s Knotweed Problem, One Psyllid at a Time - Maryland Invasive Species Council
This spring, the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has begun to raise the knotweed psyllid, Aphalara itadori, for eventual release on knotweed (Fallopia spp) plants in Maryland. The first 500 p...
https://mdinvasives.org/iotm/unravelling-marylands-knotweed-problem-one-psyllid-at-a-time/
11 days ago
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I was busy trying to get some marketing materials put together that people can take with them even if they don't need any plants (preferably only if they have a genuine interest, and sharing with others - let's not kill trees only to toss it in the recycling bin).
#NativePlants
#BackyardNursery
12 days ago
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Sundays are for yardwork and planting, even though I should be preparing for next weekend. I do need to remember to focus on my own gardening as well. I've been adding Anemone virginiana and Fragaria virginiana to the woods, tidied up paths and ripped out some invasives. I'm beat.
15 days ago
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Desperate times call for creative measures. I will be selling at my first market in a week, and I do not have a color printer, plus my funds are limited. Doodling these plants takes me less time than to create a digital card to order prints. I think it works better for my branding, too.
16 days ago
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These are Hydrangea quercifolia seedlings. The dropped oak leaf took it to the punny level.
17 days ago
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In case you didn't know, the Virginia jumpseed often sold as a native cultivar isn't native. Persicaria filiformis was once mistaken to be a variety of Persicaria virginiana (var filiformis), and many places sold this as native. I've never seen it, but people have asked me if I carry it. I do not.
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Don’t Jump to Conclusions about Asian Jumpseed - Maryland Invasive Species Council
Asian jumpseed – Persicaria filiformis | May 14, 2022 | Maryland Invasive Species Council Contacts: Judy Fulton, EcoPlant Consulting,
[email protected]
| Sara Tangren, National Capital PRISM...
https://mdinvasives.org/iotm/may-2022/
18 days ago
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The bumbles are going wild over Hylotelephium telephioides. Yes, this one is a
#NativePlant
This was formerly Sedum before getting its own genus.
18 days ago
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I was asked how to keep Japanese honeysuckle from coming back after pulling. You need to get these nodules at the base. Pulling just detaches the stem. If you leave these, they regrow. Usually giving it a purple nurple as you pull gets it out, but a soil knife works too.
#invasivespecies
19 days ago
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Did some of the plant people hop onto bsky then vacate? Seems quieter than usual on here...
20 days ago
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There are two ways to obtain purple lobelia. 1 - plant Lobelia puberula (in the photo). Not as showy as cardinal or great blue, but much easier to establish in the garden. PA is at northernmost range, so warming temps won't kill it. 2 - a hybrid of cardinal and blue is possible but forced (cont'd)
21 days ago
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Update on the dodder ID - followed the dichotomous key to the best of my ability, and I believe this is Cuscuta compacta, a
#NativePlant
that is parasitic on many different species. On my property, that's primarily clearweed (Pilea pumila), another native plant.
23 days ago
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Meet Philadelphus. He's an old eastern box turtle that has lived on my property for many years. I was so worried I'd lost all my boxies when I kept finding carapaces in the woods. Today, while dragging branches to my dead hedge, there he was, surrounded by hickory nuts!
23 days ago
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Persicaria virginiana is such an underppreciated and underutilized
#NativePlant
in the garden. Equally happy in sun or shade, providing there is enough moisture, the flowers followed by seeds provide extended visual interest through summer into fall. I have these available in plugs, wild PA ecotype.
23 days ago
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#FungiFriday
I noticed what looks to be some type of Ganoderma growing on a stump in the vernal wetland
24 days ago
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reposted by
The MagiK Garden
Layla ᎴᎳ
24 days ago
Cherokees used to have at least 50 different descriptive names for various oak trees, for example. I think we are now down to about 10 or so of these names remaining; the rest are lost to colonization. “What happens to a species that loses touch with its habitat?”
grist.org/language/nat...
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The words we use to talk about nature are disappearing. Here’s why that matters.
We’ll need to do more than ‘touch grass’ to revive them.
https://grist.org/language/nature-word-language-disappear-culture/
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reposted by
The MagiK Garden
TheSnarkyFarmer
26 days ago
#TheOutpost
🌱🌿🌳
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reposted by
The MagiK Garden
TheSnarkyFarmer
26 days ago
Host plant list
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reposted by
The MagiK Garden
iNaturalist
25 days ago
Here, have some birds perched on appropriate/delightful signage. You're welcome. 🧵 ⤵️ 1. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) by tysmith on iNaturalist
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I actually got a video of one of the caterpillars eating! I think these sleep during the day and eat at night (or mine do)? Looks like the way I eat Ruffles (one ridge at a time). Also, omg its little leg 😂😭
#blackswallowtail
#nativeplants
#caterpillar
#nativeplants
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25 days ago
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PSA: Japanese stiltgrass is flowering and will set seed soon, so NOW IS THE TIME TO MOW OR PULL. I have already spent countless hours pulling (they're in the bags, I'll explain in a comment) but I don't have time to pull everything else before they set seed, so I had to go cut them down.
27 days ago
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Recently listed in the shop: Lythrum alatum, also known as the winged loosestrife. This species has a very long bloom time, nearly 2 months (mine just finished I think), and very reliable in the garden provided you plant it in a moist location (mulch is usually sufficient).
#NativePlants
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Winged Loosestrife - The MagiK Garden
Winged loosestrife, while closely related to the invasive purple loosestrife, looks nothing like its cousin. In fact, I’m not sure why anyone would think the two could ever be confused. That being sai...
https://themagikgarden.com/store/winged-loosestrife/
27 days ago
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I am not sorry that I keep spamming you with caterpillar photos. The first one has reached the ultimate stripy phase!
28 days ago
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Finally listed in the shop (as well as a few other things had product updates) the variegated golden zizia. If you've been holding out for this one, they're ready.
themagikgarden.com/store/varieg...
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Variegated Golden Zizia - The MagiK Garden
This is a species that goes by many names, most commonly golden alexanders. However, there are other similar looking species (including one that is invasive) that share this common name. Golden zizia ...
https://themagikgarden.com/store/variegated-zizia-aurea/
29 days ago
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Spent the whole morning cleaning up a lot of stiltgrass in the vernal marsh area and was so excited to meet a new native plant residing on my property, miraculously hiding under the stiltgrass. Meet Lycopus virginicus, sweet bugleweed. Lived here 13 years and I STILL find new plants on the property.
30 days ago
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In case you were curious what skunk cabbage seed pods look like, they are these equally alien looking stinky black grenades which once open, release giant round brown seeds that look like deer scat. Deer do eat their own scat, so likely method of seed dispersal.
#themoreyouknow
#nativeplants
30 days ago
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I should be working on my plants, but is life even worth living if you can't find time for a professional caterpillar photoshoot? Especially if it helps to endorse the variegated plants you're about to list as available for sale?
#NativePlants
#ProfessionalCaterpillarPhotographer
about 1 month ago
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Marsh fleabane, Pluchea odorata var succulenta, is an annual which is finally starting to show off its pretty pink flowers. Could be a bit later than usual since I took too long to figure out where I'd plop in the seedlings. Also goes by the name sweetscent. Local (NJ) ecotype.
#NativePlants
about 1 month ago
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Did you know that studying Violets is incredibly complicated and contentious work? Also, now I need to hunt around for Cubelium concolor, which should be around here somewhere.
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A taxonomic treatment of the violets (Violaceae) of the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada 1
A taxonomic treatment is presented for the violets (Violaceae) confirmed in the range described in the second edition of Gleason and Cronquist's Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States...
https://bioone.org/journals/the-journal-of-the-torrey-botanical-society/volume-150/issue-1/TORREY-D-22-00029.1/A-taxonomic-treatment-of-the-violets-Violaceae-of-the-northeastern/10.3159/TORREY-D-22-00029.1.full
about 1 month ago
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I will be setting up at several markets in September. If you prefer to buy plants in person instead of online, I'll be bringing a selection of my plants (each market will have some different plants) to these three markets in southern Montgomery County, PA. I can also ship most states east of Rockies
about 1 month ago
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I'm still getting over this respiratory illness, but finally getting some work done today. Final bumping up, inventory check, etc. Deciding what I'm holding over for 2026, and what I wont sell going forward. Viola palmata is staying. I just love these lobed leaves.
#nativeplants
about 1 month ago
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Black swallowtail cat is getting bigger
about 1 month ago
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Since I'm fighting a cold I'm working on double checking inventory and making notes of what needs updating (and actually updating/listing some things). Nabalus albus is one I added recently, which is an edible (lettuce tribe) monocarpic with really showy flowers for the
#NativePlant
food forest.
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White Rattlesnake Root - The MagiK Garden
Not to be confused with white snakeroot which is another species entirely (Ageratina altissima). May also be called white lettuce. Native in southeastern PA. Other common names include white lettuce o...
https://themagikgarden.com/store/white-rattlesnake-root/
about 1 month ago
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Lespedeza virginica that I totally forgot I'd grown from seed and planted last year. She's cute.
about 1 month ago
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Black swallowtail caterpillars enjoying my variegated Zizia aurea. I ended up planting these in the ground so they wouldn't get bumped around and fertilizer sprayed on them. In any case, here's proof that they do actually eat Zizia, even if they seem to prefer dill and celery.
#NativePlants
about 1 month ago
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One thing that amazed me at Ricketts Glen was how there were Trilliums growing everywhere. Between campsites, around the campgrounds, even in the most unusual places, like these boulders. Nobody seemed to notice. How many
#NativePlants
have I missed that should have amazed me in my younger years?
about 1 month ago
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A photo you took that brings you inner peace. (most recently - view of the lake from our campsite)
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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It's spaces like this that made me fall in love with native plants, and why curated exotic gardens bore me. You know a place is magical when you hear children exploring them like they've been transported to another world. This is the feeling I'm aiming for when designing my gardens.
#NativePlants
about 1 month ago
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#FungiFriday
red waxcap spotted growing in moss at the water's edge at the Ricketts Glen campground
about 1 month ago
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I'm back a day early from my unplugged family excursion, so if you're in need of plants, I'm back to work. Here's a purple Lysimachia borealis among ones still green along the Falls Trail for your viewing pleasure. I don't have any for sale (yet, working on a population to propagate).
#NativePlants
about 1 month ago
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I will be unplugged and offline August 16-21. That means any orders placed during this time will not be filled until I'm back. Here's some beautiful Oenothera gaura for attention.
about 2 months ago
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I will be offering this highly underrated and largely unknown G3 globally vulnerable, S2 imperiled Pennsylvania endemic in future years. It's not hard to grow. It's just one that's fallen through the cracks of habitat loss. Mallow family, it likes moist soils and full to part sun (part is easier).
about 2 months ago
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