Good Gracious Gardens

05/13/2026

🌿 JOIN THE MOVEMENT: LESS LAWN, MORE LIFE! 🌿

Exciting news! We're partnering with Less Lawn More Life, iNaturalist.org and other leading organizations on the nationwide Less Lawn, More Life 12-Week Challenge - a FREE program to help transform America's yards into thriving ecosystems!

What you'll get:
✅ Weekly micro-challenges designed by ecological experts
✅ Great content from leaders in the rewilding movement
✅ Connection with neighbors and community members
✅ Your own Wildr Score - a free ecological assessment of your land
✅ Simple steps to create beautiful, low-maintenance habitat

This isn't just about gardening – it's about building a movement across America to bring nature back to our neighborhoods, one yard at a time.

Sign up here: https://www.lesslawnmorelife.com/
Tag a friend who would love this challenge!

04/29/2026

I love a bad pun, especially when plants are involved 😁

Why don’t plants ever feel lonely? 🌱
Because they have buds! 🤣

04/12/2026

Howdy friends! Good Gracious Gardens is still in limbo, temporarily ensconced in a rented space in beautiful Staunton, Virginia. Lest you think it's completely kaput . . . Here are some pics of my scaled-down winter-sown native perennials and early spring seedlings!

01/29/2026

Hooray, Doug Tallamy (and others) on 1A -- a program about the importance of restoring native habitat!

Over the past 50 years, the planet has seen a 73 percent decline in wildlife population.

10/25/2025

Hi friends!

I haven't made any posts in quite a while, since I've been busy packing and moving! I have relocated from Maryland to Virginia, and with the move, Good Gracious Gardens has been on hiatus.

My online store is closed for now. I'm not sure what form Good Gracious Gardens will take in the future, and whether or not I'll continue to sell plants. But I do hope to share photos and native plant information from time to time.

I want to thank all of my friends and customers in the Boonsboro, Maryland area who have supported and inspired me over the years. Your enthusiasm for buying local, growing food and planting natives -- and the extra efforts you made to report back to me on how well your plants were doing! -- kept me going and growing! And a shout out to all of the fine folks involved with the Boonsboro Farmers Market! What a great experience it was to be part of that community!

And now, a few photos I didn't get around to sharing in the late summer and early fall, featuring my grand and glorious Ironweed plant and its many insect visitors! My poor photos don't even show the multitude of tiny bees and flies that covered the flowers.

A study from the Mt Cuba Center (https://mtcubacenter.org/trials/vernonia/) calls ironweeds (Veronia spp) "hubs of ecological activity" which "can boost the garden’s capacity to provide pollen and nectar to late season pollinators, to host caterpillars and other insects, and to feed winter birds with their seeds." They are also deer-resistant! And, there's a cute little pollinator, the denticulate longhorn bee (Melissodes denticulatus), which is a specialist on ironweeds, meaning it relies completely on pollen from ironweed species for food!

08/19/2025

Wow, these doctors make it very clear that pesticides and pollutants cause Parkinson's. I have no doubt that the diseases of our modern age (cancer, Alzheimer's, etc) have arisen from the development of pesticides after WWII and the explosion of plastics (and other petroleum products) in our world.

The good news is, we can reverse the trend! Just say NO to pesticides and petroleum-based chemicals, on your lawns and gardens, in your food, in your body care products . . . Go organic, and buy organic!!

Nearly 90,000 people are diagnosed with the condition in the U.S. each year.

08/11/2025

The hummingbirds don't mind if the cardinal flowers are planted in the ground or still in their pots -- they visit every flower! And the plants themselves seem just as happy to bloom in pots as in the ground. (Thanks to Dave Hadley for the video.) You might not be thinking about planting anything during this August hot, dry spell . . . But fall, and hopefully some rain, is just around the corner . . .

Stonecrop is nothing like cardinal flower -- the hummingbirds probably don't even notice it. But it's a good native plant for harsh, dry conditions -- a succulent ground cover (or cascading edge plant for window boxes or large pots) that needs little water and will grow in rock (hence the name)!

Both are available in my online store, https://good-gracious-gardens.square.site, along with common and swamp milkweed, black-eyed Susan, and more!

(A few photos are in the comments, since Facebook won't let me add photos with the video . . . ??!!)

06/20/2025

Oh, I almost forgot . . . It's time for my annual SUMMER SOLSTICE SALE!!

All remaining annuals are approximately 50% off! And this year, for a limited time (probably about a week), all perennial herbs and native plants are 25%-35% off! Check out my online store, https://good-gracious-gardens.square.site/ for available plants and prices. Order online, or feel free to message me if you'd prefer to pay another way.

Delivery available to the Boonsboro Farmers Market on Tuesday, Myersville Farmers' Market on Saturday, Terressentials on Monday, Wednesday or Thursday . . . or, we can make other arrangements as needed.

These are happy, healthy plants at great prices! Remember what makes Good Gracious Gardens seedlings special -- they are:
-- started from non-GMO seed (organic when available) or cuttings from my own garden; all of the native plants are started from locally-collected seeds!
-- grown in locally-made soil approved for organic production;
-- potted in re-used plastic containers or compostable cups (I will never buy plastic pots!)

Happy Summer, friends!

06/17/2025

The common milkweed is starting to bloom! The fragrance is heavenly, and the flowers will soon be covered with bees and butterflies. A monarch butterfly -- the first I've seen this year! -- floated around the gardens last Tuesday, and I watched her lay eggs not only on my mature milkweed plants, but on my largest potted seedling! She looked like an old lady -- faded and a bit tattered (see photo). I'm glad my garden will be a safe and nourishing place for her progeny to grow up.

I've got a handful of common milkweed seedlings for sale, and even more swamp milkweed plants (a monarch favorite, in my experience -- and less exuberant in spreading than common, for a more tidy garden!). Also, perennial natives to provide nectar for those hungry butterflies once they emerge (as well as the bees and hummingbirds) -- including white heath aster, cardinal flower (see last week's post), and black-eyed Susans.

I've also added a few more tomato varieties to my online store inventory -- it's not too late to plant!

Check out my online store, https://good-gracious-gardens.square.site/ I can deliver orders to the Boonsboro Farmers Market this Tuesday, or we can arrange another pickup day/location.

06/08/2025

Have you added cardinal flower to your garden yet?

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is a perennial that's native to the Chesapeake Bay watershed (including Maryland), usually found in marshes and moist woodland areas, near streams and ponds. It can grow 4-5 feet tall, producing a flower spike of brilliant red blooms which progress up the stem from late summer through mid-fall. (The common name refers to the red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals!)

Cardinal flower is one of my favorite natives, because it's a hummingbird magnet! It also attracts butterflies and other pollinators. It does require moist soil, which is a problem where I live . . . But it's been growing happily right under the downspout off my front porch for years now! I just make sure to give it some water (usually when I'm refreshing my cats' water bowl) during weeks with no rain. You could also plant it in a large pot – but be really careful to not let the soil dry out.

Not to brag, but I seem to be very good at starting cardinal flower from seed. The seeds are tiny, so I always sprinkle too many in my seed flats. Then, it seems they ALL germinate, and then . . . Bottom line, I have A LOT of cardinal flower seedlings! They were started last year, so they’re now big and beautiful -- some are at least 10" tall with thick stems! If you plant them now, it’s likely you’ll get blooms this year!

You can order seedlings through my online store, https://good-gracious-gardens.square.site/ or send me a message. I'd be happy to deliver to the Boonsboro Farmers Market this Tuesday, or we can make other delivery/pickup arrangements.

Also available for purchase: milkweeds, black-eyed Susans, stonecrop and white asters, along with a few annual vegetable and perennial herb seedlings.