Antiquity in our Midst
Plant blindness is a term J. H. Wandersee and E. E. Schussler coined in 1999, defining how people do not recognize the importance of plants due to their lack of mobility and motion. I suspect this issue would be even more problematic if the plant did not offer attractive and colorful flowers to beckon pollinators. This is an underlying problem with the appreciation of ferns. They provide wonderful textures and design solutions for the garden and certainly offer a sense of permanence. For ferns, permanence is not measured in mere years or decades of living in a garden, but an incomprehensible 300 million years as some genera of ferns are among the most ancient plants on earth. Interestingly, one of the oldest fern families contains a NJ native many people have yet to ‘recognize’ – Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, commonly known as Cinnamon Fern.

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Bruce Crawford

Subtle Bells Peal the Beauty of Spring
Without a doubt, there is no shortage of color throughout April and May. From the heights of flowering trees to the creeping lows of groundcovers, color abounds. This also implies that for a spring bloomer to be garden worthy, it must have abundant blossoms or colorful foliage. At least, that was my viewpoint when I first began to garden. As time passed, I began to better appreciate the small nuances that make for a great garden plant without the need for abundant flowers or brazen foliage.

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Bruce Crawford

By Any Name, Ipheion Brings Spring Color
Every year gardeners search for new plants with early spring color that have somehow evaded the vigilant eyes of their gardening friends. Truth be told, gardeners love a touch of friendly competition! Ideally, these new finds should provide more than just floral interest; they should be easily grown, long lived and – dare I say it – deer resistant! Truly a plant that would make a gardener green with envy. Oddly, one of my long-time spring favorites remains unknown by far too many and it is both easily purchased and inexpensive. The plant is Spring Starflower or Ipheion uniflorum, a bulb whose botanical identity has long perplexed botanists.

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Bruce Crawford

The Tree of Life for the Winter Garden!
Evergreens are a group of plants that naturally garner a gardener’s attention during these bleak days of winter. The green foliage provides those much-needed signs of life that are often missing throughout this season. There are many types of evergreens from which to choose, including those with painfully sharp needles to those with more user-friendly scale-like and soft foliage. Of course, the emphasis may not be totally on foliage, since some evergreens offer wonderful bark or perhaps an invigorating fragrance from the foliage. There are a number of evergreens that meet these criteria, but one genus that readily comes to mind is Thuja, commonly called Arborvitae!

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Bruce Crawford

An Evergreen for Winter Structure and Beauty
Everyone views evergreen plants from different perspectives. Some prefer their garden to consist of mostly unusual and colorful evergreen shrubs, providing a more consistent appearance throughout the year. Others prefer evergreens to serve as the slender backbone of a garden, providing winter structure through foliage and form while allowing other plants to take center stage throughout the remainder of the year. I must admit, I am a member of the latter design philosophy and the palette of evergreen plants for providing this winter backbone is substantial. However, with its glossy deep green foliage, Plum Yew or Cephalotaxus as it is known botanically has rapidly become one of my favorite evergreens for the winter garden.

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Bruce Crawford