Planting a paperbark maple is one thing you must do to be considered a Serious Gardener. (The other two are gardening after dark by the light of your car headlights, and asking for manure for your birthday.) But novice gardeners can get in on the fun, too, because the choice paperbark maple (Acer griseum) is surprisingly easy to grow. It… Read more →
Nobody who’s smelled ginkgo fruits for the first time has ever said, “Yeah, I think I’m gonna have to eat some of that.” If you haven’t experienced them first hand, well, they have the aroma of something that maybe was once food but has since passed through one or two digestive organs before finding its way to the nostrils. Dog vomit, in… Read more →
Wait! Before you rake those leaves up, let me get some pictures! Have you ever taken the time to truly appreciate the beauty of fallen leaves? I took a walk today looking down instead of up, and this is what I saw: Red maple (Acer rubrum) leaves strewn across the sidewalk. Not always red, their autumn leaves can also be orange… Read more →
I have the greatest job, though some days I only make $5 an hour. I have the pleasure of writing about trees for an online tree retailer in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states. I write about the stories behind the trees—where they came from, how they were used in their native lands, who “discovered” them for the West. I often… Read more →
I’m back! I decided to retire What Blooms When, retool, rebrand, and relaunch. Still writing about gardens, gardening, new plants, old plants, phenology, photography. A friend told me the new blog title would “indicate [my] incredible humility to [my] billions of readers.” I was thrilled that www.amycampion.com was still available. You wouldn’t think Amy Campion would be an unusual name,… Read more →
Yesterday I had the great fortune to visit J. Frank Schmidt & Son Nursery on a personal tour led by none other than the fabulous Nancy Buley, Communications Director at JFS. If you’re not familiar with J. Frank Schmidt, umm, it’s one of the largest and most respected wholesale nurseries in the country. They sell bareroot, B&B, and potted trees to garden… Read more →
Magnolia lovers are the kind of people whose glasses are always half full. Even though frost may turn the pink and white blossoms to brown mush every few years, people that love magnolias continue to plant them and adore them. Their displays are so over-the-top that it is easy to forget about the dud years. Here–in order of bloom–are eight of… Read more →
Spring may begin in March, around the time the daffodils bloom in the Lower Midwest, but that doesn’t mean the color calendar isn’t already underway before then. Did you know that even before the daffodils bloom, quite a few plants have already stepped into the spotlight? Here are ten of them: 1. More often than not, Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) opens its… Read more →
Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia spp.) sells by virtue of its frilly summer blooms alone, and where it’s hardy enough to grow sizable trunks, the exfoliating bark is a bonus, but how little ink is devoted to praising its fall color! Some plants take on deep purpley tones that redden over time. Many selections, like ‘Hopi’ and ‘Catawba,’ are set ablaze with an… Read more →
Is there anything more satisfying than golden ginkgo leaves backed by blue autumn skies? Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) delivers taxi-cab-yellow foliage to the Lower Midwest from the week of October 11 until mid-November, with most trees reaching peak color during the latter half of that period. The margins of the fan-shaped leaves turn first, so that early in the show the green leaves are… Read more →
