The Philadelphia Flower (PFS) Show will host “Habitat: Nature’s Masterpiece” this summer in a historic park in downtown Philadelphia. The celebration will examine nature through nature’s kaleidoscopic lens.

The 192-year-old Show will be held from June 5 to 13, 2021. It will cover 15 of the 348-acre Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park (FDR Park) in South Philadelphia, near the Sports Complex. The site will provide space for new features as well traditional favorites. It will be the scene of outstanding gardening and floral attractions.

Continue reading The Philadelphia Flower Show Reimagined →

Cardinals adorn a snow-covered shrub with a white-throated sparrow and blue jay tucked in the background. Photo by David P. O’Callaghan

Birds depend on native shrubs and trees for their survival. They offer birds food, cover from the weather, a place to hide from predators, and a spot to build nests and raise their young.

Shrubs and trees provide birds with the essential elements of home.

Continue reading A Bunch of Birds in a Bush →

and How to Help Them

Trees have gotten the short end of the stick ever since Europeans landed in America.

Forests across the country were razed for hundreds of years as Americans moved from coast to coast. Fortunately, the trend began to change in the 1940s when people been replanting forests due to changes in habits and attitudes.

But trees are not out of the woods yet. Since the arrival of Columbus, trade between the continents steadily increased. That trade brought foreign insects, diseases, and plants in addition to people.

Native insects and diseases may harm indigenous plants, but they do not decimate them. Over thousands of years, plants have developed defenses against native insects and diseases to ensure their survival. Native insects and diseases have learned to co-habite with native plants.

Continue reading Trials and Tribulations of Trees →