Penn State Master Gardeners of Bucks County

10/01/2026

Extra time on your hands now that your garden is slowing down? Here’s a terrific webinar with year-round tips for keeping your garden growing. 👍

Keep your garden inspiration growing even after summer ends.

Join the Master Gardeners of Butler County for the annual Endless Summer: Fall Garden Seminar, a morning of expert-led learning for gardeners of all experience levels.

This event is hybrid, so join us online or in-person.

Featuring Laura Deeter and Laura Witmer, the seminar will explore:
— Practical strategies for perennial maintenance
— Creative ideas for designing and enhancing your landscape
— Ways to incorporate water features for beauty, function, and ecological value

Come learn, get inspired, and discover new ideas for creating a beautiful, thriving garden throughout the seasons: https://ow.ly/6VU850ZR3Tj

Penn State Master Gardeners of Butler County

09/29/2026

Save Money AND Save the Planet 🌱

Fall is here, which means homeowners and landscape crews all over America will be removing leaves from once-pristine lawns. What used to be neighbors bonding in the quaint task of raking has now become the loud and dust-spewing task of corralling leaves with one’s gas-powered leaf blower, or worse yet, the loudest two hours of your weekend as a lawn crew descends nearby with multiple leaf blowers.

In 2025 more than 72% of U.S. homeowners with lawns or gardens relied on leaf blowers to tidy their properties. More than 1.2 million landscape workers used them on a daily basis, resulting in over 15 million hours of annual operation time.

THE PROBLEM

❌ Gas-powered equipment like leaf blowers, string trimmers, chain saws, and mowers are powered by 2- and 4-stroke engines that are not regulated the same way automobiles are, yet produce 20 to 300 times the emissions.

❌ Use of a commercial leaf blower for just one hour can produce the same amount of smog-forming pollution as driving a new passenger car 1100 miles,

❌ As reported in the EPA’s 2020 National Emissions Inventory, PA was consistently among the top ten states for emissions of cancer-causing chemicals, greenhouse gases, ozone-forming chemicals, and particulates from lawn and garden equipment.

❌ Bucks County ranked consistently in the top 100 counties in the U.S. for the same pollutants.

GO ELECTRIC

With comparable performance reviews and long-term savings by going electric, battery-powered leaf blowers are better for your health, the environment and ultimately, for your wallet.

What can you do?
1. Convert to battery-powered lawn equipment.
2. Ask your municipality to convert to battery-powered lawn equipment.
3. Ask your municipality to restrict the use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment in your town.
4. Connect with your local Environmental Advisory Council, who may already be addressing this issue.

PLUS: Consider leaving the leaves for wildlife and garden bed insulation.

✍️: Sarah Baik, Ph.D., Penn State Master Gardener, Bucks County

09/28/2026

NEED A PICK-ME-UP after a few days of rain?

🌼🌼🌼

You don’t need to look far to catch miles of smiles with black-eyed susans having their moment.

Rudbeckia spp. are known for their late season, long-lasting blossoms. But did you also know they’re a native pollinator powerhouse? And that their seed heads can keep the birds well-fed long into winter?

Catch the captions below the following pics for ideas on some eye-popping color combos with these perennial fall flower favorites.

What’s brightening up your garden?

📸: Donna Lipton, Penn State Master Gardener, Bucks County

09/27/2026

🌿 THE WEEKLY GARDEN REPORT — SEPTEMBER 25 🌿

Before you head out into this weekend’s rain ☔ take a look at the trees around you.

🍂 WHILE STILL GREEN, WHY DO SOME TREES TURN RED—AND OTHERS YELLOW?

Some leaves will be bright red. Others glowing yellow & orange, or simply going brown.

Why don’t all trees put on the same fall show?

Here’s what the numbers say:

🌱 Growing Degree Days (GDD): 3,505
🌡️ 5-day avg soil temp: 63°F — 4° below LY
⏰ 24-hr avg soil temp: 59°F — 6° below LY

🌾 THE GARDEN IS SLOWING DOWN

Cooler weather brought soil temperatures down this week. We’re now about 4° below our 5- & 10-year averages—which may be good news for anyone reseeding a lawn after our recent (& ongoing) rain. 💦

GDD accumulation has slowed, too. We’re just 7 GDD above our 15-year average, but still 120 GDD above our 30-year average.

At our current pace, we may accumulate only about 150 more GDD this year.

🍁 WHY ALL THE DIFFERENT COLORS?

During the growing season, chlorophyll gives leaves their green color & masks other pigments.

As autumn approaches, shorter days & changing temperatures signal trees to slow chlorophyll production. Existing chlorophyll breaks down & the green gradually disappears.

That’s when the other pigments get their moment in the spotlight.

💛 CAROTENOIDS produce yellow & orange colors. They’re present all season but hidden by chlorophyll.

❤️ ANTHOCYANINS create many brilliant red & purple hues. Unlike carotenoids, they can be produced during autumn, with sugars, light & temps influencing development.

🟤 TANNINS contribute to the browns often seen in oak leaves.

So when you see a brilliant red maple next to a golden birch, it’s more than a pretty display.

You’re seeing chemistry, weather, tree species—and the changing season—all at work. 🍁

And this weekend, rain & wind may give those changing leaves a little help on their journey to the ground. 🍂🌧️

👇 What fall color are you seeing first in your yard or neighborhood? Tell us below!

📸 Discover more in the comments and photo captions.

✍️ Jim Walter, PhD, Penn State Master Gardener & Master Watershed Steward, Bucks County

09/24/2026

Swallowtail surprise!

Many gardens in Bucks County are aflutter with butterflies and caterpillars much of the summer season, but some of us are still encountering new ones.

As one of our Master Gardeners in Doylestown explains:

“It’s been a delightful surprise to see these caterpillars appear so late in the season. I had almost given up hope of their arrival. Every year I grow way more parsley than I need and plant it out in my flower beds to give them plenty to eat. This year there are so many caterpillars — and more coming every day — that I decided to share the bounty with a new friend.”

That new friend is a fellow Master Gardener, who quickly grabbed a box to es**rt a dozen Black Swallowtail adoptees to her Buckingham home. Fearing her fading fennel wouldn’t sustain them, she added half a dozen new parsley plants to her flower pots to accommodate them. 🦋

The good news is that the caterpillars that survive will spend the winter in their chrysalis form before emerging in the spring.

✍️& 📸: Susan Supernavage & Elisa Rapaport, PhD, Penn State Master Gardeners, Bucks County

09/24/2026

It’s not just a catch phrase. When you “leave the leaves” you help keep the natural ecosystem healthy by (1) supporting beneficial insects, (2) insulating tender plant roots, and (3) returning nutrients to the soil.

Plus, (4) nature takes care of the cleanup for you!

Wins all around 😉

🍁🍃🍂🪾🍂🍃🍁

There’s no need to rake up all the leaves in your yard! 🍂

Leaving leaves on the ground supports local wildlife and helps enrich your yard and garden.

Check out some more fall yard conservation tips ⤵

09/23/2026

HUGE CONGRATS
to our Sensory Garden team for earning the 2026 statewide 2nd place David Gibby Award for Demonstration Gardens. Even more impressive, this was their initial project—designing, building, and maintaining our Sensory Garden—while training to become Master Gardeners!

The David Gibby Search for Excellence (SFE) Awards recognize outstanding volunteer work throughout Pennsylvania, showcasing the efforts and talents of Master Gardeners. Often providing economic, environmental, educational, and health impacts, these innovative model projects can influence the development of Master Gardener-led programs throughout the Commonwealth.

Our Sensory Garden team in Bucks County:

- Karen Brooks - Horticulture team co-lead
- Elaine Thibodeau - Horticulture team co-lead
- Ken Speers - Construction & Planning team lead
- Mahria Morris - Art, Signage, Communication team lead
- Sila Dey
- Irina Grinberg
- Joshua Hoelper
- Matthew Hoelper
- Lauren Kleiner
- Nicole Siler Pastman
- Barbara Rentschler
- Anjali Savkur
- Jami Smith
- Cathleen Zanghi
- Ruth Zeiner
- Christiane Schmidt - Mentor
- Cindy Starbuck - Mentor

Dr. David Gibby and Bill Scheer launched the Master Gardener program in 1972 as the volunteer branch of their Washington state extension office, with these goals:
• RECRUIT community members already interested in gardening
• PROVIDE them with science-based horticultural training
• EMPOWER gardening educators within their own communities.

Look no further than our own Bucks County for evidence that the creativity, companionship, and community-based service that’s emerged could not have been more impactful. Demonstration gardens serve as living classrooms, demonstrating how native and pollinator-friendly plants can be both ecologically beneficial and sensorily appealing. Plant selections attract butterflies, birds, and beneficial insects amidst a rich, multi-sensory experience.

Congrats to all!

📸: Photos by Faithann Barron, Elisa Rapaport, and Barbara Rentschler, Penn State Master Gardeners, Bucks County, and Abby Stocking, Bucks County Coordinator.

09/22/2026

YOU PROBABLY KNEW that today marks the first day of fall for 2026. But here are a few additional facts to tuck away for your next trivia competition.

🍁 “Fall” was originally called “harvest” in the US and Britain because farmers could harvest their crops by the light of the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. The British switched to “autumn” in the 1300s and American settlers later embraced the term “fall.”

🍂 The leaves don’t actually turn yellow, orange, or red, but rather their green fades with decreasing sunlight and chlorophyll, revealing their natural pigments (before browning to “fall”).

🍁 Evergreens remain green because their needles are covered with wax and the trees themselves produce proteins, their own natural version of antifreeze.

🍂 The air really is clearer and sunsets more vibrant in the crisp, dry atmosphere of fall, as blue and violet light particles visibly scatter, revealing intense pinks and oranges on the evening horizon.

🍁 All that nectar your flowers provided over the summer does its job in the fall, as migratory birds and butterflies travel hundreds if not thousands of miles for the winter. Hummingbirds are known to make their entire flight NONSTOP at nearly 30 miles per hour!

What’s your favorite part of this season? What’s different in your garden?

Share your favorite fall photos below!

✍️& 📸: Elisa Rapaport, PhD, Penn State Master Gardener, Bucks County

09/22/2026

Just over a century ago, American chestnut trees (Castanea dentata) dominated many of our east coast forests, until blight nearly brought about their extinction.

Efforts to save them ever since have included cross-pollination, genetic modification, and selection based on disease resistance, ideally replicating the tree’s original traits:

• 100+ ft tall
• 10 ft diameter trunks
• 6,000+ nuts per season
• fast-growing
• long-lived

Want to witness some of the restoration efforts yourself? Or see the natural effect of ‘ghost trees’ dying back to the roots then resprouting, dying back, and resprouting again and again?

🌰 Natural Lands’ Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary (Riegelsville, PA) remains witness to several ghost chestnut trees, accessible where the Chimney Rock and North Fox trails meet.

🌰 Fiddler’s Creek Preserve
(near Washington Crossing State Park in Titusville, NJ) hosts a grove of 50+ surviving trees amongst goldenrod and blackberries, just about mature enough to start producing nuts.

🌰 Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve (off River Road below New Hope, PA) features an historic cabin made from chestnut logs by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1935.

Read more about the efforts to save this hardwood majesty in the article below.

Efforts are underway in the River Towns to restore the chestnut tree to its glory years of the early twentieth century, when it helped define Eastern forests before being decimated by blight.

09/22/2026

In these last days of summer, the garden world is holding on, a full spectrum still every direction you look. This week we’re loving:
• asters
• lobelia
• virgin’s bower clematis
• hydrangea
• crab apple
• and so much more 😍

What’s blooming in your corner of the county?

📸 Our team of Penn State Master Gardeners in Bucks County is always on the lookout for the natural beauty of our land. This week features photos by Elisa Rapaport and Abby Stocking, our Bucks County Master Gardener Coordinator.