Garden Club Federation MA

09/27/2025

From the National Garden Club

Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities.

09/27/2025

Thinking of doing over your yard? Get a head start and learn more about Landscape Design with a GCFM Landscape Design Class.
The good part is you don’t need to take the Courses in any order.

07/05/2025

State University Extension Service, Dr. Shaun Broderick corrects misconception about native and non-native plants.
We’ve seen a lot of social media posts lately suggesting that only native plants belong in our landscapes and that planting anything non-native is automatically harmful or “junk food” for pollinators. While it’s true that some invasive species cause serious problems, the full story is more nuanced.
We wanted to share this great explainer from Mississippi State University Extension Service ornamental horticulturist, Dr. Shaun Broderick:
"Plant suitability exists on a spectrum.
It’s not as simple as “native = good” and “non-native = bad.”
Some native species evolved in very specific habitats—acidic bogs, dry sand plains, fire-dependent woodlands—and may struggle in compacted urban soils or highly amended home gardens. Others can even become aggressive in disturbed sites. Just because a plant is native doesn’t always mean it’s low-maintenance or ecologically ideal for every setting.
At the same time, most non-native plants introduced to the U.S. have not become invasive. Many are well-behaved in landscapes, require little to no irrigation or fertilizer, and support generalist pollinators. That doesn’t mean we should ignore the real threat posed by invasive species, but it does mean we should evaluate plants based on their behavior and ecological function, not just where they came from.
In our Trial Garden at the Truck Crops Experiment Station, we evaluate around 200 cultivars each year, including selections with both native and non-native origins. Our goal is to identify plants that thrive in Mississippi’s climate with minimal inputs and deliver top landscape performance. And the pollinators seem to agree: we see swarms of them visiting the garden daily.
Sustainable landscaping means choosing plants that are non-invasive, thrive with minimal inputs, and ideally offer some ecological benefit. That includes, but isn’t limited to, native species.

07/04/2025

07/03/2025

07/02/2025

While many plants have been purposely bred to increase petal texture for aesthetics, there are also unintentional benefits.

Crinkly petals reflect light more complexly making the flowers more visible from a distance, thus improving pollination.

The textured layers also insulate pollen and nectar keeping it cooler during high temperatures.

06/29/2025

06/25/2025

Yes you can grow giant watermelons in a Vego box..but that might be all you grow.