Lobelia cardinalis, Cardinal flower, is one of the most impressive and striking native plants for your late summer garden. This short-lived perennial plant occurs naturally in moist locations, along stream banks, swamp edges, and low woods. In our gardens, they are easily grown in average moist garden beds, but are also the ultimate rain garden […]
Growing and Collecting Seeds from Native Cardinal Flower Read More »
June 11th-12th The French Market Creole Tomato Festival honors Louisiana’s produce, farmers, and our unique cuisine of which the Creole tomato is a star. Tabling at this fest was a great fit as we honored our unique native plants by giving away seeds and educating folks about their importance. It was a blast as you
NPI Tables at the Creole Tomato Fest! Read More »
This time of year brings such joy to native gardeners as pollinator activity on native plants really picks up and progression of flowering in the garden marches on from one species to the next. As early species decline and start to set seed, we have an opportunity to collect ripe seed from our plants to
Collecting Native Seeds – June Read More »
Come and find us this weekend at the New Orleans Botanical Garden for the Spring Garden Show! We will be on the lawn in front of the Pavilion of the Two Sisters. Detailed Brochure 2022
NPI at the Spring Garden Show! Read More »
Last Saturday morning in November, we spent a few hours removing invasive tree saplings from the UNO Woodlot. This is the kick-off of a multi-phase project on UNO’s campus to enhance bird and wildlife habitat by planting native shrubs and trees to further develop a urban birding trail on campus where over 130 species of
UNO Urban Birding Trail gets started with Kick-Off Event…more to come! Read More »
The day before Halloween, NPI President, Tammany Baumgarten, and Board Director Cheryl Geiger made the trek to St. Tammany Parish to attend a guided walk in the Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve hosted by the Land Trust for Louisiana. Biologists, Nelwyn McInnis and Latimore Smith guided about 20 participants on a boardwalk stroll through a wet
Spooky Plant Walk in Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve Read More »
The Euonymus americana locally know as “Strawberry bush”, “Burning Bush”, “Hearts-a-Busting” is in full display right now. In late summer/early fall the red fruits burst open to reveal bright orange berries. The pictures below are from a NPI member’s garden in New Orleans. It is an adaptable landscape shrub or small tree tolerating different sun
Fall Display: “Strawberry Bush” Euonymus americanus Read More »
Once again, a summer hurricane has displayed the inherent and wonderful qualities of native plants in the landscape. The live oaks swayed in the 150 mph winds and, if they’ve been maintained properly, few branches broke. In my back yard, the swamp maple, blooming and upright cardinal flower, cherry tree, flowering clematis crispa, often visited
Living with Hurricanes and Native Plants by VP Nell Howard Read More »
There comes a time about now in New Orleans when Spring feels almost gone and the beautiful displays of the very first native flowers are going to seed. Some of them will continue to bloom for some time, but the first flowers have faded, dried and turned brown….ripe for collecting! On almost every plant out
Native Seeds to Collect Now (late May-early June) Read More »
We enjoy our Spring gardening season so much here in the deep Gulf South, but once we get to July and August and into the real dog days of summer, with near constant tropical deluges and sauna-like heat, our gardens can just look tired and not at their best. Many of the garden plants we
