Epic Garden

My outdoor herb garden is thriving and it makes me so happy to see all the beautiful plants growing💚🌼

Cacti are not just for desert landscapes! I have a beautiful cactus in a flowerpot on my porch and it adds the perfect touch of greenery to my outdoor space.

Looking so beautiful my babies 💚💚

Just watered my little plant babies and they're looking so happy and green! 🌿💦

My little family in flowerpot plant is thriving in the outdoor garden 💚🌿

My flowerpot is now full of vibrant pink petals, making me so happy! 🌺

My garden is looking so colorful now with all the new annual plants I added to my flowerpots! 🌼

The world is pink for me 🌺🌺 🌿

Just watered my new houseplant! It's so cute with its pink flowers 🌺

A dogwood tree stands in front of my house. It's interesting to learn the story behind this tree, especially during Easter.

Common Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)
Common hackberry is a relatively demure tree that does not overly assert itself, nor does it particularly stand out in the landscape. It blends in among better recognized species. One word best describes it: overlooked. In fact, this is one of the last tree species whose name I learned. It’s not to say it’s by any means rare. From an early age, I recall encountering it from time to time, but it failed to catch my interest, and I walked by without a second glance. This is not exactly a ringing endorsement, I know. But over the years, my opinions of hackberry have changed. While there are certainly fancier trees out there, this one provides an absolutely excellent source of food for a variety of creatures. And, if sited in the right conditions, and given enough time, it can indeed rise into an impressive tree that rivals the majestic oaks, stately sugar maples, and many other imposing species.
There are two species of hackberry native to the Northeast: common hackberry (C. occidentalis) and dwarf hackberry (C. tenuifolia). The former is widespread throughout much of the region, though it’s rare in Vermont and New Hampshire, and entirely absent in Maine. Dwarf hackberry is more of a southern species and is not found north of Pennsylvania. As the name suggests, it is much smaller than its cousin, topping out at 20-30.’
Common hackberry usually rises to 40-60.’ Its maximum height is around 100.’ Trees have long, tapering lance-shaped leaves. The bark is unique—rough-textured, warty, and cork-like. As this species is wind pollinated, its flowers are inconspicuous. Small, quarter inch yellow-green flowers grace the trees in mid-spring as the leaves emerge. These give way to spherical thin-skinned drupes about a third of an inch in diameter which contain a single hard seed. The flesh surrounding the seed is exceedingly scanty, but quite sweet, having a flavor similar to that of dates. Gauging maturity can be a bit tricky; there is much variation in color. Perfectly ripe fruit can be orange-red to brown, or, as we more traditionally associate, dark purple, sometimes bordering on black. In late summer and early fall, the skin of ripe fruit should give just slightly when squeezed. If unsure whether the fruit is mature, simply wait for it to start raining down from the trees.
This is commonly a bottomland species, occurring most prominently along the banks of rivers or floodplains with thick fertile soil. The ideal pH is one venturing into the neutral range. Hackberry is also quite fond of disturbed areas with moist to mesic soils—regenerating woodlands and fencerows. That said, trees can sometimes be found (infrequently) growing in places on the drier side, such as upland woods or rocky bluffs. Trees here will usually have stunted growth.
The main reason I’m so fond of this tree is due to the numerous showy insects which use hackberry as a larval host. The fascinating American snout butterfly (Libytheana carinenta), which possesses a forehead appendage resembling those seen on aardvarks and anteaters, along with large bulging eyes, only feeds on the leaves of hackberries when in the caterpillar stage. The hackberry emperor (Asterocampa celtis), tawny emperor (Asterocampa clyton), thin-lined owlet (Isogona tenuis), and small heterocampa (Heterocampa subrotata), are several other Lepidopterans which use hackberries exclusively during the larval stage. The question mark (Polygonia interrogationis), mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa), Io moth (Automeris io), and ruddy dagger moth (Acronicta rubricoma), also utilize hackberries, but have a slightly wider diet and can feed on additional species as well.
The fruit is consumed by a wide variety of avian species, from songbirds to ducks and larger upland gamebirds. Small mammals, especially squirrels, also have a fondness for the sweet fruit.

My flower bed out front always looks gorgeous in the spring but kind of sad the rest of the year 😂 Is there anything I can plant in there that won't start growing until after the tulips die back but will bloom in the summer?
Every time I google it tells me what to plant to bloom *with* the tulips instead of something that will bloom *after* them 🤷🏻‍♀️

I just planted potatoes and I decided to leave the Mullen that comes up in my garden every year. Its a pretty plant.

I work at a luxury florist where bloomed out orchids are thrown away. I’d like to ship these rescues to someone from this sub. I’ll cover the cost. I just can’t toss them out. Their roots need love but are viable.

Bleeding Heart! 😍