The soil is warm and the time is right to bring herbaceous plants to the garden. Luckily, we have you covered. This year we are featuring pesticide-free growers in our nursery, starting the season off with @springhousenativeplants_ .Support small business, earth-friendly growing practices, and native plants!
Many plants sold in our region, even those labeled “native,” are often grown through systems that rely on underpaid labor and the routine use of systemic pesticides. These practices not only perpetuate social inequities within agricultural workforces, but they can also undermine the very ecosystems gardeners are trying to support. Because systemic pesticides are absorbed into plant tissues, their pollen and nectar can carry harmful residues that poison pollinators like bees and butterflies. By being mindful of where our plants come from, we can choose options that support both environmental health and fair labor practices—helping ensure our gardens truly give back to the communities and ecosystems they’re part of.
Many different species of Carex still available for Spring preorder! Link in bio. Come get these juicy, fibrous roots ✨
Carex crinita — Fringed Sedge
Carex gracillima — Graceful Sedge
Carex intumescens — Bladder Sedge
Carex swanii — Swan’s Sedge
Carex vulpinoidea — Fox Sedge
Twisted Sedge (Carex torta) providing early Spring pollen to a genus of Hoverfly called ‘Sedgesitters’. Riparian sedges like C. torta play a critical role in stabilizing stream banks. Hoverflies are food for many insects and birds. They also play an important role eating aphid larvae. Keep on hovering 🪰
#sedgesitter #carex #carextorta #hoverflies #springhousenativeplants
Bat box is officially up on the barn and ready for occupancy!
🦇 BACKSTORY & FUN FACTS 🦇
Lots of old and fresh guano was a sure indicator that our barn has been home to a colony of brown bats for many years. Now that we’re starting to move parts of our nursery operation into the barn’s ground floor space, we needed to help them find a new home (and an alternative place to poop!).
But, did you know that female brown bats typically return to the same location annually to raise their young? I didn’t. After learning this, it felt important to try and give them a space to roost right where they’ve successfully been raising pups for generations. Plus, we love having bats around. Despite the fact that we’re surrounded by lots of water, we have virtually no mosquitos. Bats, fly catching birds like Phoebes and Swallows, and Eastern Red Newts do all of the work keeping both mosquito larvae and mature mosquitos in check.
Thankfully, the experts at Bat Conservation and Management (Batmanagement.com) — based out of Carlisle, PA— offer various bat house kits that are easy to put together. Thorough instructions helped us find a (hopefully) suitable location. If I wasn’t so terrified of heights I would have mounted it higher on the facade 😅
Here’s hoping it works! Stay tuned for updates
#bathouse #batconservation #nativeplants #springhousenativeplants
Lots of beauty unfolds in Springtime at Springhouse. One of my favorite things is bird watching — always guaranteed to be eventful. This afternoon I had the joy of watching a Great Blue Heron stalk the edge of the pond in search for food (slide 1). Then, a Red-shouldered Hawk with FOMO swooped in briefly to see if it was missing out on a fish or a frog (slide 2). It flew to a branch right above the Heron and hung out for a few minutes before realizing it wasn’t going to be its lucky day (slide 3 — can you find the hawk? 👀). All the while, the Red-winged Blackbirds and Phoebe’s were silent, which almost never happens.
I hope everyone has a chance to get outside this weekend to observe some Spring magic!
#birdwatching #greatblueheron #redshoulderedhawk #springhousenativeplants
Coming out of hibernation, finally.
Sunny and calm conditions made today the perfect day to untuck our Spring 2026 inventory out from underneath the warm, cozy layer of American Sycamore leaves that we buried our plants under for protection back in November. And, we're so excited to report that everything is looking right on track -- including these lovely Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta), which overwintered beautifully. In about 4-6 weeks time these babes will be in full bloom alongside Violet spp., Packera, Blue-Eyed Grass, Trout Lilies, many Carex species and others!
Just in time for some Spring dreaming, our Spring 2026 Order Form goes live on our website next week! In the meantime, get outside and enjoy some sunshine this weekend because Spring is really, truly almost here (trust me, the Skunk Cabbage is peaking through everywhere 😊)...
The 2025 growing season has officially come to a close. And, WOW — what a year it has been. As I reflect on this past year and plan for the one ahead, I’m buzzing with delight and gratitude. In our first year, on a shoestring budget, with a lot of sweat, and a sprinkle of vision we grew 4,120 plants from seed! Next year we plan on at least doubling that. And, we’re adding 33 (yes, 33!) new species to our inventory. Check out our updated list at link in bio.
In 2026, we also plan on expanding operations into our newly restored, very old bank barn with the hopes of offering workshops and guided tours on native plants along with other classes/events led by local artists. Stay tuned for more on that…
I owe a debt of gratitude to @cz_arownica for her helping hands, flexibility, and friendship.
This place, Springhouse, which I call home, has taught me how to look and how to be curious. The more I discover the more important our mission to cultivate and perpetuate biodiversity becomes.
We hope you join us on our native plant journey as it continues into 2026! Until then, get outside, look around, be curious.
My brain on … seeds 🫠
Did you know that throughout the growing season we collect all of our own native seed from existing, established populations located solely within the boundaries of our 34-acre property? This photo is just a glimpse of what it looks like as we transition from the growing season to propagation season. Over the next few months, all of this seed will be processed and cleaned by hand before being sown outdoors.
We take pride in our slow, messy, hyper-local approach ✨
(Not pictured — many, many more bags of tree and shrub seeds in cold storage 🙃)
When you look across our meadow this morning it’s full of hundreds of these glistening cup-shaped spider webs borne on the ends of last year’s Goldenrod stalks. They’re created by the Bowl-and-doily Spider. Aside from having an awesome name that pretty much describes their intricate webs, these spiders are super critical to the function of a healthy ecosystem. These tiny spiders eat mainly gnats and small flies, as well as other small insects. They’re active in May and June (when their prey is most abundant, of course), then they reappear in September right before Summer ends.
When we first moved here the few acres that they currently reside in was lawn mown bald at least once a week. One of the first purchases we made were hats with mosquito nets because the flies were so abundant and annoying that we spent most of our time outside flailing our arms around rather than enjoying a walk.
Cue the meadow!
Now the area that was lawn is a thriving wet and dry meadow habitat entering its fourth Summer season. We remove invasives and small trees by hand every Spring and Summer. Aside from that, we just let it be. As a result, we have been handsomely rewarded with this incredibly balanaced ecology where the Swallows and other fly-catching birds swoop above the fields to eat the pesky insects that used to be so dominant. And the Bowl-and-doily spiders sit below, perched on last year’s dried-out stalks within the meadow, happily waiting for their food to stumble into their webs.
And I can go for a walk without a net over my face 😆 Wins all around.
#meadows #nativeplants #springhousenativeplants
