Welcome back to Bountiful Gardens! We’re back in Ewing this week to talk about another fantastic early Spring blooming perennial: the Pulmonaria! Last week we talked about how Hellebores are one of the first blooms of the Spring season, and soon after blooms the Pulmonaria! Their blooms start to pop open around the first or second week of March, and are one of the first food sources for honeybees and insects. Another feature that Pulmonaria shares with Hellebores is that they thrive in shade gardens. They do best in an area that is evenly moist and shielded from direct sun. A common name for Pulmonaria is “Lungwort,” because in the Middle Ages, people thought that the spotted leaves of the pant resembled diseased lungs. Curiously, they thought this meant the plant could be used to treat lung diseases. These days, we know that’s not the case, but those leaf spots sure are a pretty feature! These plants are closely related to Borage, so they have fuzzy leaves with raised flower stalks. And speaking of those speckles, they’re actually caused by pockets of air that separate the top of the leaf from the bottom, acting like cooling chambers. This helps the plant make it through hotter temperatures. The flowers on Pulmonaria range from pink to violet and even silvery blue. On some varieties, you can even get multiple colors, with flowers staring pink and then changing to a blue or purple. Because the leaves and stems are covered in tiny little hairs, Pulmonaria is considered deer and rabbit resistant, but that doesn’t mean we can’t munch on them! The plant is edible to humans and kind of tastes a bit like a green bean. Plus, those fuzzy leaves really help to hold onto dressing in a salad. Whether you choose to call it Pulmonaria or Lungwort, these dazzling perennials are sure to add a breath of fresh air to your shade garden. Come out to the nursery and start Planting More now! Our Website: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/ Our Rewards Program: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/rewards For Landscape Design Inquiries: Email landscaping@bountifulgardens.com We hope to see you soon!

Spring is finally back here at Bountiful Gardens! We can finally step outside, take a breath of fresh air, and start planting some of our favorite Spring perennials, starting with the Hellebore! If you don’t know much about Hellebores yet, here’s a refresher: Hellebores are one of the most valuable plants that you can have in your shade garden. It’s deer resistant, evergreen, and it flowers at a time when you need blooms the most—late Winter into early Spring. Hellebores do well in moist, rich, well-draining soils, but they can become drought tolerant once established. We’ve actually seen Hellebores do well in a variety of conditions, as long as it’s not getting baked by afternoon sun. Right now we have over thirty varieties of Hellebore at both our Ewing and Hillsborough locations—the most we’ve ever had! Hellebores are a beautiful, compact, mounding evergreen perennial that have an average of 12-24” in height and width, with some varieties reaching up to three feet tall and others staying as short as 9”. They can bloom as late in the year as November and December, or as early in the year as February and March. These perennials attract a variety of early and late flying insects such as butterflies and bees, and the flowers can persist for up to four to five months! Though they’ll fade in color, the flowers provide a lot of focal interest in the garden for a long period of time. Hellebores are one of our most popular end-of-season perennials, and there are plenty of reasons why. For one, they have beautiful, lush dark foliage with beautiful leaf striping to them, and they come in all different patterns and shapes. Not only is their foliage gorgeous, they also put out delicate blooms during colder temperatures when most other plants aren’t flowering, like early Spring and late Fall. The flowers come in a wide range of hues, but what really makes them popular amongst New Jersey gardeners is their deer resistance—deer and rabbits won’t touch these! This makes them fantastic for border plantings or as a verdant feature for a container garden. Hellebores are known by many a name—Hellebore, Lenten Rose, Christmas Rose but one you may not have heard of is Oracle Rose. Back in the old times, they used use the flowers of Hellebores to predict the weather of the Winter and the transition to Spring by seeing when the blooms appeared! Since we opened our outdoor selection for the season, we’ve been getting so many phone calls from people trying to get their hands on these spectacular Spring bloomers, and as we mentioned earlier, we currently have more varieties in stock than ever before—from classics like ‘Merlin’ to some new and interesting varieties for the season! First up is ‘Charmer,’ with deep, rich magenta hues and upright flowers that let you really appreciate their beauty. They also have gorgeous leaf venation! Up next is ‘Pike’s Peak,’ which has a more understated green flower with a yellow center. What it may lack in showy flowers it makes up for in fancy foliage! It’s silvery, spiky leaves are sure to stand out in a shady area, and they kind of look like a ‘Spine Singer’ Epiumedium. When a lot of people think about Hellebores, they think about downward facing flowers, but we love getting varieties like ‘Cinnamon Snow’ that’s a bit taller and features upright flowers that are easy to enjoy. ‘Mahogany Snow’ offers stunning cream-white flowers that are just bursting with pollen, accented by pink-tipped anthers! Another variety with really tall, dramatic clusters of flowers is ‘Dana’s Dulcet,’ with its deep, rich colors and huge center sacks of pollen that add a pop of yellow. ‘Moondance’ is a variety where the foliage takes center stage. Its venation is incredibly pronounced, and its large, umbrella-like leaves make gorgeous ground cover swaths. ‘Penny’s Pink’ has a lot of the same appeal with its foliage, but with a pink hue! And of course, you also get tall, delicate flowers floating over top. Ike’s top pick this year is ‘Ivory Prince,’ which features white and green flowers with neon yellow-green centers, accented by anthers that resemble a little crown! ‘Cheryl’s Shine’ almost belongs in a cut flower garden. Its petals are fuchsia-tipped, fading to a light pinkish white near the center. We have ‘Winter’s Bliss,’ which has tons of variety between its individual flowers. Some can be deep green, while others are closer to Daffodil-white, and pollen amounts vary from bloom to bloom. And of course, we’ve got the classic ‘Pink Frost,’ which was a bestseller last year thanks to its tall stature and delicate pink blooms. No matter what variety you choose, Hellebores are the perfect perennial to add to the garden to help you get excited for the start of Spring and all the things you can be doing outdoors this year! Come out to the nursery and start Planting More now! Our Website: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/

Spring has Sprung here at Bountiful Gardens! In this video, Ike will guide you through some of the best early season annuals, bulbs and custom containers we have here RIGHT NOW in Ewing! When it comes to early season annuals, you'll find Pansies, Ranunculus, Primrose, Bidens, Bacopa, Alyssum, Brachyscome and more. Each has its own value in your garden: Ranunculus is a beautiful centerpiece, while flowers like Bacopa tend to "spill" over the sides of containers creating a wild, cottage garden effect. As far as bulbs, you'll see some gorgeous Daffodils, Hyacinths, Tulips, and Crocuses. Spring is the most exciting time of the year, and we have new plants coming out from our greenhouses each day! These bulbs can all be planted on your property now, or in the Fall, and make an incredible natural investment in your landscape. For a big splash of color, we also offer seasonal baskets of individually potted bulbs and annuals that can be planted outside once they're done beautifying your home for the season. We also have a vast selection of hanging basket arrangements, expertly planted and begging for a spot on your patio. There's so much to see here at Bountiful Gardens this Spring, and we're just getting started! Here are some timestamps for you: Pansies - 0:22 Ranunculus - 0:50 Primrose - 1:21 Spring Bulbs - 1:47 Custom Easter Baskets - 2:21 Bacopa, Bidens, Brachyscome, Sweet Alyssum, Stock - 2:36 Hanging Baskets - 3:28 Come down to any of our three locations--Ewing, Lawrenceville or Hillsborough--and start Planting More today! Our Website: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/ Our Rewards Program: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/rewards For Landscape Design Inquiries: Email landscaping@bountifulgardens.com We hope to see you soon!

It may be chilly right now, but a great way to beat the Winter blues is to look to the future and think of all the gorgeous flowers planters you can plan ahead! Keeping planters overflowing with beautiful annuals is a perfect way to add color and interest to your front porch, back patio, or anywhere around the home that you think could use a burst of vibrance. This lush entrance to our Ewing garden center was designed by Ross, and features thrillers, fillers and spillers—the three core elements of any successful planter. We always like to plant in layers, using thrillers to draw the eye up as a focal point, fillers of different colors and textures to catch the eye, and spillers, which will hang over the sides, softening the overall look of your arrangement. One of Dan’s favorite planters is potted in a converted fountain and features a great variety of complimentary flowers and foliage to visually feast upon. Some stand-outs include the golden-yellow pops of ‘Zahara Double Yellow’ Zinnia, the striking fuchsia of this ‘Fuego Pink’ Verbena, and the gorgeous tones of the Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ Joe’s favorite Summer planter also happens to be a converted fountain, but this time with two tiers, allowing for the imagination to run wild! Joes advice? Get creative! Your planter is your space to experiment—there are no limits to what you can plant, and so many innovative options to use as vessels for your creation! Planting with a mixture of Summer and Fall annuals is a great way to seamlessly blend your planters with the seasons. And again, get creative! Swap out your tropical annuals with Fall annuals for endless blooms. And while you can opt to use only annuals and perennials in your planters, evergreens like Boxwood, Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Inkberry, Dwarf Hinoki False Cypress and more offer year-round focal points when used as thrillers. Simply plant your fillers and spillers around your evergreen centerpiece and voilà! Some great annuals to dress up your evergreen focal point include multi-toned Dwarf Lantana, Bright colors like this Vinca ‘Cora Apricot’, the yellow-chartreuse of Creeping Jenny, and multi-toned Petunias! If you don’t want to plant in a pot, you can always spread some seeds or plant some seedlings like we do! And if you live in a colder climate, you can remove spent annuals when frost comes and dress up your evergreen planter with natural decor for the holidays. When it comes to planter placement, there’s no limit on where you can put them! As long as it gets sun and you can water it, your planter will thrive. Once Spring finally arrives in the Northeast, you can head over to our New Jersey locations in early March to find a full assortment of Pansies, Ranunculus, Primrose, Bacopa, Stock, Snapdragons and so much more. We hope this inspires you to hop out of those Winter blues and get excited for all the planting possibilities that come with the New Year! Come out to the nursery and start Planting More now! Our Website: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/ Our Rewards Program: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/rewards For Landscape Design Inquiries: Email landscaping@bountifulgardens.com We hope to see you soon!

As hard as it is to believe, the holidays are here again! This is a time for reflection and celebration, with the New Year offering everyone a chance for new growth. Of course, it’s also the best time of year to gather with those you hold dear and share stories and passions over festive feasts. And when Winter hits its coldest, keep in mind our tropical greenhouses in Ewing and Lawrenceville are open year-round, offering you an escape to a lush, vibrant paradise. Our greenhouses are like botanical gardens you can bring home with you, and no matter your level of experience, we have the species and the expert guidance you’ll need to watch your new plants flourish. We’re also fully stocked with custom planters, top-notch substrates and tons of tools and accessories to make indoor gardening a breeze. If we don’t carry it, your plants don’t need it! So if you’re feeling stuck in the cold this Winter, come visit us in Ewing and Lawrenceville for the soul-restoring retreat you’re after. We can’t wait to see you. And of course, from all of us here at Bountiful Gardens to you, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We can’t wait to see you in 2026. Come out to the nursery and start Planting More now! Our Website: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/ Our Rewards Program: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/rewards For Landscape Design Inquiries: Email landscaping@bountifulgardens.com We hope to see you soon!

As we head into Winter, there’s a good chance your yard may start to feel a little…exposed.  After deciduous perennials, trees and shrubs drop their leaves, your garden loses all those layers of interest, privacy screening, wind protection and noise reduction for an entire season.  That’s where evergreens come in! With the right planting design, you can achieve a landscape that encapsulates you in year-round natural comfort.  In this video, we’ll be introducing you to our favorite evergreens for just that purpose, and giving some pro tips on how best to incorporate them into your yard.  So bundle up and follow me–time to get started!  Giant Green Arborvitae - 0:54 Starting off, we have the Green Giant Arborvitae—one of the best evergreen privacy screens you can buy. With its shiny green foliage and formal growth habit, this tree gives you amazing structure and color, reaching 20-30 feet tall and up to 10 feet wide! Green Giants are incredibly deer resistant, and as they grow, they maintain a very dense look without any intensive pruning. Leyland Cypress - 1:59 Next up is the majestic Leyland Cypress. If you’re looking for a fast-growing evergreen privacy screen that is also highly deer resistant, this is the tree for you. At a growth rate of 2-3 feet per year, the Leyland Cypress can max out between 30-50 feet tall and 10-15 feet wide. These trees also experience little to no impact from pests or diseases, and require very minimal care. White Pine - 3:01 The largest conifer in Eastern North America, the White Pine is loved for its majestic structure and the fact that it can climb up to 80 feet tall and 40 feet wide. They’re also loved for their use in decorating for the holidays—you can trim some branches or collect pinecones to add to your arrangements. White Pines even produce one of nature’s finest mulches simply by dropping their needles! Just let those needles lay where they fall for a natural boost of fertilizer and moisture retention. Canadian Hemlock - 3:28 Another beautiful North American native is going to be the Canadian Hemlock. These evergreens have short, stubby needles that are actually really fragrant when you crush them. They climb to about 70 feet tall and are fairly shade-tolerant, so they’re great for a wide variety of spots in your landscape. Skip Laurel - 3:44 Whenever someone says they want something deer-resistant, evergreen, and with broad leaves, the first plant we steer them towards is the Skip Laurel. Even in the coldest of colds, these shrubs offer deep, glossy greens. Skip Laurels work amazingly when planted as a hedge, reaching a max height of about 12 feet, though you can easily trim them back to maintain them as you like. Norway Spruce - 4:09 If you have a sunnier spot in the yard and you’re looking for an evergreen with a more refined, uniform look to it, a Norway Spruce might be the right tree for you! They grow between 2-3 feet per year and reach a max height of about 60 feet tall. They also produce cones that are great for decorating! Colorado Blue Spruce - 4:31 They Blue Colorado Spruce is also known for its dense, uniform growth with one main exception: it’s blue! This tree stands out as a focal point in the landscape, and like the Norway Spruce, it grows really densely and provides excellent habitat for wildlife and birds. Another noticeable difference between Norway and Blue Spruces is that the latter grows much more slowly—only about a foot per year. This means the Blue Spruce is a great choice if you want a tree that will keep its shape and stay a similar size for longer. Eastern Red Cedar - 4:56 Next up in our evergreen arsenal is the Eastern Red Cedar, which is actually one of our native Junipers! These are planted for their gorgeous foliage and reddish bark, which stand out in the Winter landscape. They grow between 1-2 feet per year, maxing out at around 50 feet. They can also withstand a ton of environmental stressors since they’re a native pioneer species. Photinia - 5:24 If you want even more Winter color, you can always opt for a Photinia. These broadleaf evergreens keep their reddish hues throughout the winter, so you’ll always have some nice color to enjoy. These stunning Winter shrubs can grow about 10-15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, making them a great choice for planting a screen hedge, or they can be trimmed to whatever size you like. By including these incredible evergreens in your landscape, you’ll have a yard that’s dressed for any season, turning Winter from bare to Bountiful.  So what are you waiting for? Our Winter evergreen displays are up and ready for you to come find your favorites today.  Come out to the nursery and start Planting More now! Our Website: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/ Our Rewards Program: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/rewards For Landscape Design Inquiries: Email landscaping@bountifulgardens.com We hope to see you soon!

Today, Bountiful Gardens is back out in the field helping The Meeting House in Princeton beautify their front steps for the holidays! This is one of our favorite places to eat, so we’re excited about it! For the entrance, we really wanted to highlight their beautiful, lush boxwoods, so we’ll give them dramatic bright backdrops with carefully arranged white sticks. Next, it’s time to build up a foundation of fresh greens. Some of our favorites are White Pine, Spruce, Huck, Boxwood and Arborvitae. The real stand-out green, though, is Southern Magnolia, with its deep glossy green top and fuzzy brown underside. It’s phenomenal for adding interest as one of your last layers of greens. Now that we have our green foundation, we’ll snip some smaller cuttings of our white sticks and bring them to the front of the Boxwood, incorporating the backdrop into the foreground. For a burst of red vibrance, we’ll pop in some Winterberry cuttings, which really draw attention to the arrangement. Finally, we’ll add a few giant Sugar Pine cones to in just the right places to balance out the design and sell that holiday look! The Meeting House has a TON of planters, so now that the entrance is done, we can get to work on all the others, making sure they match the overall look we’re going with while each having their own characteristics that make them unique. If you’ve seen our other videos, this process is very similar! You’re looking for thrillers, fillers and spillers to help catch the eye no matter what part of the arrangement you’re looking at. And there you have it! Our planters are beautiful, ready for the holidays, and they of course look Bountiful. These will greet customers when they walk in and let them know the holiday magic is here. If you want your own holiday porch package, we’ve got endless options! Just reach out to us at landscaping@bountifulgardens.com to get started. Come out to the nursery and start Planting More now! Our Website: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/ Our Rewards Program: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/rewards For Landscape Design Inquiries: Email landscaping@bountifulgardens.com We hope to see you soon!

We’re always talking to you about landscaping, but did you know you could apply the same principles of layering colors and textures to a smaller scale? This is Tablescaping, and it’s the best way to decorate your Thanksgiving table this year. Tablescaping allows you to combine your love of plants with the bounty of Fall to create something truly special both you and your guests will adore. When planning out your tablescape, it’s important to consider what kind of focal points you want to use, or what style you’re going for—maybe something really bountiful, or maybe a little more minimal. Let’s work through a few examples together! For our first tablescape, let’s recreate the look and feel of a classic Thanksgiving spread—all those really warm tones and deep greens that make you think about Fall. Let’s start out with a base layer that looks like a forest floor, and a lot of the materials you need are most likely waiting for you in your own backyard or nearby park! Grab a pair of snips and take a walk to find your favorite Fall colors and textures! If you really want to bring the bounty, make sure to grab some mini pumpkins and gourds for festive pops of Fall splendor. We’ve still got plenty here for you! If the holidays are your thing, you may already have your Christmas tree, which can serve as a great source of greens for the table—just trim from the bottom! If you don’t have your tree yet, we just put out our first cuttings of the year for you to choose from! Let’s start out by creating the base layer of the forest floor with some of these forages Green Giant and Fir branches. They’re nice and flat, so you can just lay them down across the center. Trim any stems that you think are sticking out too much. Now that we have our green table runner, let’s lay out some of the planters we’ll be using. We’re using some wicker baskets and beautiful ceramic pots that are made to resemble wicker baskets. We’ll just stagger them evenly across the center. Now that our planters are in place to give us a little more structure, we’ll go in with another layer of the forest floor using Oak and Pear branches. It wouldn’t be a Bountiful arrangement without flowers, so next we’ll add in some stunning Golden Poinsettias to really balances out the greens of the Spruces. Finally, add in the finishing touches of texture and color with your foraged wildflowers and grasses. And that’s all there is to crafting a table overflowing with the bounty of Fall! If you’re looking for something a little less traditional and a bit more contemporary, this next tablescape is the one for you! Maybe you want a look that shows that you’re the designated plant expert at the table. For the centerpieces of this one, we’ll be creating three dish gardens. We’ll go with some fern, a few terrarium plants and some dried, preserved moss. To help get all your feature plants on the same level, you can use some gravel as a base layer in your dish garden and adjust height to your liking while anchoring your plants in place. Once your plants are all in place, you can cover up any exposed pots with the preserved moss, giving the arrangement a truly naturalistic touch. Once your dish gardens are planted up, you can lay them out on your dinner table and surround them with some fresh evergreen cuttings to create a nice green base. Here’s a tip: tuck any exposed twig ends under foliage for a more organic look. This time of year, we get tons of little Calandiva plants in, and they make the perfect accent for this type of Tablescape. Just pop them in small terracotta pots, and you can even write your guests’ names on them as party favors and place settings! For a burst of color, you can’t go wrong with an assortment of decorative pumpkins! The best part about this Tablescape is that all the plants are individually potted, so once the plates are cleared, your guests can take home a little living keepsake! Looking to enhance the aromas of the feast? Why not make a Tablescape using fresh herbs as your focal point? By combining the warm hues of the terracotta with the grace and airiness of kitchen herbs like Rosemary, Sage and Thyme, you’ll have a Tablescape that smells just as good as it looks. For the cherry on top, you can make a small bundle of fragrant herbs for an extra pop of fragrance. Once dinner is served, you can brush the leaves of your potted herbs, releasing their fresh scents. Thanksgiving is all about Bounty, which is probably why we like it so much! If you want to show off your landscaping skills in miniature form, you need to try Tablescaping this year! Come out to the nursery and start Planting More now! Our Website: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/ Our Rewards Program: https://www.bountifulgardens.com/rewards For Landscape Design Inquiries: Email landscaping@bountifulgardens.com We hope to see you soon!