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March 14, 2025 

It's been a minute since sitting down to work on adding new plants to the website. Like all gardeners, I get carried away planting things new to me. Unlike a lot of gardeners, I collect seeds for many months each year! I had to buy the seeds their own refrigerator this year. A few plants that I am trying for the first time are Carphephorus odoratissimus, Vanillaleaf, and Carphephorus paniculatus, Hairy Chaffhead. These two have similar coastal ranges starting in NC and going southward through Florida and west to Alabama. They are itty bitty seedlings now, but should be ready to go to new homes later this year. Like most perennials, they will not flower the first year. Since I need a limited number of plants, I used winter sowing extensively, and I spend time every day looking down through the openings of milk jugs to admire the seedlings.  

Start of a new season 

March 3, 2024

Saturday was my first time attending the New Bern Farmer's Market! I had to enlist help to set up as my back was out of sorts from getting T-boned the prior Sunday. It was also a very uninspiring start driving through, setting up, and hanging out in heavy rain. Fortunately, it was warm. The rain cleared. People came! And, it was very kind of a member of the Carolina Nature Coalition to email and Facebook that Above the Briery was on site. Thank you everyone. 

Winter, 2022

After our very dry, hot, and intense last season, I was pleased to slow down and focus on holidays and family. Now, it's time for a new year! As any gardener of any sort knows, winter is a dreaming and planning time. No matter the successes or failures of last year, it's time to start anew! It is a time to stratify seeds or winter-sow, or start indoors under lights! 

This year I procrastinated so my stratification shall be au naturel, as in winter-sown.  Some seeds require periods of warm and moist or cool and moist conditions. 'Stratification' is nothing more than imitating nature. Outside there is a wide range of seeds settled in various containers. Inside, other seeds are germinating under lights, and yet other plants are in the form of cuttings in pots with bottom heating out in the garage. The very first seedlings to come up then get stepped up, and new for this year are, Salvia lyrata, Lyreleaf Sage. Check out the fuzzy start of their first true leaves. How cute is that? 

A near-look-like seedling-wise that was quick to germinate is also new to me. Prunella vulgaris, or Self Heal. I was only able to obtain a few of these seeds this past season in Havelock, NC, but I will grow them out and hope to have them available next year. The cotyledons (first leaves, or seed leaves) are very similar - not surprising as they are both in the Lamiaceae, or mint family. This is a very interesting plant for many reasons... to be continued.  

Banner header - photo by K. Mulcahy 12/2022. Sparselobed Grapefern, Sceptridium biternatum

August is upon us- so what do you want to plant this coming year? 

Now is a great time to consider what you may want to plant this fall or in the spring. 

Step 1 is always, to take soil samples (unless you have done so in the last few years). If you are in North Carolina, don't delay!  Routine NCDA&CS soil tests are provided at "no direct cost" to N.C. residents because of funding derived from a statewide fee on commercial fertilizer, except from about Thanksgiving through March, when a peak-season fee of $4 is charged for the processing of each soil sample. Also, the later in the fall you submit, the slower processing is likely to be! You can find soil testing boxes at your local extension office and lots of helpful information at https://www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/pals/default.aspx. If you need information to understand soil nutrients, soil testing, and fertilization, the first chapter of the NC Master Gardner Handbook is excellent!  https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/1-soils-and-plant-nutrients#section_heading_7242

Step 2. Interpret your results and take whatever steps are suggested. For example, the soil test for the new Native Plant Garden and Meadow in Kinston indicated a very high phosphorous index among other things. It was critical to find fertilizer and mulch that would not contribute any new phosphorus. BTW most organic amendments and mulch contribute more phosphorous, just because something is called natural or organic, it does not mean that material is right for your project.  If you need additional support, call your local extension office, and either an ag agent or Master Gardener can assist for no charge. 

Choose your plants! Keep in mind that most native plants that are local to your area, may thrive with fewer nutrients, and each has soil, sun, and moisture preferences! Above all try to find the right plant for your conditions! Have you ever noticed that any exposed soil (unless terribly degraded) grows plants!!!  Hot and dry, wet and sunny, moist and shady, even soil under water in wetlands, sandy soil, clay soils, something always grows! Match your gardening goals as well.  Are you providing plant materials to support wildlife, to enjoy watching pollinators, to create a bright floriferous scene, or to create a calm space?  

The fall is a perfect time to install perennials, shrubs, and trees! Even if a plant is dormant above ground, still warm soil temperatures allow the roots to begin to establish themselves. Those plants will have an easier time when hot weather comes around again next spring.  

Above the Briery will have live and dormant plants (depending on the plant). Dormant bare-root plants are even easier to plant than those in pots!