Howerton Horticulture

06/11/2026

GRWM to not get poison ivy

06/11/2026

For those of you who remember my video about May apples, here’s a follow up! I took a walk through the same area and here they are with fruit on them. They fade as the weather gets hotter and goes dormant. They seem to stay up longer the more shade they get. And they’re right next to everyone’s favorite native plant, poison ivy. And a couple other not so native things.

05/28/2026

Spotted lanternfly nymphs are out and about! They’re like 5x this size at maturity and way nastier. Squish em while they’re still small. Not only is this fun and helps (BARELY) reduce their numbers, it has another little known benefit.

05/26/2026

Pull it! Or cut it. Or twist it. Or bop it. Whatever you gotta do.

04/21/2026

Can’t believe they did the Virginia sweetspire and redbud like that 😔

04/18/2026

Phlox divaricata AKA woodland phlox. Fun example of putting a plant outside its ideal conditions and still having an okay result. Nowadays, I use this plant as a flowering option in shadier areas. But a few years back I planted this in full sun.

It blooms nicely but it does start to struggle over the summer and needs some extra water. In nature, we typically see different plant species fade in or out on a gradient dependent on the growing conditions. It’s not a hard line where all of a sudden the conditions are perfect for one plant and unacceptable for another. What we really see is one species being more competitive in a given spot than another species. So as conditions get more shady, we see fewer grasses and sun loving plants, and more sedges and plants like woodland phlox. And so here we have a woodland phlox in full sun and very much not in a woodland, and it’s doing fine. A different plant would be more “competitive” and lower maintenance in this spot though.

And that’s how we design for low maintenance plantings. Low maintenance just means matching plants to growing conditions where they will be most competitive and the best adapted. A low maintenance landscape in a dry area in the shade is very different from a low maintenance landscape in a wet, sunny area. If you read all that, good on you. That’s an awful lot to write about one plant.

04/16/2026

Podophyllum peltatum is a low growing plant that will start to fade over the summer as things heat up and pretty much disappear. Then it will wait until next spring and do it again! The leaves are so cool and unique. There’s nothing else like this in our area. Go look for some! But leave them alone please. The turtles have enough to worry about.

04/13/2026

04/07/2026

We did cut the rest down! I just don’t have a picture/video of it. Ailanthus altissima is an extremely destructive species in the mid Atlantic and is very common, especially in urban areas and disturbed areas. If you live in DC, you’ve definitely seen it. The earlier you can get this taken care of, the better. It grows very fast and seeds prolifically. This species will try to regrow from the bottom and needs herbicide to fully get rid of it. But this removal solved the immediate problem, makes it safer, and it can be treated later.

04/04/2026

Get em while they’re hot! Or don’t. You can just look too. These are pretty abundant in the DC area and are currently at their peak bloom around here. Since they’re native here, they have relationships with many native insects, birds, and other living things and are much more ecologically beneficial than non native (but still pretty) trees like cherry blossoms.