Barking Dog Gardens

10/16/2026

Adding Native Perennial Seeds To Your New England Garden

It's that time of year to gather, clean and pack seed. I already packed many of the early season seeds a few months ago, but Fall is the time when so much becomes ready. This year, I will again be selling seeds of native flowering perennials that do well in mixed or native-only gardens. I collect these seeds from a number of gardens in which I work around Boston....

It’s that time of year to gather, clean and pack seed. I already packed many of the early season seeds a few months ago, but Fall is the time when so much becomes ready.  This year, I wi…

09/28/2026

An absolute favorite for late season interest that draws in pollinators with its fragrant flowers. Here’s the rub. It is a selected form of a native plant, or a Nativar. It’s dark burgundy leaves may confuse some pollinators and keep it from being an effective host plant, but its nectar and pollen are valuable in the late season. Anyway, beautiful flower and contrasting foliage.

Chocoholic Bugbane - Actaea ‘Chocoholic’

Friday, September 25th, 2026
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09/27/2026

Leave the Leaves ? !

If you have been reading my newsletter for a while, you know that I like to get on my soap box in the Spring when I have a discussion about mulch. I feel like I need a Fall soap box topic. How about leaves? A topic that I have covered many times before. You also know from reading my newsletter that I try not to preach, and that I definitely do not shame or belittle people who do not fully embrace what I discuss....

leave the leaves to create organic soil and preserve insects and pollinators in an ecologically sustainable garden.

09/16/2026

Fall is near and we need to keep feeding our friends. This lavender beauty is a stalwart until frost and critical, along with goldenrods, to provider nectar to butterflies as they head south. Native a little south of us, but very serviceable for many pollinators. Likes sun and some moisture in the soil and gets to 2+’. Like glitter, once you have it’s hard to get rid of.

Blue Mist Flower - Conoclinium coelestinum

Monday, September 14th, 2026

09/12/2026

Pollinator pollen party presently. Look at those pollen ‘saddlebags’ on this great plant for fall color. Upright plant to 4’ that wants lots of sun and average soil. Native just south and west of hear, but loved by bees and butterflies. Great end of season nectar source.

Stiff Goldenrod - Oligoneuron rigidum (Solidago)

Friday, September 11th, 2026

09/12/2026

Selected Garden Photo Contest Submissions and Winner

This is a lighter version of my newsletter as last edition I covered a lot of the Fall work. Following is a selection of photos submitted for the photo contest. Some of the submissions came from client's gardens with which I am familiar, but most were new gardens that I have never seen across New England. The other photos in the newsletter, all with Butterflies, are from additional submissions....

This is a lighter version of my newsletter as last edition I covered a lot of the Fall work.  Following is a selection of photos submitted for the photo contest. Some of the submissions c…

08/29/2026

2026 Fall Garden Season Is Upon Us: Early Tasks To Perform.

I declare that the second gardening season is upon us starting this weekend. I don't see a temperature much above 80º for the next two weeks and the nights are in the upper 50s and mid-60s. While Labor Day usually kick starts the season, it is really based upon temperatures. Cooling and cooler temperatures mean less stress and lower inputs are needed to keep the garden happy, and work done now and in September gives gardens plenty of time to establish before Winter....

I declare that the second gardening season is upon us starting this weekend. I don’t see a temperature much above 80º for the next two weeks and the nights are in the upper 50s and mid-60s. W…

08/27/2026

Native Bees vs Honey Bees: Working To Save Them All

Bees, wasps, flies... those buzzing, fuzzy, flitting little insects that you often hear before you see when in the garden. In the last newsletter, I was talking about native plants and their importance, now I would like to talk about Bees, and when I say Bees, that also includes, different but related, wasps and hornets. I have had clients say that they want flowers that don't attract bees, and while I understand some people have dangerous allergies to bee stings, it is important to know that you cannot separate bees and flowers....

Bees, wasps, flies… those buzzing, fuzzy, flitting little insects that you often hear before you see when in the garden. In the last newsletter, I was talking about native plants and their im…

08/14/2026

Best Pruning Tools And Their Care

I love teaching my pruning workshops at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. I teach five workshops throughout the year that correspond to the five pruning windows in which I professionally prune. One of the most common questions and part of my introduction in each class is a brief discussion of the tools we use to prune. The knowledge of how and when to prune is critical, but the tools are important, too....

I love teaching my pruning workshops at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. I teach five workshops throughout the year that correspond to the five pruning windows in which I professi…

08/14/2026

Bees and butterflies love this monster of a plant. Late summer flowers that are unique, along with its compound leaves. Up to 6’, with yellow fall color and black seed pods, that the birds love. This plant can really take up some space and flower for up to a month.

Wild Senna (Senna herbacarpa)

Friday, August 14th, 2026