On May 12, 2016, a staff member at Blue Water Baltimore was on her way to investigate a report of illegal dumping in the Perring Loch neighborhood, and her route took her across the Loch Raven Boulevard bridge. While crossing the bridge, she was overwhelmed by the stench of sewage—a constant reminder of the ongoing sewage leak…
One of the easiest ways to make your Baltimore yard a healthy and attractive place for wildlife is to increase the number and variety of native grasses you use. Thankfully, the many indigenous grasses we grow and sell at Herring Run Nursery are just as lovely to look at as they are valuable to our…
When gardeners are looking for native plants for dry shade, ferns are not often the first type of plant to come to mind. It is true that many species of ferns prefer consistent moisture, yet there are ferns that are well-adapted to drier conditions. Ferns are generally unpalatable to herbivores and are deer resistant, yet provide…
At Herring Run Nursery our favorite native shrubs are ones that can multitask: they are beautiful, attract wildlife, and help reduce storm water pollution. One of the very best of multitasking native shrubs is Ilex verticillata, or winterberry holly. A gorgeous landscape plant, winterberry is a native deciduous holly. After the leaves drop in fall,…
In 2012, for the first time ever, Herring Run Nursery was a vendor at the 25th annual Baltimore Herb Festival. We grow and sell native plants primarily for their wildlife value and pollution reduction merits, but it turns out that many native plants are edible or medicinal to humans as well. I’ve posted a short article on…
Here’s an alarming statistic: the trash interceptor where Watershed 246 empties into the Baltimore Harbor (near Canton) receives between three to five tons of trash MONTHLY. That’s 6,000 to 10,000 pounds of refuse getting carried by stormwater from the city’s streets, to the storm drains, and then directly to the Harbor–in the time it takes…
At Blue Water Baltimore, we take our native plants seriously. This is not only because a landscape full of native plants can help reduce polluted runoff, but also for their other benefits: cooler summers, cleaner air, and more habitat for birds, butterflies, and bees. Consequentially, we work hard to operate Herring Run Nursery as great place…