Floral & Hardy Farm

06/14/2026

People often think of frogs, bats, and spiders as pests — but they are actually some of nature’s most effective defenders.

A single bat can eat thousands of insects in one night. Frogs help keep insect populations under control in wetlands and farms. Spiders reduce many agricultural pests naturally without chemicals.

When excessive pesticide use harms these animals, ecosystems lose part of their natural balance. That can contribute to rising pest populations and greater dependence on chemical control.

Protecting biodiversity is not just about saving wildlife — it’s also about supporting healthier farms, cleaner water, and more balanced ecosystems.

Nature works best when every species can do its part.

06/14/2026

06/11/2026

He's not smiling in this Pic, but nothing makes Tim happier than a new mower!😂


❤️

06/09/2026

I had the sweetest little bride this weekend! She was so congenial and pleasant, the bride you dream about working with! She wanted something pretty and colorful, that was her only request!! Congratulations to Amanda and Andrew!! Thank you for choosing local flowers for your celebration!

06/04/2026

A plastic loop looks harmless until something grows inside it.

That is the detail people forget.

A squirrel, turtle, bird, fox, or seal can slip through a ring when it is young, curious, hungry, or just moving too fast through human mess.

Then the animal grows.

The plastic does not.

What began as loose trash becomes a collar with no release button. It can rub skin raw, block feeding, restrict movement, cause infection, or tighten slowly enough that the injury stays hidden until it is severe.

The cruel part is how ordinary it is. No villain. No trap set on purpose. Just packaging tossed away with its shape still intact.

That is why the smallest fix matters. Cut every loop before it reaches a bin, a beach, a drain, or a field. Make the circle useless before nature finds it.

Sometimes protection is not a grand rescue.

Sometimes it is one quiet snip before the damage begins.

05/23/2026

Those little brown ornaments hanging from your arborvitae aren't pinecones or dead leaves. They're bagworm cases — and each one is full of eggs about to hatch.

The bags are tough to spot because the caterpillars build them from the needles and twigs of the tree they're feeding on. The camouflage is nearly perfect. By the time you notice the browning, a heavy infestation has already thinned the foliage — and evergreens don't grow back needles the way deciduous trees replace leaves.

The best time to remove them is now, while the eggs are still inside the bags and before hatching begins.

🌿 Where to look this weekend:

- Inner and outer branches of arborvitae, juniper, pine, and spruce — check the interior of the hedge where bags are hardest to see from a distance
- Broadleaf trees nearby — maple, oak, and sycamore can host them too, though the damage is less severe because the leaves regrow
- Chain-link fences and brick walls near affected trees — caterpillars sometimes migrate and anchor bags to structures

- Look for a teardrop-shaped pod roughly the size of a thumb, woven from dead needles and hanging by a silk thread

🌱 How to remove them:

- Hand-pick or snip each bag from the branch — don't just drop them on the ground, the eggs can still hatch from a fallen bag
- Remove the silk band wrapped around the twig where the bag was attached — left in place, it can girdle the twig and restrict new growth
- Drop the bags into a bucket of soapy water and let them soak for a couple of days before discarding
- Check the entire hedge, not just the outer face. Bags on interior branches are the ones most people miss — and the ones that do the most damage next season

One pass through the hedge this weekend catches them before they hatch. The bags are easy to remove by hand. The caterpillars that emerge from them aren't 🌿

05/23/2026

You've seen the hedges shelter songbirds — cardinals, finches, chickadees moving through the branches. But there's a group that can't climb to reach them.

Cottontails. Towhees. Red-backed salamanders. Ring-necked snakes. Song sparrows nesting at ground level. Fireflies whose larvae live in the leaf debris. Shrubs and hedges shelter what perches. Everything that lives on the ground needs cover on the ground.

A modest pile of branches in a quiet corner, near existing shrubs, serves what can't climb.

🌿 The setup:
- Foundation logs four to six inches across — cross-stacked on bare earth, the hollows underneath become the actual shelter
- Smaller branches layered on top — alternating directions hold the structure and keep air spaces below
- Against existing cover — a hedge line, fence row, or woodland edge gives wildlife a safe travel route
- At least thirty feet from the house — reduces rodent traffic near the foundation, and in fire-prone regions follow local fire-safe spacing
- Top up yearly — piles break down in three to five years, so an armload of fresh debris keeps it living

The traffic is different from what you see at the feeder. Cottontails rest inside during the heat of the day. Towhees scratch the leaf litter at the base for insects. Small harmless snakes — ring-necked and brown snakes that eat slugs and earthworms — coil under decaying logs. Salamanders move through after summer rain. Fireflies float above it at dusk.

🐾 The difference:
- Hedges and shrubs: eight to twelve songbird species at branch level
- Brush pile: twenty-plus species across five animal groups — mammals, ground-nesting birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects

A hedge shelters the air. A brush pile shelters the soil.

Most yards have the first. Almost none have the second. The species losing habitat fastest are the ground-dwellers, and a corner pile of yard waste is the cheapest cover they will ever get. 🌱