Author | Lightnews

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 1d

Summer bluets (Houstonia purpurea) are truly summer-and-fall bluets thanks to their long bloom period. Add this rare Pennsylvania native species to the list of #NativePlants for fall blooms!

My hand for scale holding up a stem of pinkish-white Houstonia purpurea flowers growing in a planter.

Houstonia purpurea flowers with pink buds; broad, leathery leaves and knobby stems. Nursery stock plant growing in a planter. A bright orange birch leaf had dropped into the planter.

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 2d

Symphyotrichum georgianum has the most perfect purple 💜

#NativePlants

Large deep purple georgia aster flower in bloom in a nursery pot

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 2d

I am not a luddite by any means. However, I think there should be reasonable regulations in place to avoid further degradation of habitat and quality of life, especially in an already heavily populated area. They don't need to be here. They don't even create that many jobs to need to be here.

The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 2d

Convert those old factories into housing the many homeless and those on the brink of losing their homes. Can we work on our basic human needs as a community before we allow precious real-estate to be used for non-essential money-making machines? Use what's there instead of developing more land?

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 2d

The state would make money, but where have these datacenters been built that actually benefitted the community? This is far too congested an area where we struggle to reduce pollution and strain on our utility systems to allow for such a system to be built HERE, regardless of personal issues with AI

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 2d

Not only that, we have many in Philadelphia and the surrounding regions that already struggle with increased living costs. PA is not a cheap place to live. I have friends who live well below the poverty line. We ourselves barely live within our means. We can't float a massive jump in utility costs.

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 2d

A local fisherman told me that the waters are still so polluted that PA recommends against eating their catch more than once every month to two months at MOST. They cannot even catch their own food to help with food costs! Mother Earth provides, but we've destroyed it to the point that it isn't good

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 2d

For everyone local to me in southeastern PA, please turn out to speak out against making a zoning exception to convert an old factory into a datacenter that would use the Schuylkill river for its cooling systems. We cannot support this here - neither the people nor the environment. #PSA #Call2Action

Stop a 2 Million Square Foot Data Center in Plymouth Township – Delaware Riverkeeper Network

delawareriverkeeper.org

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 3d

According to the NC state extention site, this also serves as a host to the same species as milkweeds (unlike dogbane, which I've only ever seen hosting dogbane beetles - gorgeous iridescent insects that make maintaining a dogbane stand totally worth it).

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 3d

Have you ever seen a ginormous milkweed pod with wings and wondered what it is? It's not a milkweed, but in the same family. This one is known as anglepod, aka Gonolobus suberosus, a milkweed vine native just south of PA #NativePlants

Massive seed pod, smooth with wings protruding along the length of the pod, split open to see the ripe, black seeds and silk within the pod. My hand for size/scale. I'm still in sweats after driving 14 hours back from Georgia.

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 6d

Did you know beech nuts are edible and delicious? The ones that are rounded in the middle are good. Flat ones are empty. You should be able to get at least one per cluster. Save some to plant as well. Dont worry, wildlife can climb to get higher ones, so enjoy the ones within reach. #NativePlants

Beech leaves with ripe nut visible on the branch

Beech nuts on the tree, with terminal bud visible for ID

Removing beech nuts is easy with a paring knife to peel them open

Large old beech tree in my parents' back yard with a bunch of sticks leaning on it, likely for a future project. Hoarding good sticks is a genetic characteristic of my family it would seem.

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 8d

Virginia! What the hell? Rip it out!

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 8d

Is there a decline? Sure, it happens with the development of land. But you don't need to make stuff up to argue your point. People will call you out on the lie, and it ends up hurting your credibility. There are better ways to argue your points, i.e. scientific studies from peer-reviewed journals.

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 8d

I don't agree with falsifying information. Something I keep hearing is that people don't see bug splatter on windshields anymore because of the decline of insect populations. So I tested it (we're road-trippin'). I cleaned this 2 hrs ago. There is plenty of bug splatter.

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 9d

Lobelia puberula looked all sad and floppy just weeks ago despite my other Lobelias looking amazing, and now it has taken on a new life. Of course, long after the market days are done, lol. Now many of my plants are feeling renewed again in the cooler weather. Sure, why not. 😂😭

Lobelia puberula with a renewed sense of purpose

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 12d

I am giving the other three one more year to see if they will bloom in part sun, but delayed. If not, I will move them at the end of next year so I can get maximum amount of seed production from my plants.

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 12d

I had five plants total I'd planted out. 3 in part sun, two in full sun. This is a true heliophyte - i'd give it an 8. The part sun are growing much slower (they barely get shade, too). This year I planted out an additional 9 plants in the same location as these that are now blooming.

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The MagiK Garden @themagikgarden.com · 12d

Echinacea laevigata I grew from seed and planted last year decided to bloom a bit late in the season. Another started a month prior. First one white, this one pale pink. True to the epithet, all parts are smooth. I added more this year, with the goal of offering them in future years. #NativePlants