The MagiK Garden

@themagikgarden.com

555 Followers 171 Following

Backyard native plant nursery based out of Blue Bell, PA https://themagikgarden.com/linkinbio/

Apricot colored oleander aphids colonizing Asclepias syriaca. A few lacewing eggs are visible in the photo hanging off the edge of the leaf. Lacewings are a beneficial insect, predating on aphids and other tiny invertebrates.
Leaf mold beneath a pile of autumn leaves from previous years.
Sida hermaphrodita aka Virginia fanpetals in bloom. This is a very tall species, so I have it growing against the very boring back of my house with its very boring windows and siding.
Phemeranthus teretifolius, aka the Appalachian fameflower, shown blooming in a painted terracotta pot hanging on a wooden trellis. Below the pot is a mix of other native species, including ostrich fern, white wood asters, Gray's sedge, wild ginger, jewelweed, and a young wooly dutchman's pipevine.
Campanulastrum americanum with large, purple flowers. This is a biennial species.
128-cell seed flat with Lilium philadelphicum seedlings, one which still has the seed coat still stuck to it because it germinated recently. The soil is covered in a mix of chicken grit and oyster shell to discourage animals from digging into them. Seeds and bits from the seedheads from river birch are also visible on top of the grit, which help to keep out most weeds (undesirable other plants in this case).
"Pocket pollinator paradise planting" showing Lonicera sempervirens hanging off a trellis, Pycnanthemum incanum (possibly hybrid), Asclepias incarnata, Hydrangea arborescens, Hypericum kalmianum, Sorghastrum nutans, Senna marilandica, and in the distance a hedge of Myrica pensylvanica. Through the hedge the main road is visible, until the hedge finally fills in.
Pot from a commercial nursery claiming a tropical perennial (not annual) is a butterfly garden plant where it is clearly not native, based on the instructions to bring it indoors to overwinter. The verbage on the pot was corrected with a photo edit ti encourage people choose native-to-region plants instead to support butterflies.
Seedhead on fuzzy wuzzy sedge
My hand holding the seedhead of Carex grayi which has inflated perigynia that resemble the points on a morningstar (weapon).
Clump of Arisaema triphyllum complex popping up among sweetgrass, aka Hierochloe odorata or whatever it's supposed to be now.
Carex gracilima with developing seed heads growing in front of skunk cabbage
Young growth at the base of a black highbusg blueberry
My hand shows the scale of this tiny species, with a singular flower
Parking lot with stacks of mulch and canopy visible in the distance, and a line of people stretching all the way forward. The line was already several hundred feet long.
Tiny blue-eyed mary (Collinsia verna) blooming in a plug tray with blue-white bi-color flowers.
Cerastium strictum in full bloom at The MagiK Garden
Viola sororia potted and arranged in trans pride flag colors: blue freckles, magenta, white, whute freckles, magenta, blue freckles
Garlic mustard, garden bed in the background
Cerastium strictum in bloom (large white flowers) at The MagiK Garden nursery
close-up of Trillium cuneatum reproductive organs and petals
Antennaria neglecta blooming among pavers set in soil waiting for the plants to fill in, with a house in the background
Aquilegia canadensis 'Little Lanterns' photographed in bloom April 24, 2025. Nursery plants are in their 2nd year of growth and will likely put out some blooms this year!
Dark brown, almost black bird's nest fungus cups with some black eggs in some of them surrounded by a bed of woodchips, and a small maple leaf back-side up stuck tucked underneath the top cup
Photo showing the difference between treated and untreated Enemion biternatum seed. On the left is an undeveloped seed that hadn't been treated. On the right, treated Enemion biternatum seed is much more developed. Both were in warm moist treatment for 3 days (post treatment and control)
Dangly catkins on speckled alder, planter visible in background
Trifolium carolinianum tiny cotyledons growing in cell tray covered in chicken grit
Prairie_up posted 20 hours ago on Threads: Somebody told me in response to something I posted that they wished everybody would stop easily succumbing to things that foment hatred and anger and division. And I'm like yeah you mean the war and racism and sexism I was just posting about??? Take your colonial white privilege and stuff it. Five hearts, one comment
Lupinus perennis cotyledons in a plug cell covered with chick grit. White text on teal reads "Lupinus perennis"
Fern growing out of a french drain at the base of a concrete wall in the basement, just barely visible behind plug trays covered with chick grit.
Two plastic pots set atop a chopped painted concrete floor filled with potting mix and grape cuttings.
magikgardenpa replying to Prairie_UP Ben, It's not a debatable word, and it's not tied to any social bullshit. Something either is or isn't invasive, which is determined through the efforts of a number of organizations and task forces, including citizen science reporting. The hort version is to point out that an aggressive species is reported to show invasive tendencies, or it is being reported as invasive. Stop making everything into a social justice battle. Can we reserve that for real human problems pls? Here's PA's report: (link to PISC report server web portal) [continuing thread] To determine how detrimental a certain invasive species might be, PA followed forms like these. I'm not sure if it's still being used, or if they're working on updating them, or some trad-hort landscapers got themselves into positions of power to remove this as a priority. For now the forms are still visible online if you want to copy it down before they're removed. Trad-hort has always used various semantics games (including social justice) to discount this as a matter of opinion. (link to nyis.info pdf example of report form)
Threads post from prairie-up "So it's ok for conservationists to use the term "invasive species" but not anyone in the hort field. Why is that? Privillege and supremacy. And the idea gardening is a high art, a reflection of the personal, the province of the holy." magikgardenpa (aka themagikgarden) replies "Are you serious?"
I often hear it said to not use mulch or woodchips, because it inhibits germination. Clearly that's a lie. Photo of parially weeded playground area showing a base of woodchips. Thatch under climbing geodome is a mix of stiltgrass and crabgrass that had taken over.
My fingers stained orange from the seeds after sowing.
Glassine packets of spores I ordered from AFS with a part of my order form visible behind it.
Watercolor painted artwork depicting Ross from FRIENDS popping out from behind a privet bush yelling "PRIVEEEEEET". Many color options are available. This one is shown on a men's extra soft tshirt in heather peach color
Sarracenia purpurea in a bog with fat pitchers and short keels (the flappy part that sticks up in the middle of the pitcher lengthwise)
Danthonia spicata, semi-evergreen (mostly dormant) groundcover on a path that only took 2-3 years to fill in just by clearing the ground around it and allowing it to seed in. Some pockets of snow still visible, an American holly that seeded in, and further towards the top you can see some Carex albicans (whitetinged sedge) which grows along with it in similar full-sun and dry. This is an upland woodland path along a very sunny edge.
Two skunk cabbage flowers peeking out from the leaf litter.
Snow and ice still cover the majority of the pond, but the purple pitcher plants and scouring rush have shaken off their snowcover. A tiny gargoyle statue just barely peeks out from behind the pitcher plant.
Purple pitcher plant - currently red - surrounded by leaf litter and snow.
I'm finally starting to upload my *hopeful* list of plants to the site - everything I'm currently growing. Some of these are definitely going to be available. Others are sown, so it depends on how well the seeds do. That includes the one in the photo - Ampelaster carolinianus. As easy as it would be to get root cuttings, I opted to plant a second one this year in the hopes of obtaining viable seed, and it managed to bloom in time to be cross pollinated some before winter. Hopefully the seed's good! Stay tuned for future plant lists 😉 Added to the site today: Aconitum uncinatum - Southern Blue Monkshood (grown 2025, definite) Acorus americanus - Sweetflag (a few extra left-over plants from my own sowing last year, very limited) Adlumia fungosa - Allegheny vine (I've grown these from seed a few times now, highly likely) Ampelaster carolinianus - climbing aster (fingers crossed seed is good!) Anaphalis margaritacea - Pearly Everlasting (poor germinator, hopefully will have some) Antennaria neglecta - Prairie Everlasting (a few from 2025, sown a few more) Arisaema dracontium - Green Dragon (quite a few good looking baby corms from 2025) Asclepias amplexicaulis - Clasping Sand Milkweed (sown, fingers crossed) Asclepias purpurascens - purple milkweed (sown tons, fingers crossed) Asclepias variegata - Redring Milkweed (sown, didn't get tons of seed because greedy profit-mongers charge too damn much for these fancy weeds... fingers crossed, eventually will have my own seed supply and nipping that bs in the bud) Asclepias viridiflora-Green Comet Milkweed (sown, fingers crossed) Astilbe biternata - Appalachian False Goat's Beard (sown, fingers crossed, only native Astilbe in the US but very near native) Brickellia cordifolia - Flyr's Brickelbush (got seed from my own plants I bought in Georgia, brought back and planted 2025, waiting to see if hardy here too, species of concern like Georgia Asters!) Eupatorium hyssopifolium - Hyssopleaf Thoroughwort (sown, should be reliable)
Bottle of disinfectant from Chemical Guys. I only use appropriate secondary containers for any chemical mixes, be it herbicides or disinfectant. Never store in a food container or something else. Label is law. Text reads "ZeroTol HC Greenhouse disinfectant" Arrow points to bottle "proper chem bottle" Instructions for zerotol: "prep ahead and use within 24 hours" Only mix up as much as you need to use in that time. Here it was 1ml for 1/3 16oz bottle.
Text reads: This is my steam table like the ones caterers use, but I only use for "crafts" Filled with my MagiK Mix medium, sans perlite Arrow points to cloth "Lined with frost cover cloth" Arrow points to tray "Holey steamer tray" You need the cloth to keep the soil from falling through the steamer holes. I set it on the highest setting and leave it going for a few hours. It's in my basement. It smells earthy. Idk why people think it's stinky. The coco coir in the mix actually smells kinda sweet.
The Princeton Field Guides to Ferns, Clubmosses and Quillworts of Eastern North America on top of a mossy-print desk pad, with an old watchmaker's jewel box converted into a spore storage container for clubmosses. The box is open showing some numbered pill cases containing spore and old, faded cutouts of three species of clubmosses: princess pine, ground pine and stag's horn clubmoss
Kitchen hydroponic system in the background with a variety of lettuces and a sandwich in the foreground with whole wheat, mayo, freshly harvested lettuce and dill
Two photos taken in snow-covered woods stacked on top of one another. Top photo shows worn tracks cutting through the snow, with the words "deer path at the back of the property/ no dead-hedge at this location." Bottom photo shows another section of the property with snow cover and the absence of deer tracks. A dead hedge is visible at the top of this photo. The text reads "Dead-hedge visible at the top of this photo/ no deer tracks present."
Random horseshoe print the size of a horseshoe for a large draft horse that also didnt break through several inches of ice and snow.
Unfurling leaves of skunk cabbage are only present in the spring months, then go dormant in summer. The leaf litter hides the high water table of this vernal swamp.
7 gallon pots with very young skunk cabbage plants (Symplocarpus foetidus) contained within an old, leaky and dented galvanized tub, snow surrounding the tub itself. An 8th pot not visible in the photo is behind the tub because it didn't fit.
Caved in dish portion is the entrance to the burrow, with the mound of snow hinting at the mounded soil underneath. Various twigs and plant debris with other smaller holes visible, but none the size of a groundhog.
Andropogon gyrans aka Anatherum gyrans maintains its fall color through the winter months, and remains flexible and upright through the season regardless of strong winds or ice and snow.
My hand gently holding a DeKay's Brownsnake which are present and abundant at The MagiK Garden. Nursery plants are visible in the background.
Jack-by-the-hedge flower fairy of the wayside, illustration by Cicely Mary Barker. The answer: we know this in the US as garlic mustard, an invasive plant here that is native to the UK where Cicely lived.