Impulse Buying, and the 17 Plants I Had to Have by Bob Hill

‘Midnight Magic’

So having just returned from a favorite nursery with 17 new plants I didn’t really need – but couldn’t live without – my mind leans toward the phenomenon of impulse buying, if not Zen and The Art of Horticultural Maintenance.

Precisely what is it that triggers the mind to buy what the billfold really isn’t happy about?

Blooming directly before me was the perfect test case of that – a ‘Midnight Magic,’ crape myrtle, aka lagerstroemia, a word which always reminds me of accordion music in a German beer bar. The ‘Midnight Magic’ also comes with its own new-kid-on-the-block CIA code word: PILAG-V’ PP25, 925.

I’d been admiring its deep purple-maroon-burgundy foliage for months, but only as a busy passerby while wondering where all that foliage would lead in late summer. Suddenly the answer was right there: Dark screaming frothy pink.

Not necessarily the shrub for the horticultural faint of heart, but certainly the brightest guy in the room. Wearing pink, purple, maroon and burgundy. And I wanted it.

So there.

I do have many places for the more subtle summer colors, the white and pinkish caladiums and mellow yellow coreopsis and plenty of purchases to prove. The ‘Midnight Magic’ would have to go in an area where the other louts lived, or as an accent plant on the way to the tropical calocasia patch.

But in that moment – with absolutely no thought about where I would plant it, I just didn’t want it – I needed it!

Echinacea Supreme ‘Cantaloupe’

The same for another purchase on my more-vibrant whim list, the echinacea Supreme ‘Cantaloupe,’ which had all the orange subtlety of a traffic cone. Some days I lean toward the English garden, alive with salad mix of colors that speak but do not shout, and other days I want to hammer the landscape over the head.

Take that, garden!

Curiosity is also certainly part of my plant-picking process. There before me in the parade of 17 plants I couldn’t live without were three asters I had somehow not grown before:  Aster divaricatus ‘Eastern Star’ for the dry woodland shade, Aster macrophyllus or Big Leaf Aster for similar sites, and Aster tartaricus or Tartarian Aster, which booms to six feet, demands full sun and can grow as long and wide as a bathtub in about 20 minutes.

Frankly I wasn’t that crazy about the pictured flowers of the Eastern Star and the Big Leaf, which while attractive to the right bugs and happy in otherwise barren places, just didn’t look all that showy.

But along with that came the feeling I could be absolutely wrong about that. It would not be fair to pre-judge clusters of woodland flowers I had not seen, and I needed to give them a try.

Plant up or shut up.

The Tartarian Aster was a slightly different matter. I liked the photos and description of the flower. I had places where a nicely invasive plant blooming in late summer would seem to be the answer to an eight-acre, bare-space problem.

So, all told, I wasn’t sure about the flowers of two of the woodland asters, was pre-happy about the forecast size, color and range of the third aster – and I had never grown any of them.

I also just like asters, OK? I’d had good luck with the New England and New York asters, and I might even be willing to vote for a U.S. senator from at least one of those states.

After some investigation, I was both happy and terrified to learn the genus Aster once contained about 600 species in Eurasia and North America. That number has now been trimmed down to a mere 160, which means I’m only about 155 away from Complete Impulse Buying Aster Happiness, but my billfold wants nothing to do with that.

But moving on to 17 plants I did buy, the number included another favorite genus genre of mine, the variegated plants, be they perennial, shrub or tree.

This one was the sedum ‘Autumn Charm,’ another one of the CIA-numbered plants, this one Sedum telephium ‘Lajos’Plant Patent #14,421.

I have no rational explanation for a love of variegated plants. I just do, and that’s all I have to say about it. This one, according to the hired wordsmiths at Monrovia, is “a variegated sport of Sedum Autumn Joy. Light green leaves with a buttery white band on serrated edges on each leaf. A very stable mutation and incredibly showy. White buds open to rosy pink, then brick red tones develop in the flower-heads as fall arrives. Good winter interest.”

None of that buttery bluster was available to me when I bought two of those puppies. They were on sale for half-price and I just like variegated plants.

Done deal.

Dwarf Weigela ‘My Monet’

Also in the top 17 was Weigela ® ‘My Monet,’ the variegated, green and white, CIA dwarf ‘Verwig’ Plant Patent #16,824 – which now possibly means I’m 16,807 plants behind in buying new stuff. No surprise, the hired Monrovia wordsmiths labeled this one a “dwarf masterpiece.” I’ll stick with Monet’s “Woman with a Parasol.”

‘Coast to Coast’ Hosta

Moving on, there was the registered Shadowland ®’Coast to Coast’ hosta with that officious little ® in its name. It has thick, ruffled yellow leaves and I liked it. I really liked it. What else is there to understand?

Impulse Buying, and the 17 Plants I Had to Have originally appeared on Garden Rant on July 31, 2017.

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Beach Town’s Transition from Gambling and Gangs to Gorgeous Gardens by Susan Harris

This week I visited North Beach, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay, about 45 minutes from my home. I hadn’t been there since the 1980s, when I remember it as rundown and generally depressing.

A little research into the town’s history explains why. From Wikipedia:

The town was a gambling mecca for summer visitors from the Washington, D.C. area during the 1940s. In the 1960s and 1970s it became a destination for motorcycle gangs.

Sounds about right. But with post-hurricane rebuilding and a new mayor in 1999 came all sorts of revitalization, especially beautification through civic landscaping.

The bike path along the boardwalk got my attention with its stunning planter boxes, which use a different theme every 60 feet. I’m not sure how far this bike path goes but it’s so pretty, I want to bring my bike next time and find out.  When people pose for selfies with plants, town planners are doing something right.

Here’s a view toward the Bay.

Even more impressive is Sunrise Garden, a park at the main intersection in town. It’s a great example of civic landscaping that’s eco-friendly; it’s been certified as Bay-Wise.

  

This year North Beachers are excited to be in competition with just three other small towns in the U.S. (population less than 3,500) for a big America in Bloom award and all the bragging rights it could bring. I sure wish I had a vote.

Beach Town’s Transition from Gambling and Gangs to Gorgeous Gardens originally appeared on Garden Rant on July 26, 2017.

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Top 5 Considerations Before Hiring a Tree Care Company

Deciding which tree care company to hire can be quite a process. Companies can run from the national brand with thousands of employees across the country, the local professional, and the “guy with a truck” who may or may not carry insurance. Not only will you find all three of these types of businesses in your area, you will most likely find varying price points. There are many important factors to investigate before signing up for tree service at your home. Here are our top five – in no particular order.

1. Liability Insurance

“No insurance? No thank you.”

Maybe one of the most important factors to investigate before hiring a tree care company is making sure they carry proper insurance. Since tree pruning and removal work is one of the more dangerous occupations, checking with your hired company about their insurance is an important task to complete. Believe it or not, there are small companies out there that do not carry insurance, which places their team as well as you and your property in greater danger. Hiring a lower cost company like this may save you money in the short term, but may also put you at higher risk for serious legal problems down the road. Although tree workers are at highest risk for injury from sharp tools and falling limbs, people and property in the area are also at risk. Protect yourself and your home by hiring a tree care company with adequate insurance.

2. Proper Safety Precautions

“When you gamble with safety, you can bet your life.”

When performing dangerous work – part of a tree care professional’s everyday job – using the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is of utmost importance. Safety glasses, hard-hats, chaps, and face-shields are just some of the protective equipment that reputable companies will provide for their coworkers. Tree companies that value safety also hold regular safety meetings with their crews, during which they may provide training, feedback, and discussions on near-miss incidents.

Lastly, many homeowners want to save a little money by doing the work themselves. But many times larger jobs are too large or complex for the average person. Most importantly, there are more things that can go wrong than right when it comes to pruning or removing large trees, including equipment mishaps, damage to structures and property, or injury/death to the homeowner. Remember, the tree care industry is a dangerous one so you might be best to leave it to the professionals.

3. Professional Appearance

“Dress for success.”

A professional tree care company will have well-marked vehicles that are in good working order, uniformed co-workers who take their occupation seriously, and equipment that is in good shape. Also pay attention to the little things: do they have a professional website, did you receive a professional proposal explaining the exact work specifications, and do they stand behind their work? Most professional companies will ask for feedback on the work that was performed and clear up any customer service issues that may arise. Remember, no company is perfect but how they handle issues when they come up really tells you a lot about their character.

4. Reputation

“Your reputation precedes you.”

A service company that will be doing any type of work at your home should have a good reputation. Whether you look at reviews online or ask a friend for references, do your research. Most tree care companies will not ask for any money upfront and if they do, you may want to ask why or take your money elsewhere. Although it is out of the ordinary for tree work to be paid up front, jobs in some of the green industry require upfront payment (ex. down-payment on a large landscape job). Ask questions of the company to get to know them: How many employees do you have? How many years have you been in business? Do you own your equipment? Do you use subcontractors or do you hire your own employees? Do you provide health insurance and/or retirement? Tomlinson Bomberger has been in business since 1981 and we believe our people are our most important asset; therefore, we offer health insurance and retirement to all employees. When we take care of our people, they take care of our clients!

5. Certification and Training

“Training is everything.”

Another important factor when considering hiring a tree care company is the type of certifications and organizations they are a part of. Two of the most relevant organizations in the industry are the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA).

ISA – Through research, technology, and education, the ISA promotes the professional practice of arboriculture and fosters a greater worldwide awareness of the benefits of trees. The ISA Certified Arborist designation certifies that an individual has attained a generally accepted level of knowledge in the areas of soil management, ID and selection, installation and establishment, safe work practices, tree biology, pruning, diagnosis and treatment, urban forestry, tree protection and tree risk management. In order to become certified, the candidate is required to have 3 years of full-time experience in arboriculture before taking the exam. Recertification must be done every 3 years, and may be accomplished through recognized conferences related to the industry, in-house training, published articles, etc. The Certified Arborist designation shows that your tree care company believes in continuous training, is in touch with trends in the industry and is knowledgeable about arboricultural practices. Tomlinson Bomberger believes certification is very important and that is why we have 12+ Certified Arborists within our organization.

TCIA – The Tree Care Industry Association has been in existence since 1938 with over 2,300 tree care firms and 14,000+ tree care professionals worldwide. They provide continuing education, training, conferences and put out publications to promote the safe and appropriate practices of the tree care industry. They provide the only safety credentialing program in the industry, the Certified Treecare Safety Professional (CTSP), which enhances candidates’ skills in four key areas: leadership, hazard control and prevention, incident control and prevention, and adult learning. Tomlinson Bomberger takes safety seriously and we are blessed to have a CTSP professional as part of our Tree Pruning & Removal team.

 

Hire An Experienced Tree Care Service

These are just a few of the items we believe should be taken into consideration before deciding to hire a tree care professional. Although not every job on a property may need professional help, please remember to think about safety any time you decide to do any work on your own. For any questions or for a free consultation with one of our Certified Arborists, please call us at 717-399-1991 or use our contact form. If you have any topics that you would like to see written about in an upcoming blog, please email Marketing@tbll.com.

 

About the Author – Greg Tomlinson
Marketing Coordinator & Account Manager

ISA Certified Arborist, Landscape Industry Certified Landscape Technician, Landscape Industry Certified Lawn Care Technician, NPMA QualityPro Certified, Certified Commercial Pesticide Applicator
 
Since 1999, Greg has been involved in the family-owned business when he began working part-time as a Lawn Care Technician and Landscape Crew Leader. After graduating from the University of Scranton with a degree in Human Resource Management and a minor in Business, Greg began working full-time with the Landscape team. He then moved into the Pest Control side of the business where he spent several years. More recently Greg served as a Residential Account Manager and is now the Marketing Coordinator. As he learns more about the business, what he enjoys most is interacting and serving both clients and coworkers alike. Greg appreciates all of the great relationships he has established with his clients and is grateful to the many people who have helped him grow personally and professionally. Greg resides in Manheim Township with his wife Juliana and their dog Arthur.

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The quick and dirty tricks of the yearly show gardener by Elizabeth Licata

If only everything could be like these hydrangeas, which pretty much look great all summer long.

Keep in mind that I’m not talking about gardens that are regularly visited by the public, via bus tours, Open Days, and appointments. Those are the real show gardens, and they don’t need to resort to subterfuge because they are maintained by dedicated owners (and sometimes staff) and they always look perfect.

The hanging basket I had just never popped. Time to toss it in favor of this one.

Garden Walk gardeners are left alone most of the year; they just need to be ready for the last weekend in July, when crowds of visitors descend on their neighborhoods. Because there are so many gardens, however, these visitors are not spending that much time in any particular garden. They can’t; there just isn’t time. So you can get away with things like:

These are houseplants but they can be popped into containers that have issues.

• Buying full-grown plants at the last minute to hide unsuccessful planting areas.
• Letting weeds thrive until a couple days before and then wacking all the pavement ones down with a trimmer. The others are only removed if they are a. obviously weeds, and b. noticeable.
• The other good weed option is laying down fine-grained dark mulch a couple days before, which will cover small ones and maybe smother them. I truly believe plants are the best mulch, but I have areas where coverage happens really slowly, thanks to (severe) dry shade.
• Buying the full-grown plants and not even bothering to plant them, if the containers can’t be seen.
• Covering up—and adding color—with brand-new annuals wherever possible. Of course, there are certain areas of my garden where every plant is a possible annual.

Dark (undyed) mulch can work wonders.

Of course, I’m not speaking of all Garden Walk gardeners, but many of us really have to do a lot of last-minute maintenance, especially those of us with fulltime jobs. It’s cheating, but it’s kind of fun, too.

Hope to see you this weekend. If so, see if you can find any of my garden trickery.

The quick and dirty tricks of the yearly show gardener originally appeared on Garden Rant on July 25, 2017.

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Garden Update Five Years On by Susan Harris

Since ripping out the turfgrass in my new townhouse garden in 2012, I’m still waiting for the turfless garden to look DONE, like Evelyn Hadden’s new garden seems to have done in barely a season.

Here you see the front garden in late May, after the azaleas were done. The evergreens on the outside are barely growing at all. Wish I were more patient about them but that’s never been my strong point – in gardening or in life.

Last year’s new perennials are taking their sweet time, too. Who doesn’t love Amsonia hubrichtii – and wish they could buy them full-grown already? I recently added some Little Bluestem ‘The Blues’ to fill up the border and they looked good immediately, however short.

Thankfully my favorite volunteers are going strong and because I’ve massed them over the years, they have a real impact – Rose Campion and Pink Evening Primrose.

Vigorous as always is the groundcover Sedum takesimense lining the path. Every visitor asks about it.

Sun-tolerant Coleuses have been outstanding in these containers in recent years but they look better than ever with a new skirt of Sedum ‘Angelina’ creeping down the sides. Who knew these seeming opposites could share a pot so happily – the thirsty Coleus with the dry-loving Sedum? Maybe adaptability should be added to plant descriptions.

The Coleus on the right is suffering, though the Sedum sarmentosum is cascading like a champ. Any guesses what’s eating the Coleus?

Another favorite with visitors is this Iresine ‘Blazing Lime.’ Love the rhubarby stems! I’m growing a redish Iresine potted up in a sunnier location and it’s wilting by mid-day. I’m wishing I’d done something like this instead in the pots.

From the house this is my view out front, still dominated by parked cars. The ‘Emerald Green’ Arborvitaes may not be growing but the Rudbeckias have filled in, at least.

Here in the back yard there’s more S. takesimsense (because no lawn, y’all) and this year I’m going a bit New-Dutch Wave with the addition of short grasses, like this Mexican Feather Grass. They filled in around the asters, which don’t look like much in the early season.

This week the Echinacea purpureas look so fabulous, I’m giving them a close-up.  Someone told me this is a short-lived plant but please let that be wrong! My patch is finally (almost) as large as I want.

Trying my patience in a good way are the trees I added to my back garden in recent months – two Japanese maples, two Redbuds and a fast-growing ‘Royal Purple’ Smoke Tree (or Bush). It’ll take a while for them to achieve their full glory but they were all beautiful on day one, so I’m a happy gardener.

For these last photos I drove the Beltway back to my old neighborhood on July 4th – because they do July 4th Parades like nobody else. On my way to the parade route I couldn’t resist stopping to stealthily shoot this garden and mentally thanking the unknown gardener for brightening my day.

Garden Update Five Years On originally appeared on Garden Rant on July 21, 2017.

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The 11th Garden Cruise Club

Our tenth garden cruise to benefit the Greening of Detroit was this past Sunday. As usual, I spent the day at home. My garden is on tour every year as I so enjoy meeting and talking to everyone who stops by. And I enjoy talking to those people who have taken our tour year after [...]

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Visiting Seed Savers Exchange

The post Visiting Seed Savers Exchange appeared first on Miss Smarty Plants.

On a perfect summer day last week, Mike and I made the trip to Decorah, Iowa to visit the Seed Savers Exchange. I’ve heard about Seed Savers Exchange for many years, but since our trips to Iowa were often very short, we just didn’t have time to include this in our itinerary. Not so now!

 

Seed Savers Exchange Mission:

We conserve and promote America’s culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants.

 

 

 

The very charming Lillian Goldman Visitors Center was our first stop. I probably should have taken a photo of the inside of this building, with walls filled with their seed offerings and various gardening books and tools, it was a little bit of heaven! I purchased several packets of seed and off we went to explore the test gardens.

“Diane’s Garden” is certainly a highlight!  Surrounded by a white fence with a gorgeous red barn as the backdrop, this garden is packed with flowering plants, vegetables and herbs. Many are labeled (and I have a feeling the few labels I couldn’t find have been engulfed by the plants!) and makes it easy to go inside and purchase additional seeds.

Seed Savers Exchange hosts many special events throughout the year and on the day we visited they were preparing for an evening concert.

These Heritage Farm poppies struck a cord with me. For many years we would visit a nearby neighbor who would grow these beautiful flowers and then share their seed pods with us. Their clear pink flowers aren’t too long lasting, but the strong seed pods seem to make up for this.

It was nice to see the plants being grown in a garden setting as well as in more rigid trial beds. It is much easier to appreciate how these will behave when grown at home when you can see how they interact with their neighbors.

In addition to the gardens, there are miles of trails for exploring the property.  I won’t lie, it was hot and I only had sandals on, so our hiking was limited. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the folks at Seed Savers Exchange even allow visitors to bring leashed dogs on their visit.  If you are traveling with a pet there are no excuses to not stop by here!

 

Our bit of walking did take us to the historic orchard on the property. The Historic Orchard has over 900 varieties of apple trees and the newly planted Amy Goldman Heritage Orchard featuring Midwestern apple varieties. These apples don’t look like your grocery store apples. They are different colors and sizes and the Seed Savers Exchange serves as a sort of “vault” for these historic varieties.

Just outside the charming town of Decorah, we spent about an hour and a half here but could easily have stayed longer with better shoes and cooler temperatures.  Visiting Seed Savers Exchange was a great first stop to our day and we were happy to spend time enjoying the restaurants and breweries which also call Decorah home.

Ready to plan your visit? Go ahead, enter this in your phone and find out just how long it will take you to get here.

Address: 3074 North Winn Rd Decorah, IA 52101

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Buffalo’s first green roof, ten years later by Elizabeth Licata

The roof now

Buffalo is not landscape architecture central. Aside from a large Olmsted park system (that’s been adulterated in spots), I find many WNY public landscapes uninspired. Private gardens are the thing here; almost 500 of them will be open to the public next week.

However, I do have a favorite local landscape architect. I’ve written before about Joy Kuebler’s forward-thinking public and private garden designs. We worked together on an unusual Show House exterior landscape in 2009, but, before that, in 2007, I visited Joy’s house to see my first green roof. It was also the first to be installed in WNY.

The 200 square foot roof is over her office, a separate building behind her house. The October installation was quite an event, with local green industry professionals and students invited to witness it. A company from Pennsylvania (Lichtenfels) provided the complex structure, as no local nursery had the training to do this (at that time). In fact, when Joy told people she was putting in a green roof, many assumed that she was referring to the paint color. Go here for a detailed technical description of the installation. As my small image (above) shows (go to her website for bigger ones) the roof was very pretty the following summer, with Russian sage, grasses, and various sedums.

This year, I returned for the first time to see the ten-year-old structure. There have been changes, to be sure, but many of the original plants have survived (some seeding themselves in the yard as well as on the roof). The Russian sage and Karl Foerster grass did not survive the first big drought (the roof is never watered) in 2013, and have been replaced by yarrow and Japanese palm sedge, but the red and yellow sedums are thriving. There are also grape hyacinths in spring (snowdrops, which love moisture, did not fare well).

We discussed a couple aspects of the roof:

Weeds: These are really not much of a problem due to the dry conditions. The roof is cleared once of year of maple seedlings (you can see it’s surrounded by trees), but many ground weeds are simply not supported.

Planting: Fall is the best time, because of the moisture, but the plugs have to be tiny—about three inches—because of the grid structure.

Pitch: At 7:12, the roof has the maximum pitch advised.

Joy Kuebler’s garden has some other cool features; this water feature was designed for the 2009 Show House project.

There are now a few more green roofs in Buffalo, though not nearly as many as many as I’d like. You’re far more likely to see solar panels these days. Too bad, because this one demonstrates how beautiful and easy a residential green roof can be.

Buffalo’s first green roof, ten years later originally appeared on Garden Rant on July 20, 2017.

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Give Your Property A Lasting Impression

Have you ever stopped and really observed the front entrance and surroundings of your commercial property? If so, what are your initial thoughts? Is it appealing? Would it make you want to explore more? Is the landscape neat and well kept? First impressions are lasting impressions.

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What is “cute”? by Thomas Christopher

The other day, a visiting friend gasped when he saw a rat run across a corner of the suburban Connecticut yard where I garden during the week.  I shuddered when he told me.  I could guess what had drawn the creature:  we have a henhouse full of geriatric chickens who are not the neatest of creatures.  Indeed, I found the mouth of a burrow in one end of their run, and I took measures to evict the burrower.  I didn’t hesitate; I know that if the rat proliferates, the neighbors rightfully will complain and the chickens will have to go.

Yet later, as I was pondering this visitation, I spotted a chipmunk sitting in the crotch of the sourwood tree (Oxydendron  arboreum) that tops the tangle of bare-knuckled perennials my wife and I grow in front of our house.  And the unfairness of the situation struck me.  Why is it that the chipmunk, also a rodent, passes as cute, while rats are almost universally hated?

In fact, most of the charges leveled at rats also apply to chipmunks.  For example, chipmunks are disease vectors:  out west they are carriers of plague and here in the east they are among the most dangerous reservoirs of Lyme disease.  Depending on where you live, they may also host leptospirosis, salmonella, hantavirus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, encephalitis, and, of course, rabies.

Chipmunks are less prone to invade our houses, it is true, though they will occasionally gnaw their way into attics.  If cornered, chipmunks, like rats, will bite.

What’s sure is that chipmunks are far more serious than rats as garden pests.  Chipmunks, along with squirrels, are demons for looting new plantings of small bulbs such as crocuses, and like rats, chipmunks are burrowers, creating tunnels that may damage the roots of desirable plants.

When I posed this question to my wife (a level-headed scientist), she responded that chipmunks are cute and that rats, with their pointy noses and hairless tails, are creepy.  That, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.  I had a girlfriend once (yes, before I was married) who was also a scientist and who had adopted a retired laboratory rat.  She adored this creature, who was smart and playful and clearly was attached to her.  I must admit, though, that I never took to it.

I have a neighbor, a retired college professor, whose backyard is shaded by a row of enormous Norway spruces.  One of these became the favored roosting spot for a flock of black vultures.  The vultures were also messy, covering the terrace below the tree with excrement; I think that the professor, a man in his 80’s also found the constant scrutiny of scavengers ominous.  At any rate, he began to annoy the birds with a BB gun, persisting until, after several months, they moved on to another, distant tree.  Would the college professor have responded the same way had his visitors been a flock of bald eagles?

What is “cute”? originally appeared on Garden Rant on July 17, 2017.

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What does poison ivy look like?

The post What does poison ivy look like? appeared first on Miss Smarty Plants.

What a way to start a blog post, eh?  “What does poison ivy look like?” has been heard a few times around here lately.

We are clearing out an area of old trees, shrubs and underbrush and my lack of familiarity with some of these plants is prompting this question.

 

So, what does poison ivy look like?

• Leaves of three, let them be… Leaves of five, let them thrive.  This little rhyme is keeping me in check these days with my poison ivy “sightings.”  Look for plants with leaves in groups of three as an initial indicator. Not to get too technical, but I have to put in here that technically these are leaflets, comprising a single leaf.
• As a vine, look for hairy roots that are holding on tightly to a tree or wall.

This plant, Virginia Creeper, is the plant most often confused with poison ivy. It can be a spreading plant on the ground or a climbing vine, but its five count of leaflets will help to rule it out as the cause of unwelcome itching.

The folks at GreenPal have put together this handy infographic for identifying poison ivy. It helps me to see these poisonous plants next to each other, and, even though they gross me out, the photos of how your skin looks after an encounter with poison ivy. If nothing else, the next time you hear “what does poison ivy look like?” you will be all set to help sort out the confusion.

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