The Node

Woodlanders' resource center for plant education, how-tos, garden inspiration, and news.

Region

Southeast

32 articles

A Guide to Kalmias, the Famed Mountainlaurel

Quick start Meet the genus Ecosystem Pollination Safety Care Species Design References Kalmia at Woodlanders We have been growing and offering Kalmia since the late 1970s. Over decades of propagation,...

Read more
Longleaf Pine Restoration and the Art of Restraint in Modern Landscape Design

Essay • Longleaf Pine • Restoration & Design Longleaf, Reimagined An opinion piece from a student of horticulture—and a lover of design. Longleaf pine stand (Osceola National Forest, Florida). Image...

Read more
An Exploration of the Conradina Genus

Woodlanders Botanicals Conradina: the scrubland rosemary that teaches you how to design with place A genus that looks Mediterranean, smells like the mint family it belongs to, and tells the...

Read more
Loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasianthus): the swamp’s camellia—and a masterclass in place-based design

Woodlanders Field Guide Loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasianthus): the swamp’s camellia—and a masterclass in place-based design A design-forward, research-backed profile for landscape designers, gardeners, and curious plant lovers— with Woodlanders field notes...

Read more
Clinopodium: The Soft Power of the Mint Family

Woodlanders Botanical Journal Clinopodium: The Soft Power of the Mint Family A genus that doesn’t shout—yet somehow holds a garden together. A story of scent, ecology, and design restraint from...

Read more
The Enchanted Trees of the South

Woodlanders Botanicals · Ethnobotany · Southern Ecology The Enchanted Trees of the South A botanical history of belief, survival, and synthesis in North America—told in leaf, smoke, and root, with...

Read more
Ilex vomitoria ‘Yawkey’: The yellow-berried yaupon that sells out in winter

Woodlanders Botanicals • Plant Portrait Ilex vomitoria ‘Yawkey’ The yellow-berried yaupon that sells out in winter—its coastal origin story, botanical character, and the quiet cultural gravity behind its leaves. In...

Read more
Cephalanthus occidentalis: Architect of the Shallow Water World

  Woodlanders Botanical Essay Architect of the Shallow Water World Cephalanthus occidentalis, the quiet engineer of wetlands, and what it means to be an edge species in an edge era....

Read more
Quercus stellata: The Reluctant Monarch of Poor Soils

  Woodlanders Field Notes | PHOTO BY STEPHANIE BRUNDAGE Quercus stellata: Post Oak, Boundary Tree Some trees feel like they’re just passing through a place. Post oak, Quercus stellata, feels...

Read more
Why Quercus alba Must Return

If Quercus alba could write its autobiography, it might end with gratitude. Not for the ships it built or the barrels it sealed, but for the overlooked gardeners and land...

Read more
Autumn Care for the Southeast’s Heirloom Woody Plants

There’s a certain sleight of hand in the Southeastern autumn. A kind of quiet alchemy, almost invisible if you only watch the trees from above ground. The leaves do their...

Read more
The Wisdom of Withering: What a Southern Garden Teaches Us in July

There comes a time in every Southern garden when the exuberance of spring has worn itself thin. By July, the once-rhapsodic green of May has dulled to olive; leaves begin...

Read more

From reading to growing

The plants behind the stories

Most of what we write about, we also grow. When a guide leaves you wanting the plant in your own ground, the nursery is a click away.

Browse the Plants