This week, Andrew Bunting highlights spicebushes, part of the genus Lindera, which includes as many as 100 evergreen and deciduous species. All of them can be cultivated locally, are exceptionally deer-resistant, and offer a beautiful suffusion of orange and yellow in the fall.

This spring has been one of the coolest in memory. Cool days without excessively cold nights have extended the blooming seasons for many plants. These include Swarthmore’s profusion of magnolia trees, especially the incredibly floriferous saucer magnolia, Magnolia x soulangeana. Some saucer magnolias have bloomed for three to four weeks this spring! Likewise, tulip season has seldom been better.