Nancy J. Ondra
Nan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and gardens on four acres, with intensively planted gardens, open shrubbery areas, and managed meadows. A lifelong mid-Atlantic gardener, she started her career working in nurseries and private gardens before getting into garden publishing at Rodale Press in 1990. She then became a freelance garden writer, editor, and photographer. Nan is the author or co-author of over 15 books, including Grasses, The Perennial Care Manual, and The Perennial Matchmaker. She also keeps a blog (albeit somewhat fitfully these days) at Hayefield: A Pennsylvania Plant Geek’s Garden.
Though Nan appreciates a wide variety of plants and gardening styles, she’s especially keen on herbaceous plants in general and herbs, unusual annuals, uncommon perennials, and natives in particular. She’s also passionate about growing pretty much anything from seed, as well as collecting and sharing seeds, and she holds a Seed Dealer’s License in Pennsylvania for her small business selling seeds on Etsy.
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsPlant a Perennial Garlic Patch
October means garlic-planting time here in the Mid-Atlantic. Normally, growing garlic is a long-term prospect, as you won’t get to harvest the pungent bulbs until the following summer. But there’s…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsHow to Spruce Up Containers for Fall
If your container plantings are looking frazzled after this rough summer, you’re not alone. However, our Mid-Atlantic autumn season still has a fair way to go, so don’t give up…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsDisease Alert: Sudden Oak Death on Rhododendrons
Did you buy a rhododendron this year? If so, read on! Over the last few years, increasing numbers of dead ash trees (Fraxinus spp., Zones 3–9) have become a common…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsLate-Summer Combinations
Brutal heat, tropical humidity, torrential downpours, or extended dry spells—welcome to late summer in the Mid-Atlantic region! We have plenty of excuses for our gardens looking tired and tattered now,…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsNative to Know: Rattlesnake Master
Do you gravitate toward tough, fuss-free perennials so that you can enjoy your garden without a lot of work? Or do you prefer hunting for out-of-the-ordinary plants to give your…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsMid-Atlantic Natives on Trial at the Mt. Cuba Center
It’s so easy to fall in love with plants you see in a magazine or on a website, but when you’re trying to find out if they’re likely to perform…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsAre Low-Mow Grasses the Way to Go?
Here in the Mid-Atlantic, we’re in a transition zone where lawn grasses are concerned. Gardens in the northern parts of our region mostly have cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsGardening for Caterpillars
For so many years, the focus of gardening has been on growing food and flowers. Now we’re thinking beyond what we want for ourselves to what our gardens can do…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsKeep an Eye Out for Allium Leafminer
Spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is getting a lot of attention as the latest big pest threat in the Mid-Atlantic, but it’s not the only new and serious problem to pop up…
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Mid-Atlantic Regional ReportsLate-Spring Plant Combinations
Late May to early June—after spring’s chill is past but before summer’s heat and humidity have set in--is naturally a time of lush foliage and abundant bloom in our Mid-Atlantic…
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