Sam Hoadley

Sam Hoadley

Sam Hoadley traces his lifelong passion for gardening and the natural world to a childhood spent in the woods and in his home garden with his mother in East Granby, Connecticut. That passion was further cultivated at the University of Vermont, where Sam majored in sustainable landscape horticulture; at O’Brien Nurserymen in Granby, Connecticut, where he worked for several summers; and at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a gardener after graduation. In 2019 Sam started a new role as manager of horticultural research at Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware, evaluating the horticultural and ecological value of native plants in the center’s trial garden.

  • moving Wood’s sedge
    Design

    2 Native Sedges to Replace Your Grass Lawn

    Reducing or replacing traditional turfgrass lawns with sustainable substitutes is a hot topic in today’s world of ecological gardening. A few species of Carex are uniquely poised to serve as…

  • plantain-leaf sedge
    Design

    6 Native Sedges for the Garden

    Throughout the wilds of North America, sedges can be found in almost every habitat, from mountaintops to shady wetlands to coastal sand dunes. This diversity of native habitats leads to…

  • pruning smooth hydrangeas
    How-To

    A Better Way to Prune Smooth Hydrangeas

    All of the hydrangeas in the native hydrangea plant trial done at Mt. Cuba Center bloom on new wood, which means that the flower buds develop when the shrub starts…

  • best native hydrangeas
    Design

    The Best Native Hydrangeas: Plant Trial Results

    Everyone loves hydrangeas, but nobody wants to see a year’s worth of blooms wiped out by a deep winter freeze or a badly timed pruning session. Fortunately, there are a…

  • lacecap hydrangea
    Design

    Which Smooth Hydrangeas Are Best for Pollinators? Mophead or Lacecap?

    Wild hydrangea inflorescences, technically called corymbs, are typically flat to dome-shaped clusters containing hundreds of individual flowers, some fertile, some sterile. The mix of sterile and fertile flowers determines the…