Rising Sun Gardens

Rising Sun Gardens This transformation continues - we are a work in process! I hope you visit at least once a year to see 'the difference'. Maybe you'll get inspired?

I have been slowly transforming this formerly neglected wilderness of a property, where the woods came right down the hill to the house, and actually was pushing over the former garage...into what I call Rising Sun Gardens..for 22 years now. We're very 'open' - you are welcome to walk around and look at whatever you like, whenever you like, but at your own risk. I have a container set out for cash

and checks. Each plant has a description and a price tag. So the sale runs itself. I don't NEED to be here - but if I am I'm always happy to greet you and answer questions. We're on the north side of a hill, across the street from a park, so I mostly have perennials that prefer part to full shade and sun, and are deer resistant. All the plants I sell are grown right here and potted up in garden soil enriched with compost. No artifical fertilizers. And I only use herbicides on the poison ivy when I find it up in the woods. My plants are super hardy - no greenhouse babies here! That's what sets my plants apart from 'the others'.

I'm learning about this tree! and I have it for sale, 2 year old seedlings, about 1 foot tall. $10.
08/07/2026

I'm learning about this tree! and I have it for sale, 2 year old seedlings, about 1 foot tall. $10.

By: Mark Halpin, Forestry Manager Osage orange, Maclura pomifera, is a tree possessed of many strange qualities. The standout is its fruit, those softball-sized “oranges”, “hedge apples” or “monkey brains” that fall to the ground with a startling thump in the early fall. This fruit, alon...

07/16/2026
06/14/2026
Beauty everywhere i look...Come see for yourself!
06/13/2026

Beauty everywhere i look...Come see for yourself!

New offerings at Rising Sun Gardens...
06/12/2026

New offerings at Rising Sun Gardens...

Peony week! Just have to lean in and appreciate it in all its glory.
06/07/2026

Peony week! Just have to lean in and appreciate it in all its glory.

Another idea I want to play with...as if I don't have enough...https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1323294593232234&set=...
05/31/2026

Another idea I want to play with...as if I don't have enough...

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1323294593232234&set=a.319279600300410

A single bucket, buried flush with the ground, becomes a functioning wildlife pond. Not a birdbath — a complete food web that runs itself. Cost is zero. 🌿

What shows up on its own within weeks, without any stocking or intervention:

Dragonflies arrive within days. Their larvae spend one to two years hunting underwater before emerging — while adults patrol above and take significant numbers of mosquitoes on the wing.

Native tree frogs — green tree frogs in the Southeast, gray tree frogs across the East and Midwest, Pacific tree frogs in the West — locate standing water reliably. Once they find it, they return each season and feed heavily on garden insects through the night.

American robins and other ground-feeding birds use pond water at soil level in ways they will not use an elevated birdbath. Ground-level water mimics a natural puddle — exactly what most garden wildlife is actually looking for.

Native toads (American toad, Fowler's toad, depending on your region) will use the stone ramp and breed in still water. Note: if you are in Florida or Hawaii, cane toads are an invasive species — do not encourage them.

The four things that make this work:
- A stone ramp at one edge so frogs, toads, and birds can walk in and out
- A sturdy branch angled from the bottom to the rim as an escape route for anything that falls in
- A gravel or rock layer on the bottom for aquatic insect larvae to shelter in
- A native aquatic plant — dwarf cattail, blue flag iris, or pickerelweed — for oxygen and perching 🌱

Ground-level water is what most backyard wildlife needs and almost no garden provides.

2065 Baird Rd, Penfield, NY 14526
05/28/2026

2065 Baird Rd, Penfield, NY 14526

Address

2167 N Washington Street
Rochester, NY
14625

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