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iGrowHort inspires ecological stewardship through native plants, habitat restoration, field education, and practical guidance from horticulturist and Native By Nature author Stephen Pryce Lea.

Discover wild asparagus in its autumn form Most of us know asparagus from the kitchen — thick green spears appearing in ...
09/09/2026

Discover wild asparagus in its autumn form

Most of us know asparagus from the kitchen — thick green spears appearing in spring — but left to grow naturally, the plant becomes something completely different.

By late summer, Asparagus officinalis develops into this soft, feathery mass of fine green stems, almost shrub-like from a distance. It is one of those plants that becomes more interesting once you stop looking at it purely as food and start seeing the whole life cycle.

Here in the landscape, it feels entirely at home among grasses and meadow vegetation, catching the low September light and adding a wonderfully delicate texture.

The spring shoots may be the part we harvest, but this mature growth is the part that feeds the underground crown, allowing the plant to store energy for the following year.

A good reminder that edible plants are still ecological organisms first — and often far more beautiful than we give them credit for.

📍Podlaskie, Poland

Philly’s kind of afternoon. 🐾💙A little sunshine, a wide-open sky, the river moving quietly beside us, and absolutely no ...
09/08/2026

Philly’s kind of afternoon. 🐾💙

A little sunshine, a wide-open sky, the river moving quietly beside us, and absolutely no reason to hurry.

These are the walks I love most — not really about getting anywhere, just following the path, noticing what’s flowering along the bank, watching the light change on the water, and letting Philly investigate every scent as if the entire landscape has been left there specifically for him.

The Bug River has a way of slowing everything down. No noise, no agenda. Just water, meadow, woodland and one very happy dog.

📍Bug River, Podlaskie, Poland

September golden light and a little late-season glow up. Jerusalem artichoke — Helianthus tuberosusFamily: AsteraceaeCom...
09/08/2026

September golden light and a little late-season glow up.

Jerusalem artichoke — Helianthus tuberosus

Family: Asteraceae
Common names: Jerusalem artichoke, sunchoke, topinambur
Polish: słonecznik bulwiasty / topinambur
Origin: North America
Status in Poland: Introduced and widely naturalised; it can behave aggressively and spread beyond gardens.

These towering yellow flowers are putting on one of their best displays now, rising above the garden and catching every bit of late-summer sun. What I love most at this time of year is how alive the garden still is — buds waiting to open, flowers in full bloom, and insects making the most of every remaining source of nectar and pollen.

I’m increasingly drawn to gardens that are allowed to stretch, mingle and mature rather than being kept permanently neat. Tall stems, seed heads, overlapping layers and a little wildness create far more than a pretty picture — they provide food, shelter and continuity for wildlife as the seasons begin to turn.

The garden doesn’t need to be tidied away just because autumn is approaching. Sometimes the best thing we can do is leave a little more standing and let nature finish the season in its own time.

📍Podlaskie, Poland
🌿 Gardening with nature, not against it.

There is something deeply moving about the way flowers grow among the graves here in Poland. Not as decoration alone, bu...
09/06/2026

There is something deeply moving about the way flowers grow among the graves here in Poland. Not as decoration alone, but as an ongoing act of remembrance — colour, tending, life and season continuing around those who came before us.

Even in places built for remembering death, nature quietly insists on life.

A garden is never just a collection of plants.It is shelter, food, shade, moisture and a resting place—even for a small ...
09/01/2026

A garden is never just a collection of plants.

It is shelter, food, shade, moisture and a resting place—even for a small butterfly pausing on a leaf.

When we garden with life in mind, moments like this become part of the landscape rather than rare visitors to it. 🌿🦋 we named her “Pammy” 💕

A basket of plums. A crate of apples. Windfalls for ciders, spoils for compost nothing wasted. As another tree waits its...
08/27/2026

A basket of plums. A crate of apples. Windfalls for ciders, spoils for compost nothing wasted. As another tree waits its turn.

We’re beginning to understand that this old orchard has its own calendar — one written long before we arrived. Different varieties ripen in succession, some abundant, some modest, some perfect for eating straight from the tree and others destined for preserves, cider or the kitchen.

And I love that.

This isn’t supermarket abundance, where everything appears polished and available on demand. It’s seasonal abundance — imperfect fruit, weathered baskets, sticky hands, bruised apples and the quiet realization that the land is providing far more than we expected.

The work now is simply to keep up with it.

Harvest, sort, preserve, share — and pay attention.

Because this first year at Osłowo isn’t only teaching us what grows here.

It’s teaching us when. 🍏🍎

Some doors open into a room. This one opens into a season.Our first season at Seven House is becoming less about decidin...
08/20/2026

Some doors open into a room. This one opens into a season.

Our first season at Seven House is becoming less about deciding what this place should become and more about discovering what is already here.

Beyond these old barn doors sits an orchard we are only beginning to understand — , plums, pears, old trees, unknown varieties, windfalls and stories we haven’t uncovered yet.

For now, the work is simple:

watch, taste, harvest, learn.

There will be time for pruning and plans.

This year, the gets to introduce itself first.

08/19/2026

Good morning! Yesterday, after much needed heavy rain a damaged apple tree limb changed this morning’s plan. So we harvested the fruit the apple tree could no longer carry.

Our first season at Seven House is becoming less about deciding what this place should become and more about discovering...
08/19/2026

Our first season at Seven House is becoming less about deciding what this place should become and more about discovering what is already here.

Beyond these old barn doors sits an orchard we are only beginning to understand — apples, plums, pears, old trees, unknown varieties, windfalls and stories we haven’t uncovered yet.

For now, the work is simple:

watch, taste, harvest, learn.

There will be time for pruning and plans.

This year, the orchard gets to introduce itself first.

What would you rather inherit — an old orchard or a wild meadow?

This old Polish damson tree was already part of the landscape when we arrived at the farm in Osłowo. No label. No carefu...
08/16/2026

This old Polish damson tree was already part of the landscape when we arrived at the farm in Osłowo. No label. No carefully recorded cultivar. No neat orchard plan. Just an established tree, spreading through the canopy and carrying more fruit than we initially realised.

And for now, that is enough.

This first year is becoming less about changing the orchard and more about listening to it — watching when each tree flowers, when its fruit colours, how it tastes, what wildlife uses it, and what it might tell us about the people who planted and tended this land before us.

These damsons will become part of that story: some eaten straight from the tree, some preserved, perhaps some cooked into something savoury, and hopefully enough left for the creatures that have known this orchard far longer than we have.

Restoration does not always begin with planting.

Sometimes it begins by standing beneath an old fruit tree and asking:

What is already here worth keeping?

The Seven House, Osłowo
We are all Native by Nature.

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