October 2025

Dear Stone Grow friends,

I think Fall has arrived! 

It's getting a little chiller, leaves are beginning to turn, the light is changing, and your lovely gardens are preparing for their overwintering dormancy. 

There's something comforting for me about this seasonal change: a reminder that despite all of the confusion in the world, nature has a way of doing her thing, and balance feels somehow restored. 

This morning there was a piece in the NYT about 'leaving leaves' in the garden beds so that our beneficial insects and other garden helpers such pollinators, butterflies and moths, and our overwintering native birds will have food, habitat, and a sort of 'survival eco-system' for the next few months until a new season begins. 

Reading that piece reminded me that I am way overdue to invite you to celebrate your fall garden changes; to embrace the strange but lovely silhouettes and shapes of your former flowering plants; to marvel how as each plant degrades, they add precious nutrients to the soil; and that here in SW Pennsylvania, we have the luxury of a really spectacular and diverse palette of native plants (you all have them in your gardens!) to continue to nurture throughout all of our four distinct seasons. 

I hope you are able to lean into fall and embrace all of its gifts. 

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy, and gloriously colorful fall, 

Suzanne

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Stone Grow has been awarded the 2025  Citizens Bank Small Business Community Champion Award for our volunteer work and community connecting. I'm so proud of my team and everytime I go to my Citizens branch and see us on the screen I start smiling and laughing out loud! 

FALL / WINTER GARDEN TIDY UP

We are scheduling our fall clean ups now so please let us know how we can help. 

Please note: We do NOT recommend removing all leaves from beds but rather using our natural fallen leaves to provide an overwintering blanket / natural mulch for plants and insects. 

BULBS

We are scheduling Spring and Summer bulb installs throughout NOVEMBER. 

If you would like any small or mass bulb plantings please let us know and we will schedule. 

Alliums, Jonquils and Daffodils, several ground cover species - if you have deer then you already know: no Tulips! Sorry!

CONTINUING EDUCATION / PHIPPS / PARTNERSHIP 

Stone Grow and our partners at Ciriello Contracting will be teaching a course on using stone / hardscaping in home gardens at Phipps Conservatory this Fall as part of their design and education offerings. Super excited and hope the weather will give us an opportunity to visit some of our favorite garden and installation sites! 

CUSTOM DESIGN 

As we sunset our regular seasonal work and installations we open up our design teams work for the winter. 

We still have some room on our slate if you were thinking about adding a patio or extending a planting space. Let us know!