What will all this rain do to my native plants?

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Scott Vogt

The spring of 2019 has been an unusually cool and wet spring here in Kansas. I don’t like to complain about rain, because I know at some point it will quit. Conditions will get hotter and dryer through the summer. I don’t know what normal is anymore. For many of us, a short reprieve from the rain would be welcome. It would give us a chance to catch up and let our basements dry out.

All this rain made me think about what it does to plants. Many of you have newly-planted gardens or established flower beds and you, too, may be asking yourself – what will all this rain do to my native plants?

Excessive growth

Rain obviously causes the plants to grow. One of the downfalls of excessive growth so early in the season is that it will need to maintain that growth the rest of the year. Certainly, native plants are adapted to our prairie conditions and have root systems that can sustain the plants. It makes the placement of plants even more critical and important as we work to match the plants with our sites. If the plants are properly situated, it should not be a problem.

Use this season as an opportunity to observe your plants. If you see some wilting over the next few weeks, it may be an indication that the roots have been damaged or that the plants are not happy where they are planted.

Plant diseases

All this rain has created perfect conditions for plant diseases like bacteria and fungi to flourish. There hasn’t been much time for plants to dry out in between rains. Prolonged periods of leaf wetness and excess moisture around the plant root zone can damage leaves and the crowns of plants. A few days of sunlight will help, but we need to make sure these plants are not smothered by mulch and the crowns of the plants have a chance to dry. Many plants, including trees and shrubs, have been slow to leaf out. Excessive rainfall and overcast skies has slowed the plant’s growth and can affect the timing and intensity of the blooms for the rest of the season. With rainfall like we have had, it makes us more aware of drainage issues, air circulation, plant selection and planting depth within our landscapes.

Nutrient leaching

Native plants don’t typically need to be fertilized. Their extensive root systems tap into nutrients that most plants can’t reach.

Your plants may have a yellow cast to them, but that doesn’t mean you should fertilize them. It is a result of lack of sunlight and too much water. Let them develop new roots and they will begin to green up on their own. By adding fertilizer, native plants have a tendency to flop and outgrow their root systems. Resist the temptation to fertilize your plants. While heavy rains have leached nutrients out of the soil, affecting the plant growth, these conditions will usually only cause temporary nutrient deficiency.

Plants are resilient and quite adaptable. They should recover over time. The long term effects of all this rain may not be fully known until later this year or even next year, but a majority of them will be fine. One reward is that we haven’t had to water much. We established some plants here at the Arboretum and never had to water them other than the first watering. That is very rare in Kansas. I love the sunshine today. All the lush plants are loving it too.

Katie’s Weeding Guide Part II

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Katie Schmidt

In a previous blog post I discussed tips for common weed identification, but hinted at a second installment covering plants that don’t quite qualify as weeds. After all, a weed is just a plant out of place! Some lovely native flowers have ‘weedy’ tendencies but don’t deserve total eradication from the garden. Here is an introduction to a few of those characters, and what you can do to control them when weeding your gardens.

Spiderwort – Tradescantia ohiensis or T. tharpii

*A lovely member of the* *dayflower family,* *spiderwort puts on a wonderful show throughout spring.*

Ranging from true blue to purple, spiderwort germinates readily from seed and can quickly take over a garden. I find it in every garden we have here at the Arboretum. Hairy leaves with purple veins and a pronounced fold along the mid vein are easy ways to identify spiderwort. The short stemmed species (T. tharpii) is a nice filler around other perennials and will grow as a ground cover. T. ohiensis is taller and more unwieldy, crowding out desirable plants. When Arboretum volunteers are weeding, I ask them to remove all but a few intentional clumps. I cut the flowers frequently to prevent those clumps from seeding.

Prairie Petunia – Ruella humilis

So petite but not so polite, Ruella spreads rapidly and travels all over the garden, thanks to its exploding seeds pods. White, pink, or lilac flowers are borne on purple stems with deep green foliage. With a mainly prostrate habit, this creeper makes a nice border plant, especially spilling over rock edging. Deep rooted, it is hard to pull once mature. If these fellas get started in your garden, regular weeding won’t do it – you will need to dig them out. But maybe they are the free, fast growing ground cover you have been looking for!

*Photo by* *Jeff McMillian, hosted by the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database*

Curly Cup Gumweed – Grindelia squarosa

*Photo by Kenraiz [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]*

Gumweed can be found growing north of our Prairie Pavilion, but not for long! I am overdue in weeding them out. This western US native is cheery and adorable, but too wild to be running amuck in our formal gardens. I’d be much happier to see it growing in our prairie or around the pond edge. If you have the space, don’t pull them all out – it is attractive to pollinators and can be controlled by cutting the flowers before they seed.

These are just a few of the weedy native flowers that your soil’s seed bank may be harboring. Perhaps they can find a happy home in your garden, as long as you are willing to tame their bad habits.

Growing future gardeners through Earth Partnership for Schools

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Scott Vogt

This week, is National Public Gardens Week. All week we are celebrating, with other public gardens around the country, the unique role botanical gardens and arboreta have in our communities and neighborhoods.

In the last month we have been preparing for and hosting many different events and celebrations, including our spring FloraKansas Native Plant Festival, during which we sold over 15,000 plants. During graduation weekend, there were several graduation receptions and parties, and in the next two weeks we will host four weddings, a college alumni luncheon and the Kansas Native Plant Society board meeting.

We are happy to be part of this community. Your support helps us fulfill our mission to cultivate transformative relationships between people and the land. We are truly grateful.

Over the past several weeks, I have been reflecting on how/why I got into this crazy world of horticulture. I think it started by working in the vegetable garden and then planting trees around our family farm. Like most teenagers, I grumbled, but at some level I enjoyed it. I had the opportunity to get my hands dirty and establish plants that I watched grow and mature. It started simply, with a little curiosity and enjoyment of being in nature.

The Dyck Arboretum of the Plains Earth Partnership for Schools (EPS) program takes the same approach. Through the training of teachers, we are able to introduce generations of students to the wonders of prairie plants and the pollinators and wildlife they attract. Children are naturally curious and these school prairie gardens are an oasis and teaching tool in science, math, music, art, biology and so much more.

For many of these students, these prairie gardens may provide the first opportunity for them to plant a plant or watch a monarch butterfly on their milkweeds. These students are the next generation of land stewards. The more they understand and appreciate the land, the more they will be able to care for and protect it for future generations.

*Fourth graders at Sunset Elementary in Newton, Kansas, investigate a common milkweed plant for monarch caterpillars.*

We believe the EPS program, which is celebrating its thirteenth year in 2019, is vitally important in shaping future leaders who are aware of and connected to the natural world around them.

As part of our membership in the American Public Gardens Association, we have the unique opportunity to participate in a one-week-long, flash fundraising campaign, called the MYGARDEN campaign. We are seeking funding support for the upcoming EPS summer institute. This year we are hosting over 30 teachers from 12 schools. Help fund their participation in this inspiring week of training. To date, over 40,000 Kansas students have been impacted by the EPS program. Your gift will have an impact now and into the future as more children become stewards of the land.

Kansas Native Ferns

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Katie Schmidt

At FloraKansas Native Plant Festival our customers were surprised to see we offer Kansas native ferns. Perhaps they were surprised to hear Kansas even had native ferns! With our hot, dry summers and deep-freeze winters, Kansas does not seem like hospitable environment for delicate, shade loving plants. However, we have several naturally occurring fern species in the state that are hardier than you might think. They are fascinating to observe growing in the wild, but also make excellent additions to your shade garden.

Royal Fern

Osmunda regalis var spectabilis

According to fossil records, the royal fern family (Osmundaceae) dates back about 365 million years. 3 to 4 feet tall (shorter in poor, drier soil), this fern becomes a large and impressive specimen in the shade garden. O. regalis var spectabilis grows happily in the far eastern part of Kansas and throughout the eastern third of North America. Royal fern has attractive bright green foliage and rust colored spore plumes. It prefers moist, somewhat acidic soil and shade though it can handle sun if the soil is kept wet. This fern can live up to 100 years if planted in the right location!

Royal fern is an easterly species, occurring from the Ozarks through the southeastern US and north into eastern Canada.

Christmas Fern

Polystichum acrostichoides

This festive native fern grows in far southeastern Kansas. According to Missouri Botanical Garden, it “…typically grows in a fountain-like clump to 2′ tall and features leathery, lance-shaped, with evergreen (green at Christmas time as the common name suggests) fronds.” If you love boston ferns but want something perennial, this is a great option. When planted in an average moisture, shaded area it will spread slowly to form a colony.

If you are up for some botanizing, head to these southeastern counties in moist, partially wooded areas to catch a glimpse of these ferns.

Sensitive Fern

Onoclea sensibilis

Onoclea is unique native fern, with arching fronds and oblong, creeping rhizomes. Getting its name from sensitivity to frost, O. sensibilis is surprisingly hardy. It can easily survive the cold dry winters in Kansas, Nebraska and even the Dakotas. This species is native to the eastern half of North America as well as far eastern Russia and China. According to Wikipedia, you can help your ferns survive the winter by leaving dried fronds on the plant instead of clearing them away.

There are many more native ferns I could include here, from the marginal woodfern found in Wilson, Elk, and Greenwood counties to the tiny rock ferns growing among the monoliths at Rock City in Minneapolis, KS. Get out and do some fern hunting, or buy a few at our fall sale to enjoy for years to come.