This time of year, I look for those little surprises in the landscape that extend the season of beauty in the garden. Asters in September and October and the native grasses in the late fall and winter punctuate the landscape with form, texture and color. One shrub that is a thrill for me to discover in […]
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I get a lot of calls and emails that start with “something is eating my plants!” Either frustrated or panicked, most view this development as a bad thing. To their surprise, I usually say “Congratulations!”. A bug can be a great thing. The fact is, plants are meant to be eaten. Plants provide food for […]
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There has been recent renewed interest in establishing buffalograss lawn areas as an alternative to conventional fescue. Buffalograss is a native sod-forming grass species that is well adapted to our climate. It is a nice choice for open, sunny areas. As a warm season grass, it uses water efficiently and effectively, even during periodic and prolonged droughts. This […]
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This year’s monarch “fallout” was not only impressive to observe but punctuated by an interesting predator story.
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As we wind down the growing season, now is a great time to take stock of your new prairie garden or established prairie landscape. Which plants have done well? What has struggled? What needs to be moved? Which plants need to be added? These questions will help guide your efforts this fall and especially next […]
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They pollinate 90% of the flowering plants on earth; and they eat plants, the crucial first step in changing plant energy into the fats and proteins that feed hosts of other animals. In so doing, insects sustain Earth’s ecosystems. They truly are, in E.O. Wilson’s words, “The little things that run the world.” Yet globally, […]
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Over the past few decades, there is an increased awareness of the importance of milkweeds for the life cycle of Monarchs. More and more people are planting these native wildflowers in their gardens. We closely monitor our milkweeds for monarch caterpillars and anxiously watch for the migrations in spring and fall. We can even track […]
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In the right place, these native plant pandemic picks for your landscape can be seen as an easy-growing asset rather than an eyesore.
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As the growing season winds down, there is still plenty happening in the garden. I like to think of this time as fall’s crescendo, bringing the prairie’s annual symphony to a high point before falling into dormancy. The asters are beginning to show a few blooms while the goldenrods and sunflowers are adding a bit of […]
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Caryopteris, also known as bluebeard, is a family of shrubs native to Mongolia and northern Asia. When I first started working in the nursery trade, I regarded bluebeard as just another in a long line of fast and convenient non-native landscape shrubs. Boring and over-planted, I didn’t think it was anything to sing about. Now […]
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