Kansas Shelterbelts

Recently I met a woman walking her dogs in the new woodland path through our hedgerow. She expressed admiration for the long lived hedge trees here, and was concerned that so many farmers are bulldozing their shelterbelts and reclaiming the acres for farming. She asked if we knew of any preservation effort to prevent them from becoming relics of the past. This led me down a rabbit hole into shelterbelt history. I hoped to understand more about why they were planted and what purpose they serve today. Are they actually good for our native wildlife? Are they still agriculturally and ecologically relevant?

The short answer is this: Hedgerows of good quality, and relatively few invasive species, can benefit the soil, provide good habitat, and are a part of the region’s cultural history. But “trees for the sake of trees” is not a helpful philosophy for conserving the Great Plains ecosystem, evermore imperiled by encroachment of woody species.

The long answer? It’s complicated.

Early Tree Planting

In the early 1800s, Kansas had few trees. As European settlements encroached on the Great Plains, newcomers planted shelterbelts for wind protection and privacy around new homesteads. They were useful for delineating property boundaries, keeping livestock contained, and side trimming for firewood. Later on, Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraged the planting of shelterbelts and hedges during the dustbowl years to curb erosion. Of course, as he was from the east coast, he may not have understood that planting millions of trees on grasslands with little rainfall and frequent fires might not be the best solution. Modern ecology has taught us a few things! With the advent of cheap barbed wire for fencing and more erosion-conscious farming practices in place, the need for such frequent tree lines decreased.

What’s in a Kansas Hedgerow?

“Hedge apples” litter the arboretum grounds every year. Bigger than a grapefruit, watch your head(!) as these fall from female Maclura pomifera trees.

The history of the hedge tree, or osage orange species, is inextricably tied to Kansas. These trees are tough and hardy, thorny enough to deter livestock and dense enough to make excellent firewood. But the ‘hedges’ of Kansas are not exclusively made up of osage orange trees. You may find native oaks, elms, hackberry, mulberry, and cedars in a rural shelterbelt, as well as a fair number of problematic and invasive species such as Siberian elm, bush honeysuckle, ornamental pear, and Russian olive.

Planting Trees in the Plains

Willa Cather Memorial Prairie near Red Cloud, NE.

For at least a hundred years we’ve been hearing the same message: trees good, open space bad. The European settlers of the Great Plains, with their wagons headed west, knew trees meant cooking fuel and housing material. At the founding of Arbor day in 1872 planting trees became a patriotic mission and civic duty. In recent years we have seen countless campaigns to save the trees and “plant a tree with every purchase”. But the Great Plains ecosystem relies on all that open space. For example, only one tree per acre is enough to limit the nesting success of the greater prairie chicken. While planting trees in forested areas is much needed, planting them in grasslands and calling it conservation may be misguided. We know that grassland bird species are in steep decline, and that too many woody species on the prairie can lead to a low water table and more volatile wildfires. Grasslands are just as ecologically important, and imperiled, as forests. It is long past time to update the messaging and match that zeal for nature conservation with geographically appropriate solutions.

Over and over, I watch people buy small parcels of prairie and immediately plant trees around the borders. Grassland acreages invaded by eastern red cedars or other trees are often appraised at a higher real estate value than uninvaded grasslands because of their ‘recreation value’.  People who write angry letters about trees being cleared to make way for a shopping center don’t bat an eye when a prairie is plowed under or allowed to be overtaken by Siberian elms. 

Chris Helzer, The Prairie Ecologist The Darker Side of Tree Planting in the Great Plains

To Tree, or Not to Tree? That is the Question

In light of all this, do we really need these well-intended hedgerows disrupting the open spaces of the grasslands? That very much depends on the location, condition, and composition of each hedgerow.

Is the row of trees protecting a home from those rowdy prairie winds? Is it grown specifically for sustainable collection of firewood or does it grow out of control year by year, encroaching on neighboring grasslands? Is it located on a Century Farm or in an important historic area?

Does that stand of trees have native species like oak, walnut, persimmon, and pawpaw or is it mainly non-native invasives spreading their seed into nearby prairies? Is it providing erosion control for a farmed field? Would a restoration of native prairie grasses do just as good a job at holding the soil? Do the trees provide habitat to native birds or is it simply encouraging predator birds to move farther west?

Thinking about these questions can help you decide what trees on your own lands deserve protection and conservation, and which can be safely removed.

To the Pond and Beyond

Many people think that the phrase “native plant” is synonymous with “drought tolerant plant” or “dry prairie species”. But not so! Kansas is a place full of sunny skies as well as quiet, shady streams; prairies as well as ponds. I noticed at our FloraKansas event last week just how many wetland and pond species we offer. For those with small backyard ponds or even large country creek banks to restore, the following species might be perfect for you (and we still have them in stock! Find our updated inventory here.)

Caltha palustris – Marsh Marigold

Marsh marigold is adorable along pond edges and in water gardens.

Caltha is an upper midwest native, not usually found in Kansas, but can grow here under the right conditions. We don’t get enough ran to sustain swampy areas where it can run wild, but its petite yellow flowers are happy blooming along pond edges with their feet in the water. We are hoping to get them established along the Arboretum pond edges this year.

Teucrium canadense – American Germander

Laval University, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A colony-forming mint family plant, it can go wild in moist to wet part sun conditions! The blooms are attractive to long-tongued pollinators, and they make great additions to wildflower bouquets.

Nyssa sylvatica – Black Tupelo

Black tupelo in New York state. Photo from Wikimedia commons

A truly beautiful tree, unmatched for its red fall color. But in our region it simply cannot survive without moist soil. Planted on the edge of a stream or in a frequently flooded drainage area, it would be stunning every October.

Cephalanthus occidentalis – Buttonbush

Public domain image from US Fish and Wildlife Service

The height of this fascinating shrub depends on the moisture it receives: growing near standing water it can be 10 feet tall or more, but in average garden soil it may only reach 6 feet. Very adaptable and easy to care for, its spherical flowers are long blooming. In June they are covered in bees, beetles, butterflies, spiders, wasps, and every other flying thing!

Lythrum alatum – Winged Loosestrife

Joshua Mayer, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Not to be confused with the terribly invasive purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), this petite plant sports purple flowers and wiry stems. Very adaptable, it is used in rain gardens, but thrives in garden settings given a bit of shade and semi-regular watering. The Lurie Garden of Chicago has a nice profile on this species found here.

Lobelia siphilitica – Blue Cardinal Flower

Blue lobelia photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

The tall blue spikes of lobelia attract hummingbirds and butterflies, but they can be finicky to grow. Clay soils that hold moisture are best, and while they don’t have to be situated in water at all times they do best in ditches and frequently wet seasonal streambeds.

While we know not many people are lucky enough to have a pond or creek on their property, for those that do, we want to continue suppling a small number of wetland plants to help you restore and improve those places.

Other water loving species to look for next spring: Acorus calamus, Lobelia cardinalis, Physostegia virigniana, and Sauurus cernuus. For more info on wetland plants, check out a previous blog post all about them!

Very Hungry Caterpillars

No, this is not the start of an Eric Carle children’s book. It’s the start of a blog post all about gregarious feeders! Unlike the lone green caterpillar of the book that goes chomping through fruits and cakes and slices of salami, some caterpillars can be seen feeding and living in large groups, and as such are labeled ‘gregarious’. We have found many of these fascinating species on our grounds.

Tussock Moth

Milkweed tussock moths

Milkweed is famously host to monarch caterpillars, but many other species depend on it as well. The tussock moth caterpillar is a crazy-haired and charismatic species that seems to appear out of nowhere and turn your milkweed plants into skeletons, eating an entire plant in a matter of days!

Euchaetes egle are orange, white and black, reminding me of my grandmother’s calico shag carpet from the ’70s. As nostalgic as that may be, don’t touch! Their hairs are urticating, meaning they break off into skin and cause irritation. The Latin buffs might remember that “urtica” translates to “nettle”. It is best to let them devour the plants and go on their merry way.

What about the monarchs? Will there by any milkweed left for them? The solution is always to plant more! Try several different species of milkweed to diversify your selection and increase the available habitat.

Walnut Moth Caterpillar

Just last week I noticed a black caterpillar with wispy white hairs crawling along the sidewalk near our greenhouse. Just as I stooped to get a closer look, I saw another. And another. They were everywhere! Crawling every direction on the sidewalk, in the grass, over the rocks and up the side of the building. I followed them back to their host tree, a young walnut. These were walnut moth caterpillars, Datana intergerrimma. There I found a wiggling mass of hairy caterpillars on the trunk. They hatch on the leaves, defoliate the tree with their voracious appetites, then travel down the trunk to disperse and find a bit of open soil to dig in and pupate.

Checkerspot Butterfly

In early June we get lots of calls asking “what is feeding on my Echinacea and sunflowers, and how do I kill it?”. It is usually checkerspot butterfly larvae. These small black caterpillars are lined with tufts of black hair, and they can turn leaves to lace right before your eyes! They host on plants in the Asteraceae family, and their favorites seem to be annual sunflowers and Echinacea purpurea. Through all the years we have had major populations feeding here at the Arb, our Echinacea flowers are doing just fine with no pesticide treatment. They look a little rough for a time, but recover quickly and pop up healthy and green the next spring.

Next time you see a mass of caterpillars feeding on your trees or flowers, don’t reach for the bug spray! Use a tool like the Seek app, or BugGuide.net to properly identify them. If they are native, let them continue to eat and fulfill their ecological role!

Remember, native host plants and native insects have been evolving together for thousands of years. They battle, and sometimes even benefit each other in ways we are still studying today.

Summer Garden Checklist

Kansas summers can discourage even the hardiest gardeners. However, taking time to manage your garden now will help your garden later. Here’s my Summer Garden Checklist for the Kansas gardener.

Control Warm Season Weeds

Summer brings with it a new set of weeds to control. Hot weather germinates summer annuals like crabgrass, foxtail. Nutsedge and other weeds invade your lawn and landscape as well. Manage weeds using nonchemical methods such as cultivation, hand weeding, or mowing; use toxic chemicals as a last resort. 

Mowing regularly and occasionally edging along sidewalks and walkways is needed to ensure your lawn is not overrun with weeds. In a landscaped bed, hand pull any of these weeds, especially if they have seed heads.  It is so important to not let these weeds go to seed. Stay vigilant even though the summer heat tries to squash your enthusiasm. A little extra effort now will make your garden better this fall and into next year. 

Crabgrass in tree mulch ring controlled with roundup: one treatment should clean up the mulched area and keep it weed free the rest of the season.

Be Water Wise

To reduce evaporation, water when temperatures are cooler and air is still, usually in the early morning. Water deeply to moisten the root zone, but infrequently. About an inch of water each week is a good rule of thumb!  If you have invested in container plants, they will need daily watering, as soil in pots can dry out quickly and damage plant roots on hot summer days.  Each of our gardens have indicator plants that show stress first, let these plants be your guide as when to water.  For new planting started this spring, water when the top one to two inches of soil is dry.  Remember it takes three to five years for sustaining roots systems to develop for most native plants.  Supplemental watering is necessary to encourage growth and root development in these young plants. 

We use pressure compensating 1/2 inch soaker hoses to efficiently water trees, shrubs and a few flower beds. Each emitter puts out 1 gallon of water per hour.

Prepare for seeding

If you are wanting to establish native prairie plants from seed, now is a great time to prepare your area.  Mow your area short (1-2 inches). Control perennial weeds such as bindweed or Bermuda grass by carefully spraying the area with Roundup. It will take several applications to get these problematic weeds under control. If you can see soil, tillage is not necessary. If you can’t see soil, till lightly to expose some bare soil. Remember, each time you till, you bring up more weed seeds, so tread lightly. 

Measure your area and order a seed mixture that matches your site. A good seed mix ratio of wildflower to grass is 70% wildflowers to 30% grasses. Grasses tend to dominate over time, so this ratio will give the wildflowers a good start. We typically spread seed in November and December after the soil temperature has dropped enough to discourage germination. The natural freeze/thaw of the ground will work the seeds down into the soil to the proper depth for germination next spring. 

This is the seed mix we established along our newly renovated path.
Sidewalk edge planting: We mixed some sand with the seed mix to make it easier to distribute. We then let the natural freeze/thaw of the soil plant the seed for us through the winter. Germination occurred the following spring when soil temperatures rose above 60 degrees.

Trim

Now is a great time to trim back perennials that have become unruly. Perennial and grasses that are encroaching sidewalks, paths, and structures can be sheared back to size. If this is a problem every year, you may consider moving the taller plants to another spot. Plants can be divided next February or March before they start to actively grow. 

Low hanging branches from trees can also be pruned. It is getting late in the season to do much pruning on shrubs. New growth may not have enough time to get hardened off before cooler/colder weather.  If a branch or shoot is in the way, then prune it, but prune sooner rather than later. If you can wait until the shrub goes dormant this fall, then wait. 

As a general rule, early spring flowering shrubs such as forsythia, lilac and spirea should be pruned right after they are done blooming since they bloom on the previous year’s growth. Pruning right after blooming will allow the shrub to grow and develop a new set of buds for the next spring. 

A large compass plant that needs to be trimmed away from the path.

Finally, remember “WHY” you are gardening; creating habitat, conserving water, aesthetics, attracting pollinators, attracting birds and other wildlife or curb appeal. Let your “WHY” reinvigorate you to take care of a few extra tasks that will give your landscape a boost. Don’t sweat the small stuff and don’t forget to step back to enjoy what you are trying to create. If it is all work and no enjoyment, then what is the point.

Pale purple coneflower with a common buckeye butterfly. Fun to watch!

All About Bindweed

It’s a plant all gardeners know well: the infamous bindweed. Thought to have been accidentally introduced from Europe by crop seed contamination in the 1700s, it has established itself all over the North American continent. But I recently found a native relative to this terrible pest, and upon further research, learned some fascinating facts about this plant family! The more we know, the more effective we can be at eradicating the invasive ones and properly identifying our look-a-like native species.

Common field bindweed is often pink, white, or even striped. Photo from wikimedia

Common Bindweed, Uncommon Problem

Convolvulus arvensis is the bindweed we all know and hate. It is a member of the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). Its funnel shaped flowers hint at its lineage, and they are often visited by sweat bees and other small pollinators. Blooms may be white, pink, or even striped. Even farther up it’s family tree we find it is related to nightshades (think: tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, horsenettle) all a part of the order Solanales. Bindweed has spread all around the world and is listed as one of the United States most problematic agricultural weeds. It causes millions of dollars in crop losses every year.

Good Bindweed and Bad Bindweed

I didn’t know there was such a thing, but good bindweed exists. There are native species, often called false bindweeds, that look very similar but do not grow as aggressively. I was walking along the pond edge here at the Arboretum when I spotted what I thought was a bindweed. Odd, since bindweed rarely colonizes densely planted areas, especially in the shade. When I came closer I saw just how big the flower was. It was easily double the size of a regular bindweed flower, and a much brighter white.

This plant was actually a Calystegia species, likely low false bindweed (C. spithamaea). To my knowledge, this is the first occurrence of this species on our grounds. It could have come in with some flood waters, or sprouted after the disturbance of our island renovation efforts. We may never know, but we can surely enjoy its blooms and try to preserve it.

C. spithamaea isn’t usually found in our state, but it isn’t impossible. The native range is much farther east and north, but it could have found its way here in a seed mix ordered from out of state. There are other Calystegia’s that are more commonly found in our area, but they don’t match it’s growth habit as well. Oh the fun of solving plant ID mysteries!
Calystegia spithamaea has a pure white flower and is much less vigorous and vining than field bindweed.
The flowers are much larger than those of common field bindweed.

Best Management Practices

If you have the non-native kind of bindweed, you are probably in a daily struggle to keep it under control. Common bindweed is a perennial, meaning its roots survive the winter. Simply mowing it or cutting off the flowers will not successfully eradicate it from your lawn and garden. Also, those roots are incredibly tough and can be 20 feet deep! Pulling it is an exercise in patience, as it seems to regrow before your eyes. Most bindweed can easily resprout from small pieces of root left behind in the soil. If you have a small patch and you weed often, you may be able to get ahead of it and eventually weaken the root system. For folks who have A LOT of bindweed, here are some of the most effective controls:

  • Solarization (clear plastic placed over the area for a full growing season)
  • Smothering (cardboard with a thick layer of mulch on top for at least a full year but more likely 2 to 3)
  • Chemical control (glyphosate, 2-4D, paraquat, etc.)

And remember, avoid tilling the soil! Freshly disturbed soil is easily colonized by bindweed, and often there are seeds in the soil that get churned up to the surface, ready to germinate. Leave the soil undisturbed and only dig/loosen it in the specific holes where you will be planting.

Stumped: Reimagining a garden after tree loss

Ten years ago, my spouse and I purchased our first home in Central Kansas. The backyard was dominated by a large American Elm tree that had miraculously, and with a lot of help from a local arborist, survived the bout of Dutch Elm Disease that had taken nearly all of the American Elms in town in the 1990s.

In June of 2013, an aged American Elm tree beautifully shaded our backyard.

What this meant was that, like many Kansas homeowners, we had a large area of dry shade to contend with. Informed by my spouse’s childhood experiences growing up in the bush of South Sudan, we were not inclined to water our lawn just to maintain the status quo. So, the challenge was, how do we increase biodiversity in this backyard without using supplemental watering? We were stumped.

We tried a few things in the deep shade of the tree – transplanted spiderwort, river oats and columbine from a friend. And although these species hung in there pretty well, they certainly did not thrive. Ideally, they would have liked a little more sun and a lot more rain.

Here at the Arboretum, in our list of frequently asked questions at FloraKansas Native Plant Days events, “Which Kansas native plants will grow well in dry shade?” rises to the top. Unfortunately, the answer is “Hardly any.”

In a prairie ecosystem, trees will only flourish along creekbanks or near another water source. The garden condition “dry shade” is a human-created environment that simply does not exist in nature. For humans, and particularly for those of us who are relatively new to gardening with native plants, this is often a difficult reality to process and to accept.

Over the years, several major ice storms and wind events have weakened the structure of the tree. The final blow came in August of 2021. It was time to have the tree removed.

Another reality that was difficult for us to accept was that the elm tree was in an irreversible decline. The health of the tree had been compromised by an ice storm in 2007. Slowly over time, the rotting that had begun after that first injury made the elm more susceptible to being damaged again. As it became clear to us that this tree was in a death process, we focused our efforts on developing the front yard and enjoyed the shade while we could.

After the tree had been removed, we needed to reimagine what our backyard was going to be.

In the fall of 2021, we finally admitted to ourselves that the tree needed to be removed. We allowed ourselves a year to sit with the new reality of a full sun back yard. We left the stump and planted it with yarrow, little bluestem and soapwort. We have also contemplated growing mushrooms in the stump. Over time, we will watch the stump disintegrate and return to the earth. For now, it provides a lovely focal point.

In the raised rock garden beds surrounding the stump and along the south fence, we have filled in with plants that prefer well-drained soil, including butterfly milkweed, Missouri evening primrose, blue flax, soapwort, and several adaptable creeping groundcovers. Also, I couldn’t help but try my guilty pleasure plant that would prefer to be at higher elevations, pineleaf penstemon.

In a test area that was formerly in deep shade, we have seeded buffalograss and encouraged it to spread. In retrospect, I wish we had done this to the whole lawn area right away, because this spring, much of the former fescue lawn has mostly been populated by dandelions, wild lettuce, henbit, clover and spurge. Nevertheless, we are motivated to continue to populate the back yard with sun loving prairie plants.

The lawn is currently a polyculture of warm season grasses and annual weeds (please don’t judge!), but we are on our way to establishing buffalograss and determining where we would like to plant native perennials.

I know there are likely many things we could have done so much better. Do I have regrets? Definitely. Could we have saved that elm tree by trimming it every year? Probably. In stewarding this small piece of the land, we are far from perfect. But honestly, in this process, I’ve learned that the land is more forgiving than humans are, as long as you don’t try to bend it to your own will. If you listen and observe your garden, over time, it will tell you how it wants to be. It will allow you to make mistakes, and then correct them. It will teach you to view the cycle of life in new ways. And if you can hold back from trying to control it too much, you will be rewarded by new and unexpected discoveries on a daily basis.

Tree loss at the Arboretum

One of the hardships of being a gardener is the loss of a long established tree. It is no different here at the Arboretum. We have lost a few trees that were planted at the founding of the Arboretum. The loss of these large specimen trees leave a huge hole in the landscape that will take another few decades to fill.

Austrian Pines

We continue to lose a few pine trees each year. All of our Scotch pines are gone due to pine wilt. We are now losing larger ponderosa and Austrian pines. We have a tree that is over 40 years old that was green last fall but is now totally brown, dead in less than six months. This could be due to a number of factors such as drought (although we watered it last summer into the fall), or some sort of tip blight. We believe this browning is blight. We are removing these trees as they die, which is heartbreaking.

Austrian Pine turning brown from the bottom to the top

Southwestern White Pine

This was one of the evergreen trees I recommended to plant a few years ago. It is no longer a viable alternative to some of the other two and three needle pines that have been lost to disease. We have lost a row of these due to pine wilt. Pine wilt causes a rapid decline of a pine tree in just a few months. The infected trees must be removed and burned to stop the spread.

River birch

In our parking lot median, we have slowly been losing an original row of river birch. Admittedly, this was not the ideal location for river birch. We were watering these trees almost weekly in the summer since they are not very drought tolerant and have shallow roots, which leaves them stressed in the heat sink of the parking lot. I see this same river birch scenario in other landscapes with river birch planted front yards and drier areas. Often times, these trees are struggling just as ours were unless they are receiving frequent irrigation through the summer. As their name implies, they grow best in wetter areas along streams, swales and ponds. We are replacing our river birch with a variety of deeper rooted trees such as oaks.

River Birch in parking lot median

Autumn Purple Ash

What a big surprise this spring when this large white ash didn’t leaf out. One side has leaves, but the other side is completely bare. It has been infested with borers with have damaged the trunk, branches and stems. It showed no signs of disease last year. Even if I had seen and diagnosed the problem last fall, the treatment would not have been very effective. The result would have been the same. We are holding out hope that it will miraculously leaf out yet this spring. If not, it will need to be removed.

Autumn purple ash struggling to leaf out

Pin Oak

It is well known that pin oaks suffer from iron chlorosis, which causes a yellowing of the leaves. Chlorosis in pin oaks is usually due to a deficiency of iron in the leaves. Iron is important for chlorophyll synthesis in plants, so when it is deficient, leaves cannot make chlorophyll, resulting in a yellow appearance. Chlorosis of pin oaks is typically associated with alkaline soil pH – pH greater than 7, which is common in our area. This iron deficiency eventually weakens the tree and stunts its growth. Trees can be treated by injecting iron into the trees or trying to change the pH of the soil. However, it is better to not plant these trees in our area. We are removing these trees and replacing them with varieties that don’t suffer from iron chlorosis.

Chlorotic Pin Oak that will eventually need to be replaced.

Bottom Line

Having trees in Kansas is a luxury, especially large long-lived trees that provide wonderful shade. Kansas weather – with its extremes-wet, dry, hot, cold, and wind – are all challenges for trees. The other thing to keep in mind is that our area was originally prairie. Prairie is what grew best here, with trees relegated to creek bottoms and wetter areas. So growing trees here will always be demanding and ambitious. Even if we do everything right regarding trees in the landscape, there is no guarantee that a tree will grow and thrive.

We will continue replacing and planting trees here at the Arboretum. I believe a diverse selection of trees – different from the trees we have lost – is the answer. We will continue to lose trees, because they are living organisms susceptible to all sorts of diseases and problems. But keep planting, folks!

Recommended trees and shrubs from Kansas Forest Service

Plant Apologies: Campsis radicans

I have accidentally been spreading some plant slander, and now it is time to apologize. Sometimes even we plant people get it very, very wrong! And so today’s post is all about Campsis radicans, aka the trumpet vine.

Illustration by Mary Vaux Walcott, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

For years I have been railing against this plant.

“Ridiculously aggressive!”

“Impossible to get rid of!”

“It’s sold at these big box stores because they don’t care about the environment!”

While those things might be true in their own way, they leave out an important fact: It is NATIVE. Yes, Campsis radicans is a native vine that is found from Maine to Florida and west to Kansas. I have said many times that is was invasive, imported from far flung lands, and is a plague upon our forests. And boy was I misinformed. Remember, the word ‘invasive’ really should be reserved for non-native plants that have reproduced in and disturbed the local ecosystem. Aggressive is a better, more accurate way to describe a plant’s behavior if it spreads readily, but is native to our area. Invasive, as a horticultural term, means something about its origins and introduction into a new place.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Many Good Traits

This plant blooms July through August, attracting a whole host of long-tongued pollinators. Blooms can be red to orange, and its slightly sweet scent is great for trellises near the patio. It grows quickly, so can create fast shade over a pergola. The foliage is attractive and lush, and serves as a host plant for several species of moth.

The showy flowers attract bees and hummingbirds. Photo by Rob Hille, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Some Not So Good Traits

My information about its origins was bad, but my warnings about its behavior were spot on. It is fast growing to a fault, and can be seen toppling fences and commandeering telephone poles. To keep this thing in control means relentless pruning. Growing right before your eyes, trumpet vine can easily climb 10 feet or more in a summer. It does not play well with others, and will send runner roots out into nearby garden areas. And don’t forget its seeds! A single pod can have 600+ seeds.

So, Campsis, I am sorry. You are a native vine with your own beautiful and ecosystem-sustaining qualities! Though I will still keep it out of my own garden, I can see it has a rightful place in a forest edge or hedgerow, and I will never call it invasive again!

Native Grasses FAQ

After my Native Plant School class last week, there were several good questions about native grasses that are worth addressing again.

Question 1: How do you clean up native grasses in the late winter (Feb-March)?

Grasses tend to remain attractive well into winter, providing texture, movement and continuity to the garden. However, they eventually need to be cut back in preparation for spring. We use a gas powered hedge trimmer because we have so many grasses to cut back. The stems are tough but the trimmer easily cuts through them especially compared to hand pruners or loppers.

Starting at the top of the grass, we just cut through the grasses back and forth at 2-3 inch intervals until the grass is cut down to 2-4 inches off the ground. We then scatter the cuttings around the base of the grass so that it is not too thick. The trimmer makes quick work of a five foot grass. If the pile at the base of the grass is too thick, we scatter the clippings someplace else in the garden. This way you are keeping all those overwintering insects in your yard.

In our recent Winter Lecture Series, guest speaker Heather Holm suggested an even more insect-centric approach to spring garden clean up. Gain access to her presentation HERE.

Northwind Switchgrass cut back and ready for spring

FUN FACTS!

  • There are more than 400 different native bee species in Kansas.
  • An estimated 30% of native pollinators nest in pithy stems of plants such as native grasses and wildflowers.
  • Dead branches or logs decaying provide excellent habitat. Create a small bush pile for birds and pollinators. Overwintering butterflies and ground nesting bees can be found in brush piles and the decomposing wood gives fireflies a place to lay their eggs.
  • Nearly 70% of native pollinators are ground-nesting, burying into the soil to reproduce. Open soil without landscape fabric or two to three inches of mulch allow these burrowing insects to easily access the soil.

Question 2: When is the best time to plant buffalograss?

Buffalograss is a native warm-season sod forming grass. It needs at least six hours of direct sunlight for it to germinate and grow healthy. It spreads by stolens and has fine blue-green leaves. New seeded forms of buffalograss have been developed over the years such as Cody, Bison, Bowie, Plains, Topgun and Sundancer. Most of these seed forms are available online and some are available at regional Farmers Cooperatives. Seeding can be done anytime from May through August 15 as long as the soil temperatures at a two inch depth are above 60 degrees. Check out Buffalograss: Five Keys to a Successful Planting on our website.

Buffalograss Interior of Arboretum

Question 3: Can you list out the heights and mature sizes of the grasses?

One of the key components of a successful native landscape design is situating grasses. Repeating taller grasses at regular intervals looks formal while these same taller grasses at irregular intervals is relaxing and less formal. Grasses unify and blend your landscape together and they are wonderful companion plants with other wildflowers and shrubs.

  • Short= 4-24 inches, Examples: prairie dropseed, blue grama, pink muhly, sideoats grama, june grass, “Blonde Ambition” blue grama, purple love grass, and Nassella tenuissima,
  • Medium= 2-4 feet, Examples: Little bluestem, Little bluestem cultivars, Sideoats grama, Blonde Ambition blue grama, Northern sea oats, Pink Muhly grasses, “Cheyenne Sky” switchgrass, “Shenandoah” switchgrass, and sand love grass (Eragrostis trichoides).
  • Tall= 4-7 feet, Examples: Big bluestem and cultivars, Indian grass and cultivars, Eastern gamma grass, prairie cordgrass, switchgrass and switchgrass cultivars.
Indiangrass against the Kansas sky. Photo by Brad Guhr.

Winter Green

This time of year, I am especially thankful for my prairie garden. While the rest of the non-native and plants are looking limp and frozen, many of my prairie plants are standing tall and providing excellent color, texture and shape. Lots of native species even stay green through the coldest days of winter!

Stay Cool

For most garden plants, freezing temps are the abrupt end to the growing season. Their stems and leaves freeze, and with freezing comes the expansion of water in their cells, rupturing their delicate tissues and leaving them limp and mushy. But most popular annuals like peppers, tomatoes, petunias and marigolds, are all tropical plants not accustomed to the cold. Perennial native prairie species have a few *tricks up their leaves* when it comes to surviving the cold. To stay green and prevent cell destruction, some plants loose their leaves all together (deciduous trees and shrubs), but others change the chemical composition of their tissues in order to stay green. They load their leaves with sugar, creating a sort of anti-freeze. A leaf full of sugary solutes has a much lower freezing temp than one with regular water inside. Genius!

Care of Winter Plants

Plants that retain a bit of green all winter are a real benefit to anyone who loves to spend time in their garden regardless of the temp. But, if it’s green, its growing (albeit very slowly!). Which means those plants might need a drink of water during the long dry spells of our Kansas winter. Don’t forget to water your landscape in droughty winters, especially if they are newly planted. Check the soil with your finger by pushing it in to the second knuckle — if it’s dry, add some water. If its moist, leave it alone. Too much water in winter causes rot and death to most dryland loving natives. Manage your winter water carefully and you will be rewarded with vigorous green growth in spring!

This dried Vernonia fasciculata, with its seeds dispersed from the flowers already, has little star shaped sepals left behind that look great in dried arrangments.

If the grey, cold weather is getting you down, remember to get out in your prairie garden or visit the Arboretum to observe all the wonderful shapes, textures, and colors our native plants have to offer. Before you know it, spring will be here and we will be reminiscing about the slow, peaceful days of winter!