Wordpress Author 2021 Year in Review - Landscape Problems Every December, I put together a Year in Review post about things that have happened during the previous 11 months. First up is our annual review of the pests, diseases, and abiotic problems in the la... Dec 16, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author DIY Wreath Making for the Holidays After Thanksgiving is over and only a few weeks until Christmas, I like to finish my outdoor decorations off with a few DIY wreaths. After weeks of cleaning out landscapes and gardens, wreathmaking is... Nov 11, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Spiders in the Garden When I was young, I had a horrifying experience with a spider inside the house. A brown recluse crawled down my face in the bathtub. It took me more than 15 years to get over my fear of spiders, both ... Nov 4, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Best Shade Loving Shrubs for the Garden My work as a landscape consultant often puts me in a place where I have to answer questions on which plant to put where. And shade loving shrubs are high on that list. Many home gardeners can easily c... Oct 28, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Preparing the Garden for Winter If you are like me, you have a large chore sheet for the garden, before winter sets in. Besides my 70 some maintenance customers, I have a large 1 acre (so far) garden to prepare for the cold months. ... Oct 21, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Creating A Meadow Garden in Your Landscape I have mentioned the meadow garden many times now. Why do you think that is? I love the native prairie and the application of prairie into the landscape is not an easy one for most homeowners. But you... Oct 14, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Sunflowers or Silphiums - Plant Look-A-Likes One of the things that comes hard to me is when I am with folk who do not now their sunflowers from their silphiums. Or any plant look-a-likes that may happen. I often get to help lead native plant wa... Oct 7, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Aster - October Plant of the Month Aster is our October Plant of the Month. When it comes to fall flowers, asters and goldenrods really outshine everything else. But because asters come in shades of purple, white, blue, and even pink, ... Sep 30, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Best Native Plants (not cultivars) for the Landscape Deciding what native plants to add to your landscape can be a daunting challenge. From landscape designers to botanists, homeowners are pressured into adding natives into their landscapes, often witho... Sep 23, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Growing Pawpaws Recently, my wife showed me a video of a Michigan gardener attempting to describe growing pawpaws. As I have some experience in this myself, I was dumbfounded by his lack of knowledge on the subject o... Sep 16, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Fall Garden Preparation for Spring Planting Fall is the perfect time to begin garden preparation for spring planting. The weather is warmer, the soil drier (typically), and you can evaluate how this year’s garden has produced. Next spring howev... Sep 9, 2021 Blog
Wordpress Author Blazingstar - September Plant of the Month Blazingstar is our September Plant of the Month. These perennials are one of my all-time favorite flowers, because the first one I learned to identify bloomed around the time of my birthday, in Septem... Sep 1, 2021 Blog