Wordpress Author Big Perennials for Sun Sometimes, you need something big in the garden. Usually, gardeners fill large spaces with trees or shrubs. But sometimes that does not work. Say you have a large island bed in the middle of a big ope... Apr 24, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Best Annuals for Pollinators When we think about pollinators, most gardeners see swaths of perennial flowers in bloom, covered in bees and butterflies. But what are the best annuals for pollinators? Here in the Central Great Plai... Apr 17, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Bee-Mimic Insects The insect world is a fascinating place. Within it, there are are many which mimic other insects, for a variety of reasons. The Viceroy butterfly for instance, mimics the Monarch in order to trick bir... Apr 10, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author As the Ash Tree Goes - What Are We Losing? With the introduction of emerald ash borer into the United States in 2002, hundreds of millions of ash trees have been lost. But what else are we losing with the invasion of this pest? Why are ash tre... Apr 3, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Blue Wood Phlox - April Plant of the Month I have chosen one of my favorite early spring bloomers as our April Plant of the Month for 2025. Blue wood phlox is a low growing groundcover which prefers shady areas from around the Kansas River eas... Mar 27, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Biodiversity for Birds, Butterflies, and Bees (And More) Adding biodiversity to your yard and garden means an increase in all types of life. But what do I mean by “adding biodiversity”?. And what is biodiversity? Biodiversity is defined as the variety of li... Mar 20, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Native Gardening - A Shift In Styles As we continue into the future, native gardening has become more and more popular. I saw this trend coming years ago, when I was doing my internship in Minnesota. But I could not expect the delay it h... Mar 13, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Do You Have a Healthy Landscape? What exactly is a healthy landscape? Well, that term might mean something different to each one of you. But to me, as an ecological horticulturalist, it means how healthy is the landscaping in regards... Mar 6, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Hazelnut - March Plant of the Month Hazelnut is our 2025 Plant of the Month for March. This native shrub is commonly found in wooded areas on on woodland edges, from the Great Plains eastward. It can be a large shrub, growing 4 to 15 fe... Feb 27, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Keystone Plants for the Central Great Plains Just what are keystone plants? Well, keystone plants are plants which a habitat or ecosystem is mostly dependent on to thrive. By removing these species, you may collapse an ecosystem or limit its abi... Feb 20, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author My Meadow Garden - 3 Years Later 3 years ago I started my Meadow Garden, planting around an existing bed of native plants. I started this bed in order to create a “naturalized” space within my landscape where the only regular mainten... Feb 13, 2025 Blog
Wordpress Author Proven Winners Annual Flowers When it comes to annual flowers, Proven Winners is ahead of the game. Even though they are not the only name on the market, they have upped everyone else’s quality by competition. In other words, becu... Feb 6, 2025 Blog