Trees for Birds – The Top 6 for Landscapes
Trees for birds? Are trees not for birds? It really makes a difference what kind of trees you plant. With September and fall tree planting right around the corner, we need to plan ahead for the kinds of trees to plant. Too often, we plant trees for ourselves, and what we want, not thinking about […]
Emerald Ash Borer Found in Brown County Kansas
As many of you know, Brown County Kansas is the homeplace of Grimm’s Gardens. And because of that, anything important starts here first. Last week, a group of Kansas foresters, entomologists, and Doug Grimm met south of Hiawatha to look over some ash trees. And what did they find? Yes, they found emerald ash borer. […]
Planting for Pollinators – April and May
For several years now, the trend has been on what to plant for pollinators. This is a two-sided question. What do you think of when planting for pollinators? Do you think about what plants pollinators are attracted to for nectar and pollen, or attracted to as a host plant? We need to think about both […]
Fall Webworms
While most pests are winding down in late summer and autumn, fall webworms are just getting started. Many people get very upset when they see big webs of caterpillars in their trees (and shrubs) in late summer. As if things are not bad enough with spider webs dangling everywhere. While they are not considered to […]
Fruit Tree Guide – Growing Apples
Growing apples is often the vision of nearly every homeowner. Even those who do little or no gardening enjoy having an apple tree or two. Picking fresh, homegrown apples is a treat beyond words. I myself have long been fascinated by fruit trees, and apples are a specialty. There are more than 7,500 varieties of […]
What Should the Kansas State Fruit be?
Kansas is well-known for a number of representative symbols, but we have no state fruit. Other states have a state fruit, but not us. Why is that? Well, for one thing, state symbols are not pressing business within the branches of our government. Just like the Kansas state insect, the honeybee, it is up to […]
How To Attract Insect Pollinators to Your Garden
Welcome to the new year! Last season was one of the busiest gardening seasons for many across the country, with many new gardeners. With all those new gardeners, came a plethora of questions about a wide range of gardening topics. I am going to kick off the new year with one of the most important […]
12 Things Every Gardener Should Know
You know the song… “and a partridge in a pear tree”. Well, I do not know about the partridge, but I would take the pear tree. Anyways, as 2020 comes to a close, I was thinking about all the gardening questions I answered through the year. And I have a list of the 12 most […]
Growing Fruit – Problems of Apples and Pears
Just as soon as I get one thing done in the orchard, more work suddenly springs upon me. When growing fruit trees with as few chemical inputs as possible, there can never be too much time in the orchard. While I am still learning, there is much that I can teach. Let us look at […]
