Underused Plants
As you spend your time planning for next year, look for underused plants. They come in all shapes and sizes, and many of them can be stars of the garden. I spend a lot of time with such plants, trying them in various places in my gardens. Some are ongoing trials, while others are stars […]
Flowers for Honeybees
Honeybees are often considered the important bee on this earth. While that is strictly not true, honeybees are an important food producer for us and do a great job pollinating our flowers. And I do not know a beekeeper who does not love his or her bees. So what kind of flowers can we grow […]
Favorite Natives (And Nativars) of the Author’s Garden
How many favorite natives can you have? I have been gardening for more than 30 years, and adding natives into my gardens from the very beginning. At my parent’s home in North Central Kansas, I recognized several natives which made their way into my container gardens, and eventually into the landscaping I did for my […]
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 can create a meadow garden in almost any landscape. The meadow is similar to a glade, in […]
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 walks, as well as tour home gardens where look-a-likes occur frequently. But what are silphiums? Because […]
Meet the Pollinators : Skipper Butterflies
What are skipper butterflies and why are they separate from other butterflies? Skippers are often termed as an intermediate group between butterflies and moths. What does that mean? It mean that they have characteristics of both groups within Lepidoptera. Skipper butterflies have furry bodies similar to moths, but fly during the day and sit at […]
Baptisia – May Plant of the Month
Baptisia is our May Plant of the Month. May is a month of beautiful flowers, of trees, shrubs, and perennials in the central Great Plains and Midwest. Our gardens are loaded with many wonderful blooming plants. So why choose baptisia over all the others? Also known as blue false indigo or wild indigo, this native […]
Build a Butterfly Garden in 9 Steps
Building a butterfly garden should be on the list for every gardener. You can make your entire garden and landscape a butterfly garden or you can create a small, postage stamp garden specifically for butterflies. Anyone, even balcony gardeners can have a butterfly garden. You can have your own pollinator paradise in 9 easy steps. […]
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 […]
