2020 Kansas Native Plant of the Year – Baptisia australis
The 2010 Perennial Plant of the Year was Baptisia australis, Blue Wild Indigo. It was also picked to be the 2020 Kansas Native Plant of the Year. It is a great, native perennial for the garden and landscape. Add it into a spot and let it be, it will outlive many other perennials. About Baptisia […]
Kansas Gardener’s Garden August-Septemer
Part 3 of my gardens. The saga continues…. This is the Monarch Waystation in late summer, full of rudbeckias and garden phlox and grasses. The double-flowered rudbeckia variety is ‘Hortensia’ from my grandmother’s garden in Cloud County, KS. The tallest grass in the middle is switchgrass ‘Dallas Blues’, one of the first things I […]
Planning an Awesome! Autumn Display
Autumn is fast coming around the corner. I am already seeing the stages of autumn forming in the landscape around us, with goldenrods, asters, and other native plants beginning their fall displays. Now that I have a little down time, I am beginning my planning for my fall displays. I usually put together 8 in-ground […]
2019 Perennial Plant of the Year: Stachys ‘Hummelo’
Every year, the Perennial Plant Association promotes a perennial of the year. In the past it has been butterfly milkweed, allium ‘Millenium’, switchgrass ‘Northwind’ and others, since starting the list in 1990. This year, the PPA has selected stachys ‘Hummelo’ as the perennial plant of the year. That is good news for us here in […]
Garden Planning: Monarch Waystations
Last spring I went to a conference in Lawrence, KS and was inspired by Dr. Chip Taylor of KU’s biology department. In 2005, Dr. Taylor created a program to develop “Monarch Waystations” across the United States. The goal of the program is to educate the public on the importance of butterflies and their habitats, to […]
Prairie Plantings: Improving your Quality of Life
There something so simple and calming about the prairie. Growing up in north central Kansas, I knew too well the heat and drought of the plains states. Even in the shade of the wooded creek bottoms near our house, it was sultry and hot. Later, when I lived in Manhattan, KS, a quiet walk on […]
Using Native Grasses in the Landscape
Native grasses have always fascinated me. Living in the Great Plains, and growing up in the Smoky Hills Region of Kansas, I got to find grasses from two separate ecoregions. The tall grasses of the east and short grasses of the west seemed to collide in my backyard. Now, I use native grasses and sedges […]
