Plant Sucking Insects
This is quite a literal statement; there are a number of small insects that suck plant juices. This damage to the plant stresses them, often causing mottling or stippling, and is difficult to treat without insecticides. Let us delve in to the world of plant sucking insects. Insect Mouthparts – Piercing/Sucking There are a number […]
Plants for the Autumn Garden
With the year finally beginning to wane, we are looking forward to the changing of the leaves and prepping for winter. However, before we put our tools away for good, we need to assess and evaluate our current gardens. Then we can decided which perennials and grasses would be beneficial for autumn color. Pollinator Plants […]
September Tips for the Garden
September is here and fall is right around the corner. It almost time to get the garden ready for winter – but not yet! September to me was a time of birthday parties, picnics before school, and the last summer vacation. What needs done in September first? Remove spent and over-grown annuals from the landscape […]
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 […]
Perennials for Butterfly Habitats
Perennials can be the backbone of anyone’s garden – they certainly are for mine. I choose perennials that bloom in succession, support native insect populations, are pretty, and attract lots of butterflies! Despite living in Zone 5 in Northeast Kansas, where the weather is constantly changing, I have a very diverse garden. So what are […]
Creating a Butterfly Garden
by Nadine Champlin, Landscape Designer, Owner of Prairie Place Designs, Sabetha, KS Design Consultant for Grimm’s Gardens, Hiawatha, KS Why have a butterfly garden? A Native American legend tells us: “If you have a secret wish, find a butterfly and whisper your wish to it. When you release the butterfly it will carry your wish […]
March Tips & Tricks
March is the start of spring cleanups and gearing up for the garden year, so it is often the busiest time of the gardening year. While it is true, that if you put the garden to bed just right in the fall, spring chores are less, it is also true that a landscaper’s work is […]
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 […]
Kansas Gardener’s Garden June-July
Here is the second part to the garden tour. enjoy the photos and comments! Above you can see my driveway Border Garden. I had to put in this fence to keep visitors from parking too close to the edge of the drop off where the culvert it. I added some of my favorite rustic […]
