Showy Sedum – October Plant of the Month

Showy Sedum – October Plant of the Month

Showy sedum is our September Plant of the Month for 2023. Also known as live forever, orpine, tall sedum, and butterfly stonecrop; it is one of the best late summer and fall perennials for pollinators. If you have not planted this perennial then you cannot imagine the amount of insects it attracts. Easy to grow […]

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Helenium – August Plant of the Month

Helenium – August Plant of the Month

Helenium, also known as sneezeweed and Helen’s flower, is our August Plant of the Month. It can be difficult to find a plant of the month for August, because a lot of plants are either finishing up blooming, or not starting to bloom yet. But the sneezeweeds are going strong, and blooming well. There are […]

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Dianthus – May Plant of the Month

Dianthus – May Plant of the Month

Dianthus is our May Plant of the Month for 2023. Also known as cottage pinks, cheddar pinks, carnation, sweet William, and maiden pinks. Here in Northeast Kansas, just dianthus for most of them. True, carnations and Sweet William are different species than the pinks. The dianthus we want are the short, groundcover type of pinks. […]

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Pasque Flower – March Plant of the Month

Pasque Flower – March Plant of the Month

Pasque flower is our first Plant of the Month for 2023. A new year and a new set of plant of the month species. It can be very difficult to find suitable plants for our early months, especially for March. There just is not much blooming, anywhere. However, I can always count on my pasque […]

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Goldenrods – October Plant of the Month

Goldenrods – October Plant of the Month

Goldenrods are the October Plant of the Month for 2022. One of the most recognized fall flowers, goldenrods are native across the entire United States. Despite its wide distribution, it is often blamed for the allergies associated with hay fever, which is caused by ragweed, not goldenrod. However, that blame is starting to disappear as […]

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Bonesets – September Plant of the Month

Bonesets – September Plant of the Month

Bonesets are the September plants of the month. Members of the Aster Family, and closely related to blazingstars, bonesets are found primarily from the Rocky Mountains eastward. The name boneset comes from break-bone fever, an influenza-like fever, which causes severe bone pain. Native Americans used Eupatorium perfoliatum (Common boneset) to treat the fever. Native to […]

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Ornamental Onion – July Plant of the Month

Ornamental Onion – July Plant of the Month

Ornamental onion is our July Plant of the Month. One of my favorite border plants, ornamental onions really came big on the scene in 2018, with ‘Millenium’ as the Perennial Plant of the year. Because of the excitement surrounding this cultivar, we have a plethora of ornamental onions now available in the garden center. But […]

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Penstemon – June Plant of the Month

Penstemon – June Plant of the Month

Penstemon is the June Plant of the Month. Also known as beardtongue, penstemon is one of the most diverse genus of plants in North America. With 240 species alone in North America, there is a lot of potential for hybridization as well as nativar selection. Here in the Central Great Plains region, we have only […]

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Perennial Salvia – May Plant of the Month

Perennial Salvia – May Plant of the Month

Perennial salvia is our May Plant of the Month. I have to admit, this was not one of my favorite perennials for a long time. Mainly because of overuse of 1 cultivar in the landscape. I do not like plants that get too much attention; we need more diversity in our gardens. But now, after […]

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