Welcome to Plant Exchange! Here we feature plants in USDA Zone 4-5a on the Northern Plains and the people who grow them.
Robins are back and Spring is close, even with snow on the ground. It’s a time to think about plants from last season to repeat or avoid.
Gaillardia is a tender perennial here, that returns only a few years. This was grown from seed and is hardy to the region and is showy in the heat of August. Pollinators are often seen around the flowers.
Vinca annuals are grown from seed and add color in the heat of August. They had slow starts in the erratic spring last year.
Ornamental garlic was direct-seeded as annuals in a bed with ornamental dill in late spring last year. The garlic bloomed profusely and lots of pollinators visited the plants. The garlic plants were difficult to remove in the fall. They were not easily weeded and were resistant to standard herbicide.
On to other short topics, we include a bit on artificial light for starting seeds, plants as markers of spring and attractive native plants that grow well in the region. See them in the link below that first appeared in the Yankton Press & Dakotan newspaper:
Thanks for your visit. We’re all ready for Spring flowers this season!
Plant Exchange Blog 
That vinca is something we just can not grow here, and I do not know why! It is always yellow. I know the soil is alkaline, but not alkaline enough to bother azaleas. It is a mystery.