Welcome to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for August 15th at Plant Exchange Blog. Whenever you decide to visit, we’ll have our blooms ready for you to see. We’re on the Northern Plains in a USDA Zone 4-5a region. Past two weeks have been mild with occasional rain. For mid-August we’d usually expect hot and dry sunny … Continue reading
Filed under Container Gardens …
Revitalize Raised Bed Soil
Revitalizing the soil in raised beds is our Plant Exchange Blog topic today. It’s mid-August and we’re glad that butterflies are becoming more abundant. Our flowerbeds had three issues we wanted to address this spring. Garlic chives had overrun most, and part of another bed and the hoe or chemical was not enough to remove … Continue reading
Dibbles And Bits
Today’s Plant Exchange Blog features short plant-related topics that may be of interest to people who like plants. A way to get a standout container garden by combining ordinary plants from the local greenhouse, is to select plants, not only for color and texture, but also for contrast. Contrast light and dark plants such as … Continue reading
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day– July 15th
Welcome to Plant Exchange Blog on the Northern Plains. We feature plants that grow here and the people who like them. In our USDA Zone 4 – 5a region, we’d had more intermittent rain than in past years and a cool spring. Our adaptive plants are nearly caught up to the slow warming soil. Annual … Continue reading
Thoughts About Garden Photos
Paul Harens is a retired Yankton High School language arts and social studies teacher who now has time to learn more about photography. His interest in plants goes back to childhood and he combines gardening and preserving what he sees. Harens is self-taught but also learns from others in the Yankton Area Photography Club. His … Continue reading
Landscape Designer’s Yard
How people make their yards one-of-a-kind, is amazing. At a regional Garden Writers Association tour held in western Michigan last summer, Cami Geschwendt, a professional landscape designer, showed her private suburban yard. Trees, perennials, flowers and sculptures are dominant elements in her design. Let’s take a peek: Among the pansies, a sculpture container wears a … Continue reading
An Indoor Accent Plant–Fiddle Leaf Fig
Houseplants dress our homes like containers of flowers highlight an area or echo a theme outdoors. Trees and shrubs may be the anchors in an outdoor room, but indoors, large plants can assume that role. Fiddle Leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) can be the anchor for a room full of houseplants. Welcome to Plant Exchange Blog. … Continue reading
New Seeds Gardeners Might Try
Maybe this spring you’d like to try a few new seeds for the garden. With the energy building for the new season, we’d like to make smart choices. All-America Selections (AAS) is a non-profit organization that asks horticulture professionals to field test new flower and vegetable seeds throughout the country. Our region is called the … Continue reading
Days of Solitude
One of the features of the Northern Plains is days of solitude. I started a stroll around the yard, feeling the burden of a snowy day. There lay the outline of yarrow in snow I had hadn’t noticed all winter. Silent birdhouse by one of the deer trails. Snow is heavy on the spruce, but … Continue reading
Elements of a Welcoming Home Entrance
How do we create more inviting front entrances for our homes? Let’s tour the front entrance of Andy and Jen Holst to see how they applied their creativity to making their front entrance welcoming. Their yard was a part of the Master Gardener garden tour last summer. Their yard in Yankton has an intimate front … Continue reading
