Welcome to Plant Exchange Blog on the Northern Plains. While hot and dry summer days challenge farmers and gardeners, we’re ready to celebrate a few garden first harvests. We’ll also consider a few ornamental shade plants that grow well here. Sunflowers are among personal favorites that grow tended and wild and free in this region. … Continue reading
Filed under Container Gardens …
Up Close in Our Gardens
Mid-season of this busy growing year is a moment to notice how our garden plants are progressing. Zinnias, smoke bush, wildflowers, and first look at sunflowers are featured today at Plant Exchange Blog. Soil warmed slowly this spring, and direct-seeded plants such as zinnias were noticeably behind greenhouse transplants in this region. Zinnias are now … Continue reading
A Mid-Summer Flower and Salad Greens
Annabelle Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’) or smooth hydrangea is in full bloom at Plant Exchange Blog. The six-inch round flower head (corymb) of flowers is vase-worthy and can be dried, suspended upside down in a garage for fall arrangements. White flowers pair with other flower colors of the season. This deciduous hydrangea (USDA Zone 3-9) … Continue reading
Regional Plant-Related Event
Backyard Farmer with Nebraska Extension Educators from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln airs Thursdays on Nebraska Public Television from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Program topics come from the growing season and responses to questions sent from around the state.
Caring for Starter Plants
Spring is here Plant Exchange! Children and the rest of us may soon enjoy sweet summer cherry tomatoes on the patio. Flowerbeds always have room for more Black-eyed Susans. These can be yet be grown from seed in this region in time to transplant into the garden. The recent post “Time to Start Transplant Seeds” … Continue reading
Dibbles and Bits
Today at Plant Exchange, we’re featuring bits about a flower’s nectar supply, thoughts before planting, and plant pests from the USA. How soon does a flower visited by pollinators replace its nectar? Nectar attracts pollinators to the flower and then helps the plant by moving pollen to other flowers. Natalie Hamilton for Smithsonian magazine, December 2020, responded … Continue reading
Time to Start Transplant Seeds
Spring is here, according to migrating birds, budding and flowering trees. If you’re thinking about starting seeds for the flower or vegetable garden, the garden catalogs, back of seed packets, and sites you “Google” have information. Seeds from catalogs offer a wider variety of choices than garden centers. Maybe you’re looking for a bloom color … Continue reading
More Sunflowers
Sunflowers are an easy-to-grow Northern Plains flower. If you plant them by direct seeding after the last spring frost, they’ll grow to produce large flowers in August and September. Adaptable self-seeded native sunflowers add summer yellow in road ditches and vacant lots. Cultivated sunflowers in garden seed packets have large flowers like the photos here … Continue reading
Recharge Garden Interest
At Plant Exchange blog, we depend on a few indoor plants to recharge our interest for next season’s gardening. Amaryllis is an easy-care plant with its battery to supply kick-start energy for the plant to grow and bloom. Amaryllis bulb in its native Africa comes to life with spring rains, has 2-5 sparkling blooms for … Continue reading
Three Easy-Care Houseplants
Adequate quality light in winter is necessary for healthy houseplants. In this USDA 4-5a growing zone on the Northern Plains, lack of satisfactory light quality indoors can be a problem. Choosing plants with a tolerance to lower light increases the chance they can adapt to the indirect winter sunlight they receive. These houseplants can be … Continue reading
