Welcome to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for January 15th. Here at Plant Exchange on the Northern Plains, we are having the last warm January day before a week of predicted below freezing temperatures and chances for snow. Indoors, a sunny day adds welcome light and solar warmth. We’ll see blooms only indoors for the next … Continue reading
Filed under Flowers …
Butterflies in the House
Last September Jay and Mike Gurney and Cathy Weiss of Yankton Nurseries chatted about the weather of the 2018 growing season and related oddities. They hadn’t seen many butterflies until the end of the season, especially swallowtails and monarchs. Arriving butterflies became quite busy around the nursery, gathering nectar and pollen. As a curiosity to … Continue reading
A Change at the Nurseries
We celebrate this year at Plant Exchange Blog with a story about a grown son, Mike Gurney, who chooses to come back to his home town to try the family horticulture business. His family name is associated with his grandfather five generations ago, who brought knowledge about how to grow apple and other fruit trees to … Continue reading
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day December 15th
Welcome to our weekly Plant Exchange Blog where we feature plants of the Northern Plain and people who grow them. This is potted Camellia shrub that lives under a shade tree in summer and provide glossy green evergreen leaves indoors during cooler weather in our USDA Zone 4-5a region. Camellias are often found in the … Continue reading
Season Favorites
About four inches of snow fell overnight; a reminder that Fall wanes as the holidays approach. Just thinking about a few moments of the past season. The half on/half off leaves of our Japanese maple was a marker for yesterday. A year ago, an early Fall cold event caused the leaves to turn from green … Continue reading
What do You do with Your Dream Place?
“I told Jen one time, if the house ever came for sale and if we were able to do it financially, that this house would be a dream,” Andy Holst said. Andy and his wife Jen Holst of Embroidery & Screen Works, Inc. in Yankton, South Dakota, got the chance. Their home is on the … Continue reading
Flowers Attract People
Even in a city without a hurried pace, it’s a challenge to get people to slow down to see a storefront’s display the business offers. Rita Houska doesn’t sell flowers in her store, but the flowers at the front and employee entrances of her business allow her and anyone to see something beautiful as they … Continue reading
Rocks, Plants and a Dream Yard in Progress
In this week’s Plant Exchange, homeowner Tom Christensen shares how he includes his passion for timeless beauty and variety of rocks he has collected into his plant landscape. Tom and Loretta Christensen live in Yankton’s Historic District in an 1870’s home. Tom continues to renovate their yard, in keeping with the character and craftsmanship of … Continue reading
Methuselah Monarchs
As Fall approaches, so many changes are around us. Days are shortening and humans transition into different kinds of activities. Trees display their colors. Pollinators flock to late summer blooming plants such as New England asters, many kinds of milkweed, goldenrod, sedum, and sunflowers, to name a few. We’re glad we have grown some of … Continue reading
Korn’s Daylily Comments
Gail Korn of Garden Perennials, south of Wayne, Nebraska, is a regional authority and collector of daylilies. She is completing her 36thand last year of business. She grows a wide array of perennials and a large daylily collection on the hillside by her business. “Daylilies grow in any soil, in fifty states,” Korn said. “Fertility … Continue reading
