With the latest layers of snow mostly melted, we begin to think about what perennials we’d like to include in our gardens this season. Adding color is a lift. Echinacea cultivars add color variety and intensity. Columbine flowers add delicacy to a flowerbed. Asters bloom later in summer. Rudbeckias are a natural part of summer … Continue reading
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Dibbles and Bits
It’s a reflective time of year. Even bunnies are pausing a moment as they find today’s path. Plant lovers thinking about next gardening season have all the seed catalogs a table can hold and plenty online besides. At Plant Exchange, garden magazines are a hit for reading and reflection now. Articles in the January/February 2021 … Continue reading
How Does a Winter-Flowering Plant Make Seed?
Camellias are introduced plants from Japan and nearby Asian countries that have adapted well in the Southeast United States for more than a hundred years. In the south, camellias bloom in the fall or winter or early spring, sometimes before bulb plants. In nature, not many plants bloom at this time. Camellias are shrubs with … Continue reading
Fall Retreats
As the end of growing season, golden cottonwood leaves define our path as plants get ready for winter. Some of the giant Siouxland cottonwoods, prairie aspen, haven’t lost leaves yet. Ash tree leaves are already matted beneath trees and maples are just beginning to lose their fall green. Little bluestem and other native grasses burn … Continue reading
A Few Dibbles And Bits
Reason to prune trees, chickens as a pesticide alternative, and a plant labeling tip are this week’s Plant Exchange Blog topics. We are grateful to all who share plant-relative information, ideas, and tips from experience that come from professionals and experienced gardeners of the region such as these below. Trees that are properly pruned have … Continue reading
Don’t Forget Desserts!
Welcome to recipes for locally grown vegetables and fruits of summer at Plant Exchange Blog. Chef Staci Pederson is executive chef at the Hy-Vee Food Store in Yankton, South Dakota. She uses her own recipes and presentation flair with vegetables and fruits in season to “Celebrate Desserts”. Today she shares simple backyard desserts with us … 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
Annual Flowers for Yankton City Spaces
Lisa Kortan, urban forester for the City of Yankton, is responsible for choosing annuals that decorate downtown Yankton all summer. She also chooses kinds and colors of annuals for parks and boulevards around town. Just like we have environmental considerations for the annuals we choose to highlight our green spaces, Kortan puts a lot of … Continue reading
Diverse As Tree Bark
Welcome to Plant Exchange where we share about plants of the Northern Plains and people who grow them. Please join us for a winter walk. A fine thing about winter is how much easier it is to pay attention outdoors. Distractions of colors are few. In fact, outdoors now is more about hues of neutral. … Continue reading
Butterfly Weed 2017 Perennial of the Year
This week at Plant Exchange, we feature a plant that grows well, once established, in gardens of the region. It’s a low maintenance perennial that attracts lots of pollinators. Cheery orange of butterfly weed attracts humans and pollinators to our gardens. Dr. David Graper, horticulturalist at South Dakota State University, shares information about a … Continue reading
