Greenhouses burst with alluring annuals for our gardens. If these flowers were wearable, we might consider them jewelry, and the trees that anchor our yards as fundamental as the black dress. Trees and shrubs add a vertical shape to the area above the annuals and perennials in a yard. Trees can be the welcoming presence … Continue reading
First Signs of Spring
Daffodil and tulip foliage is so beautiful to see emerging from the brown of winter. Temperatures are predicted in the high 50s with maybe showers too. Peonies are beginning to grow. Hellebores, also called Lenten Roses, are budding and will be in bloom for Easter this year. Indoors, we harvest sprouts for salads and sandwiches. … Continue reading
Goals for the Garden Season
Before the daffodils bloom and the first turn of the soil, I consider a shortlist of what I aim for this gardening season. Add More Native Plants They are more adapted to the environment and thrive year to year, require less watering once established, and are more likely to benefit pollinators and other wildlife. More … Continue reading
Grow Your Favorite Houseplant
Even with spring beginning on the calendar, it’s early to move gardening beyond last season’s sanitation outdoors. While the weather settles, a creative outlet with a favorite indoor plant is to propagate cuttings. If it works, you’ll have more plants, like this begonia, to keep or share with others. If you’ve ever included Coleus leaves … Continue reading
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day-March 15th
Oh, beautiful shamrock, with deep-hued, three-parted leaves. You’re a bit of a sham, a look-alike to Irish clover shamrocks. Native to southern South America, the perennial Purple Shamrocks (Oxalis triangularis) may be grown outdoors in light shade above USDA Hardiness Zone 8. As a potted houseplant, a group of the small Oxalis bulb-like corms each … Continue reading
Thoughts on How We Landscape
A few green daffodil leaf blades point skyward in a protected area in our region. Early for flowers and pollinators, but now is an excellent time to consider how our backyards are a part of national wildlife conservation. Professor Douglas Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware, has a strong message for gardeners in … Continue reading
Last Bittersweet Days of Winter
The ending of winter can be a bittersweet transition to spring. Maybe these days are a chance for uninterrupted reading opportunities, time to think about new season plants or time to prepare. For now, let’s think about bluebells, other blue flowers, a podcast, and bittersweet vine. Virginia bluebells grow on the Northern Plains! The striking blue … Continue reading
Tree Bark-Wrinkles in Time, and Other Winter Details
Last season’s yarrow reappears after snow on this below-zero day. Today we’ll look at end-of-winter visages in nature that we missed until now. Evergreen needles show fine detail. Ready-made snowballs—free. There are so many bark details to re-discover this winter while trees remain undressed. An easy way to see a variety of trees growing in … Continue reading
Dibbles and Bits
Topics for Plant Exchange Blog include the benefits of a clay plant container, Bayer and glyphosate, and the American Horticultural Society that helped develop hardiness and heat zone maps for gardeners. Porous pots such as clay can help maintain water flow for potted plants. Plants need adequate soil moisture, with the excess water leaving the container … Continue reading
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day–February 15th
Welcome to Plant Exchange Blog on the Northern Plains. Nothing blooming, inside or out today. Instead, let’s pay tribute to the native sunflower in the season to come. The Sunflowers By Mary Oliver in Devotions, 2017 Come with me Into the field of sunflowers. Their faces are burnished disks, Their dry spines creak like ship masks, … Continue reading
Plant Exchange Blog 