Of course, it is easy to leave climate change concerns to others. Today’s post is a thumbnail about how climate change can impact plant growth and then a possible step we can take toward sustaining ourselves and our gardens. The photos are from a time to think at Lewis & Clark Recreation Area, a state … Continue reading
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Precious Water Resource
This week, a news story aired about the nearest large city exploring additional sources of drinking water. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the middle of the United States, has experienced the second year of drought, and aquifers need to be recharged. Water is a precious resource for humans, plants, and animals. Also this week, a … Continue reading
Dibbles and Bits
Parks, leaf color, and busy wild turkeys are topics today at Plant Exchange Blog as Autumn transition continues. Parks may add an important nature experience because more than 83% of Americans live in a city. Brooklyn Bridge Park of 85 acres along New York City’s East River is featured in the September/October 2022 Horticulture Magazine. Landscape challenges included … Continue reading
Thinking About Fall Leaf Color
Transitions can be a challenge when we adjust our clocks in fall. Deciduous trees have fall adjustments too, and the fall color that we enjoy, is one of them. Trees and shrubs that die back in fall usually have green leaves into Fall. Then, while days are warm, the evenings become cool, sometimes with light … Continue reading
Not Just Another Lowly Plant
Some plants around us aren’t featured these days in greenhouses. Wind and birds may propagate them in vacant lots. We may consider them as weeds. In their understory way, they may contribute their part in ecology and sometimes have attributes that become beneficial. Amur maple may be pruned as a shrub or grow naturally as … Continue reading
Unforgettable Lilacs
It’s a bouquet of lilac flowers, the lowest ones in reach, shades of lavender, the kind you bury your face in, to experience the fragrance of blossoms and sun-warmed leaves. Held with two hands with a drawing, signed in big letters, is an unforgettable Mothers’ Day. When driving by the rows of lilacs against evergreens … Continue reading
Wild Plums of Spring
Wild Plums are in bloom! These days are a great time to trek around your environs to see all the changes occurring with plants. On the Northern Plains, we wait well past the calendar date to see spring reflected in plants. Some trees bloom first, and others leaf out before blooming. A few do both. … Continue reading
Holiday Wishes
At Plant Exchange blog, nature walks are a seasonal touchstone in these times. In late fall, we see tree bark instead of leaves, evergreens are more prominent, and areas look different as undergrowth disappears. We shuffle through the spice of fallen leaves and think about what is dear to us. A few weeks back, we … Continue reading
Another Look at Late Bloomers
By late September here on the Northern Plains, most plants have had the big flower or fall color reveal. If not, like many maples this year, red leaf color started and halted with hard frosts; crunchy brown leaves remain. Most locust trees had their golden color. Sunflowers had a fine season of showy blooms. Goldenrod … 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
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