Plants are adjusting to spring all around us. Multi-taskers (like humans), many trees, shrubs, and perennials are forming leaves and flowering. As many plants begin spring activity after dormancy, they need startup energy. Leaves use sunlight to make food. Extra energy is also required for flowering to start procreation. Plants like daffodils and tulips use … Continue reading
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The Plum Tree Announces Spring
Scattered daffodils, tulips, hellebores, and grape hyacinths sing in four-part harmony as I look around the yard for the early signs of spring. It’s been a first mowing, edging, weeding, and removing more dregs of winter day. After windy, dry weather, there’s a chance of rain. Tight flower buds of the native plum tree (Prunus … Continue reading
Harvest Your Beans
After the work of planting and weeding an edible garden, the vegetables and fruit are part of the reward. We can’t wait to taste the first tender green beans. At Plant Exchange, near the beginning of August, beans have been producing well for a month. The bean plant produces seed, and if we harvest beans … Continue reading
Lilacs in Spring
Have you ever experienced a bouquet of fragrance lilacs held tightly in the arms of a child to present as a gift, maybe on Mother’s Day? Lilacs are a commonly grown, low maintenance shrub or small tree of the Northern Plains. Long abandoned farmsteads still have lilacs that bloom in early spring. Some associate the … Continue reading
A Star of Spring
Right now, the uncultivated star of spring that unfolds here on the Northern Plains is the plum. After a few warm days and promise of more, deciduous trees nearby are beginning to leaf out. The plum’s blossoms glow white early and late in the quiet of the day. Like many of us needing haircuts with … Continue reading
Spring Arrives Each Year
Moments of spring shake us from all that swirls around us. A perfect daffodil blossom survives a frosty night. Not quite here, but in mind from last season, the redbud tree, northern magnolia, and native plum will soon display again. There is so much we do not know. Ginkgo trees are not native here but … Continue reading
Dibbles And Bits
Dandelions are everywhere in early spring. “My great grandfather brought dandelions with him from Denmark,” Paul Harens of Yankton remarked. “They were for greens.” Why one would bring dandelion seeds to grow– the plant scourge of some lawns today? Dandelions are members of the large Asteraceae family. The genus Taraxacum is native to North America, … Continue reading
What’s Happening At Des Moines Botanical Garden?
A reason to visit the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, is that its outdoor gardens grow many of the same trees, shrubs and perennials that are found in this region. Des Moines is rated USDA Zone 5a and 5b and has an average of 9 more inches of rain each year and a somewhat less … Continue reading
Spring Is Here!
Spring is emerging here and around you. Here at Plant Exchange some plants are in full display others not yet awake. Thanks for taking a stroll with me to see what we find Wild plums are in full bloom. We are fortunate to have this one probably planted by a bird. The disease Black Knot … Continue reading
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