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Tips offered to assist beginning gardeners

By Rachel Dove

rbaldwin@civitasmedia.com

Gardening has become a favorite hobby for the younger generations of Tug Valley residents who once moaned and groaned when asked to help their parents weed, water and tend their family gardens as a child.

They too, have developed the satisfaction of growing their own food and of the financial savings and other benefits that go along with it.

If you’re a beginning vegetable gardener, the Daily News has compiled a list of basic tips on garden planning in such areas as site selection, plot size, which vegetables to grow, and many others.

While planning your gardening experience, remember that one of the most common errors for beginners is planting too much too soon, and way more than anybody could eat or want. It is always best to start small. It’s better to be proud of a small garden than being frustrated or overwhelmed by a large one.

First, here are some very basic concepts on topics you’ll want to explore further as you become a vegetable gardener extraordinaire:

First, does your garden have enough sun exposure? Vegetables love the sun and they need at least six hours of full sun every day, preferably eight. Know your soil. Most soil can be enriched with compost and be fine for planting, but some soil needs more help.

Vegetables must have good, loamy, well-drained soil. Check with your local nursery or local cooperative extension office about free soil test kits so that you can assess your soil type. Placement is everything. Avoid planting too near a tree, which will steal nutrients and shade the garden. In addition, a garden too close to the house will help to discourage wild animals from nibbling away your potential harvest.

You must decide between tilling and a raised bed. If you have poor soil or a bad back, a raised bed built with non pressure-treated wood offers many benefits. Vegetables also need lots of water, at least one inch of water a week. You’ll need some basic planting tools. These are the essentials: spade, garden fork, soaking hose, hoe, hand weeder, and wheelbarrow (or bucket) for moving around mulch or soil. It’s worth paying a bit extra for quality tools that will last year after year.

Study seed catalogs and Internet gardening sites and order early. Check the frost dates for your area. Find first and last frost dates and be alert to your local conditions.

You must decide how big a garden plot suits your needs, and always consider the amount of time you will have to devote to it.

A good-size beginner vegetable garden is about 16-by-10 feet and features crops that are easy to grow. A plot this size, planted as suggested below, can feed a family of four for one summer, with a little extra for canning and freezing (or giving away). Make your garden 11 rows wide, with each row 10 feet long. The rows should run north and south to take full advantage of the sun. Vegetables that may yield more than one crop per season are beans, beets, carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, rutabagas, spinach and turnips.

The vegetables suggested below are common, productive plants, but you’ll also want to contact your local cooperative extension service to determine which plants grow best in your local area. Think about what you like to eat as well as what’s difficult to find in a grocery store or farmers’ market. Also suggested are the amount of plants one should consider to feed a family of four.

Tomatoes, five plants staked; zucchini squash, four plants; peppers, six plants; cabbage; bush beans; lettuce, leaf and/or Bibb; beets; carrots; radishes; and don’t forget to plant a few marigold flowers to discourage rabbits from gobbling up all your hard work.

Remember, if this garden is too large for your needs, you do not have to plant all 11 rows and you can also make the rows shorter. You should choose a different variety of vegetables that you and your family would enjoy seeing on your dinner table, or on the shelves in your pantry after canning them for future use.

The art of gardening is something that is often passed down from one generation to another, and is a good time for family bonding and for teaching your children healthy eating habits, and also how to be self-sufficient.

Keep these tips in mind for May gardening

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April 24, 2014

Keep these tips in mind for May gardening

Ray Ridlin

Special to The Sun
The Edmond Sun

Thu Apr 24, 2014, 05:43 PM CDT

OKLA. CITY —
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you head into your May gardening routine. Keep ahead of the weeds. We are always happy for the rain, but wet ground can keep us out of the garden and that allows weeds to grow by leaps and bounds. Now is the time to guard tender plants such as tomatoes, eggplant and peppers against sudden late frosts. During the first part of May you may be planting beans, early corn, okra and late potatoes. You also may be replacing tomato plants lost to late frosts. Finish setting out cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, beets, etc.

Here are some things to do:

• Pine needle disease treatments are needed in mid-May.

• Cool-season lawns can be fertilized again. If you did not fertilize cool-season grasses in March and April, do so now.

• Warm-season lawns may be fertilized again in May.

• Seeding of warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass, buffalograss, zoysiagrass, and centipegrass is best performed in mid-May through the end of June. Soil temperatures are warm enough for germination and an adequate growing season is present to promote winter hardiness.

• Dollar spot disease of lawns can first become visible in mid-May. Make certain fertilizer applications have been adequate before every applying a fungicide.

• Nutsedge plants become visible during this month. Post emergent treatments are best applied for the first time this month. Make certain warm-season grasses have completed green-up. A good indicator is to wait until after the Forsythia blooms.

• The second application of pre-emergent annual grass herbicides can be applied in late-May or early June depending upon timing of first application. Check label for details.

• Vegetative establishment of warm-season grasses can continue.

• Annual bedding plants can be set out for summer color.

• Soak new transplants and newly planted trees unless rainfall is abundant.

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Spring gardening tips from Dickman Farms Greenhouses & Garden Center in … – The Post

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With winter finally gone it’s a good time for Central New York gardeners to tend to their gardens with early spring projects. You can start by clearing dead foliage from some plants and pruning dead branches from shrubs and trees.

Kate Ward, the Garden Center Manager at Dickman Farms Greenhouses Garden Center in Auburn, also recommends flowers and vegetables for early spring planting, ones that can sustain an occasional cold spring night. Ward talks about putting a ‘little color’ to your yard and garden. Ward says the record cold of this past winter can provide unexpected opportunities for spring gardening.

Turning gardens into healing sanctuaries: Walnut Creek to host landscape …

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WALNUT CREEK — Sarah Sutton’s no stranger to the relationship between healing and nature. Growing up on the Peninsula, Sutton and her sisters appreciated the wonders of nature — forests, landscapes, beaches and gardens. Then and now, Sutton had always regarded the earth’s treasures as a natural art form that helped to calm the mind, body and spirit.

“Our Dad would take us out to be immersed in nature, whether it was hiking in the forest, walking in Huddart Park, the beaches along Half Moon Bay,” said Sutton. “We were three little girls tidepooling.”

From her father, Sutton learned the art of de-stressing in nature — something she’s cultivated as a landscape architect, ecologist and artist.

The author of “The New American Front Yard: Kiss Your Grass Goodbye” will be presenting “Healing Places, Restorative Spaces: Creating Landscapes and Gardens that Sustain Ourselves and the Planet.” The book received a Silver Nautilus Award for Green Living/Sustainability and an Honorable Mention Award at the 2013 SF Green Book Festival).

At the April 30 event at The Gardens at Heather Farm, Sutton will show people how to regard home gardens and landscapes as much more than window dressing — they can be sustainable, restorative healing places.

Sutton admits that while she grew up reading Sunset Magazine, which first instilled in her a love for gardens, she initially wasn’t an avid gardener at the time. She thought about becoming a commercial artist but a college counselor pointed her toward pursuing a degree in landscape architecture. Suddenly, it all made sense–this career integrated her childhood love for nature with her love of art.

Sutton, who is also a Certified Natural Health professional, will discuss how garden designs and what you plant in your garden can help you create a healing sanctuary in suburbia. Topics will include how to holistically manage your garden, front yard foraging, regenerative landscape design and using Feng Shui principles in your garden.

While Sutton has painted oil and watercolor pieces, she considers the healing design projects she’s helped create to be a different kind of art medium. She’s applied holistic garden design principles to park plazas and gardens for family and friends.

Suzanne R. Schrift, a longtime colleague and a friend, said Sutton has a broad understanding of ecologically sound landscape principles and cutting edge practices, and is committed to teaching people how to think and act sustainably in the landscape.

“Her new book is an easy to read yet extensive guide that will change the way people see the landscape around them,” Schrift said.

Gail Donaldson, who’s known Sutton for nearly 20 years as a colleague and friend, said Sutton’s work has always combined her passion for the natural environment with her love of art and design. Sutton’s book, Donaldson said, is a guide “to restoring the planet one yard at a time.”

“The book contains a wealth of information on sustainable design, clearly presented in a lively and engaging way,” Donaldson said. It is chock full of ideas, images, references and information, valuable to novices and experts alike. Presenting a step-by-step approach to transforming a front yard, I find that I can open this book to just about any page and find an inspiring idea or image.”

At first, trying to apply her knowledge to her own home garden was a challenge, said Sutton, who lives in Berkeley.

Eventually, she learned to design a healing garden tailored to her own needs. She’s also learned how to make tinctures and healing salves made from herbs from her own garden.

When she experienced some health issues, Sutton gravitated toward natural remedies that included using herbs and plants from the garden.

“The realization was that I learned about propagating, harvesting and growing my own plants to use for healing,” said Sutton, who obtained a certificate in Therapeutic Healing Garden Design from the Chicago Botanical Garden. “I could dig up dandelion and make my own tea. It was a real epiphany.”

Grand design: City’s goal to increase rose garden visitation

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photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Roses begin to color the gardens at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, pictured here Wednesday. Tyler City Council approved a master plan for the garden which includes increased visibility, new programs and other improvements. photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph
Roses begin to color the gardens at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, pictured here Wednesday. Tyler City Council approved a master plan for the garden which includes increased visibility, new programs and other improvements. photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Roses begin to color the gardens at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, pictured here Wednesday. Tyler City Council approved a master plan for the garden which includes increased visibility, new programs and other improvements. photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Roses begin to color the gardens at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden, pictured here Wednesday. Tyler City Council approved a master plan for the garden which includes increased visibility, new programs and other improvements. 1 of 7

Future plans for the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden include more programming, a building/pavilion for events, new specialty gardens and various aesthetic improvements.

The Tyler City Council on Wednesday approved a Rose Garden Master Plan that, according to City Council communication, addresses things such as programming, ADA access, restroom locations, furniture and lights.

The master plan includes reconstructing the Queen’s Court to offer a venue for a community concert series, art shows, theater or grand weddings and the Rose Festival Queen’s Tea and constructing a garden building/pavilion to host events, parties wedding receptions, etc., according to MHS Planning Design LLC documents.

Also, constructing a shrub maze, open lawn and interactive water play for children; adding restrooms in the garden; reconstructing the Heritage garden; and constructing a new pedestrian entry into the rose garden building.

It also includes adding a trial garden for roses, as well as adding updated and comfortable furniture, among other things.

“The Tyler Rose Garden — the largest municipal rose garden in the United States — is a wonderful facility,” a document from MHS Planning Design reads. “The master plan for the garden is intended to make the space even better. With the physical modifications proposed, and the programming outlined, many more can enjoy the splendor of the gardens.”

Mark Spencer, with MHS Planning Design LLC, said the process of creating the master plan began about a year ago and involved focus groups, as well as receiving feedback from city staff and the park board.

Throughout the process, a primary goal was developed “to increase visitation at the rose garden,” Spencer said.

He said development of the 14-acre garden began about 1940. Construction was interrupted by World War II but was completed in 1952.

According to MHS Planning Design, the garden “resembled the original design, but placed a much higher emphasis on roses,” and there are now between 30,000 and 32,000 rose bushes and about 600 types of roses in the garden.

Times have changed since 1952, Spencer said, and people now lead more scheduled and programmed lives, so the goal was to see what could be done to increase visitation.

And he said it was determined that creating social gathering areas, increased programming, developing specialty gardens, improving ADA access and signage and providing a restroom facility in the garden should be part of that effort.

Concerts in the park, plays, art exhibits, art classes, date nights, hands-on educational events for children, wedding packages, Christmas events and civic theatre camps are among the additional proposed programming events in the master plan, according to a news release.

Landscape architect Oliver Windham said it’s been a fun experience to work on the master plan and realize this “gem” that is in Tyler.

The master plan will be implemented in nine phases as funding is available, Tyler Parks and Recreation Director Stephanie Rollings said. Funding sources could be public private partnerships, hotel/motel occupancy tax and half cent sales tax.

Phase 1 of the master plan — with a preliminary budget of $575,000 — would include patios at the Queen’s Court and new walkways with ADA accessible routes, according to MHS Planning Design. The total master plan preliminary cost is $2.9 million.

Also Wednesday, the Tyler City Council approved a construction contract with Longview Bridge and Road, Ltd. for the West Cumberland Road extension project and the Cherryhill Drive extension.

City Engineer Carter Delleney said the Cumberland Road project — about 2.4 miles from South Broadway Avenue to Old Jacksonville Highway — involves four traffic lanes, raised landscaped medians and sidewalks. There also are plans for a bridge over West Mud Creek, along with “connectivity for a future hike and bike trail,” according to a news release.

“This is wonderful project to increase the east-west connection in southern Tyler,” Mayor Barbara Bass said in a statement. “This will give citizens better access to schools, retail, parks and new development. It will also enhance emergency response times and help ease traffic congestion.”

Construction on the Cumberland Road project is expected to begin this summer.

Top Ten Bee-Friendly Tips: #1-Use Native Plants in Your Landscape

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Top Ten Bee-Friendly Tips: #1-Use Native Plants in Your Landscape

Posted by: Rhonda Hayes

Updated: April 23, 2014 – 3:21 PM

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Use native plants in your landscape. Sounds pretty straightforward. But with so much emphasis on food-growing gardens the past few years, it’s sounds a little decadent to plant pretty flowers, almost like a guilty pleasure.

Yet that’s what bees need. Lots and lots of flowers. Hopefully lots of native flowers that they are best adapted to for gathering nectar and pollen. Insects and plants that have evolved side by side have the best synergy when it comes to pollination. These plants have adapted in accordance to color, flower shape, bloom time, and the insects have adapted with their body parts, diet and reproductive cycles to benefit from each other.

So it sounds pretty easy, you just look for the native plant label and there you go. Well sort of.

Bee on native sunflower Photo by Rhonda Fleming Hayes

Whenever there’s an opportunity marketers will find it. Lots of plants are labeled native, but in a country as broad and diverse geographically as America, you’ll find not every plant can be native to every place in America. A plant native to Oregon might not be the best for a Minnesota bee. So when you’re shopping online or in person, do a little google search on the side with that plant. Try to find plants local to the upper Midwest, and more so to Minnesota. That’s not to say other plants will be of no value, but those plants will also have the best chance of surviving and thriving in our climate and growing zone. More plant labels and catalog descriptions are starting to identify bee-friendly plants.

So are all non-native plants bad for bees? Not necessarily. There are lots of “exotics”, plants that have been brought here from other countries that flourish in our state that bees find attractive. You have to go no further than Minnesota favorites like lilacs and hostas for example. But do avoid “double” flower forms and sterile versions of bedding plants and ornamentals that have little to no food value left in them.

A great way to figure out what bees like is to go looking for bees. What do they seem to go for? Bees do well when they have different flowers blooming as the season progresses. Bees benefit from large swaths of the same flower so they don’t have to spend as much energy foraging.

Now after all this, some people still don’t want to use native plants. They say they’re weedy looking or invasive. Not necessarily. There are design strategies for dealing with these objections, like using some straight lines, employing traditional plant spacing, choose clumping forms, and limiting the number of species. For more detailed ideas I highly recommend the Landscaping with Native Plants of Minnesota by Lynn Steiner.

Still have questions about using native plants in the landscape? Feel free to comment or email through The Garden Buzz.

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Los Gatos: Students’ goal is to make Ghana a more ‘healthy, beautiful’ place

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With a goal of making Yamoransa, Ghana, a “healthy and beautiful” place to live, a group of Los Gatos High School students plans to head there this summer for a work project. In fact, the high school’s Garden for Ghana Club was formed earlier this school year with just that in mind.

Club president Brooke Ahmed started the club after interning last summer with Alrie Middlebrook at the California Native Garden Foundation in San Jose. Middlebrook travels to Ghana annually to help people in the tiny African nation implement sustainable environmental practices.

In Yamoransa, the students will cultivate eroded land into beautiful landscapes and productive gardens. They’ll be working alongside scientists and students from Ghana’s Central University planting trees, flowers, produce and botanicals that will “correct” the eroded land.

“We are thinking now of landscaping ideas and plants to grow,” Brooke said. “That includes plants that are useful for solving deforestation problems. Other plants can help with Yamoransa’s erosion problems; they have a lot of rain there.

“The people of Yamoransa don’t have a healthy, balanced diet,” Brooke added, “so our purpose is to educate them and help them become self-sustaining.”

But to get to Ghana, the students need travel money. So a fundraiser is planned for May 18 at the Los Gatos Adult Recreation Center, 208 E. Main St. The event is from noon to 3 p.m. and will include brunch and guest speakers. In addition, members of the high school’s various bands are being lined up to entertain guests.

The 20 students who are members of the Garden for Ghana Club have just started fanning out around town, asking local merchants to support their fundraising effort by donating items that can be raffled off during the brunch. Early sponsors include retailers Nuance and Jennifer Croll, along with the Purple Onion.

The students hope to gather more donations for their auction–including items like wine, spa treatments and dinners from local restaurants.

Brunch tickets are $25 and can be purchased by emailing Alrie Middlebrook at alriem@me.com. People who wish to donate to the auction should also contact Middlebrook.

Bright IDEAs: IDEA Competition to award $30K to local entrepreneurs

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Seven finalists remain for the sixth annual Ingenuity Drives Entrepreneur Acceleration (IDEA) Competition organized by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation. The competition aims to encourage new ideas by awarding money to companies with innovative concepts that are easily marketable.

At an awards banquet Thursday night at the Sanford Center, three $10,000 awards will be given to three of the seven finalists. Those seven were whittled down from an initial pool of about 20 entrants, said Marty Sieve, NMF vice president for programs. Although NWF does much of the the legwork with the competition, winners are decided by a board of 12 representatives from the event’s sponsor groups, such as local banks and schools, he said. The selection committee looks not just for a good idea, Sieve said, but a good team of entrepreneurs to bring the idea into a bankable reality.

“It’s not strictly a business plan competition… it’s not just a theoretical thing,” Sieve said. “We are evaluating the competence of the entrepreneurs themselves… the real life prospects for bringing this product to the market.”

The ‘Bedraptor’

One of the finalists is Bemidji inventor John Szurpicki, who recently received a patent on a new soil tilling blade called the “Bedraptor,” which is designed to to dig narrow trenches around the borders of landscape beds.

The idea for the blade came to him years ago when he operated his own landscaping company and couldn’t find the tool he wanted, no matter how hard he searched.

“I contacted all my dealerships that I would buy equipment from,” he said. “Everything that they had me try was more a gimmick, and the things that did work were just too doggone big.”

Szurpicki came up with a prototype working in his garage, taking a conventional blade design and adding angled horizontal blades that both cut the earth and heave it neatly into the landscape bed. However, rather than selling the new tool himself, Szurpicki plans to license his product to a bigger corporation that can manufacture and market his invention. The competition has already helped put him into contact with the right people, he said.

“Thanks to the IDEA Competition, I’m in communication with (farm/lawn implement company) Toro… I’m having some conversations with them to see if they have an interest,” he said.

Szurpicki previously was an IDEA competition finalist in 2010, he said.

Other finalists include Addy-Olly in Thief River Falls, Berd’s Innovations in Red Lake Falls, CR Data Solutions in Bagley, Gifts of the Grove in Laporte, Lamplighter Hockey in Warroad and Skyrocker Telescope in Roseau.

Past Bemidji winners include Jeff Sullivan in 2012, Mark Landes and Jennifer DeBarr, also in 2012, the team of Jason LaValley, Jorge Prince and Roger LaValley in 2011, Jeff Sullivan and Arnold Kleinsasser, also in 2011, Eric Thorsgard in 2009 and David and Bonnie Ekstrom, also in 2009.

Landscaper offers water-saving tips

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Although St. Helena has lifted its emergency water-use restrictions, the need to save water and reduce and cut water costs continues.

And, according to a Napa Valley landscaper who specializes in reducing water use and preventing leaks, conservation can be achieved easily and inexpensively.

Ben Penning, operations manager for Lou Penning Landscapes, offers several tips for home gardeners:

• Install a “smart” irrigation controller. “Smart irrigation controllers take daily weather readings and adjust your controller every day,” said Penning. “They will also turn your irrigation system off when it is raining and turn it back on when the sun comes back out. The City of St. Helena has a rebate for a smart irrigation controller.”

• Convert all overhead spray irrigation to drip irrigation. “Drip systems are much more efficient than sprays,” he said. “In some cases drip irrigation can reduce your water use by 75 percent.”

• Spread 2 to 3 inches of mulch. Penning said, “A thick layer of mulch will help keep moisture in the soil and prevent weed growth. Mulch gives your garden a fresh, new look and with many different types to choose from you can customize your garden and make it your own.”

• Install a separate water meter on the irrigation mainline. “This way we will know exactly how much water your landscape is using compared to your house. Also if there is a leak somewhere on the property, we can tell right away if it is inside, or in the landscape,” he added.

• Develop a water budget for your landscape. “Watering your landscape can be a bear to figure out and program perfectly. Let us show you how.”

• Set up a rainwater harvesting system. “Rainwater harvesting is not a new invention. People have been doing it for thousands of years on a small scale. It is possible to capture the rain off your roof and use it in your landscape, no matter what size roof or yard you have.”

• Set up a grey water system. California recently relaxed laws on using “grey water” from you house in your landscape. No, this doesn’t mean toilet water, it is water from your shower and clothes washer you can safely use in your landscape to water your thirsty plants,” Penning said.

• Install a master valve on your irrigation system. “Irrigation systems can leak or fail in many different ways,” said Penning. “The only way to ensure your irrigation system is not leaking when the system is not running is to install a master valve that will allow water to pass only when the irrigation controller is watering a valve.”

Lou Penning Landscapes has been tracking residential water use in St. Helena for the past four years. “We are irrigation experts, accredited by the Irrigation Association and certified with the Bay Friendly Coalition,” said Penning.

He invited residents to attend a Bay Friendly Garden Tour on Sunday, April 27, featuring 12 low-water-use and watershed-friendly landscapes, from Napa to Calistoga.

The 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tour will include six gardens in Napa and six gardens between Yountville and Calistoga, including drought-tolerant gardens with habitat, heritage oaks, chickens, honeybees, composting, orchards, vegetable beds, lawn-free entertaining spaces, rain barrels and information about “Beat the Drought” workshops.

Two of the gardens scheduled to be featured on the tour were installed by Lou Penning Landscapes and were designed by Kellie Carlin Landscape Design of St. Helena.

Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at bayfriendlygardentour.brownpapertickets.com or at the Resource Conservation District office, 1303 Jefferson St., Suite 500 B in Napa. On the day of the tour tickets can be purchased at 10 a.m. at the Yountville Community Center. Details are available from Frances Knapczyk at 252-4188, ext. 116, or Penning at 732-6457.

Native plants offer a sustainable landscape

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Gardeners in the Chippewa Valley have a large number of choices when selecting perennial plants for their flower gardens and landscapes.

Sometimes the selection of these plants can cause the gardener strife as many are not tolerant of our winter cold or worse, they become invasive.

A solution to the agony of watching the latest and greatest perennial suffer winter kill or invade your landscape is to use native plants.

Native plants are plants that are indigenous to a particular region. For Wisconsin, native plants are defined as those present in an area prior to European settlement. Native plants will vary from county to county, state to state, and region to region. For example, even though big bluestem is native to WI and it grows in our area, it is not native to the Chippewa Valley. As is the case with dandelion, it was introduced by the European settlers because they thought it was pretty.

Native plants are a great selection for landscapes and gardens because they have stood the test of time and require very little maintenance. These plants have been exposed to harsh winters, extreme drought, occasional flooding, and consistent pestilence, and continue to survive. Once established, these plants seldom need watering, mulching, protection from frost, or continuous mowing. Native plants provide nectar, pollen, and seeds that serve as food for native butterflies, birds, and other animals. In contrast, many introduced horticultural plants do not produce nectar and require insect and disease control to survive.

Not only do native plants require less maintenance, but they also protect the local landscape from soil erosion, increase water infiltration and slow water runoff, and improve soil structure. How do they do it? The answer is in their roots. Many native plants have root systems that go deep into the soil profile. On average, only one-third of a native plants’ biomass is above ground. This allows natives to survive drought, temperature extremes, and pests. Because of their deep root systems, these root systems store abundant food for the plant so it can survive above ground environmental extremes.

Using native plants in the local landscape is a great way to bring a natural look to anyone’s backyard. Native plants can be used for foundation plantings and area plantings, and are the best choice for rain gardens. Native plantings have an interesting uniqueness about them so there are a few planting tips to keep in mind.

Native plants, whether grasses, forbs, shrubs, or trees, all require a specific site to grow best. Make sure the soil type, sunlight requirements, and moisture needs are met for the native plants selected. For example, cupplant grows best in moist to wet conditions whereas rough blazing star prefers a dryer location. If planning a rain garden, it is best to select natives that grow in a wide range of moisture conditions in case dry weather persists.

Remember to keep your native planting looking natural. Native plantings should be irregular with rounded corners and a wide selection of plants. It is best to think random when using native plants. Natives are generally used in non-formal landscaping but can be used formally. Also, remember to plant to size. Large plants look out of place in a small area. Large, taller grasses, forbs and shrubs can be used if the planting approaches a woods or fence. This is great way to transition from an urban setting to a native landscape.

The cost of establishing native plants is generally less over time than using introduced horticultural plants. The initial cost of native plant seed or plugs is higher but since natives are hardier and are true perennials, the need for replanting or renovation is nearly non-existent. Some forbs or wildflower seed can cost as much as $80/ounce. A native planting should be looked at as a long-term investment.

Native plants usually take longer to establish and do not look great initially. Prairie plants especially take the first few years establishing a strong root system. Weeding of the native planting is needed the first two years but after that very little maintenance is required.

Native plantings can be started with seeds or with plant plugs. In either case, grass plants comprise more than half of the natural prairie groundcover so they should comprise of half the planting. Forbs should make up the other 50% of the planting. A good rule is to use 6-10 grass species, like junegrass or woolgrass, and 30-40 flowering forbs. The best time to plant natives is from May 20-June 20. Most natives are warm season plants so the soil temperature should be above 60°F at planting time.

Rhonda Hayes

Top Ten Bee-Friendly Tips: #1-Use Native Plants in Your Landscape

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