Remain Calm, It’s just a Cicada Killer Wasp!

Cicada killing wasps are back for the summer of 2020! They are big and fast, but they’re not going to hurt you. Learn how to live comfortably with them or discourage them from taking up residence in your landscape.

Bagworms On the Loose

Bagworms have hatched in Douglas County! Know what to look for and how to safely and effectively treat your trees so they can remain evergreen not turn ever-brown.

Staking Newly Planted Trees

Confusion surrounds the healthiest way to stake newly-planted trees to stand up to fierce winds while fostering good root growth. The old method, seen much too often still, of snaking wire through a section of garden hose to wrap around trunks and branches is highly injurious to trees. This ill-advised technique digs into tree conductive…

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Spring Lawn Care

Spring has sprung and cabin fever is high. Not just cabin fever; COVID-19 cabin fever. As we start venturing outside and focus attention on the lawn and landscape, here are some spring lawn care tips to keep in mind:

The Word is WAIT

If ever there was a year for cabin fever, it’s 2021. In mid-March, all Midwesterners are ready to do something outside in the lawn, landscape, veggie garden, patio…anywhere but inside. Add to that the feelings of enduring COVID-19, and the need to do something outside is almost at a fever pitch.

Rules 8-10 of Garden Catalog Shopping

With site assessment, spacing, sun/shade and other considerations covered in Rules 1-7, it’s time to think about the actual plants in the catalogs. Rules 8-10 highlight the need for color, accents, textures, massing, repetition, all season color and experimentation in the landscape.

Rules 5-7 of Garden Catalog Shopping

Getting the most out of your online or hardcopy garden catalog experience is best done by following rules. Well, they’re not so much rules as “guidelines”; Bill Murray knows what this is all about. For the Midwestern gardener, rules 5-7 focus mostly on the size of the plants and where they are planted in the landscape.

Virtual Learning Series: Vegetable Garden Basics

Join the GROBigRed team for our virtual learning series via Zoom. Sessions are Saturday mornings starting at 10am CT and we’ll cover two topics each week. Come prepared to learn and to ask questions – our experts will be standing by to answer your burning vegetable garden questions. Sessions are free and hosted via Zoom….

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Rules 3 and 4 of Garden Catalog Shopping

The first two rules of shopping for landscape plants with garden catalogs are centered around needs, much like shopping for groceries. The next two focus on the landscape itself in terms of cold tolerance and disease susceptibility of certain plants.

One-Two Punch Rules for Garden Catalogs

The first two rules of shopping for landscape plants with garden catalogs are centered around needs, much like shopping for groceries. A “shopping list” will serve the gardener well, just like the family grocery shopper.

Thinking Ahead: Annual and Perennial Flowers

Growing a vegetable garden versus growing a flower garden can be hotly debated. Vegetable gardeners ask, “What good is it if you can’t eat it?” Flower growers think if it is not pretty, what’s the point? For me, growing both vegetables and flowers are necessary—vegetables nourish my body while flowers feed my soul. As the…

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