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 Tree Assessment and Care

Spring’s re-birth of all that is green is a good time to assess how trees and other landscape plants made it through winter. Many evergreen trees, such as spruce, are exhibiting signs of winter burn, with browning and bronzing of needles.  Winter’s deep cold and strong winds dried out plant tissues, resulting in loss of…

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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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The 10 Garden Catalog Rules

Most of us hate rules, myself included…so why does the title of this article contain the word “rules”? Actually, they’re not so much “rules” per se, but guidelines to help make the most of the garden catalog perusing experience and application for better outdoor living in the landscape.

Plants & Indoor Air Quality

In the current wave of “houseplant mania”, it’s important to remember that houseplants provide numerous benefits in addition to adding amenity to the indoor landscape. Scott Evans, Horticulture Program Coordinator for Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties reports that water vapor given off via transpiration is a big plus for the indoors, as well as their capacity to absorb potentially harmful gasses such as formaldehyde, ammonia, bioeffluents and volatile organic compounds.

Outstanding Shrubs for Winter Interest

Evergreen shrubs offer greatly needed color and texture in the midst of winter, but deciduous shrubs should not be overlooked; many provide strong winter appeal as well. By choosing shrubs for their exceptional form, structure or bark, beauty and color can be added to the winter landscape as well as year-round appeal. Here are just a few shrubs that feature amenity in both the dormant and growing season.