For many of us in the Omaha area we woke up early May 28th to a thunderous roar of hail. Depending on the location in town the size of the hail stones ranged from pea to quarter sized. Our back yard it was quarter sized and lasted for about 10 minutes. Large leafed plants took…
Category: Landscaping
You Can’t Plant That Here aka Right Plant, Right Place
I see it every day. Wrong Plant, Wrong Place. Perhaps it’s an occupational hazard. Maybe job security. Maybe just (as the Spanish speakers say) “así es”, or “it is, what it is”. On a recent trip, in a location known for “good horticulture”, I ran across some good, er, bad examples. There were trees…
Fall Tree Planting in Spring
If you want it to look good this fall, plant it now…in spring. Everyone loves the gold, bronze, red and purple colors of shade trees in the fall, but many put it off and put it off. Why not enjoy the green of spring and summer and the glory of fall all in one?…
Mulch Volcanoes—A Harmful Practice for Trees
Too often the mindset is if a little is good then a lot must be better. So it goes with the spring task of mulching. A “mulch volcano” is the tongue-in-cheek term given to those copious heaps of woodchips surrounding a tree. No one knows exactly where this harmful practice came from but all it…
Dwarf Witch Alder
Choosing a shrub can be difficult. It is best to choose a plant that will be allowed to grow and will not need routine pruning. Most shrubs are picked for their color, shape, size, or another attribute. However, they are often put in the wrong place. Shrubs should be allowed to grow with out having…
Pruning Hydrangeas
I’ve been planning to write a blog this month on pruning hydrangeas. Why? We get lots of questions on doing so, as it’s a bit confusing, and they certainly look better and are healthier if they are pruned, and pruned correctly. This morning, lo and behold, a wonderful article on this subject came across my…
Other Iris
Most of us at some point in time have grown German iris or bearded iris? What about Iris reticulata, I. histroides, I. cristata? All three of these iris are considered species types and do well in the the Omaha Metro. Iris reticulata also goes by Dutch iris and is grown from a bulb unlike their…
Veggie Container Gardening – A Viable Alternative
For many reasons, container gardening is a great way to produce veggies and herbs. Maybe you live in a townhouse and just don’t have much room for traditional gardens. Maybe you have a traditional residential lot, but most of the landscape is too shady for an edible garden…most crops need at least 6 hours of…
What is Nebraska Extension ProHort Education?
ProHort, short for Professional Horticulture, is research-driven education for individuals in the tree, lawn, landscape maintenance, and garden center industries, as well as anyone who wants to hone her/his skills in the areas of botany, insects, soils, landscape design, plant disease, trees, wildlife damage management, turfgrass, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM). While people participating in…
Plan…Plan…Plant!
In carpentry, there is an old adage urging us to measure twice and cut once. The same can be said when it comes to plants. Planning is the least expensive of the plant selection process, simply requiring a little of our time to talk to experts and glean information from catalogs and web sources. I’ve…