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Two shade loving Asters that pollinators flock to

January 8, 2019 By Jim 1 Comment

Blue Wood Aster Symphyotrichum cordifolium

Fall blooming plants such as goldenrods and asters are great additions to almost any garden. Most of them like to grow in full sun. There are, however, exceptions. Let's look at two of these that are very similar, the Blue Wood Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) and Short's Aster (Symphyotrichum shortii). … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plant recommendations, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Adding the Ground Layer to Finish an Ecological Garden Design

January 3, 2019 By Jim 7 Comments

Ecological Planting White Wood Aster

Let us wrap up the landscape design that was begun in Trees for Carbon Sequestration and Wildlife Support and continued in Wildlife Friendly Garden Design by planting the ground layer. This layer will include a meadow-like planting of perennials and grasses. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Trees for wet areas and poorly drained soils

December 3, 2018 By Jim 71 Comments

I would like to talk about selecting trees for wet areas, as I recently received the following question from Aubrey from the Denver Colorado area: We have an area of our yard at the bottom of a small slope. It tends to stay damp to wet. It's also clay. What tree would you recommend for that area? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plant recommendations Tagged With: bald cypress, dawn redwood, reader question, trees, wet areas, wet soil

Wildlife Friendly Garden Design

November 27, 2018 By Jim 6 Comments

Last post, I showed the start of a wildlife friendly garden design and selected a Swamp White Oak tree to anchor it. That tree was chosen due to the high value it provides to wildlife and due to its high carbon sequestration rates. Now we are going to add some additional trees and shrubs to make the planting an even more wildlife friendly garden. Picking Two Smaller Trees First, let's pick the evergreen tree. In Northern Illinois, there are very few native evergreen trees. Eastern … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Trees for Carbon Sequestration and Wildlife Support

November 8, 2018 By Jim 8 Comments

CO2 Sequestration Rates for tree species

Picking the right trees for carbon sequestration is a good step to take in creating a Landscape that does more than look pretty. In this post, we will begin a 3 Part Series showing an ecological mixed landscape bed design by selecting trees to sequester CO2 and support wildlife at a high level. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plant recommendations, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: carbon sequestration, climate change, native plants, shade tree, Wildlife

Landscaping for your grandchildren

October 23, 2018 By Jim 4 Comments

Your idea of landscaping for your grandchildren probably includes having a play and lawn area for running around and sports, as well as the usual goals of having a beautiful and low maintenance landscape. Those goals are no longer enough....not if you care about what your grandchildren will be inheriting. We are borrowing the land from future generations, even that yard you think is yours and yours alone, so you are indeed landscaping for your grandchildren whether you think about it or … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Plant recommendations, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: carbon sequestration, climate change, ecplogical landscaping, native plants

Purple Fountain beech as a perfect specimen

October 22, 2018 By Jim 81 Comments

Mature Purple Fountain Weeping Beech

Today, I am, going to recommend you consider an odd specimen tree, the Purple fountain beech.  Yeah even though it's not a native tree and I have bad mouthed Purple leaf Japanese maples in a past post.  I made the argument that green leaf Japanese maples fit into landscapes better than their purple leafed cousins.  I also gave some suggested green leaf varieties. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plant recommendations Tagged With: fagus sylvatica, purple fountain beech, purple leaf tree, specimen, Weeping

Pollinator Garden Plan with Plant Descriptions

September 28, 2018 By Jim 3 Comments

Pollinator garden image

Today lets look at a pollinator garden plan I put together. This is decent sized garden approximately 12' wide by 8' deep in the form of an oval.  It is for an area with medium to drier soil moisture that gets over 6 hours of sun. We will be using Prairie plants that are especially attractive to pollinators for our planting palette. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: flower garden, garden plan, native plants, wildlife garden

Simple Prairie Planting

August 14, 2018 By Jim 7 Comments

Simple prairie planting getting leaf mulched

Turning a side yard into a simple prairie planting using plants grown from seed this year is today's blog topic. I have made gardens before with prairie plants in 1 gallon, quarts and even 38 plugs size before, but never with plugs I started from seed the same year. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conserves Money & Resources, Gardening, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

Pondless Waterfall redo Plantings a Year Later

August 1, 2018 By Jim 3 Comments

Pondless Waterfall plantings in bloom

I was asked to show what the plantings around the Pondless Waterfall were and what they looked like now (a year after they were planted), so I thought I would add a quick video to show anyone interested. If you missed the post about the Pondless Waterfall redo itself, take a look at it here. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Restorative Environment, Uncategorized

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