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Covering Ground – Preventing Weeds with Living Mulch

June 21, 2020 By Ken Williams Leave a Comment

Today's post is a Guest Post from Ken Williams and covers an important topic for all gardeners looking to create ecological gardens as well as those just feed up with buying mulch!. Enjoy- Jim As people embrace complex perennial gardens, gardens designed to provide more and better ecosystem services, maintenance becomes an issue. We need to enjoy these gardens, not be slaves to them. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gardening, Perennials and bulbs

Ecological Landscaping, another view

May 23, 2020 By Jim 1 Comment

Several years ago I went to a social mixer being held at a brewery by the now defunct group the Midwest Ecological Landscape Alliance (MELA). I was then in the process of changing my view of what gardening could be and this group seemed to be made up of like minded people. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gardening, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

What happened to 2019? (and the 1900’s for that matter!)

January 3, 2020 By Jim 7 Comments

If you are on my email list, I can only imagine your response to getting this post. I thought he quit and went back to working in Insurance. I thought he was forced to flee the country. I thought he was on an expedition to India "find himself". … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gardening

Ramblings in May

May 27, 2019 By Jim 2 Comments

It has been a while since I have written anything, so I thought I would share some rambling thoughts at the end of a busy May. I don't usually do stream of consciousness writing but what the hey? So in no particular order here are a few of my thoughts related to how my own relatively new yard's landscaping is developing. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gardening

School Trees Not Street Trees

February 21, 2019 By Jim 3 Comments

It is conference season in the "green" industry and I have been busy at both as an attendee and a vendor. Before I go to another one and get even more ideas, I wanted to share one. This fabulous one, I picked up from native plant icon Gerould Wilhelm from a talk he gave with plantsman Roy Diblik. Before I share it, let me give a bit of background from Gerould's talk. Why most trees are really lonely To simplify Gerould's talk too much, let's say the jest of it was that plants live in … [Read more...]

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

Live Stakes for Landscaping as Inexpensive Plants

January 23, 2019 By Jim 11 Comments

Live Stakes for Landscaping Yellowtwig Dogwood

Unless you are in the field of ecological restoration you are probably unfamiliar with the term, live stakes. But perhaps you are like me, and appreciate a good deal. Whether it is a pair of khakis for 50% off the last marked clearance price or a $5 Monday night burger deal at a local restaurant. I love saving money.  This frugality (my term, my wife and kids term would be cheapskate) also extends to my yard. While when it comes to landscaping tools or plants for clients, quality is the name … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conserves Money & Resources, Gardening Tagged With: ecological restoration, nativeplants, saving money, shrubs

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

Rain Garden for a Sunny Site

June 19, 2018 By Jim 2 Comments

sump_pump_garden_Swamp_milkweed

It's June and its raining (again). Perhaps you have water in your basement, a washed out hillside, or just some soggy areas where your grass keeps getting killed. In any case, even if it is not flooding, rain can be a problem. Read on to find out how a rain garden might help. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Gardening, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity

How will you celebrate Earth Day?

April 22, 2018 By Jim Leave a Comment

Kristin's photo of swamp milkweed

Today is the 48th Earthday, so how will you celebrate? You might think about taking a walk in a nature preserve or maybe taking a kayak ride. While those are great things to do (I hope to get to them both), perhaps you could do something a little more meaningful and longer term. How about making a commitment to take care of that portion of the earth you are responsible for in a more responsible way? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gardening

7 things landscapers do that tick me off

April 15, 2018 By Jim 9 Comments

Whenever I hear the phrase the "Green Industry" when people are referring to Nurseries and Landscapers, I cringe. Here are just a few of the reasons. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gardening

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