• Home
  • Blog Posts
  • About Me
You are here: Home / Archives for native plants

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

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

Backyard with a Prairie and a Pond Part 2

February 25, 2018 By Jim 2 Comments

View into Backyard

Last post, I started a backyard landscape design with a Prairie and a Pond. Today, we finish it by adding shrubs, perennials and accessories. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: backyard design, landscape design, meadow, native plants, Prairie

Ecological Landscape Design with a Prairie and a Pond Part 1

February 3, 2018 By Jim 1 Comment

View of Accessories added to Backyard Ecological Landscape Design

Today, we start a backyard Ecological Landscape Design with a theme, a prairie and pond. This should be fun, as we are going to put together a design with a strong form and a lot of plants. This design would provide a ton of ecological value compared to the existing lawn that is currently at this site. Not only will the backyard have a small prairie, but we will retain a large portion of lawn as this family has kids and wants a large play area. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: ecological, hickory, landscape design, native plants, oak, pond, Prairie

A (mostly) Native Perennial Plug Planting Twelve Months Later

June 29, 2017 By Jim 3 Comments

Lanceleaf Coreopsis and Butterfly Weed

Last year, I posted about a new perennial plug planting I did in June of 2016. In that post,  Planting Plugs is a Cheap and Easy Way to Plant a Landscape,  I showed how a 300 sq ft perennial bed could be prepared and planted using less work and money. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conserves Money & Resources, Design, Perennials and bulbs, Supports Wildlife & Biodiversity Tagged With: Butterfly Weed, Coreopsis, Liatris, native plants, perennial plugs, Prairie Dropseed, Purple Coneflower

Planting Plugs is a Cheap and Easy Way to Plant a Landscape

August 14, 2016 By Jim 11 Comments

Why is planting plugs instead of larger plants in a landscape often a better idea? Let's start planting the landscape design for my backyard and I'll show you. Since I am a gardener and not a landscaper, we will be installing this design over time. Why have all the fun at once when it can be spread over the years. If I was a landscaper, I would want you to buy the largest (most expensive) plant possible, certainly not plugs! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Gardening Tagged With: native plants, nature inspired garden, Planting

12 Perennials for Attracting Butterflies in the Midwest

August 6, 2016 By Jim 2 Comments

Nothing brings life to a garden like well, life. You know the birds and the bees and the like. Let's get some of that life in your yard by planting some of the very best perennials for attracting Butterflies in the Midwest. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plant recommendations Tagged With: butterfly, native plants, perennials

Using plant associates to find native plant ideas

November 2, 2014 By Jim Leave a Comment

This year, I added the native plant Canadian ginger as a ground cover to my yard. Today, I would like to show you one way you could find other native plants that would naturally go with it. To do this, I am going to go to a trusted resource on native plants in my area, The fourth edition of Plants of the Chicago Region. I picked up this encyclopedia of native plants for my area this Spring at a Natural landscaping seminar I attended.  This is on the shelf of every ecologist, as well as … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Plant recommendations Tagged With: Canadian ginger, native plants, plant associate

Plants for your Nature Inspired Garden: How to Find

July 5, 2014 By Jim Leave a Comment

Plants for your nature inspired garden: How to find using Nature Serve Explorer

Today, I will show you how to identify plants for your nature inspired garden. Last post, I showed you how to use Land Cover Viewer to find out the name of the types of natural areas near you. We will take that information and use it to find plants for your landscape. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Plant recommendations Tagged With: Land Cover Viewer, native, native plants, Nature Serve Explorer, Plant Associations, Plant list

Next Page »

This website or its third-party tools use cookies, for more information on data we may collect about you see our Privacy policy.
I use affiliate links and may earn a commission if you purchase through my links. To learn more, check this out.
© 2018 Jim Anderson