Your home outside the city limits.
Each year the National Garden Bureau designates one bulb or bulb-like plant to highlight and this year’s featured plant is Dahlia. The Dahlia genus was named by the Madrid Botanical Garden for Andreas Dahl, a Swedish botanist and student of Carl Linnaeus. Mexico and Guatemala is the original homeland of dahlia species used to develop today’s garden cultivars. Spanish explorers of Central... Continue Reading →
This year the National Garden Bureau features Snapdragon, Antirrhinum majus, as its annual flower of the year. Snapdragon is often thought of as an old-fashioned flower, evoking childhood memories of a grandparents’ garden. But snapdragons are an easy to grow, multi-purpose plant, which add great color, fragrance and pollinator habitat to any garden. If you haven’t used snapdragons in your... Continue Reading →
It’s a great time to notice attractive features of trees and shrubs in the landscape.
In the wintertime, people tend to get the winter blues. As a horticulturist, I get the winter blues because I cannot go outside and garden or go to my backyard to get a tomato while I’m cooking supper. One way we can reduce our gloominess due to lack of gardening would be to have houseplants.... Continue Reading →
In January and February, gardeners are placing seed orders and making plans to start plants for this year’s flowers and crops. Starting plants from seed isn’t difficult, just make sure to purchase high quality seed. In the long run, spending a little more on seeds will ensure good germination and healthy, vigorous plants that perform... Continue Reading →
A common host gift we take to Holiday parties are Poinsettias. If you receive one for Christmas this year, do you know how to care for it? Poinsettias are a staple for the Christmas season, but they don’t have to be a short-lived gift that is thrown away at the beginning of the year. Poinsettias... Continue Reading →
Diseases, insects, drought and age take a toll on windbreaks, resulting in the need for renovation or tree replacement. For example, the windbreak above is compromised by the loss of Scotch pine trees to pine wilt. Winter is a good time to assess your windbreak and order trees for spring planting. Most windbreaks, even those... Continue Reading →
National Wreaths Across America Day!
Let’s talk trivia thanks to some facts from the Nebraska Christmas Tree Growers Association webpage:
Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com
Q: For every real Christmas tree harvested, how many seedlings are planted in its place? A: 2 to 3
Q: How many acres are in production for growing Christmas trees in the U.S? A: About 1 million acres
Q: What is the average growing time for a tree to reach average retail height of 6 feet? A: 7 years
Q: What are the top selling Christmas trees? A: Balsam Fire, Douglas Fir, Fraser Fir, Noble Fir, Scotch Pine, Virginia Pin, White Pine
Q: How many Nebraska counties have Christmas tree growers? A: 15
I wish you and your family a very blessed Holiday season!
Justin Evertson, Nebraska Statewide Arboretum Although most conifer trees are considered to be evergreens, all of their needles eventually fall just like deciduous trees. What makes them evergreen is that their leaves/needles persist more than one year before falling. Since new needles are added every year, there is always an overlap between green needles... Continue Reading →
From time to time, you’ll see Acreage Life blog posts that mention various tools and equipment that you may not heard of, have never taken the time to buy, or wish that someone else would buy for you.
When discussing beneficial critters, it’s easy to forget about the ones we don’t see, especially those below ground. Yet the soil is where it all starts, so they deserve recognition and admiration too. From cycling and retaining nutrients to improving structure, suppressing disease and moving and holding water, air and carbon, soil fauna do an... Continue Reading →
