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One of the most easily recognized insects in the home landscape is the white grub. Almost every gardener has seen white grub larvae in the soil, while installing new plants or tilling the vegetable garden. The term "white grub" actually encompasses the larval stage of several scarab beetles, the most common, and most damaging, being... Continue Reading →
During the busy summer season, our best spring intentions can fall by the wayside. Weeds creep into carefully planted flower beds, trees and shrubs go un-pruned, and fruit trees don’t get sprayed- all for lack of time. Does a beautiful landscape always require hours of intensive care to achieve and maintain? Of course, some maintenance is a must,... Continue Reading →
Pruning Hydrangea “How do I prune my hydrangea?” This is a common question from gardeners each spring. No wonder it’s confusing - there are several hydrangeas species commonly grown by Nebraska gardeners, with a different pruning strategy and timing for each. But which pruning method should be used on your plants? The first step is... Continue Reading →
If you want to learn how to garden, plants are the best teachers and the best way to start is to just go ahead and plant. Choose your space carefully, you will want to plant it where you will visit often and where you will enjoy working. Observation throughout the year is a good way... Continue Reading →
Floods cause damage to trees in two main ways – physical and physiological. The severity of damage is determined by many different factors, including the tree species, beginning health of the tree, length of flooding event, depth of the water, amount of soil removed or deposited over the tree’s root system and time of year... Continue Reading →
Justin Evertson PHOTO: Native Juneberry bears blueberry-like fruits in June that are a favorite of birds as well as humans. With native habitats shrinking, our home landscapes are increasingly important for sustaining wildlife, including birds, amphibians, pollinators and other beneficial insects. In terms of year-round value, the backbone of wildlife habitat is our native... Continue Reading →
This year All-America Selections announces four national vegetable award winners. To see pictures of these and other great plants visit the All-America Selection website. Pepper ‘Just Sweet’ is a small golden-yellow snacking pepper, that resembles a miniature bell pepper. Each fruit is 3-inches long, deliciously sweet, with nice thick walls. Many judges conduct consumer taste tests and... Continue Reading →
All-America Selections (AAS) celebrates 86 years of testing and introducing improved flowers and vegetables. Founded in 1932 to foster the development, production and distribution of new and improved horticultural and agricultural varieties of flowers, bedding plants and vegetables in North America, the organization evaluates plants at a network of almost 200 display gardens across the United... Continue Reading →
Most gardeners have a favorite Salvia and it’s no wonder! The Salvia genus is huge with over 700 unique species, both culinary and ornamental types, plus annual and perennial lifecycles. There’s something for everyone! Sage is the common name for plants in this genus. They are members of the Mint family and share that families' characteristics... Continue Reading →
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.
