Your home outside the city limits.
All plants - trees & shrubs, turf, ornamentals, fruits and vegetables – all require the same 17 nutrients to grow. Three of these - carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – plants get from air and water, but the remaining 14 nutrients are absorbed from the soil. Plant nutrients are classified as either primary, secondary or... Continue Reading →
Hosta, or plantain lily, is one of the best, most reliable, plants for home gardens. They thrive in shade – often a challenging area for any gardener - have few pest problems and are reliably hardy in cold climates. There are hundreds of cultivars available offering a wide range of plant sizes, leaf shapes and... Continue Reading →
Late summer and fall are an exciting time in the garden. Harvest is in full swing, perennials can be divided, lawns can be overseeded, and so much more! It’s a shame to miss this window of opportunity to “upgrade” your landscape. There’s work to be done – that’s for sure – but focusing on the... Continue Reading →
All-America Selections (AAS) announces four national flower award winners this year. National awards are given to plants with consistently great performance across the United States. To see pictures of these and other great plants visit the All-America Selection website. Coleus ‘Coral Candy’ is a new release from PanAmerican Seed’s Premium Sun coleus series and the first seed-propagated... Continue Reading →
Many gardeners struggle with their property’s shaded areas. True, turfgrass won’t grow in heavy shade (anywhere with less than 6 hours of direct, full sun), but there are many plants which prefer either partial or even full shade. All it takes is a shift in your landscape vision for shaded areas to go from thin,... Continue Reading →
Of course, pumpkin and pecan pie reign supreme on many Thanksgiving tables, but fruit pies are often a close second in the pie-popularity race. A personal favorite of mine is rhubarb or strawberry-rhubarb pie. People seem to have either a love or hate relationship with rhubarb, but if you are a rhubarb lover and have... Continue Reading →
Mums are the stars of the fall perennial garden. They bloom profusely and continue blooming even after frosts have zapped tender annual flowers. They are now available at garden centers in a wide range of colors including white, yellow, orange, bronze, red, purple and pink. “Chrysanthemum” is now a common name for this large group of plants.... Continue Reading →
High temperatures and dry conditions have resulted in many lawns turning brown in the last few weeks, but all plants suffer during hot, dry conditions not just lawns. So far, we’ve had 24 days of 90+ degree heat this summer from June 1st to July 24th. Lancaster County had a rain deficit of 0.75 inches... Continue Reading →
When the soil around your home or getaway cabin is less than ideal, you can fight it by planting trees and shrubs that aren't well adapted to the site or select plants that do well in the conditions your landscape provides. Although many locations in Nebraska have clay soil, sandy soil is also very common... Continue Reading →
The Perennial Plant Association (PPA) is a professional horticulture trade organization dedicated to improving the perennial plant industry by providing education to enhance the production, promotion and utilization of perennial plants. The 2022 perennial of the year is little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, and its’ ornamental cultivars. For those who enjoy the subtle beauty of Nebraska’s native grasses,... Continue Reading →
In the early 1990’s, Joel Barker introduced the concept of a “paradigm shift”. His idea was to gain benefit from looking at a process or existing theme in a different way. His signature theme has many applications for the acreage landscape.
This year the National Garden Bureau features the sunflower as its annual flower of the year. Sunflowers originated in the Americas and domestic seeds dating back to 2100 BC have been found in Mexico. Native Americans grew sunflowers as a crop, and explorers eventually brought the flowers to Europe in the 1500s. Over the next few centuries, sunflowers became... Continue Reading →
Acreage Life - Nebraska 