Category: Gardening
Native Antennaria: A Ground Cover with Beautiful Texture
I’ve waxed starry eyed about Antennaria as a ground cover before, but I couldn’t find the photo I took that really highlights the amazing texture of this plant. Imagine this creeping between native stone pavers in an informal patio setting. The texture is almost exotic, while the gray-green color is truly Wyoming native!
Cold Stratification of Native Plant Seeds
Many of our Wyoming native plants require cold stratification for germination of seed. “Cold stratificaton” is a fancy term for “needs some time spent in cold dirt.” It’s easy to understand. If a northern plant naturally distributes its seeds in the autumn, those seeds will spend the winter being subjected to cold and rain and…
Watering the Landscape in Winter
It’s been getting up into the low 50’s around Casper for the last three days. I drug the hoses out and watered my flowerbeds, paying special attention to soaking the ground around the shrubs I planted last fall. It may seem strange to be watering this time of year in the northern parts of the…
Ground Cover Antennaria Has Low Water Requirement
It’s hard to beat Antennaria for a ground cover in dry areas. Antennaria, also known as Pussy Toes, has flowers which resemble cats’ paws. This native plant is very drought tolerant and makes a beautiful ground cover around pavers and rocks. The species shown is Antennaria microphylla with its wonderfully silvery grey mat forming leaves….
Speaking Plant Latin
Ever wondered if you’re pronouncing a plant’s Latin name correctly? When you read about, talk about and research about native plants and drought tolerant plants like I do, you are sure to start depending on the Latin names versus common plant names, because the common names change from place to place and source to source….
Landscape Planning in the Long Winter Evenings
We are having a wonderful, warm, windless autumn here in central Wyoming, but the days are getting noticeably shorter and winter isn’t far away. My mind is already turning to plans for next spring’s landscaping efforts. My planning always includes looking for resources of native plants, drought tolerant plants and ground covers suitable for my…
Eriogonum umbellatum: An amazing native ground cover
Also known as Sulfur flower and Buckwheat, Eriogonum umbellatum is one of my favorite native plants of Wyoming. It consists of a ground cover of small ovate leaves 4 inches high and topped with flower stems 8-10 inches tall. In my gardens it has grown to cover a 24 inch circular patch. In Wyoming we…
Struggling Plants
The sedums are doing great. Some are even in partial shade and they seem to be thriving. But some of my plants seem awful small for July,and I notice some insect damage I suspected a night time feeder. A quick trip with my flashlight tonight confirmed it. Earwigs and sowbugs. Oh the joy.
Trying Out Shrubs
My plan is to concentrate on getting some flower beds in this year, along with some foundational plants. As I mentioned, we have plenty of trees, but I thought some shrubs would be a good place to start for this first year. I stumbled upon some good choices at the local Menards. I felt like…
My Latest Landscaping Challenge
I’ve never had to deal with shade before. Up until now, my biggest landscaping challenge has been the relentless sun of the Wyoming range. We moved to town last year, and that has all changed. There are large, towering elm trees which shade most of my yard. I didn’t even know where to start when…
A Very Wet Spring
Just coming out of what has to be one of the wettest springs in Central Wyoming history. You can see precip data at the Water Resource Data System (WRDS.) All the numbers for the lower North Platte are close to, or over, 100%. The North Platte is still full bank to bank, and if…
Wyoming Life 