Well, this is just interesting. Dr. Prescott hypothesizes that the native Australian acacias could provide early clues to major climatic events such as large scale flooding. If you’ve paid much attention to native plants, no doubt you’ve been impressed (well, I hope you’ve been impressed) by their ability to quickly adapt to changing weather patterns….
Oil and Gas in the Wyoming Range
The proposed oil and gas drilling in the Wyoming Range west of Pinedale, Wyoming presents a new wrinkle in the permitting process. It seems the oil and gas companies are trying to strike a deal with potential opponents before they come to the table with federal land agencies. As long as the public review process…
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…
Look to Nature for Natives
Landscaping with native plants lends itself to a looser form of planning. Although some native species are suited to the formal garden, I prefer to place native plants in a garden setting which reflects the essence and uniqueness of the surrounding native landscape. Native plant gardens don’t have to look “wild” in the sense that…
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….
Red Twig Dogwood in Wyoming Winter Landscape
We just received one of those picture perfect snowfalls. Each and every branch, twig and stem exquisitely layered with white, sparkling snow. It doesn’t happen often in my part of Wyoming because our snowfalls are usually accompanied by wind, but yesterday we awoke to still, stormy skies that slowly delivered the snow for most of…
Wyoming Winter Sunrise
We are almost to the shortest day of the year. This is the time of year I can truthfully say I am always up before sunrise. At this time of the year, the days feel shorter than anywhere else I have lived. I got to wondering just how much shorter.. the amount of daylight on…
Musgrave Speaks at Wyoming Lego League
The First Lego League Wyoming state competition kicked off tonight with a talk from Story Musgrave. Mr. Musgrave has led a very interesting life. Thirty some years with NASA, more flight time in a Northrop T38 than anyone else on the planet, and six space flights. He oversaw the maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope…
An Uncommonly Warm Autumn
We finally registered a hard frost in the town of Casper, Wyoming. Now, the folks out on the prairie got their killing frost way back in September- much more the norm for central Wyoming. Our average first frost date is somewhere around the end of August to the first week in September, so you can…
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…
Wyoming Life 