Cratageus is a very adaptable Wyoming native tree suitable for a variety of uses. It can be pruned into a hedge, left to grow into a multi-stemmed clump 15 – 25 feet tall, and I wonder if it couldn’t be groomed into a single stemmed ornamental tree. The University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension named Cratageus…
Still Have Coffee Money
If the incredibly long line at Starbucks this morning is any indication, people in Casper, Wyoming still have coffee money. Coffee seems to hover somewhere nearer ‘necessity’ than ‘luxury’ for many Americans. I’m not given to exaggeration, so I won’t claim coffee is anything near a real necessity- like water, food and air, but it…
Where is Wyoming?
Found this charming post Never Say Never, or You’ll End Up Moving There and had to chuckle. Transplants to Wyoming often display a kind of astonishment that they are here. I don’t personally know anybody who proclaimed they’d never live in Wyoming, as in the mentioned post, but I think that’s because many US residents…
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…
Wyoming Rain Showers
According to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS – just say it a few times to an island beat, and you’ll be able to remember it), it rained 0.17 of an inch last night. I’m thankful for any rain that lets me go another day without watering my yard.
Wyoming State Fossil
My kids just got back from a camping trip where they found lots of Belamnite fossils. (Yes, they found them on private land.) I’ve seen these fossils on hikes, but I’ve never found out much about them. They are very common in the Cretaceous rock layers of Wyoming. I was interested to find out more…
Oh Yeah, I Forgot About That Plant
Up until last summer I spent a lot of the spring, summer, and fall hiking, driving and photographing native plants in my area. In the fall I went back to places I marked on my maps and collected seed for propagating promising natives for my own use. But the last two years I have been…
Drought Tolerant Plants, Wyoming Style
You can’t have lived in Wyoming for very long without hearing about “drought tolerant” plants. There’s a good reason for that. In central Wyoming, our annual precipitation hovers somewhere around 12-15 inches per year. Even in the “wetter” parts of Wyoming, such as the mountain foothils the annual precip is somewhere around 20 inches. The…
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…
County Fairs
I’m usually surprised when I realize there are some kids in central Wyoming who have had no contact with farm animals. At a recent 4h event for kindergartners, a few kids couldn’t identify goats or ponies. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m a fan of county fairs. County fairs are family friendly events…
Wyoming Life 