PLANT NATIVE NEBRASKA

In today’s episode, Nebraskan Trees and Shrubs for Bored Suburbanites, we chat with Heather Byers, owner of Great Plains Nursery, about keystone species, the best time of year to plant trees, and beautiful and native options for woody plants humans, pollinators, and yes, even squirrels can enjoy.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Heather Byers

Heather Byers is a native tree enthusiast and, along with her husband Brian, owner of Great Plains Nursery near Weston, NE. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2006 with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Horticulture Production and shortly after started the business with a passion for growing and planting native trees and shrubs and sharing the importance of native plants for the ecosystem. 

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode is sponsored by Lauritzen Gardens:

laurtizengardens.org

Listen, Rate, and Subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

TRIGGER WARNING: We occasionally discuss plants with a more eastern or western range. But we make a point to only discuss midwestern U.S. plants. Always check BONAP or other range maps to determine the best estimates of historical nativity.

Top Trees and Shrubs at Great Plains Nursery

Most of the plants we discuss can be found online at https://greatplainsnursery.com/

Although there are differences between Eastern and Western Nebraska, Heather stresses planting trees and shrubs with high ecological value.

Her recommendations for Eastern NE:

Oaks, baby!

Did you know that oaks support 500 species of caterpillars. And consequentially, oaks support a variety of birds such as bluejays (beautiful jerks) and species of warblers. Many different kinds of oaks to choose from such as:

• Chinquapin or Dwarf Chinquapin Oak (great for smaller spaces)
• Chestnut Oak
• Hills Oak
• Red Oak
• Burr Oak

Some recommendations for Western NE:

• Burr Oak
• Hackberry
• American Elm
• American Linden- great bee forage plant

Recommendations also for Southeastern NE:

• Hickories
• Honey Locust

Looking to Build Bird Habitat?

Heather reminds us to not only provide plants with fresh nuts and berries for birds, but also focus on trees and shrubs that act as larval hosts.

96% of songbirds rear their young on caterpillars: big, fat juicy caterpillars full of protein. So help mama bird and also encourage a nice diversity of birds to your garden for your own viewing pleasure.

Some plants to focus on:

• Aronias
• Serviceberries
• Prunus family of plants including: Sand Cherry, American Plum, and Black Cherry (a great pollinator forage plant, bird forage plant, and larval host plant)
• Ribes (pronounced rye-bees) family of plants including native currants and gooseberry
• American hazelnut- but give it 5 years for strong nut production and plant multiple for any nut production at all
• Salix family of plants- if you have room plant Sand Willow, Peachleaf Willow, or Black Willow... if you don't have room plant Prairie Willow (only 3 feet tall, great filler plant, and can tolerate dryness)

Fast Growing Trees for the Impatient Gardener

• American Elm 'Princeton'
• Cottonwood- even a male option is available if you can't abide the fluff
• 'Prairie Gold' Aspen- can be used for screening
• American Linden
• Black Cherry
• Tulip Tree- great pollinator forage plant

Windbreak Trees- Think Past Non-Native Evergreens

For the furthest boundary away from the house on the north-side you can plant:

• Eastern Red Cedar (though this will spread and maintenance can be problematic)
• Swamp White Oak
• Red Oak
• Shingle Oak

The next layer could consist of:

• Colorado Blue Spruce or Black Hills Spruce- nice pyramidal form (both only regionally native)

The innermost layer of this windbreak could be:

• Aronia
• American hazelnut

Check out this book, “Woody Plants for the Central and Northern Prairies,” illustrated by my friend, Nancy Scott, here.

Underrated Tree That Should be Planted More

Kentucky Coffee Tree https://greatplainsnursery.com/product/kentucky-coffeetree-2/

• Ancient badass tree that has evolved a new way of surviving
• Literally around since the mastadons
• Only plant in its genus-truly one of a kind and worldwide distribution
• Great pollinator forage- inconspicuous flowers (have fun looking for them)
• Charlie Brown stick tree that will eventually reward you with a gorgeous form if you believe in it (and sweet talk it occasionally)

Keystone Species

If you want to hear more about keystone species, go back and listening to our Soft Landings episode with guest Heather Holm:

https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm/episode/softerlandings

Plant families to consider:

• Oaks. If you haven't yet discovered the importance of oaks, a great fall or winter read The Nature of Oaks by Doug Tallamy here. Also check your local library and local booksellers.
• Salix family of plants
• Prunus family of plants
• Coralberry, Snowberry, Wolfberry: Symphocarpus family of plants (some of these are more regionally native in range)

Shade Garden- Don't Fear!

Still trees and shrubs you can plant for shadier areas. Try:

• Hackberry
• Paw Paw
• Serviceberries- especially Regent AKA the Prairie Blueberry
• American Hazelnut
• Dogwood- Gray or Roughleaf

A lot of these plants are used to growing under dense tree canopy in their natural habitats.

Got Squirrels?

Do you get a queer sense of joy out of seeing them prance through the garden and hoarding more nuts than they can possibly ever find? Plant these and stop buying store bought corn cobs:

• Oaks
• American Hazelnut
• Ohio Buckeye
• Black Walnut- careful of this one though, there are only certain plants you can plant nearby
• Pecan
• Hickory

If You're Scared of Deer

For the love of Goldenrod, just cage your trees.

Bucks will rub their antlers on young tree branches in fall. You can cage your trees for the first few years with wire fencing, t-posts. Make a 5-ft diameter ring around the tree with 5-6 foot fencing wire.

Privacy Screens!

Goodbye, arborvitae! Hello native options!

• 'Taylor' Juniper
• 'Prairie Gold' Aspen
• Dwarf Chinquapin Oak
• Black Chokeberry
• Viburnum- native options include nannyberry viburnum and regionally native options of arrowwood viburnum or cranberry bush viburnum

Closing Tips from Heather

• Mulch is a great tool to conserve moisture- just don't make mulch volcanoes.
• Be mindful
• Involve your kids
• Water deeply
• Plant trees in fall!

Thank you all so much for listening and your continued support of the podcast and native plants!!!!!

What Makes a Plant Native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

Local Plant Suppliers

Midwest Natives Nursery

Great Plains Nursery

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum

Prairie Legacy Nursery

Mulhall's

Online Plant Suppliers

Prairie Moon Nursery

Prairie Nursery

Stock Seed

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

Bellevue Native Plant Society on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, Rate, and Subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

In today’s episode, Alternative Lawns: Not Your Grandmother's Turfgrass, we go over different options for replacing lawn, why you'll be happy to make the jump, and tried and true ways to replace and maintain your new landscape.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode is sponsored by Lauritzen Gardens:

laurtizengardens.org

Listen, Rate, and Subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

Rehash our first episode if you are new to the podcast or our wonderful edible plants series here!

• What are Native Plants Anyway?
• Native Edible Plants Series with Bob Henrickson:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Books to Read

• Iwigara
• Native American Ethnobotany

Why Lawns Aren't Sustainable or Healthy

• Pesticide and herbicide runoff pollutes groundwater, rivers, and streams
• Kids are exposed to pesticide and herbicide residues while playing 
• Birds, pollinators, and other wildlife are exposed to residues while foraging and traveling which can result in disease, illness, and death . I mentioned there is plenty of research out there. Here are some of many, many articles discussing:

Protect Pollinators at Home: Alternatives to HerbicidesThe Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservationhttps://xerces.org › blog › protect-pollinators-at-home-alt...

The Risks of Pesticides to PollinatorsThe Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservationhttps://www.xerces.org › pesticides › risks-pesticides-poll...

PesticidesPollinator.orghttps://www.pollinator.org › Learning Center

• Nearby plants can come in contact with spray drift which can cause stunted growth, disease, and death
• Having a monoculture lawn limits local wildlife from the diverse diet it needs to survive and thrive
• Lawn takes up space we could grow our own food and medicine! 

Benefits of Ditching Your Lawn

• You are providing habitat for insects, birds, and other wildlife!
• You are providing bee forage if you own a beehive, and ensuring better crop pollination if you grow a vegetable garden!
• You will encourage the storing of some carbon below ground by using these prairie plants with incredible root systems!
• You can participate in citizen science by submitting sightings and other observations to projects hosted by the Xerxes Society, Pollinator Pathway, and more!
• You will inevitably use less water to maintain the meadow/ alt lawn as opposed to traditional lawn and landscaping!
• You will reduce if not eliminate mowing which is great for the environment and also great for your spouse!
• You will have very little weeding time after your meadow garden/ alt lawn reaches its maturity!
• You will save money! 
• You can forage your lawn for wild edibles.
• You can harvest plant material for natural dyes. 
• You can grow medicine.
• You can use other parts of prairie plants in homemade crafts: basket weaving, bee houses, pressed flowers, etc.

Alt Lawn Options

• Native Grass and Sedge Lawns: Superior to exotic grass because they typically have better root systems and are often host plants for skippers, moths, and butterflies

Blue Grama Lawn: Blue Grama is a warm-season grass. It is drought tolerant and thrives when other exotic grasses struggle.  Height of 1-2 feet. Can seed or plug.

Buffalo Grass Lawn: Buffalo grass is also warm-season grass that gets about 6 inches tall. It is very drought tolerant and long lived.

Sideoats Grama Lawn: More of a meadow lawn since it does reach 2-3 feet in height

Mixed Grass Lawn: You can find different mixes from different suppliers such as (50%) blue grama and (50%) buffalograss, (30%) blue grama, (30%) side oats grama, and (40%) buffalograss... There's also other formulations like habiturf which is (62%) buffalograss,(30%)blue grama, and curly mesquite (8%)

Pennsylvania sedge lawn: Pennsylvania sedge forms dense mats of medium green and grows 6 to 8 inches.

Plains oval sedge lawn

Long-beaked sedge: Great shade lawn option

• Bee Lawns

Let dandelions go and add in native common violet, self heal, purple poppy mallow, wild strawberry, and

• Micro-prairie/Meadowscapes

Shortgrass Prairie

Eclectic Meadow

Tallgrass Prairie

• Groundcover lawns

Mix and match large swaths of ground covers: Plant en masse in groups of 5, 7, 9

Plants to use: BUTTERFLYWEED, PRAIRIE VIOLET, HEATH ASTER, WILD PETUNIA, WILD STRAWBERRY, PRAIRIE CLOVER, POPPY MALLOW, CAREX BREVIOR, GROUND PLUM (I'm not yelling, but lazily copying and pasting from my powerpoint...)

More plants to use: Pearly everlasting, pussytoes, artemisia ludoviciana, 'snow flurry' heath aster cultivar, prairie dropseed, western yarrow

• Yardens: Layered mix of NATIVE shrubs, ornamental grasses, and perennials

Some shrubs to use along with your choice of grasses and perennial plants: LEADPLANT, SILKY DOGWOOD, CHOKECHERRY, CORALBERRY, AMORPHA FRUCTICOSA, PRAIRIE ROSE, ELDERBERRY, PLAINS WILD INDIGO, BAPTISIA AUSTRALIS

• Low-gro native shade gardens

Use plants like wild ginger, dutchman’s breeches, heartleaf aster, mayapple, woodland phlox and others

• Hardscaping

Don’t be shy to add a crushed limestone, pea gravel, flagstone, or salvaged stone patio area to cut down on lawn space and create a relaxing place to view garden areas

You may use landscape fabric stapled underneath

These patios can last ten years or more and can be installed DIY

• Vegetable garden and other garden "rooms"

An entire "room" could be made where lawn resides for a vegetable garden. Vegetable gardens are often made in a square or rectangle design, fenced to protect crops from deer or wildlife, and given paths of mulch, brick, or other material to access plant beds

A place of tranquility to hoard vintage finds and favorite plants

How to Ditch Your Lawn

• Check ordinances and HOA policies

If you are in an HOA, get clear rules detailed about what is allowed for gardenscape/lawns

City of Omaha “all weeds, grass, and worthless vegetation cannot reach a height of 12 inches or more….” meaning occasionally mow, weed monthly, and use cues that this is a maintained garden.

Note that complaints with the city can be appealed but HOA rules are more iron-clad

Do not plant things that decrease visibility in your hellstrip. Opt for very low-growing 1-2 foot plants

• When in doubt, check your property lines!

You can hire a local property assessor for around $400. Or you can go googling your county's GIS and find your parcel by parcel number or last name. Google "[your county] GIS" to find your local data.

Pottawattamie county here

Douglas county here

Sarpy county here

Lancaster county here

• Also!

If you are in a rental property, ask permission to make any changes

Call the hotline (811) to mark utilities for free before you dig

• Figure out your plant layout

Google free "Prairie Moon garden designs, " "pollinator garden design," or consult a local garden designer.

• Plan your site prep:

Mechanical removal OPTION 1: rent a sod cutter or use a spade

Non-selective herbicide OPTION 2

Smother/ solarize OPTION 3 but also good followup to OPTION 1

• Install new plants

Start with plugs: Grasses and sedges only

Buy plugs or 3-4 inch pots versus an initial seeding

Space plants on half foot centers

Plant in May or September

Keep area moist with oscillating sprinkler by watering for about an hour every few days but do not overwater. Do this for three weeks and then taper off.

You may overseed once or twice a year in April or August

You may mow 2-3 times a year with mower at highest setting (June, July, August)

Start with plugs: Meadows/ BEE LAWNS

Buy plugs or 3-4 inch pots versus an initial seeding

Space plants on half foot centers

Plant in May or September

Keep area moist with oscillating sprinkler by watering for about an hour every few days but do not overwater. Do this for three weeks and then taper off.

You may overseed once or twice a year in April or August

You may mow 2-3 times a year with mower at highest setting (June, July, August)

Start with plugs: Yardens

Buy plugs or 3-4 inch pots

Utilize moderate growth rate shrubs like shrubby st. john’s wort, dwarf blue baptisia, and lead plant

Space plants on 1 foot centers

Plant in May or September

Keep area moist with oscillating sprinkler by watering for about an hour every few days but do not overwater. Do this for three weeks and then taper off.

You may do an initial mulching or use weed suppression mat

You may cut back perennials to 1-2 inches in height each year in May

Future Commitments of Time and Care

Plan to maintain by weeding at least once a month per garden area

Weed once a week for new beds, once a month for established beds.

Keep watch for invasives moving in such as poison hemlock, Canada thistle, and creeping Charlie, among others!

Additional Resources

• Plant Suppliers

PRAIRIE MOON


PRAIRIE LEGACY

MIDWEST NATIVES NURSERY

BUMBLING BEE NATIVE WILDFLOWERS

PRAIRIE LEGACY

GREAT PLAINS NURSERY

MULHALL’S

• Books and Podcasts (Ours of course!)

SOME BOOKS

PRAIRIE UP- by BENJAMIN VOGT

PLANTING IN A POST WILD WORLD- by THOMAS RAINIER AND CLAUDIA WEST

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GRASSES FOR LIVABLE LANDSCAPES- by RICK DARKE

PODCASTS

PLANT NATIVE NEBRASKA PODCAST( shameless plug)

• Groups

BELLEVUE NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY

GREEN BELLEVUE

CITY SPROUTS- VEGETABLE GARDENING!

Hey, You Sweet Little Plant Nerds

Thanks for listening!!!!!

What Makes a Plant Native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

Local Plant Suppliers

Midwest Natives Nursery

Great Plains Nursery

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum

Prairie Legacy Nursery

Mulhall's

Online Plant Suppliers

Prairie Moon Nursery

Prairie Nursery

Stock Seed

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

Bellevue Native Plant Society on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, Rate, and Subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

We will be back on for new episodes bi-weekly from August 14th-December 4th! Until then...

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Listen, Rate, and Subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

• The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

Local Plant Suppliers

Midwest Natives Nursery

Bumbling Bee Native Wildflowers

Great Plains Nursery

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum

Prairie Legacy Nursery

Mulhall's

Online Plant Suppliers

Prairie Moon Nursery

Prairie Nursery

Stock Seed

What Makes a Plant Native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

Bellevue Native Plant Society on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

Additional Resources

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, Rate, and Subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

In today’s episode, Native Plant Horticulture in Nebraska, we chat with director of conservation at Lauritzen Gardens, Jim Locklear, about the decision-making behind choosing plants for botanic gardens, the crossroads between aesthetic spaces and conservation, and why the preservation of native plant communities is still important.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Jim Locklear

Jim Locklear has been the director of conservation at Lauritzen Gardens since 2010. He has a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Central Missouri and a master's in plant and soil science from Southern Illinois University. He formerly served as director of the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains in Kansas and the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. He recently published a new book titled, In the Country of the Kaw, about the midwestern watershed of the Kaw River and its history.

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode is sponsored by Lauritzen Gardens:

laurtizengardens.org

Listen, Rate, and Subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

Native Plant Horticulture in Nebraska

• Native plant horticulture is characterized by using native plants in the region...but native gardens don't have to be prairie. There are many types of garden styles that can utilize native plants and there are many different ecosystems in Nebraska including wetlands, oak hickory forest, shortgrass tall grass and mixed grass prairies, and others that correspondingly have varied native plants native to those environments.
• Using non-natives is not forbidden, but native plants are emphasized for their habitat value.
• Some of the challenges being faced by the industry and horticulturalists are obtaining seed/stock, propagation issues, and appealing to traditional consumers. Mulhall's (https://mulhalls.com/) is helping to change the game on native plants in the mainstream and take it out of a strictly niche market.

Studying Rare Ecosystems, Different Habitats, and Wildlife Activity at Lauritzen

• Oak trees support lots of caterpillars, and therefore, warblers, who love to eat their little juicy bodies. Morbid right?
• Butterfly deserts form around exotic chrysanthemum, but for some reason they seem to like yellow chrysanthemum, so if your mother-in-law insists on using them, buy her some yellow ones.
• Jim has studied sandsage prairie and one of his takeaways is that far-flung plant communities can be a hidden reserve of diversity and that diversity can affect overall diversity in the Great Plains region. Even the hyper-local can have a greater affect on the bigger picture, which is comforting to us with our little home gardens.

Stewards of the Environment

• Lauritzen Gardens (www. lauritzen.org) has received an accreditation from Botanic Garden Conservation International for its conservation practices, which only 30ish botanic gardens in the WORLD have been awarded.
• On site, this may look like butterfly, bird, and bee and moth surveys; looking for diversity hotspots and deserts; and making changes that better support wildlife over its 100 acres(like switching out purple non-native mums for yellow ones...who knew?)
• Off site, this may be in-the-field conservation; conducting/ supporting studies of rare plants; publishing academic papers in scientific, peer-reviewed journals; seed- banking (as is the case with federally-endangered blowout penstemon;) and conducting plant surveys in the wild.

Plants We Could See More Of...

• milkweeds
• asters
• sunflowers
• showy goldenrod
• liatris
• monardas
• mountain mint

Hope is a Four-Letter Word

• Native plant production has come a long way. For instance, Mulhall's transition to be more native plant-forward means a lot to the industry.
• People seem to be more interested as long as we don't scare them away... I'm looking at you, Barb-ar-ah.

Jewels of the Prairie

• Claude Barr was a Black Hills cattle rancher and a historic supplier of native plants. He opened a mail-order nursery in the 30's. Read a little about Barr here. Jewels of the Prairie is Barr's life's work of observations. Romantic garden writing didn't just happen in Europe.
• Jim recently revised Jewels of the Prairie to update outdated scientific names. You can find a copy here.
• Fendler's Aster and Fremont's clematis and many other plants are in the trade due to Barr's writings

YOU Can Get Involved

• Look into the Nature Conservancy
• Local plant society groups for example the Bellevue Native Plant Society and Nebraska Native Plant Society

Jim's New Book: In the Country of the Kaw

• Jim's book describes plant communities both woodland and prairie types and their wildflowers
• It also talks about restoration ecology and plant-insect interactions.
• You can find Jim's book, In the Country of the Kaw, here.

Thoughts of Importance

• Fight to preserve natural ecosystems. Work to prevent destruction of more natural areas.
• Connect with places like the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum.
• Add native plants to your garden.
• Support native plant suppliers.
• Give Stephanie all your money. (Just kidding.)
• Be artful but also, be mindful. Respect plants, respect ecosystems, and respect people.

Local Plant Suppliers

Midwest Natives Nursery

Great Plains Nursery

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum

Prairie Legacy Nursery

Mulhall's

Online Plant Suppliers

Prairie Moon Nursery

Prairie Nursery

Stock Seed

Thanks for listening!

What Makes a Plant Native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

Bellevue Native Plant Society on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, Rate, and Subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

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In today’s episode, The Native Patio Garden, we go over why Native American plants are important for non-home dwellers to consider, how we can rework container garden philosophy using native plants, and which native plants can hack it in smaller square footage than the average garden. Dive deeper into today's episode by visiting our Patreon @patreon.com/PlantNativeNebraska .

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode is sponsored by Lauritzen Gardens:

laurtizengardens.org

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

You do not need a yard to contribute to conservation!

More people are trying native plants in container gardens. Although a lot of prairie plants have taproots or extensive root systems, there are some shallower-rooting options to try. If you are trying out things or have experience at growing native plants in container gardens, please email us your stories and successes at [email protected].

DO: Get Large Pots

The larger the better. Get crafty and recycle old whiskey barrels, 5 gallon buckets, or just pick some up at your local plant rescue, thrift store, or off Facebook marketplace. Big box stores and nurseries are okay too.

Make good soil.

Potting mix tossed with a bit of compost will do just fine but look up some DIY potting soil compositions online. Some mix in sand or vermiculite. Many good ways to make a nice container mix.

Prepare to take care of your plants

Water thine plants and to thine own self be true.

Thanks for listening!

Native Patio Pots For Shade!

Thrillers

• VIRGINIA WILD RYE Elymus virginicus
• CALICO ASTER Symphyotrichum laterifolius (regional)
• HEARTLEAF ASTER Symphyotrichum cordifolius
• OSTRICH FERN

Fillers

• BLACK EYED SUSAN Rudbeckia hirta or fulgida (regional)
• WESTERN YARROW Achillea millefolium
• PENNSYLVANIA SEDGE Carex pensylvanica
• COMMON VIOLET Viola sororia
• ZIG ZAG GOLDENROD Solidago flexicaulis
• BLUE STEMMED GOLDENROD Solidago cassia

Spillers

• WILD GINGER
• VIRGIN’S BOWER CLEMATIS Clematis virginiana
• WILD STRAWBERRY Fragaria virginiana

Native Patio Pots For Partial Shade!

Thrillers

• SMOOTH BEARDTONGUE Penstemon digitalis (light shade)
• GOLDEN ALEXANDER Zizia aurea (light shade)
• HEARTLEAF ALEXANDER Zizia aptera (light shade)
• VIRGINIA WILD RYE Elymus virginicus
• BLUESTAR Amsonia tabernaemontana (light shade) (regional)
• OHIO SPIDERWORT Tradescantia ohiensis (light shade)
• CALICO ASTER Symphyotrichum laterifolius (regional)
• HEARTLEAF ASTER Symphyotrichum cordifolius
• OSTRICH FERN

Fillers

• BLACK EYED SUSAN Rudbeckia hirta or fulgida (regional)
• HAIRY BEARDTONGUE Penstemon hirsutus (light shade) (regional)
• WESTERN YARROW Achillea millefolium
• PENNSYLVANIA SEDGE Carex pensylvanica
• COMMON VIOLET Viola sororia
• NODDING ONION Allium cernuum (light shade)
• PUSSYTOES Antennaria sp. (light shade)
• ZIG ZAG GOLDENROD Solidago flexicaulis
• BLUE STEMMED GOLDENROD Solidago caesia

Spillers

• PURPLE POPPY MALLOW
• VIRGIN’S BOWER CLEMATIS Clematis virginiana
• WILD STRAWBERRY Fragaria virginiana

Native Patio Pots for Spring!

3-5 GALLON POTS NARROWER BUT DEEP

Thrillers

• SMOOTH BEARDTONGUE Penstemon digitalis
• GOLDEN ALEXANDER
• HEARTLEAF ALEXANDER (regional)
• BLUESTAR Amsonia (regional)
• SPIDERWORT Tradescantia sp.

Fillers

• HAIRY BEARDTONGUE Penstemon hirsutus
• MISSOURI EVENING PRIMROSE Oenothera macrocarpa
• WESTERN YARROW Achillea millefolium
• COMMON VIOLET Viola sororia
• PEARLY EVERLASTING

Spillers

• PURPLE POPPY MALLOW
• VIRGIN’S BOWER CLEMATIS Clematis virginiana
• WILD STRAWBERRY Fragaria virginiana

Native Patio Pots for Summer

3-5 GALLON POTS NARROWER BUT DEEP

Thrillers

• ANNUAL PARTRIDGE PEA Chamaecrista fasciculata
• ANISE HYSSOP Agastache foeniculum (pinch back in June)
• HOARY VERVAIN Verbena stricta (pinch back in June)
• FALSE SUNFLOWER Heliopsis helianthoides (pinch back in June)
• BLAZINGSTAR
• VIRGINIA WILD RYE

Fillers

• BLACK EYED SUSAN Rudbeckia hirta or fulgida (regional)
• JUNE GRASS
• BLUE GRAMA
• PRAIRIE DROPSEED
• ANNUAL INDIAN BLANKET
• PURPLE PRAIRIE CLOVER
• HAIRY BEARDTONGUE Penstemon hirsutus (regional)
• MISSOURI EVENING PRIMROSE Oenothera macrocarpa
• PURPLE LOVEGRASS
• WESTERN YARROW Achillea millefolium
• BLUE VERVAIN Verbena hastata

Spillers

• PURPLE POPPY MALLOW
• VIRGIN’S BOWER CLEMATIS Clematis virginiana
• WILD STRAWBERRY Fragaria virginiana
• WILD PETUNIA
• WILD GERANIUM

Got Bigger Pots? Try These!

• Wild Bergamot (Pinch back in June)
• Purple Coneflower (Regional)
• Swamp Milkweed

Native Patio Pots For Fall!

3-5 GALLON POTS NARROWER BUT DEEP

Thrillers

• VIRGINIA WILD RYE
• ASTERS Symphyotrichum sp. (calico, sky blue, smooth blue, aromatic...)

Filler

• HEATH ASTER 'Snow flurry'
• SIDE OATS GRAMA
• HAIRY BEARDTONGUE Penstemon hirsutus (regional)
• MISSOURI EVENING PRIMROSE Oenothera macrocarpa
• PURPLE LOVEGRASS
• WESTERN YARROW Achillea millefolium
• BLUE VERVAIN Verbena hastata
• PUSSYTOES Antennaria sp.

Spillers

• PURPLE POPPY MALLOW
• VIRGIN’S BOWER CLEMATIS Clematis virginiana

Bigger Pots? Try these! (& pinch back in June)

• BIG BLUESTEM
• JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE
• SAWTOOTH SUNFLOWER
• SWAMP MILKWEED
• TALL BONESET

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

Local Plant Suppliers

Midwest Natives Nursery

Great Plains Nursery

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum

Prairie Legacy Nursery

Mulhall's

Online Plant Suppliers

Prairie Moon Nursery

Prairie Nursery

Stock Seed

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

Bellevue Native Plant Society on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

Orgs and Tools

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

In today’s episode, Lessons From the Prairie, we chat with Chris Helzer about invasive species, what makes a landscape ecologically resilient, and why we don't have to recreate the past for the present to be meaningful.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Chris Helzer

Chris Helzer is Director of Science and Stewardship for The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska, where he conducts research and supervises the Conservancy’s preserve stewardship program. He also helps develop and test prairie management and restoration strategies. Chris is also dedicated to raising awareness about the value of prairies through his photography, writing and presentations. He is the author of The Prairie Ecologist blog, and two books: The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States and Hidden Prairie: Photographing Life in One Square Meter. He is also a frequent contributor to NEBRASKAland magazine and other publications. 

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode is sponsored by Lauritzen Gardens:

laurtizengardens.org

Today's episode is also sponsored by Lucky Toad Restorative Gardens:

https://www.luckytoadgardens.com/

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

I gleaned talking points from Chris's blog, The Prairie Ecologist, which you can and should read here!

• Insects and invertebrates are very important to ecosystem function: help soil fertility, insect biomass, ant engineers, species balance (predators and prey,) seed dispersal, bird food, pollination.
• A prairie is only as good as its ecological resilience: Habitat size/ connectivity to other habitats and biodiversity is important. A landscape needs to be malleable and able to deal with changes because nature isn't static. A large diverse community is best able to adapt to changes.
• Management can be an important tool in re-establishing native landscapes: Land management has been around since human beginnings and interestingly enough, some "natural" ecosystems have been shaped by human involvement. But, in our modern times, we can find a healthy balance between over-involvement and stewardship. We can guide nature in a good direction, manage competition, and encourage collaboration. Basically, we should aim for being responsible "parents" that want our kids to thrive...
• Life on earth is on a trajectory of change: The prairie of today is not the prairie of yesterday and won't be the prairie of tomorrow. Our generation is dealing with increased C02, nitrogen deposition, extreme weather, decomposition of natural habitats, rising temps. We can't get trapped in our own sense of nostalgia and avoid reality. We can grow with nature, we can be a good part of the change, we can even facilitate the change and help facilitate other species' resilience. "Conserve the stage, not the actors." Chris is making the case that humans can help conserve the stage.
• Invasive species hurt native populations, and yet, some non- native plants can benefit diversity: Goatsbeard (salsify) and dandelions are good examples Chris provides. I use zinnia, verbena bonariensis, and Mexican sunflowers in my garden for Monarch forage since it's in their range. We do need to think about what's additive vs. what is suppressive. Smooth brome is an example of an exotic plant that is suppressive, it's something that's moved in and really creates a monoculture.
• Plantings don't have to mirror what came before historically to be effective: We can't create something brand new that is a perfect replica of something in the past. My native plant cottage garden is not the habitat that was here 200 years ago. But, it is habitat. We can ask ourselves what we want to do with a landscape and we can look at our goals and we can think of the myriad of ways we can provide support. If we are planting close to 70% native plants or more, we are doing a great job at supporting wildlife species.
• Nature is crazy: Sometimes nature seems like a slapdash science experiment that magically works! Plant and animal species have developed some pretty bizarre ways of getting the job done. Read up on the truly freaky " series of unfortunate events" that allows milkweed pollination to happen on Chris's blog here: https://prairieecologist.com/2021/01/26/milkweed-pollination-a-series-of-fortunate-events/. I once heard a story of the woman who owned a local hamburger restaurant slapping the burger patties under her armpits to flatten them. I don't know if it's true, but it would be another example of a bizarre process that works.
• Experimentation is an opportunity to learn: How can we possibly learn what works if we don't learn what doesn't? Don't be too hard on yourself. Let yourself make some mistakes. In my opinion, the mistakes are the wins because without little failures, we don't develop the tools it takes to be successful.
• In the face of increasing challenges and opportunities for overwhelm, we can commit ourselves to staying optimistic, resilient, and momentous: We can impact good change. We don't need to resolve all of society's or the planets ills, but we can work to preserve, maintain, and facilitate landscapes into the future. We can leave our immediate surroundings better than we found them!

Chris is always a good chat! Thanks for participating!

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

BNPS aforementioned

http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety- BNPS on Facebook

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

In today’s episode, The Very Real Importance of Pollinators, we chat with Jennifer Hopwood and Rae Powers from the Xerces Society about the importance of pollinators in what foods make it to our plate, why European honeybees can't do all of the work, and some ways you can help pollinators at home.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Jennifer Hopwood

Jennifer Hopwood is Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and is based in Omaha, Nebraska. She has a master's in entomology from the University of Kansas. She provides resources and training for pollinator and beneficial insect habitat management and restoration in a variety of landscapes. Jennifer is co-author of several books, including Farming with Native Beneficial Insects, Farming with Soil Life, 100 Plants to Feed the Bees, and a roadside revegetation manual.

Guest Rae Powers

Rae Powers is a Pollinator Conservation Specialist with The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Rae works with farmers, ranchers, and others to identify wildlife conservation opportunities and promote pollinator and beneficial insect habitat across landscapes through the Natural Resources Conservation Services. She has a master's in plant ecology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has worked in grassland restoration and management and native plant production. 

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode sponsored by Midwest Natives Nursery:

https://www.midwestnativesnursery.com/

https://www.facebook.com/midwestnatives

https://www.instagram.com/midwest_natives_nursery/

Today's episode is also sponsored by Lauritzen Gardens:

laurtizengardens.org

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

Pollination 101

• Male and female structures of plants coming together! You know, very much a birds and the bees scenario here.
• Pollination can happen in very strange ways. Even nature is creative...
• 80-85% plants worldwide need animal-assisted pollination, mostly insects: bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, and wasps.
• Pollination is not intentional by pollinators, instead it is a byproduct of pure insect gluttony and opportunistic plants.

Big-Ag and The Little Guys

• Think fruits and veg, oils, spices- most need pollinators, bruh, to the tune of 18 billion dollars...
• Even dairy cattle need insect pollination for their feed, BTW cattle for meat also need to forage. 20 to 30 percent of livestock diets are actually wildflowers and shrubs primarily pollinated by native pollinators. Some examples are legumes like lead plant, milkweeds like common and showy milkweed, snowberry, plum thickets... Imagine that to get really good waygu beef, a farmer had to listen to some conservation hippy first. The irony...
• Potato chips= gift from pollinators. You're welcome.
• Pollinators and insects also provide pest control, keep soil healthy.

Honeybees

• Shelter belts of wildflowers are being removed. Meaning less habitat for native pollinators. At the same time, population is growing and more food needs to be produced. So more honeybees are being brought in. But guess what? They can't do all the work and they can't take the place of every pollinator in North America. Honeybees are efficient but they can't do 100 percent of the work. Let's say it again, they can't do all the work.

Ecosystem Support

• Pollinators support endangered plant species. Example: fringed orchid and hawk moths
• Pollinators support bird populations:

-Especially young birds

-Think grasshoppers, ants, crickets, beetles

-Loggerhead shrike= 70 percent of their diet is insects

-Burrowing owls? They're like your messy sister with a penchant for dung beetles and who therefore also hoards poop with the rest of her trash.

Keystone insects?

• Hear about keystone species? Well, insects are pretty much vital in the same way for ecosystem function

Plants and Pollinator Interactions

• Monarchs and Milkweed
• Bees and their pollen-reared young: golden Alexander, spring beauty, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans

Adult bugs are the pollinators, so help insects reach adulthood! Just do three simple things:

Plant native plants.

Embrace the untidy.

Limit pesticides and herbicides.

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

BNPS aforementioned

http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety- BNPS on Facebook

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

In today’s episode, The Modern Botanist, we examine what modern gardening can look like within the native plants framework, different tools you can use to get “spec’d out” in your gardening abilities, and why it matters more than ever to bring back gardening as part of a healthy lifestyle. 

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode sponsored by Midwest Natives Nursery:

https://www.midwestnativesnursery.com/

https://www.facebook.com/midwestnatives

https://www.instagram.com/midwest_natives_nursery/

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

Growing 

Get nerdy and grow your own plants!

Start with a good potting soil. This could be Pro-Mix or a Berger mix or another recommended potting soil. You can even google how to make your own potting soil and mix the components up in a wheelbarrow. It’s fun to experiment!

Pre-moisten your soil in a tubtrug or wheelbarrow or 5 gal bucket.

Get seed trays: one drain tray (example: 1020 seed starting tray), one cell tray(example 72 cell seed tray,) and humidity domes. Bootstrap Farmer has really good ones:

https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/collections/plug-trays/products/extra-strength-72-cell-seedling-starter-trays

https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/collections/1020-trays-and-flats/products/1020-trays-multi-color

Bottom water when your soil starts to get dry so your seedlings don't get washed out.

Pack the cell trays with soil. Knead those puppies down.

Plant seeds at right depth (per instructions on packet.) Plant two to three seeds in the middle of each cell for best germination. You can cull or up-pot extra seedlings.

What I’ve been doing for labels is using my Brother label maker and taking one popsicle stick, place one label at the top for each row and then affix the label with clear packaging tape to the stick. I’m hoping this will help keep my labels more waterproof... we'll see how it goes.

Keep those plants happy. Pot up to a 3 or 4 inch pot when you see true leaves. You can also start fertilizing once you pot up. 

Don’t forget to “harden off” your plants before planting out in the garden. Google, google, google, my friend.

PLANTING 

The tale of three tools: the soil knife, the auger, and the drain spade.

When you are planting, the soil level of the potted plant should sit about a half-inch below the surface of the ground. If the plant is pot bound, tease some of the roots with your fingertips or give it a good slice horizontally and vertically.

Don’t forget to water the plants in and to tamp down with the heel of your foot or by putting firm pressure all around the perimeter with the palms of your hands. Cover with more soil until we’ve got an upright plant well-packed in the ground. 

Learn your plants. Plant taller plants in the middle or behind shorter ones. Line paths with very short plants- think 6-12 inches or less.

Know and plant your ground covers.

Strong shade groundcovers native to Nebraska: wild ginger, mayapple, and common violets.

A good groundcover for partial sun could be Virginia waterleaf.

For our sun gardens: pearly everlasting, common violets, prairie blue-eyed grass, wild strawberry, wild geranium, wild petunia, or nearly native early buttercup, hairy penstemon, or prairie smoke. I also like the ‘snow flurry’ cultivar of heath aster.

You can also work in grass or sedge ground covers like Pennsylvania sedge, ivory sedge, long beaked sedge, blue grama, buffalo grass, purple love grass.  Little bluestem also makes an excellent ground cover when planted en masse. 

LAWNING 

Let's lawn better! (For what we can't remove today)

SAY YES TO:

• Setting your mower to the tallest setting and mowing once a month.
• Adding in low growing natives like self-heal, purple poppy mallow, common violets.
• Adding in plugs of sedges.
• Not spraying exotic dandelions, henbit, clover, oxalis, or creeping charlie.
• Aerating and overseeding your lawn with buffalo grass or blue grama instead of the usual turf seed

If you have a really blotchy lawn in shady areas, you can even look into shade ground covers we mentioned before or try your hand at a moss lawn. There is a great bee lawn mix by Prairie Legacy that you can try to make a meadow lawn or in your hellstrip. 

YAY TO LESS LAWN!

Reduce your lawn by planting garden borders. Start small and work as your free time and budget allows!

WEEDING and MANAGING 

Get out and weed monthly. Know your weeds. Maybe let some go that don’t get over 6 inches or so. Just know that creeping charlie is allelopathic.

Better Homes and Gardens common weeds article: https://www.bhg.com/gardening/pests/insects-diseases-weeds/types-of-weeds/ You can decide the ones you can live without and hand-pull them.

Remember: perfection isn’t possible and pretty much every successful garden has its share of weeds here and there. 

You may choose to manage your plants that self-seed. This may involve culling some seedlings, transplanting plants to a different location, or cutting specific plants back after flowering to keep them from taking over a garden space. This may include agastaches, tall boneset, coneflower, asters, pitcher sage or sweet black- eyed susan. 

Know your truely invasive or undesirable exotic and weedy plants like callery pear, Japanese honeysuckle, Canada thistle, brome, Japanese hops, foxtail, poison hemlock. 

OBSERVING 

Get out there and look around, girl!

Get to know your garden. Pretend like you're a tourist and everything is interesting!

EXPERIMENTING

SAY NO TO MIND TRAPS SOMETIMES TAUGHT BY GARDEN VETERANS:

• You must water constantly all year
• You must never ever use non-native species 
• You must weed weekly to appease the aesthetic gods 
• You must use foundation plants 
• You must never use aggressive species 
• You must not have a wild front garden 
• You must keep lawns for negative space 
• You must not let anything go to seed

The joys of life come from experimenting! Get out there and do weird stuff!

ENGAGING and HARVESTING

We don’t lose seasonal succession with natives, what seasonal succession looks like just changes.

We become aware of local wildlife- birds, pollinating insects, small mammals, amphibians- so much wildlife that we can observe once we start reintroducing habitat.

Think of incorporating edible and medicinal plant parts into your daily life. Make wildflower teas! There's no time to toil and suffer like the present...

SHOWCASING

Signage, signage, signage.

You can source signs from:

• Monarch Waystation Registry program
• Prairie Moon Nursery 
• Nebraska Monarchs 
• Midwest Natives Nursery
• PATH-Pollinator Alliance of the Heartland 
• Xerces Society 
• and many others!

But importantly, give your neighbors something to look at by actually planting a wild, native garden on the streetfront. Some ‘plant people’ will tell you to save wildness for the back garden. But let’s put it all out there. 

If you're feeling especially brave, display your garden on a local garden walk.

The two maps we discussed today:

• https://www.homegrownnationalpark.org/
• Pollinator Alliance of the Heartland map when it becomes available!

RESEARCHING and COMPILING

Find out what’s native to your area and then plant what you like! 

Tools:

• Bonap.net
• nwf.org/plantfinder

Eco guide tools:

• https://www.pollinator.org/guides
• https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/pollinator-friendly-plant-lists

Bellevue Native Plant Society

• bellevuenativeplants.org

Look at plant catalogs and gardening books for inspo, at the same time getting to know your local and online native plant suppliers:

Online (and some local also)

• Prairie Moon Nursery- Minnesota (plants and seed)
• Prairie Nursery- Wisconsin (plants and seed)
• Prairie Legacy- Nebraska (plants and seed)
• Stock Seed- Nebraska (seed)
• Great Plains Nursery- Nebraska (plants)

Local

• Midwest Natives Nursery- Lincoln, Ne (plants)
• Nebraska Statewide Arboretum Lincoln, NE(plants)
• Golden Hills RC& D

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

BNPS aforementioned

http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety- BNPS on Facebook

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

In today's episode, Native Edible Plants Part 4, we chat with Bob Henrickson about survival foods, how to make native Shirley Temples, and which native plant has been used as a spice for centuries. If you don't like rabbit holes, this episode will be a dangerous romp through Gardenland.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Bob Henrickson

Bob attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology in the School of Natural Resources. Currently, Bob is the Horticulture Program Coordinator with the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, Inc., a private, non-profit organization and program of the Nebraska Forest Service. His responsibilities include assisting affiliated arboretum sites with plant collection development and to acquire, propagate and produce native and other resilient landscape plants for plant sales to our members and the public. Bob has hosted a live, call-in gardening talk show called How’s it Growin’ on a community radio station in Lincoln since 2000. He is passionate about native plants, herbs, dried flowers, vegetable gardening, wild mushrooms and wild edible plants. 

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode sponsored by Midwest Natives Nursery:

https://www.midwestnativesnursery.com/

https://www.facebook.com/midwestnatives

https://www.instagram.com/midwest_natives_nursery/

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

Wild strawberry- Fragaria virginiana

Wild strawberry is so very pretty, and I hear from people all the time they have this in their yard. But they are mistaking false strawberry for our native one. The leaves are larger than false strawberry and the small flowers are white and not yellow.

Makes a great edible ground cover. Plant with violets for more fun!

Early bloomer.

Maybe make a sedge meadow with strawberries.

Hackberry- one of the earliest plants eaten by humans

An understory tree, you see this everywhere at Lauritzen Gardens, Heron Haven, basically every other wooded area around here. 

Sam Thayer-Nature's Garden: "For sheer survival value hackberry is unsurpassed..."

Bonkers idea for hackberry: make hackberry milk and use it as coffee creamer.

Great for songbirds and vegans!

Prunus family plants

American plum

Historical: Cherokee used fruit to make fruit juice, eaten fresh, or jelly. Cheyenne treated these as a delicacy and would even sun dry these at times. Tribes consistently described as highly valued.

Wild plum wine, cobbler. Highest carbs found in fruit. Get your plum on!

Suckers so plant isolated in lawn or plan for thicketing

Chokecherry

Chokecherry is one of those plants whose common name is so close to another one you get it mixed up. So we’re talking about prunus Virginiana not chokeberry which is in the aronia family. 

Chokecherry makes an excellent jelly. If you’re a little bit country you might have had some before. 

Chokecherry fizz AKA Native Shirley Temple, Chokecherry wine, drinks all around!

Another thicketing one but when planted in shade, doesn't spread as much. Early bloomer.

Ribes family of plants 

RYE-BEES FTW

Black currant- Ribes americium 

fruit dried, made into sauces, eaten fresh 

likes part shade

Buffalo currant- Ribes aureum or odoratum (goes by both names)

likes growing in hot and dry conditions

easy to grow, makes tasty pie

Missouri gooseberry- Ribes missouriense 

If you need a little Misourrah in your life...

Elderberry- Sambucus canadensis

Elderberries must be cooked before eating but makes a lovely jam, make sure to pick them when ripe can also use the elderflowers to make syrups, wines, and cordials 

High iron content, songbird and pollinator favorite

Rejuvenation pruning may be your friend here every 3-4 years

Kay Young's Wild Seasons- I know, she's a popular gal with us...

Shake flowers into bucket and steep flowers in hot simple syrup.

Elderberry flower fritters and yes, you heard us right... Marbled Elderberry Cheesecake.

Can even make elderberry capers from the unripe fruits, but must prepare correctly to remove the toxins

Smooth sumac and staghorn sumac

Berries used to make drinks with sugar: sumacade or sumac tea

In the citrus family! Who knew?

Sumac (zatar) has been used to make spices for centuries.

Good source of Vitamin C.

May be used to make a sumac vinaigrette.

Spring Affair

Get affordable plants in Lincoln this year at the Spring Affair!

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

BNPS aforementioned

http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety- BNPS on Facebook

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

In today's episode, The Prairie Herbalist , we chat with Rachel Liester about food as medicine, the best herbal salve ever, and how you can grow a pharmacy in your garden.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialogue, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Rachel Liester

Rachel Liester is an ethnobotanist, bioregional herbalist, educator, naturalist, writer and photographer. She specializes in prairie plants and has a five-acre herb farm and learning center in northeast Nebraska where she's been teaching about traditional uses of herbs as food and medicine for 30 years. Red Road Herbs Retreat & Learning Center LLC is part of United Plants Saver's Botanical Sanctuary Network, a Certified Wildlife Habitat, a Monarch Waystation and a haven of peace and tranquility where Rachel hosts events, retreats, classes and wild herb walks and encourages visitors to experience Nature's healing touch.

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.

Red Road Retreat and Learning Center

• on the web: http://www.redroadherbs.com/
• on Facebook: Red Road Herbs Retreat & Learning Center LLCFacebook 

Prairie Herbalist Conference- classes and intensives designed to give you the expertise to be an herbalist- in Nebraska, by golly! Let's make it a glamping extravaganza this year. Dates in July. Check the site above!

Home Herbalist Program- Growing, Harvesting, and Creating 101

Rugel's plantain AKA Plantago rugelii : good for bug bites, eczema., inflammation, trapped thorns

Stinging nettle AKA Urtica dioica-full of vitamins, minerals, and antihistamines. Consider it a worthy weed and know it's stings are very effective for arthritis pain. Also know it's stinging sensation dissipates once cooked. Sick of hearing about Kay Young's Wild Seasons? If so, you're listening to the wrong podcast.

Wild bergamot AKA Monarda fistulosa AKA aswego tea

• member of mint family
• mosquito repellant, digestive aid, diaphoretic, and yes ,you heard us right, love potion perfume...

Elderberry AKA Sambucus canadensis

• contains thymol, a natural antiseptic, and carbicol, which has anti-cancer properties
• if you're worried about birds getting all your berries, just harvest the flowers instead
• used to be the sign of the medicine woman if planted outside in olden times
• instead of buying expensive medicines, make your own! just make sure to only consume berries that have been harvested when ripe and cooked!

Chokecherry AKA Prunus virginiana

• Early bloomer, used historically for "granola bars" AKA pemmican
• good bitter for our diet, aids digestion, full of antioxidants

Cattail AKA Typha latifolia- Yule Gibbons "cattails are the supermarket of the swamps," shoots, fluff, even pollen is edible. Not just a pretty damsel on the waterside.

Sweet grass AKA Anthoxanthum nitens- fragrant, even more fragrant when dry; comb, and break off, do not pull grass out to harvest as it is a perennial; powerful for aromatherapy

Prairie sage AKA Artemisia ludoviciana- another aromatherapy medicine, tied to healing not only due to its astringent and antiseptic properties but simply due to its aroma

Western yarrow AKA Achillea millefolium:

• 2024 Herb of the Year, https://www.iherb.org/herb-of-the-year/, blood medicine, an interesting example of the concept of "the doctrine of signatures," a polychrestic meaning a medicine that can treat a variety of ailments, also the star of a old-school Gaelic charm/ folk song "I will pluck the yarrow fair..."
• A great flower for cutting and drying

Food is medicine

Empower yourself and help to supplement your health by planting these native herbs and berries!

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (native plant cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

BNPS aforementioned

http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety- BNPS on Facebook

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Milkweed Matters
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review on Podchaser! www.podchaser.com/PlantNativeNebraska

Support My Work via Patreon

The Plant Native Nebraska podcast can be found on the podcast app of your choice.