PLANT NATIVE NEBRASKA

In today's episode, In Rebellion Against the Neat and Tidy, we go over why seemingly perfect gardens are not sustainable and address common garden myths that may prevent you and others from growing native gardenscapes.

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!

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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.

Over-curated, over-groomed, over-mulched gardens are not sustainable

• We need to transition from over-consumption to being sustainable producers for our local ecosystems. 
• Let’s make less chemical and plastic waste and save ourselves time and moolah!
• Mulching is unnatural and so tedious!!! Why do it every year? That’s the definition of insanity! Mulch once- you heard me- just once, and let nature do its thing by injecting in ground covers, sedges, and native grasses to inhibit weeds and create a full landscape.
• Don’t deadhead, just don’t do it. 

For a low maitenence garden, know your plants.

• Don’t overtend them.
• Wait to cut back perennials until spring.
• And please for the love of all things Mother Earth, let wild plants go a little wild. 

“The Green Thumb” isn’t real! And neither is half the other crap we believe.

• You do not need to be Michael Jordan to play basketball, you don’t have to be some sort of crazy garden-savant to garden. It’s (actual) fake news!!!

No, native gardens DON’T require a lot of time and money.

• Imagine how much time Karen next door expends mowing, mulching, weeding, trimming hedges, fertilizing, watering, and spraying chemicals on a monthly basis. You see where I’m going with this?
• Also, boxwoods and hydrangeas aren’t cheap. 
• Start small and work from there. Repeat after me: START SMALL. You can always go full-metal-maximalist in a few year’s time. 

No, native gardens DON’T increase allergy symptoms 

• But that monoculture of allergy-causing turf grass? Public enemy #1

No, bees and wasps will NOT sting everyone .

• They may sting your daughter if she tries to pet their fuzzy little bodies. But mostly they are out to… you guessed it… find other insect prey, nectar, pollen, sleeping places, mating places, among other things that bees and wasps do.

No, a native garden will NOT increase other unpleasant wildlife such as mice, mosquitos, voles, skunks, moles, spiders, snakes, and just way too many bugs.

• Because life on earth is going to be around even if you just have turf grass and dirty old kids toys for yard decorations. 
• Let’s encourage that life on earth has a right to exist, even if it isn’t human, canine, or feline. 

And no, there is NO “right” way to landscape

• Gardening is like art. There are many different ways to do it right. You do not NEED foundation plants, you do not NEED containers filled with exotic annuals, you do not NEED turf grass, you do not NEED your landscape to be 100 percent weed-free (which is also another myth) you do not NEED to mulch every year, you do not NEED to do something because your neighbor, or your mother-in-law, or even another gardener says you NEED to do it or not do it.  You’re welcome.

Share the love!

• Let’s plant native, spread the love, and meet people where they are- in their sterile, super green turf grass- and show them a different way of doing things. Who knows, they just might listen. 

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, Softer Landings, we chat with Heather Holm, pollinator conservationist and author, about leaf litter, the mighty oak, and what we can do to make more “habitable” habitats in often underutilized understory. Thanks for listening! 

Host Stephanie Barelman

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

Guest Heather Holm

Heather Holm is a pollinator conservationist and award-winning author of four books: Pollinators of Native Plants (2014), Bees (2017), Wasps (2021), and Common Native Bees of the Eastern United States (2022). Both Bees and Wasps have won multiple book awards including the American Horticultural Society Book Award. Heather’s expertise includes the interactions between native pollinators and native plants, and the natural history and biology of native bees and predatory wasps. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and many local publications. Heather is a National Honorary Director of Wild Ones and also serves on the boards of several non-profits: Friends of Cullen Nature Preserve and Bird Sanctuary and Friends of Minnetonka Parks.

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.

Visit Heather’s site and get pollinator educated!

• Heather’s site: www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com you will find lots of amazing stuff and lose about 3 hours of your day! You’re welcome!
• Soft landings: https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com/softlandings.html 

Keystone plants: what does that even mean?

• Heather’s free handout on keystone plants! https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com/uploads/1/3/9/1/13913231/softlandingskeystonehandout.pdf
• Some native plants have significant interactions with the food web. In essence they are more significant than other species. Essentially, the not-Karens of the natural world.
• Plant native stuff! You can find many amazing databases and resources online. Try out nwf.org/nativeplantfinder and check out their ecoregion guides.
• Audubon also has a native plants database: https://www.audubon.org/native-plants The birds will thank you… or they will eat dinner and sneak away, much like my mother likes to do. 

Soft landings- nice, cushy spaces for our little insect friends.

Leaf litter and diverse native plantings under native trees. A multi-season buffet for birds and a haven for all the sweet little caterpillar babe-ays. And fireflies, and bumblebees, and ladybugs… You get the idea.

Yet another reason insecticides are bad 

• Did you know systemic insecticides can persist in woody plant material for long periods of time-like years? I didn’t…
• Check out this Xerxes Society publication here.

Tailored plant list for NE

• Here’s Heather’s full list for multiple regions. https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com/uploads/1/3/9/1/13913231/softlandingshandout.pdf
• We’ve narrowed the list down to NE here: 

Wildflowers

• Wild Columbine
• Wild ginger
• Wild geranium
• May apple
• Bloodroot
• Short’s aster
• Common blue violet

Grasses and sedges

• Carex brevior 
• Pennsylvania sedge
• Sprengel’s sedge
• Bottlebrush grass

Ferns

• Lady fern
• Marginal fern
• Maidenhair fern

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
• 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 3: Nuts, Blossoms, and Fruits, we chat with Bob Henrickson from the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum about rabbit holes, unripe black walnut liqueur and even more native plants to add to your edible garden.  

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a freelance garden designer, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Bob Henrickson

Bob Henrickson 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. Bob is also a Nebraska Certified Nurseryman and a Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. 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.

Thank you, Bob, for providing some rich and interesting content for this episode!

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 American Ethnobotany 

I again gleaned some info from Daniel Moerman’s Native American Ethnobotany

This is a great tome that may be an inspiring winter time read. Just be prepared to tuck in for a good long while. 

NSA needs your membership!

Check them out at plantnebraska.org. Just last year, 15 schools were given free gardens and over 45,000 plants, shrubs, and trees were put in the ground. Pretty impressive! Definitely worthy of your support!

NOW TO THE PLANTS!

American Hazelnut Corylus americana - nutmeats 

Iroquois used nutmeats crushed and mixed with bread, hominy, mashed potatoes. Ponca, Winnebago, and Omaha tribes used as a body for soup.

Tough plant, great for songbird nesting, early fall color, sweet little catkins in spring. 

Look up Kay Young’s hazelnut cake recipe. Multi-season plant if there ever was one. 

Shagbark hickory Carya ovata- nuts

Nutmeats were mixed into bread crushed or whole a lot like American hazelnut but I read several tribes used hickory chips made from the exfoliating bark to make hickory bark syrup. 

Nuts can also be eaten plain or with honey. Just remember to cure them! 

Bob recommends making Cherokee hickory nut soup. Hickory nuts are full of good fats and nutritious!

Drought tolerant, but need more than one for pollination. Can plant with other native hickories like shellbark hickory (Carya laciniosa) also known as the king of nuts. Shellbark is very, very close in native range, being found in a close county in Iowa and elsewhere in our region.

Bob was bragging about his hickory nut pie. So I will have to demand one from him eventually because I am too lazy to make it myself. 

Black walnut Juglans nigra- nuts

Doesn’t kill everything around it. Bob says jugalone more affects non-natives than those plants adapted to growing around it for eons. 

Can harvest early- mid June. Harvest when hull is green otherwise nuts are too bitter from the intensifying tannins in the hull that passes to the nut. 

Nutmeat is full of beneficial carbs. Make sure you clean them and cure them. 

Nocino- a fancy Italian liqueur that doesn’t have to only be made by Catholics in Italy. We can make it here, if for nothing other than to impress our friends at dinner parties! Learn more about foraging walnuts for nocino here: https://foragerchef.com/nocino-black-walnut-liquor/

Eastern redbud Cercis canadensis- pods and flowers 

I just really love this native tree because of its versatility and early-blooming charm. We see this one popping up everywhere around Fontenelle Forest which is typical because it’s a happy understory tree. 

Bob’s ideas: 

Salad garnish

Pickled redbuds i.e. redbud capers

Edible young pods- very nutritious!

Harvesting leaves for salads in translucent stage

Homemade dried flower granola

Fancy deviled egg topping

Redbud jelly

Mature pods to harvest seeds inside 25% daily value of protein

You’re welcome.

Plains (Opuntia polyacantha) and twistspine (Opuntia macrorhiza) prickly pear- fruit

Navajo dried and boiled or eaten raw-twistspine prickly pear

Cheyenne dried pulp and used to thicken soups and stews- plains prickly pear

Bob says how you use is you rub the glochids off and split open. 

Tasty fruit, prickly pear is used in Mexico and U.S. to make a nopales sorta which are essentially prickly pear grilled cheese sandwiches. Learn more about foraging prickly pear or opuntia here: https://talatasailing.com/foraging-cactus-for-nopales/

You CAN grow these plants in the suburbs, just keep them high and dry, maybe in a rock garden. 

Saskatoon serviceberry Amelanchier alnifolia-fruit

If Canadians collect it by the bucketfuls, maybe they are on to something? Highly-prized berries by Omaha, Ponca, and many other tribes. 

Collect when the berries are bluish purple, though the birds may beat you to it. 

Tons of recipes online. Indigenous tribes used serviceberries historically to make pemmican, or as Bob calls them, the first energy bars. They also used serviceberries also known as juneberries in pies, puddings, cakes, and soups. One large shrub’s fruit harvest, in a good year, is enough to make two pies. But serviceberries are often pot-bound when sold at nurseries. Just try to buy the smallest tree in the largest pot. 

Self-fertile so only one is needed!

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 (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
• 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, Fall in Love with Native Plants, we go over why not to neglect the three season garden and the many native perennials and grasses you can incorporate for fall interest.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialog, 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.

I've gleaned a lot of today's fun insect info from Heather Holm's book Pollinators of Native Plants: https://amzn.to/3ZyEK85

Stay tuned because she's on the podcast this October.

Asters 

New England aster

• Come one come all bees, butterflies, and moths!
• Host plant for pearl crescent butterfly
• Caters to specialist Andrea mining bee
• Nectar source for small carpenter bees, leaf cutter bees, bumblebees, green sweat bees
• Nectar source for arcigera flower moth
• Nectar source for buckeye and crescent butterflies 
• Nectar and pollen for syrphid flies, soldier beetles
• Beautiful color, nice tall aster for a moist area of your garden

Also:

heath aster

Looks like a snowy blanket in bloom or if crowded around other tall plants, like snow covered branches reaching up

Growth habit from 1 foot to 3 feet, two completely different habits depending on what’s nearby

Other utility long lived aster, suited for dry, tough areas

silky aster

Looks very delicate, grows around things, very wispy and ethereal 

Growth habit up to 1 foot and a half 

heartleaf aster

Looks heart shaped leaves periwinkle flowers

Growth habit up to 3 feet, likes to show up everywhere and you will let it

smooth blue aster

Looks bluish purple with blue green leaves 

Growth habit shrubby but open 

Late season nectar forage YES!

Host plant status crescent butterflies 

sky blue aster

Looks another pale purple aster, very similar to smooth aster

Growth habit up to 3 feet 

aromatic aster

True to its name another pale purple aster up to 2 feet, popular one the rabbits don’t seem to eat. 

Tall boneset 

Looks tall with tight clustered fireworks of white, stout, doesn’t need much support, dense 

Growth habit up to 5 feet 

Sunflower

Maximilian sunflower

• Larval host for the silvery checkerspot butterfly
• Late seasonal forage Nectar source for monarchs
• Nectar for bumblebees, sweat bees, and long horned bees
• Bee paradise 
• Whip out your whiskey barrels people!

Also:

sawtooth sunflower

Looks tall majestic yellow sunflowers with large green leaves

Growth habit colony forming up to about 6 feet

We saw a great example of this at Little Salt Fork Marsh Preserve near Lincoln in Raymond, NE. Indian grass, little bluestem, and sawtooth sunflower: heaven.

western sunflower

Looks similar to false sunflower, delicate yellow daisy shaped blooms

Growth habit up to 3 feet

Blooms from July to September 

Jerusalem artichoke

Native sunflower with edible tubers, aggressive but we talk about its usefulness and how to grow it in our native edible plant series, specifically our episode on vegetables, greens, and alliums

Wild petunia

• Larval host plant for common buckeye butterfly
• Pollen for green sweat bee, syrphid flies 
• Nectar and pollen for leaf cutter bees
• Nectar sweat bees and small carpenter bees 
• This one is very delicate and blooms off and on in my front garden, works perfect as an understory plant underneath all your taller garden plants

Common Ironweed

• Larval host plant for parthenice tiger moth
• Caters to specialist long horned bees (melissodes denticulate and melissodes vernoniae)
• Nectar for green sweat bees, bumble bees, leaf cutter bees
• Nectar for syrphid flies and soldier beetles
• Nectar for pecks skipper and eastern tiger swallowtail 
• Beautiful vibrant purple blooms great for a moister area of the garden like the bottom of a hill or other depression

Goldenrods

stiff 

• 
  
• buffet for our diverse insect friends 
• Larval host plant for the dart moth
• Plant that caters to the specialist insect Andrena mining bees
• Nectar for long horned bees, sweat bees, bumblebees, leaf cutter bees, carpenter bees
• Nectar for paper wasp, golden digger wasp
• Nectar for monarchs 
• Nectar and pollen for syrphid flies
• Pollen for locust borer beetle

zig zag

• Feed your hordes of varied bugs
• Larval host for brown hooded owlet moth and twirler moth, yes there is a moth called a twirler moth and I want it to be my friend
• Caters to specialist Andrena mining bees
• Nectar for sweat bees, yellow faced bees, green sweat bees, bumblebees 
• Nectar for carrot wasps, mason wasps, paper wasps 
• Nectar and pollen for syrphid flies
• Pollen for Andrena mining bees
• Great goldenrod for dappled light areas, will tolerate light shade

Also:

canada 

Looks like goldenrod!

Growth habit stout goldenrod, aggressive spreader perfect for wild spaces or in an area you can let it grow into a nice patch

Late season nectar forage YES!

Can be a good rain garden addition, especially with obedient plant and swamp milkweed

Missouri 

Looks like goldenrod!

Growth habit 3 feet or so, a little floppy

Early blooming!

showy

Looks a nice gorgeous specimen true to its name, not too bad on flopping

Growth habit up to 5 feet

Late season nectar forage YES!

Also: look into goldenrod if you're interested in native plant dyes

Disclaimer: I've introduced you to a rabbit hole...

Sneezeweed

cheerful yellow flowers

looks great in a rain garden

Milkweed

butterfly

• Diverse pollinator parfait
• That rare bright orange that looks amazing next to our purple, yellow,  and light pink flowers 
• Host plant for monarch, queen butterfly, and the milkweed tussock moth
• Provides nectar for great spangled fritillary, sulphur butterflies 
• Nectar for paper wasps 
• Nectar for ants and soldier beetles, so set your picnic up right next to some blooming butterfly weed and they’ll leave your sandwiches alone
• Nectar for leaf cutter bees, carpenter bees, and sweat bees 

Also:

whorled 

Looks delicate white orchid shaped flowers, leaves turn yellow in fall

Growth habit an opportunist, will cheerfully spread itself around your other plants but only grows to about a foot tall

Other utility wasps dig it 

False sunflower

• Larval host for rigid sunflower borer 
• Nectar source for ground beetles and soldier beetles
• Nectar for male leaf cutter bees, long horned bees, bumble bees
• Nectar for clearwing moths 
• Pollen for green sweat bees and carpenter bees
• Plant material for female leaf cutter bees
• Fall interest, lots of pollinator benefit, and fantastic prolifically blooming cheerful yellow 

Verbena stricta 

• Bestow favor on your butterflies and bees 
• Larval host for verbena moth and fine lined sallow moth
• Caters to specialist bee calliopsis nebraskensis 
• Nectar for pecks skipper, silver spotted skipper, painted ladies, and monarchs 
• Nectar for bee flies and syrphid flies
• Verbena for drier places, just be careful where you place it. Don’t place it next to a path, let it be where it can go freely to seed and create a nice patch

Verbena hastata

• Host plant for verbena moth and feeds a variety of insects 
• Caters to specialist bee calliopsis nebraskensis nebraska vervain calliopsis bee 
• Nectar for syrphid flies, bee flies, thick headed flies 
• Nectar for silver spotted skipper
• Nectar for green sweat bees, carpenter bees, bumble bees, long horned bees, leaf cutter bees
• Great plant for the rain garden or near a downspout, the verbena for wetter areas, more delicate flowers than verbena stricta, so small and precious 

Rattlesnake master

• Unique plant, looks striking next to florals
• Host plant for stem borer moth and flower feeding moth
• Nectar for soldier beetles, red shouldered pine beetles
• Nectar for yellow faced bees
• Pollen for bumblebees
• Wasp paradise

Pitcher sage

Looks pale bluish purple 

Growth habit: tall so place accordingly, this thing is gonna flop you really got to place other tall and or shrubby stuff around it

Host plant status hermit sphinx moth 

Other utility drought tolerant, aromatic, lovely paired with yellow, a bee favorite

Mint family

1. anise hyssop ( some people argue whether to pronounce a-neice or ah-nis but I'm gonna do what I want)

• Late season nectar source
• nectar for leaf cutter bees, bumble bees
• Nectar for silver spotted skipper and great spangled fritillary 
• nectar for soldier beetles
• Great plant that smells like licorice and has a stately structured appearance in the late summer and early fall garden

2. Virginia mountain mint

• Great plant for your rain garden or wetter spots on your property, perhaps where a downspout comes down or where your weird patio dumps all of its water
• A wasp favorite, you can make a sea shanty album called wasp’s friend 
• Nectar for long horned bees, green sweat bees, yellow faced bees, bumblebees
• Nectar for banded hairstreak butterfly
• Nectar for paper wasps, great golden digger wasps, great black wasps, and… beewolves. Did you know that beewolves are a thing. Google a picture of one of them carrying a bee in their arms and awaken the stuff of nightmares. contribute to scary, amazing, and wonderful biodiversity. Maybe give your sinister daughter a reason to haunt the garden. Oh wait, that’s my daughter.
• Nectar for syrphid flies, wedge shaped beetles, and ants! Because we love our ants! 

3. wild bergamot

• Host plant for hermit sphinx moth
• Plant that caters to the specialist black sweat bee 
• Nectar for bumble bees. This is like a fine wine for your bumble bees. They love the stuff. 
• Nectar for eastern tiger swallowtail, monarch, silver spotted skipper
• Nectar for hummingbird clearwing moth
• Nectar for soldier beetles
• Wild bergamot was featured on our episode about wildflower teas so go back and listen to that one. Fantastic in bloom. Not much better out there. 

4. spotted BB 

• A wasp’s paradise
• Host plant for gray marvel moth 
• Plant that caters to the specialist black sweat bee 
• Nectar for great black and gold digger wasps 
• Nectar for long horned bees and bumblebees 
• Pollen for sweat bees
• This plant surprised my friend who has been gardening for many years and has a gorgeous cottage style garden. If she loves it, I promise you will too.

Grasses 

Purple love grass

Looks like beautiful purple smoke, or golden smoke

Growth habit short, wispy

Other utility great for hellstrips or other stubborn dry areas 

Prairie dropseed 

Looks big friendly green tuft of grass 

Growth habit bunch forming, 2-3 feet

Other utility birds like eating the seeds, good source of fall color as cold sets in 

Versatile grass that will grow in a variety of areas

Side oats grama 

Looks like rolled oats on a blade of grass, teeny tiny red flowers, see if you can spot them

Growth habit open up to 2 or so feet tall

Host plant status larval host for skippers 

Other utility another great grass for dry spaces 

Blue grama 

Up to 2 foot range 

Easy to start from seed

Great for erosion

Little bluestem

Looks kaleidoscope of blues and purples and reds and copper tones

Growth habit 3 feet and sometimes a scowtch taller if its really happy

Host plant status larval host for skippers 

Other utility birds will eat the seeds, our official state grass

Big bluestem

Looks amazing purplish red tips, looks like heaven paired with Indian grass

Growth habit tall these babies get up to about 8 feet tall

Other utility a very important part of tallgrass prairie ecosystems 

Switchgrass

4 to 5 foot range

Looks amazing with little bluestem and other wildflowers

Has trendy named cultivars

Indian grass

Looks bronze and gold colored seedheads, majestic en masse

Growth habit tall 6 feet or more

Other utility: food for birds 

In conclusion

Be open-minded, fall exists outside of exotic chrysanthemums and ornamental kale. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

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 (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
• 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, Patience, Mistakes, and #gardengoals, we go over common mistakes beginner and even intermediate gardeners can make; the virtues of serenity, patience, and open-mindedness in the garden; and how your best-laid plans can come true.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker, 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.

#gardengoals

• Don't be rigid
• Do have fun
• Don't fall on the sword of perfectionism
• Don't worry about every little weed
• Do think about what your spaces to be
• Do be thoughtful
• Do make a plan, but don't be afraid to deviate from it

Failures are the star-stuff dreams are made of

You know how we are all just leftover particles from dead stars?

The very beginning of human knowledge is screwing up, or at the very least, understanding how things work.

Failure= Understanding Success

We can also acknowledge beautiful things unfolding from devastating realties. Waxing philosophical now...

That being said there may be mistakes you'd like to avoid altogether:

Mistake #1: All planning and no action.

Don't plan stuff out and then not do it. Don't do that to yourself, it's not nice.

• Don't panic! We can help you think of ideas! https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society
• You can take Monarch Gardens classes https://www.monarchgard.com/classes.html
• Prairie Moon has some layouts to get you started: https://www.prairiemoon.com/PDF/2020-Prairie-Moon-Nursery.Garden-Kit-Layout-Suggestion_WEB.pdf

Mistake #2: Ignoring the house front.

The front of your house should be the first place you look to make a statement about natural spaces and it's likely the one you frequent the most. Just remember:

• Use cues to care https://www.humanegardener.com/wild-design-home-gardens/
• Mix up bloom times. Think: all seasons
• Keep your space maintained. Weed once a month: at minimum

Mistake #3: Not prepping the space well before getting started. 

How to site prep: https://prairielegacyinc.com/planning-your-prairie/

Think of garden shapes: https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/basic-design-principles-and-styles-garden-beds

Mistake #4: Forgetting about ground covers.

Sedges, baby.

Popular ground covers for sun: heath aster, wild strawberry, Missouri evening primrose, silky aster, purple poppy mallow, pussytoes, purple prairie clover and more.

Popular ground covers for shade include wild ginger, violets, wild geranium, zig zag goldenrod, mayapple, shade asters, Virginia waterleaf, and others.

Mistake #5: Not taking sun requirements into account or planting something that likes it wet in dry soil or vice versa.

Look up plant stats, but experimental skepticism is ok.

Mistake #6: Not thinking of adding in paths to weed and access the garden.

Paths can be stepping stones, turf grass, mulch, crushed limestone. The options are there. Just make it easy for yourself to get around. Make paths two to three feet wide.

Mistake #7 Planting a ton of tall stuff by a sidewalk or path, or letting something go to seed and grow there so your paths disappear.

Need a recipe for some potting soil for all the stuff you have to pot up because you psychotically can't bear to waste it??? Yeah???

https://www.hortmag.com/smart-gardening/homemade-potting-mix-with-compost

Mistake #8 Planting several aggressive plants, when it’s more practical to control one or two.

Aggressive things to keep an eye on:

• Root Spreaders: wild mint, silphiums, native sunflowers, prairie sage, western yarrow, obedient plant, native roses, elderberry, common milkweed
• Prolific Seeders: hyssops, pitcher sage, tall boneset, verbena stricta, rudbeckias

We are not saying "DO NOT USE" these plants. We are saying decide for yourself if you can handle the maintenance. Many of these are wonderful plants. You can always grow root spreaders in large containers.

Mistake #9 Not planting most things in drifts. 

Drift philosophy: https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/fundamentals-of-natural-garden-design

Mistake #10 Trying to do too much all at the same time.

Dream big but start small. Maintain what you finish. Impress your neighbors. Remember we want to win them over!

Be patient

Gardens take time to be at their best. Some plants need years to even get started. Baptisia, leadplant, and shrubby St. John's wort are all plants that need years to really get going.

Let yourself practice and play. Have fun and live a little!

Thank you for listening!

-Stephanie

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 (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
• 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 Two, we go over some benefits of homegrown food, what native prairie plants make interesting and excellent veggies, some extra benefits these plants provide.

Host Stephanie Barelman

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

Guest Bob Henrickson

Bob Henrickson 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. Bob is also a Nebraska Certified Nurseryman and a Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. 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.

Thank you, Bob, for providing some rich and interesting content for this episode!

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.

Why shouldn’t we leave food to supermarkets?

There are many benefits to growing native Nebraska plants for food:

• Look at the reasons we list for part one! https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm/episode/native-edible-plants-part-one-wildflower-teas
• Thousands of miles away vs. front porch
• Native foods are edible AND tasty AND are likely not at your supermarket

Lamb's Quarters

Related to quinoa, lamb's quarters are a forager’s superfood! This is one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. Tender leaves can be boiled like spinach or eaten raw as a green. Usually this one is weeded out, but maybe we all make a designated space for it and reap the wealth! Wilts quickly so put it in a cooler of ice immediately after harvesting.

Bob is again asking you to read Wild Seasons by Kay Young

Look up Creamed Lamb’s Quarters with Mushrooms. This article by Bob https://hles.unl.edu/weed-em-eat-em. Or roast it with sunflower oil. Just let it have a corner of your garden. That’s all we’re asking…

Ohio Spiderwort 

• Make Spiderwort Soda or better yet, Spiderwort Jelly. Plant shoots, greens, and flowers are edible. Harvest in spring.
• Ever wonder what’s in a name? Wort means the plant has a long association with medicine. 
• Flowers make a colorful garnish and bloom early in the year. Put cooked flowers in your frittata. Make your friends jealous of your conniving hippy ways.

Allium Canadense: Wild Garlic 

Bulbs cooked or eaten raw, Iroquois and Cherokee tribes dried it and used it as seasoning. 

Allium Cernuum: Nodding Wild Onion

Lesser used native allium with interesting drooping blooms; you know we would probably utilize the native onions more if we stopped growing exotic ones…

Purple Poppy Mallow

• Roots and leaves can be cooked and eaten
• MUCILAGINOUS!!!!!! 
• Beautiful, bright colored flower so very cool it has edible uses as well. 
• Be a thrifty druid and cut off the crown and replant with a bit of the root. Never ending supply of plant material!

Bob also wants you to read Samuel Thayer. 

• I am a hopeless book collector with no hope of reading them all. We really want you to have the same problem.

Common Milkweed

• We all know these are good for monarchs, but guess what- edible uses too! Leaves and immature flowers can be cooked with butter, salt, and pepper; Omaha tribe would use tender shoots boiled and eaten as a vegetable. Recipes of note: milkweed leaf soup, milkweed flower cordial, milkweed flower vinegar, milkweed flower fritters.
• Or be really crazy and scary and eat the undeveloped silk. 
• Apparently, common milkweed contains a similar iso-enzyme as papain, called asclepains which works natural to tenderize meats. Native people would boil buffalo meat with milkweed pods and thus make their meat more tender.
• Who hasn’t died from shock yet?
• Exclusive extra from reading the show notes: https://foragerchef.com/guide-to-milkweed/

Jerusalem artichoke- “Sunchoke”

Native sunflower. Can harvest tubers once after frost hits around Halloween/Thanksgiving or in March if you didn’t harvest in fall. Cut seedheads off in the fall and cut back to ankle height and harvest anytime. This plant has invasive potential so you want to isolate it by planting it directly into a whiskey barrel style container or plant it in an island bed or circular garden in the middle of turf grass. 

Roast at 400 F for 40 minutes turning once halfway through. Can also pickle sun chokes with turmeric to evoke the yellow of the flower. Tubers don’t store well so use immediately. 

28% of your daily iron… You’re welcome.

Soapweed- Yucca Glauca

Yucca Glauca different from Yucca  “Adam’s Needle” Filamentosa- both sport unique forms and unusual, but beautiful, flowers.

Recipes of note: roasted yucca stalks, sautéed yucca flowers and eggs, tempura battered yucca flowers, yucca hot chocolate…

Fruit can be used raw or cooked, stems can be cooked like asparagus. Use flowers when they are young and ripe.

It might not have survived the edit, but cordage on par with hemp can be made from the leaves. Roots can be used for soap. 

Broadleaf Cattail- Typha Latifolia 

Cattail: related to corn, nature’s breadbasket, just an incredible plant that deserves a second look. You might have trouble growing it at home, but might be a good excuse to make a pond scape, bog garden, or sink your kid’s neglected wading pool into the ground and making a cattail garden. 

• Can be used to make imitation pulled pork. Cattail Fluff Pulled Pork. You might get a Michelin star from this stuff. Prairie to Table. 
• Cattail Pollen Spaghetti; I’m seriously not making this stuff up. Not only does the pollen turn the pasta bright canary yellow it also adds 17% of your daily protein. 

Bob is again asking you to read Kay Young’s Wild Seasons and also find out who Euell Gibbons is. 

Just do it. 

Kay Young Wild Seasons

Euell Gibbons

BONUS: Edible, medicinal, utilitarian qualities of these plants!

• You can find some really wonderful ways to use these plants for your own benefit! Ideas here: Daniel Moerman Native American Ethnobotany

Thank you for listening!

-Stephanie

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 (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
• 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, Prairies, Pragmatism, and Pollinators, we chat with Benjamin Vogt of Monarch Gardens about reconciliation ecology, the humble dandelion, and messy landscapes.

Host Stephanie Barelman

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

Guest Benjamin Vogt

Benjamin Vogt is owner of the prairie-inspired design firm Monarch Gardens. He is author of the best-selling books A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future, as well as Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design. Benjamin's design work has been featured in The American Gardener, Dwell, Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Midwest Living, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Through his business he offers a variety of resources such as consulting, design, online classes, webinars, garden guides, articles, and more. 

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.

The new book of Benjamin's we talk about:

Benjamin Vogt- Prairie Up

Follow Milk The Weed on Facebook

Make America prairie again- or at the very least feel good as that phrase floats through your brain.

Milk The Weed https://www.facebook.com/MonarchGardensLLC

Bringing the Prairie Home

Bringing Nature Home- An idea championed by Tallamy that we can make hyper-local.

Can we really bring the prairie home? No. But we can embrace the echo of what's been lost. Metal...

Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy

Why did it take people so long to care about native plants?

Ben promises we won't regret reading his other book A New Garden Ethic

But mostly people suck (we see gardens as ours but they are shared spaces!)

Plant attributes

Habit, lifespan, wildlife support, bloom time, etc. etc. Think of how these qualities will work together, not just in and of themselves.

Floral fidelity

Bees have an easier go when you plant in masses and drifts. Help a hardworking worker bee out!

A Garden Perpetually in Bloom

But Ben wants you to know how much especially likes fall and how much he especially dislikes the chiggers of summer.

For real though, do dandelions really need saving?

To read Ben's blog post in depth on this, click here:

And yes, as promised Ben even made this shirt:

HOAS

If you live in one, you'll have some boot polishing to do.

Just remember to be nice! And remember we are trying to win favor, not incite the pitchforks!

"Cues to care"

via Joan Nassauer- long pathways, benches, sculptures, and educational signs. Your gazillion pink flamingos may not count.

These are visual reminders that our gardens are not weedy, neglected areas. Just make sure your garden isn't really weedy.

Garden layers

Because we don't need to continue to spend money on mulch dyed 50 shades of the rainbow.

The matrix

Not the Keanu variety, the garden variety. Planting in layers on a grid so that annual weed competition stays to a minimum. And a way to yet again mimic natural spaces.

Maintenance, schmaitenence. Isn't site prep for squares?

No! Success is all about how you maintain. Weeds are where we get into trouble.

If you want an easier go at things, start small and plant in fall y'all.

Thank you for listening! And thank you to Benjamin for being with us!

-Stephanie

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 (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
• 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 One: Wildflower Teas, we go over some benefits of homegrown food, what native prairie plants make interesting and excellent herbal teas, some extra benefits these plants provide.

Host Stephanie Barelman

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

Guest Bob Henrickson

Bob Henrickson 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. Bob is also a Nebraska Certified Nurseryman and a Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. 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.

Thank you, Bob, for providing some rich and interesting content for this episode!

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.

Why should Nebraskans grow food at home? Can't we just eat corn and hamburgers and guzzle it down with our favorite sugary death trap?

There are many benefits to growing native Nebraska plants for food:

• Access to foods high in nutrition value
• Wide range of food options from diversely planted gardens give us rich diversity in diet
• Other health benefits of native plants
• Furthering the food movement
• Endless Forage
• Free
• Gathering feels earned
• Also (we didn't mentioned this in the episode but should have,) food gathered at home is FRESH. It hasn't been picked underripe, packaged, and shipped thousands of miles to you. It's the original farm-to-table.

Bob wants you to read Wild Seasons by Kay Young

Just go read it.

Harvest tea plants in their bud and flower stage, preferably under a full moon.

Apparently, the moon energy that causes ocean tides also has an effect on plant potency. Makes sense and also makes us sound like druids.

Tea plants! Because who doesn't like fancy home-brewed wildflower tea?

• Achillea Millefolium AKA Common or Western Yarrow

Bob says this tea isn't particularly tasty, but this is one for food adventurists to try. The Blackfoot tribe made a tea from the leaves and flowers. It's a ready self seeder so you will have this everywhere at some point. Great compliment to other colorful natives you will have in your garden. Also great for wound healing.

• Monarda Fistulosa AKA Wild Beebalm or Wild Bergamot

Leaves, shoots, and flowers are edible. Monarda has thymol in it- which is a natural anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory. The flower is majestic in the garden and looks great planted next to anything in a different color.

• Amorpha Canescens AKA Leadplant

Leaves make a tea, flower itself a beauty to add to the native collection. Purple flowers tinged with orange, interesting greyish foliage. Boil leaves in water and simmer for 20 minutes. Use 1 tbsp dried leaves per one cup of water. Strain and sweeten with honey or sugar if you like.

• Ceanothus Americanus AKA New Jersey Tea

Leaves used to make tea by so many tribes: Lakota, Ponca, Winnebago, Omaha, Pawnee, Dakota. Mild and tasty tea

• Solidago Odora AKA Sweet Goldenrod

Awesome looking goldenrod, maybe the best looking goldenrod out there. Only regionally native to southern Missouri. Leaves used to make historical Liberty Tea (Think Boston Tea Party.)

• Dalea Purpurea AKA Purple Prairie Clover

Navajo used this prairie clover's leaves to make a tea, supposedly "makes the finest of prairie teas." It's one of the cutest little ground covers you can grow and apparently the stems can be used to make brooms. Who knew?

• Echinacea Purpurea AKA Purple Coneflower

This one was used more medically historically but echinacea is found in teas often for its health properties. Gorgeous, long-blooming flower. They even look good when the tops turn brown and black in the fall. Watch out for aster yellows when the flower heads are mature but look like green leaves instead of purple petals or flower parts.

• Agastache Foeniculum AKA Anise Hyssop

Leaves smell like licorice and the pollinators love the sweet, pale lavender flowers. Makes a tasty tea. Make a cold brew by grabbing some fresh leaves, plopping in a pitcher, and letting steep in the fridge for 2-3 days. If you don't like the smell of licorice you aren't human!

• Pycanthemum Virginianum AKA Virginia Mountain Mint

Another member of the mint family. Makes a delicious cold brew tea also. Break out your pitchers, people, and harvest some mint!

BONUS: Edible, medicinal, utilitarian qualities of these plants!

• You can find some really wonderful ways to use these plants for your own benefit! Ideas here: Daniel Moerman Native American Ethnobotany https://amzn.to/3tdCLK7

Thank you for listening!

-Stephanie

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 (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
• 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, Demystifying the Native Shade Garden, we go over why we don't need to rely on exotics for these spaces and some native Nebraska plant choices you can inject for some habitat value and beauty in low light areas.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker, 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.

Go back and catch up on old episodes

-PLEASE PLEASE listen to Episode 1 if you haven't already which gives you a primer on what native plants even are, link here

Don't use exotic standbys for shade, go native!

Does the American garden need more hydrangeas, hostas, exotic ferns, lamium, astilbe, lily of the valley? No! While this is basically all that was available to the consumer for decades, it is not the truth (at all!) of what can be grown in totality here in the Midwest.

Native plant gardens create habitat!

Say it with us: back-yard-con-serv-ation.

Exotic plants are:

• expensive- require teams to engineer and zhuzh
• freakishly small- but seriously why is everything 2 feet or under
• alien in terms of form and color- double coneflowers? all the colors of the rainbow? yeah, probably not good for pollinators.

WHAT YOU CAN PLANT IN FULL SHADE (not a complete list, just ideas people)

• Snakeroot- wild and delicate (just like my daughter,) white blooms, found in the wild virtually everywhere here
• American Columbine- sweet little red and yellow bell shaped flowers, attracts hummingbirds
• poke milkweed- yes, a shade milkweed for monarchs!
• sweet Joe pye- tall, gorgeous, fragrant, unusual (like my husband)
• wild blue phlox divaricata- amazing blue in nature, graceful, looks good everywhere
• the Solomon's- (Solomon's seal, Solomon's plume, starry Solomon's plume) tasteful, traditional looking, will not offend your nana's sensibilities
• wild garlic- sweet and unassuming native allium, allium canadense
• goldenrods- zig zag goldenrod, elm leaf goldenrod, regionally native blue stemmed goldenrod; at the end of the day you really can't have too many goldenrods
• asters- heart leaf aster(you really won't regret planting this one,) Drummond's aster
• mint- wild mint, smells heavenly, but might be the only plant you need in the right space, keep it under control and all is well in the world
• sedges- carex brevior (Ben Vogt doesn't like this one but Christina Musgrave and I think it's cool,) carex eburnea, carex sprengelii
• grasses- bottlebrush grass (even your baby thinks it looks cool,) silky wild rye
• spring ephemerals- jack in the pulpit, bloodroot, dutchman's breeches (forgot this one in the episode, so bonus for you if you are reading)
• groundcovers- wild ginger (awesome, a must have,) common blue violet (who doesn't like edibles,) wild strawberry (again, not mock strawberry, very different,) wild geranium ( finally, a native geranium!) and mayapple.

PERENNIALS FOR DAPPLED OR LIGHT SHADE

• anise hyssop ( smells like licorice and looks just peachy)
• allium cernuum (autocorrect really really wanted to change this spelling)
• dogbane (no, it is not good for dogs that eat everything)
• penstemon-digitalis, showy penstemon, really any native or regionally native penstemon
• mountain mint- any of the native mountain mints: hairy, Virginia, common; truly a pollinator delight
• golden Alexander- hearty perennial, the lion of the garden, profuse blooming golden umbrels that will cheer your spirits

SHRUBS FOR THE SHADE GARDEN

• prairie ninebark
• elderberry- fantastically perfect wonder shrub that will give you jams and medicinal berries for days (just cook them first), flowers can also be used to make elderberry wine
• coralberry-attractive, berry generating shrub that will attract birds to your yarden
• buttonbush- supposedly not for shade according to "thee literature," but likes my shade jussssst fine

BONUS: Edible, medicinal, utilitarian qualities of these plants!

• This isn't discussed in the episode but you can find some really wonderful ways to use these plants for your own benefit! Ideas here: Daniel Moerman Native American Ethnobotany https://amzn.to/3YCAIt3

Thank you for listening!

-Stephanie

Chat with Stephanie and learn more at four upcoming events:

-Benson Bounty Pollinator Party Jul 24th 10am-1pm 6915 Evans Street Omaha https://www.bensonbounty.com/newsandevents

-The Home-Grown Micro Prairie Jul 06, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM City Sprouts North, 4002 Seward St, Omaha, NE Today's podcast is the basis for this talk but we will go more in depth in some areas and there will be a visual powerpoint to go with it. Plus there is a Q&A afterward and materials to take home. Sign up here!

-Mulhall's Wild Plant Party July 22nd from 10am-2pm. This event isn't yet posted online, so keep an eye here to RSVP

-Bellevue 2nd Annual Pollinator Party hosted by Bellevue Native Plant Society and Bellevue Public Library July 29th from 10am-1pm

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 (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
• 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 DIY Prairie Garden, we go over a short breakdown of what a prairie is, some unique medicinal and edible qualities of native prairie plants, how to site prep, and what plants and grasses to use in your very own meadowscape.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker, 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.

Go back and catch up on old episodes

-PLEASE PLEASE listen to Episode 1 if you haven't already which gives you a primer on what native plants even are, link here

-Episode 2 is also helpful link here

Understand that a prairie is an ecosystem, one that we've killed off

Like the idea of a wildflower meadow? We do too. And Nebraska was naturally a wildflower meadow before the Waltons, Big Ag, and developers had their way. Something like 99% of the original prairie is gone. Very sad deal, and a compelling reason to ditch your lawn for native plants.

Not all prairies are created equal

Different ecoregions, different plants. See here

In short, you have: tall grass prairie, shortgrass prairie, mixed grass prairie depending on geography and subdivisions of mesic prairie, dry prairie, and wet prairie depending on elevation and nearby proximity to water.

Also, prairie ecosystems extend into Colorado, Minnesota, south towards Texas, or even further east into Indiana. There's plants that have residency in different parts of this range and what's wonderful is we can have uniquely beautiful and beneficial Nebraska gardens and what that looks like in Scottsbluff, Lincoln, and Omaha can have slight differences between them.

Our focus: Tallgrass Prairie 

I am obviously bias, hailing from the Omaha area. But you can find links to shortgrass and mixed grass ideas here:

Some of the inspiration for today's chat on tallgrass prairie:

• UNL publication
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Shortgrass:

here, here(scroll down to shortgrass prairie section,) and here. For this last one, scroll down to a tab menu and select components to see plant species.

Mixed Grass:

here, here, and here.

Why should we even bother planting a naturalistic landscape?

• Beautiful meadows aren’t just for Europe. Nope, beauty can be homegrown. It doesn't need to be exotic, people.
• You are providing habitat for insects, birds, and other wildlife! You are fighting the food desert establishment! You are making much necessary scientific research possible in your own backyard! Need I say more?
• Pollination? Your garden's got it covered!
• Sprinkler system? Nope your garden won't need it! Just a little supplemental water here and there and we're good!
• Mowing is so 1990, let's just put it in the past where it belongs...
• You will have very little weeding time down the road- that being said: MAINTAIN, MAINTAIN, MAINTAIN! Once a month, which is literally less time than you devote to people you really don't like, things you don't really want to do, etc. So you can give one instance a month of not-self care to your garden after it is established. Really, you can do it. We believe in you!
• Also, you are hoarding a decent amount of carbon below ground. Carbon bouncing around in the air since some people just have to have their pickup trucks and climate change.

What are some unique reasons for planting a prairie garden?

• You can forage your own prairie for wild edibles. Bob and I talked a little about this in Episode 3 of the podcast. We have plants with:

-Edible berries: chokecherry, elderberry, wild strawberry

-Edible flowers- violets, elderberry, yucca

-Edible fruit: American plum, fragrant and smooth sumac

-Plants that make great teas, so you can truly spill the tea: wild bergamot, lead plant, echinacea

There are hundreds of plants with edible parts native to the midwest. Just always double check if any of the plant parts are poisonous or if the flowers or fruit need to be COOKED before it’s consumed

• You can harvest plant material from your own meadow garden to use for natural dyes. Wildflower tie dyes anyone?

-Coreopsis, goldenrod, Indian blanket, butterfly milkweed and many more

• You can grow medicine in your garden.

-elderberry, Carolina gernanium, sweetgrass, New England aster

• You can grow prairie plants that can be used in basket weaving:

-sweetgrass, sumac, Virginia creeper, big bluestem, rattlesnake master, and dogwood

PRETTY COOL, HUH? Check out these two books here and here for more ideas on native plant usefulness.

How does one site prep exactly? What does that even mean?

https://www.prairiemoon.com/blog/site-prep= pro tips

In short, remove with sod cutter, spade and plant in with an optional one time application of shredded mulch around plants OR kill off a larger area with short lived herbicide and plant directly in OR close mow area and then solarize/ smother with plastic or cardboard for a few series of weeks (think 5 smother, 1 uncover; 5 smother, 1 uncover; five smother, 1 uncover, plant)

Strategic Mowing

Yes, after you have planted the garden. You can mow to mimic fire to control weeds and prevent saplings from taking over your prairiescape.

Please follow some professional directions and don't deviate. If you mow at the wrong time, it could really mess with the plants.

PLANTS FOR A DRY, FULL SUN TALLGRASS PRAIRIE GARDEN 

• 60 to 80 percent grasses

-TALLGRASS: MAIN GRASSES INDIANGRASS, BIG BLUESTEM, SWITCHGRASS

WORK IN SIDE OATS GRAMA, BLUE GRAMA, PURPLE LOVEGRASS, CANADA WILD RYE, PRAIRIE DROPSEED, LITTLE BLUESTEM,

-SEDGES: CAREX BREVIOR, FOX SEDGE

• 20-40 PERCENT WILDFLOWERS

-A TON OF OPTIONS AND EVEN MORE OUT THERE: DOGSBANE, BUTTERFLY MILKWEED, PLAINS MILKWEED, SULLIVANT’S MILKWEED, WESTERN YARROW, HEATH ASTER, NEW ENGLAND ASTER, HAIRY GOLDEN ASTER, PLAINS COREOPSIS, DAISY FLEABANE, PURPLE CONEFLOWER, SAWTOOTH SUNFLOWER, JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, THICK SPIKE LIATRIS, GRAY HEADED CONEFLOWER, BLACK EYED SUSAN, ROSINWEED, CANADA GOLDENROD, MISSOURI GOLDENROD, BALDWIN’S IRONWEED, PARTRIDGE PEA, ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEE PLANT, PRAIRIE SPIDERWORT, OHIO SPIDERWORT, FLOWERING SPURGE, GROUND PLUM, PLAINS WILD INDIGO, ROUND HEADED BUSH CLOVER, WHITE AND PURPLE PRAIRIE CLOVER, CAROLINA GERANIUM- SOURCED FROM PRAIRIE MOON, WILD BERGAMOT, LANCELEAF SAGE, WILD PETUNIA, ALLIUM STELLATUM, ALLIUM CANADENSE, PURPLE POPPY MALLOW, ILLINOIS BUNDLE FLOWER, LARGE FLOWERED GAURA, PRAIRIE PHLOX, PRAIRIE VIOLET, WILD STRAWBERRY, WHITE PRAIRIE SAGE, VERBENA STRICTA, COBEA SLENDER AND SHELL LEAF PENSTEMON, RATTLESNAKE MASTER

• You can include SHRUBS (mimicking natural scrubland found on the outskirts of a prairie, great for a privacy screen!)

-LEADPLANT(should and can also be included in the prairie garden itself,) SMOOTH SUMAC, SILKY DOGWOOD, AMORPHA FRUTICOSA, CHOKECHERRY, PRAIRIE ROSE, ROSA ARKANSANA, CORALBERRY 

PRAIRIE INSECT PUBLICATIONS

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

PRAIRIE PLANT PUBLICATIONS

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum

GARDENING WITH PRAIRIE PLANTS https://plantnebraska.org/file_download/inline/87b1360a-d3d6-43ba-be27-7adc8f1d50ec

WHY WE LOVE PRAIRIE https://plantnebraska.org/file_download/inline/d4298e4c-cb9e-45db-b64f-c400b4668b85

Prairie Legacy

https://prairielegacyinc.com/planning-your-prairie/#planning-your-prairie

Where to source plants and seed

Local Plant Suppliers

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum- Spring Affair event in Lincoln

Midwest Natives Nursery- Lincoln

Great Plains Nursery

Prairie Legacy Nursery

Online Plant Suppliers

Prairie Moon Nursery

Prairie Nursery

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 (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
• 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.