Spring Hopes Perennial

Spring’s unfolding has been a stop-and-start affair in our valley this year. A brief early warm-up was followed by a cold, rainy stretch and then three inches of snow, a little sun and then more rain and cold. Plants everywhere continue awakening, though, pushing promisingly above the soil surface, pacing their growth, biding their time [...]

Video: Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

Hi this is Steve at Prairie Moon Nursery.  I’m right at the front entrance of the Prairie Moon building in a stand of Columbine; Aquilegia canadensis.  This is really about as tall as you might expect the Columbine to ever really get.  It’s really liking this position right here it doesn’t have any competition and [...]

Learn to Recognize Similar Plants

If you would like to identify plants that you encounter, here is a basic strategy that people with various levels of experience use.  Always consult a field guide or two and an informed friend, if you have one. Rather than learn the characteristics of a single species, learn a group of similar species.  For example, [...]

New growth or old?

Unusually warm weather this past couple of weeks here in the Upper Midwest has made short work of our snow cover. I was out prowling around, doing some preliminary clean up and evaluation of how planting sites fared through the winter. Many plants typically retain a bit of dormant crown at soil level through the [...]

What If I Can’t Burn?

On page 65 of our current catalog we advise in boldface type, “Burning is the single most important management practice for native plantings.” Wayne R. Pauly, in his booklet How to Manage Small Prairie Fires, succinctly summarizes the benefits of regular burning: “Fire rejuvenates a prairie; more plants flower, produce seed, grow taller and are [...]

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