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Kansas is the Sunflower State
Excerpt from Kansas legislation: Whereas, This flower has to all Kansans a historic symbolism which speaks of frontier days, winding trails, pathless prairies, and is full of the life and glory of the...
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WARNING: The Monarch Butterfly is Threatened
Monarchs ingest toxic cardiac glycosides when their larvae eat milkweed leaves and advertise through their adult warning coloration: “look out for me…I’m poisonous!” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...
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Fremont’s Clematis: A Rare Beauty
The other day, I began transplanting seedlings of Fremont’s Clematis for our FloraKansas spring plant sale. I was thrilled that we actually will have some to offer this year. In the past, we have...
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A New Must-Have Plant Identification Book for Kansas
Oenothera macrocarpa (MO evening primrose) – photo by Michael John Haddock For 35 years, Janét E. Bare’s popular book Wildflowers and Weeds of Kansas has been one of the standards for plant...
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Ragweed: An Annual Affliction
Achoo! A couple of weeks ago, my son and I started to experience the annoyance of head, nasal, and throat responses to extra pollen in the air. I did some investigating of roadsides and sure enough,...
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Catkins: Spring’s Botanical Wonder
Sneezing, coughing, watery eyes – everyone is complaining about allergies this time of year, the Arboretum staff included. Many people point the blame at any pretty flower they see in early spring,...
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How Do You Learn About Native Plants?
This weekend, I did some reflecting on the past 19 years I have spent at the arboretum. I thought I knew so much when I was hired as the horticulturist. After all, I had just graduated from Kansas...
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A Tale of 3 Prairies
In the past few weeks I have had the good fortune to visit several different prairies, each under different circumstances, all of them delightful in their own way. Here’s a tale of 3 prairies for you,...
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A Weed By Any Other Name
Here at the Dyck Arboretum it can be a tricky task deciding what is a weed to be pulled and what should be allowed to grow on. Many of our beloved volunteers look to me for guidance when they encounter...
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Embrace Thistles
I encourage you to embrace thistles. Our South Central Kansas native species are colorful and attractive to pollinators. With the abundance of precipitation we’ve received this year, it has been a...
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Woodland Botany and Ozark Rocks
On my recent trip through eastern Kansas and the Ozarks, I encountered a plethora of native plant life. I was excited to see some of the woodland species we offer at our plant sale in situ. My...
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Roadside Beauty: What are you seeing?
Fall is the season of change. The verdant green of the prairie melts to lifeless, barren forms – a stark contrast to the landscape that once looked so alive. But for now, as change happens, we are...
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Are Bulbs Good for Pollinators?
My volunteers and I have been spending many hours this fall planting daffodils and tulips around the Arboretum grounds. All told, we will have nearly 800 new blooming bulbs coming up next spring, down...
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Old Wood, New Buds: A Pruning Guide
Though true winter approaches, there are still a few warm, sunny days ahead to be filled with raking leaves and garden clean-up. Here at the Arboretum we leave our perennial gardens uncut through the...
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Know Your Native Plant Families
As we approach our Native Plant Landscaping Symposium on February 24, where speakers will tell stories about their favorite native plants, they may make reference to using certain families of plants....
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Waking Up: The Exciting Life of Buds
The landscape may still be dominated by the browns and tans of winter, but inside the greenhouse is a different story -oodles of green buds bursting out of dormancy, waking up to warm, humid air! It’s...
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Fungus Among Us
Working on the Arboretum grounds means I have the joy of interacting with native plants and animals every day. I get to watch newly-planted trees sprout their first leaves and newly hatched goslings...
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Kansas Native Ferns
At FloraKansas Native Plant Festival our customers were surprised to see we offer Kansas native ferns. Perhaps they were surprised to hear Kansas even had native ferns! With our hot, dry summers and...
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June Prairie Blooms
This past week I had the opportunity to trek into the Flint Hills. I always enjoy spending time immersed in a prairie setting. It makes me feel small in a great big world. It makes me keenly aware...
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Shade Plants in Their Natural Habitat
On vacation in early July, some friends and I explored Devil’s Lake State Park, Wisconsin. Rocky and rainy, with lushly forested slopes, it is a very different landscape from my beloved Kansas. While...
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