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What Will This Year’s Monarch Migration Bring?
Two years ago, I reported on an unusual convergence of migratory paths during the 2020 monarch fallout event here at the Arboretum. As we anticipate an abrupt change in weather and the official...
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Searching for Bigfruit Primrose
I was recently invited to Liberal, Kansas to give a talk to a garden group. While I enjoyed meeting and chatting with the knowledgeable and enthusiastic gardeners of the area, the best part of the...
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Words of Encouragement in a Drought
We have all seen wonderful pictures of lush plants and fertile prairies in magazines, on television, on social media or other websites. These plants seem to be growing effortlessly. They have...
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Grateful for the Beauty of Nature
I am grateful for the beauty of nature which reminds me to slow down and take a deep breath. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Photo by Brad Guhr. How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for...
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Garden Spotlight: A Berlin Community Garden
This past summer I had the opportunity to spend several weeks visiting friends and familiar places in Germany. Having lived there for three years in my twenties, this visit provided a much-needed cure...
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A Few Favorite Plants
It looks like winter is settling in as the forecast seems to be turning colder in the coming days. It is a perfect time to reflect on the past year in the garden. It has been a tough year to grow...
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Songs of the Solstice
When the weather is cold and the days are short, I just want to curl up on the couch and rest. And according to prairie plants, that’s exactly what I should be doing! As much as it pains us to see our...
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Winter Green
This time of year, I am especially thankful for my prairie garden. While the rest of the non-native and plants are looking limp and frozen, many of my prairie plants are standing tall and providing...
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The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)
Recently I paused in front of a display at Kauffman Museum in North Newton that featured a pair of whooping cranes and a single Eskimo Curlew. I thought again about the two stories that are told here....
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Prairie Spring Equinox
Last Monday’s spring equinox marks an interesting time in our calendar. We’re nearly three months into 2023, but following the seasonal calendar, a new year is just about to begin. The spring equinox...
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Plant Profile: Native Irises
When we think about spring, bearded irises often come to our minds. These resilient harbingers of spring often carry personal meaning for gardeners. Many have been shared and passed down from family...
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A review of “Bicycling with Butterflies”
I’m a part of the Nature Book Club through the Dyck Arboretum. One of the books we read this last month was Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201 mile journey following the Monarch Migration by Sara...
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Garden Spotlight: Matrix Planting in Austria
I can’t seem to go on vacation nowadays without being stopped in my tracks when I see examples of habitat gardening. I don’t know if it’s just a result of working at the Dyck Arboretum for over ten...
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On Weeding: Process over Perfection
My mom was serious about weed pulling. Especially after she retired, one could often find her out in her yard pulling weeds for hours at a time. Since I didn’t consider myself much of a gardener at...
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Wonderful Autumn
This time of year a person interested in plants can get very tired and rundown. I certainly have been dragging. The relentless heat and drought has many plants stressed and prematurely going...
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Walk Bike or Roll? Accessibility at the Arboretum
Providing accessibility to the simple beauty of the Kansas landscape was central to our founders’ vision for the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains. Harold and Evie Dyck intended for the Arboretum to be a...
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Gardens of France: Nantes
Nantes is not one of the more famous locations in France. It has a major port and lots of commerce, and vacationers often pass it up in favor of all the other more scenic cities. But it is full of...
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The Earth Is Enough
The start of the new year is a great time to make changes in your life and dedicate yourself to the things you value most. In 2024, I have a few simple resolutions that involve health, travel, and...
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Kansas Shelterbelts
Recently I met a woman walking her dogs in the new woodland path through our hedgerow. She expressed admiration for the long lived hedge trees here, and was concerned that so many farmers are...
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Believing in Plants
With every new year comes a renewed sense of optimism about a whole host of things like fitness and health, relationships with loved ones and friends, your occupation, and maybe your garden. In the...
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