Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea) and Blue false indigo (Baptisia australis). Photo: Scott Woodbury

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Native Plant Crafting with Nadia Navarrete-Tindall

Native Plant Crafting with Nadia Navarrete-Tindall

There is something about this time of the year that brings out my creative side. One of my favorite hobbies is to gather materials from native plants to create natural crafts. At our home garden and at Lincoln University native plant gardens, we leave as much dry...

Rattlesnake Master: Not Just for the Pollinators

Rattlesnake Master: Not Just for the Pollinators

With its yucca-like appearance and curious common name, rattlesnake master (Erynigium yuccifolium) is bound to get the attention of native plant enthusiasts. In a native prairie or prairie planting, this easily identifiable plant gets plenty of pollinator attention,...

Leave the Leaves

Leave the Leaves

By Carol Davit, Missouri Prairie Foundation Executive Director Photo of leaves in native plant bed: Carol Davit. Through the mastery and mystery of plant chemistry, leaf abscission occurs every fall in woodlands and forests, and petioles detach from deciduous tree and...

September Gold

September Gold

By Carol Davit, Missouri Prairie Foundation Executive Director Photo of rigid goldenrod (Solidago rigida) and blue sage (Salvia azurea) at Missouri Prairie Foundation's Snowball Hill Prairie: Bruce Schuette. On prairies, prairie plantings, native gardens, many old...

The Magic of Milkweed

The Magic of Milkweed

By Erica Ballard Recently, the migratory monarch butterfly was added to the International Union for Conservation’s (IUCN) endangered species red list. As these declining butterflies depend entirely on milkweed as host plants during their caterpillar stage, programs...

Snow in July: The Wonders of Wild Hydrangea

Snow in July: The Wonders of Wild Hydrangea

By Erica Ballard Last summer, I planted nine wild hydrangea shrubs (Hydrangea arborescens) in a new native garden in front of my house. Situated in the back of the planting in a long row, the hydrangeas provide structure and continuity to a garden that is mostly...

Last Chance for Winter Pruning

Last Chance for Winter Pruning

My favorite winter activity, besides going for long walks through the woods, is pruning trees and shrubs. March is the last month to do it before they leaf out in April. Why prune before leaf-out? It’s easy to see the branching structure, and safer in terms of disease...

Native Plant Container Gardening

Native Plant Container Gardening

By Mervin Wallace I began growing native perennials in containers for outdoor display about ten years ago, as various native plant colleagues of mine had suggested. At Missouri Wildflowers Nursery, we now have decorative pots, planted seven to eight years ago, which...

Are You a Host with the Most?

Are You a Host with the Most?

By Carol Davit, Missouri Prairie Foundation Executive Director Photo: Linda Williams The foundation for insect and other animal life is plants. Not just any plants, but plants native to a given location, where insects in that same geography evolved with those same...

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