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A Land Ethic is Alive and Well in Kansas
On Saturday, March 18, we held our 11th annual spring education symposium entitled Living the Land Ethic in Kansas, and learned how much we have to celebrate in Kansas. This symposium was many months...
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A Land Pilgrimage to the Home of Aldo Leopold
Canopy with pines planted by the Leopold family near the Shack A pilgrimage is defined as a journey to a shrine of importance to a person’s beliefs and faith. A recent late-June trip to the Aldo...
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Imposter Plants: What it Means to Be Native, Part II
This post is the second installment of the Imposter Plants series. In the first post I discussed the differences between native and adaptable, while also trying to clear up the confusing descriptor...
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10 Lessons for Urban Native Plant Meadows
Katie Kingery-Page I heard a great presentation this last Saturday entitled “10 Lessons for Urban Native Plant Meadows” by Katie Kingery-Page, Kansas State University (KSU) faculty member in the...
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Be an Advocate for the Prairie
At Dyck Arboretum, we focus a lot of our energy on spreading knowledge and appreciation for the prairie. We love Kansas’s natural landscape and we are alarmed by how little native prairie is left...
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O Cedar Tree, O Cedar Tree
Here is a repost from last year about using local cedar trees for your Christmas decoration this year, for the ecological benefits and the fun folksy style! Enjoy —- This past weekend I cut down a red...
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Fire: A Link Between People and the Prairie
Over the last week, I have been helping conduct prescribed burns on the prairies at Dyck Arboretum as well as for some area landowners. This annual spring ritual for me is one of the most engaging...
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Callery Pear: Cut Them Down
Several years ago, I noticed something disturbing was happening to our prairie reconstruction. Small little trees were popping up throughout the original prairie planting. I could not figure out...
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October Richness
Life flies by for all of us and it is easy to miss or forget what happens in a given month. When reviewing recent photographs on my phone, I was pleasantly reminded of all the richness that happened...
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Our Maturing Reconstructed Prairie
Six years ago I wrote my first ever Dyck Arboretum blog post about our “Teenage Prairie” Prairie Window Project (PWP) reconstructed prairie. The birth and development of this project was the focus of...
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Landowner Prairie Restoration Spotlight – Carolyn and Terry Schwab
Terry and Carolyn Schwab live on 109 acres in Eastern Harvey County affectionately known by a former neighbor as the “Foothills to the Flint Hills.” While much of the county land has been converted to...
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How to Add Native Plants to an Established Prairie
As we wind down the growing season, now is a great time to take stock of your new prairie garden or established prairie landscape. Which plants have done well? What has struggled? What needs to be...
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Monarch Fallout and A Predator Story
Monarch Fallout It happened again in 2020. The convergence of the peak of the September monarch southerly migration over Southcentral Kansas was met by a strong south wind, causing a “fallout” of...
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Weed Profile: Dame’s Rocket
As stewards of our landscapes, we need to be constantly vigilant as we monitor for problematic weeds and invasive species. We have some usual culprits such as bindweed, bermuda grass, Johnson grass...
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Buffalograss Seeding Experiment Update
Last November, I set out to establish buffalograss a different way than I have traditionally done. Normally, I have areas prepared this time of year for buffalograss seeding. May and June are...
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Tree Stress
This spring we have several trees showing signs of stress that are not particularly attractive. Since last fall, something has happened to them. They leafed out late and/or they have some dead...
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Seeded Prairie Checkup
I recently did a seeded prairie checkup to see how our December 2020 sidewalk planting described in the earlier blog post “Seeding After Disturbance” is doing. I’ve been informally monitoring it...
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Army Worms
The Arboretum is under siege! An army has invaded, demanding we relinquish our lawns! Army worms, that is. These pesky creatures can cause major damage, and they unfortunately have a taste for fescue....
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O Cedar Tree, O Cedar Tree
Here is a repost from a few years ago about using local cedar trees for your Christmas decoration this year, for the ecological benefits and the fun folksy style! This past weekend I cut down a red...
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Considering Caring for Common Ground
I am going to pull back the curtain for you regarding the potential development of some programming here at Dyck Arboretum of the Plains. This fall we have begun considering an initiative called...
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