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May 154 min read

Why It’s Important to Remove Invasive Species From Your Yard

There’s a problem lurking in your yard and it’s wreaking havoc elsewhere, whether you know it or not. Invasive species continue to be a...

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Mar 13 min read

Glacial Gifts: Garden Design for Dry , Sunny Slopes

Here in Kalamazoo county, most of our landscape is the product of outwash from glacier activity over 10,000 years ago. (Warning: armchair...

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Feb 14 min read

Asclepius tuberosa Spotlight

One of the most beloved plants for native plant gardeners is Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). This plant is so popular that even...

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Jan 194 min read

Garden Rhythm

I wrote the following piece for the Kalamazoo Area Wild Ones blog “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.” That was a common...

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Aug 11, 20231 min read

First year progress

This week I’ve been checking in on some gardens that I installed last year. This one was planted last August and it’s filling in pretty...

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Aug 9, 20231 min read

More One-Year Progress Pics

This garden is 14 months old. Scroll for progress. (Kalamazoo, Michigan) My two favorite parts of this project is 1. The Nodding Wild...

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Aug 9, 20231 min read

"Before and After" One Year's Progress

“A garden is never finished” - Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki. “Before and After” pics are fun but really the “after” is limitless and in...

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Jul 16, 20231 min read

Instagram/Facebook

I've found it easier to post spontaneously on social media rather than on this blog, so if you have one of the Meta apps follow my weekly...

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Feb 16, 20231 min read

Zoom Presentation on Native Plant Design

Hi, I'm giving a presentation on Zoom for Wild Ones on Wednesday at 7pm. It's free and open to the public but you need to register. More...

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Dec 23, 20222 min read

First Year in the Bag!

Dropseed! Native Gardens and Ecological Restoration began last Fall when Chad and Kristen started sending Hidden Savanna customers in...

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Dec 20, 20222 min read

Brush Piles for Everyone!

It's not always possible but I try to find a way to keep all organic yard "waste" on site. One way is through mulching (breaking up dead...

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Oct 10, 20222 min read

Formal Gardening with Native Plants, Revisited

Last Winter I designed a garden in three phases for a yard across the street from me. The homeowner and I wanted a formal plant design to...

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Aug 23, 20221 min read

Finding Garden Inspiration in the Wild

If you’re gardening with native plants I think it’s essential to observe these species in their native habitats among their...

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Aug 4, 20221 min read

"First year they sleep..."

Proper gardening requires patience, careful observation and nurturing when it's young and vulnerable. There's really not much action...

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Jun 21, 20221 min read

Interview

I'm in the throes of garden installation season so I have little time to create a blog post but I thought I'd share this link from a...

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Mar 11, 20222 min read

Invasive Species Alert: Burning Bush

Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) is an extremely popular landscape shrub that seems to be ubiquitous in suburban yards across most of the...

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Dec 16, 20211 min read

Formal Gardening with Native Plants

Shortest commute in history! This yard is across the street from us (hence, the bizarre drone-like aerial perspective in that first pic...

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Nov 21, 20212 min read

Mid-Century Modern architecture deserve better landscaping!

When we moved to Kalamazoo last year I was astounded by the cool mid-century modern architecture around town, especially in our...

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Oct 29, 20211 min read

"I like your curves"

A friendly neighbor commented this to me as I was wrapping up the prep work for this front yard garden yesterday. I planted three...

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Oct 23, 20214 min read

Design, preparation, installation for front yard of a historic home

Judging from nearby existing mature Black Oaks (estimate age 150 to 250 years old) and pre-settlement maps and records, the front yard of...

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