Spring in my Habitat Hero Garden

Spring in my Habitat Hero garden

Published April 30, 2024, in the Cheyenne Habitat Hero Committee newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, send an email to bgorges2 at gmail.com.

By Barb Gorges

                Below are three ways I work with my pollinator/native plant garden in spring. Do you have any tips that work for you? Let me know, bgorges2 at gmail.com.

                Gardens are works in progress. Each garden bed in your yard is in its own microclimate and soil, plus each of us gets a different mix of wind, temperatures and precipitation to work with each year. And then, the genetics of each seed packet and nursery plant can be different even if they share the same species name. But be optimistic—if your garden can grow weeds, there’s a native plant that can grow there too.

A native bumblebee enjoys a non-native crocus in early April. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Last year’s stems and tree leaves

                I can leave last year’s stems uncut only so long in my home Habitat Hero garden. Usually, when the spring bulbs start to bloom, sometimes as early as March here in Cheyenne, I start a little snipping so they can be seen and appreciated better.

                Leaving stems in place for the winter helps trap snow moisture and the leaves from our trees which act as winter mulch. But the thicker stems are also potential nesting sites for beneficial insects. This winter I read that the stems are most useful the following year, probably because they become hollower at the right time in the insects’ life cycle. See this article, https://gardenrant.com/2024/04/gardening-pollinators-stem-nesting-bees.html.

                I’m not sure I want a lot of dead sticks, 6 to 12 inches tall, all over my garden. But as I snipped here and there through the month of April, I realized that I know how high the greenery grows for my favorite prairie plants (penstemons, Gaillardia, Rudbeckia, Monarda, asters, goldenrods, milkweed). I can cut the stems short enough that new growth will cover them. And maybe the old stems will form a barricade to help keep the rabbits out.

                For the part of the stems I cut away, I like the idea of cutting them into little pieces in place, forming mulch—and dropping seed heads that might still have seeds capable of self-seeding. My garden is too small to let everything just fall over. And it’s too lumpy with tulip clumps to mow.

But this year, there are so many tree leaves making the mulch already too thick. I’m going to have to pull a lot of it out (and compost it for the vegetable garden maybe) before spreading my snips of last year’s plants so that new growth isn’t smothered. Later, when summer heats up, and self-seeding sprouts are tall enough, I may replace some of the leaf mulch around them and keep the soil from drying out.

Rocky Mountain Penstemon seeds collected the previous fall have a high germination rate. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Transplanting winter sowing

[See also https://cheyennegardengossip.wordpress.com/2024/01/27/winter-sowing-magic.]

                This is the ninth year I’ve winter-sown seeds. I planted 30 milk jugs in February and left them in a partly shady spot. By mid-April, most of them showed seedlings (this year, three of the jugs seem to have dud seeds).

Since many of these jugs are going to the Laramie County Master Gardener plant sale May 11, I decided last week to move them to a sunnier spot so they will grow a little faster. But I’m leaving the tops of the jugs on to protect them from squirrels and drying winds. Frost is not a problem—these native perennial types have anti-freeze in their veins. However, letting the potting soil dry out will kill them. And so will leaving the lids on when it gets too hot.

                With 16 or 25 (or 200 once, when I must have spilled a whole seed packet) of seedlings in one jug, I’ve noticed that no matter how late into June I leave them, the seedlings never grow much beyond a couple sets of leaves. But their roots circle round and round.

                I transplant winter sown seedlings mid to late May, either into a little protected nursery space I have in my garden, or into 2.5-inch pots so they get a little size to them before transplanting into the garden proper by the end of June or early July. I leave flats of those pots on our sunny patio where they are easy to check on every day and water when needed. I also set up hail guards over them. Mark built ours and they look like coffee tables with tops of hardware cloth (wire screening with openings the diameter of pencils) instead of wood.

But before I can put anything new in the little nursery plot, I have to dig up the 1-year-old plants and plant them right away, or pot them in potting soil until I can take them where they are going.

                I believe in bare root planting. I try to keep potting soil out of my garden. Plus, this way I don’t need a big hole, so I just plunge my hand trowel into the bed, give it a little wiggle back and forth, making a slot to tuck a one-year-old plant’s roots into, then push some dirt in the slot, gently squeeze more dirt around the plant stem, water well and I’m done.

                There is a trick to getting winter sown seedlings out of milk jugs. Take the top off. Water so soil is moist but not sopping wet. Spread your left hand over the top of the seedlings—or thread your fingers through the seedlings if they are taller than the top edge of the bottom half of the jug. Tip the whole thing over onto your hand and, shaking a little, use your right hand to remove the jug bottom. Then quickly tip the “brownie” (as Michelle Bohanan calls it) right side up into your right hand.

                If the roots are well-grown, the brownie does not crumble in your hand. But if it does, let it crumble into the bottom half of the jug and lay your seedlings in there with some loose potting soil over their roots while they wait for you to get them planted. Try to handle seedlings only by their leaves and roots—not their stems.

                A well-formed brownie, however, can be gently divided/pulled in half. I hold it upright in my two hands, thumbs on top, with my fingers on the underside teasing away potting soil along the halfway mark while I gently “fold” it in half, green sprouts towards each other, then reverse fold to potting soil brown sides towards each other a few times, while pulling my hands apart. With patience, you should be able to avoid ripping any roots.

                Then break each brownie half in half again, and again. While I work my way down, I put the waiting pieces of brownie back in the jug bottom to keep them moist. Finally, I’m down to a little piece of potting soil and maybe 3 or 5 individual plants and I can just shake the potting soil off and plant them. I do save the potting soil—but I spread it out in the sunshine to disinfect and dry completely for a few days, for use only with hardier mature plants—not picky vegetable seedlings prone to damping off.

                The bare root method can work for larger plants, though some that have been in a large pot for a long time might form a thick net of roots and it might not be worth trying to get them bare because they could be easily damaged as you try to work your fingers into the dense root mass.

This native pasqueflower was purchased from High Plains Environmental Center and bloomed this year in my native plant garden a couple weeks ahead of the wild plants up at Curt Gowdy State Park. I also grow the European pasqueflower, a much leafier plant, in my herb garden. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Editing

                I don’t have much of an overall garden design because, the front garden especially, has slowly been enlarged year by year as Mark removes a shovelful of turf and I pop in a new plant I want to try.

                Or I change my mind. Years ago, the Conservation District was giving away seed packets that included great bee-friendly plants, but some were prolific non-natives. I’ve been pulling those out. On the other hand, after taking several years to get going, the milkweed seems intent on crowding everything else out. Time to dig some of it up and share it.

                Weeds are of course the biggest editing challenge. The front garden seems to have spontaneously erupted with small clumps of bluegrass that are easy to pull when the soil is moist.

For annual weeds, remember that Nancy Loomis showed us the best technique is to remove the above ground growth to kill them without disturbing the soil and inadvertently giving more weed seeds the daylight they need to sprout.

Removing greenery from perennial weeds like bindweed and thistle can starve them eventually, but you almost need to keep after them every other day—not feasible for a large infestation.

Good luck this season!

Firewise, plus the city vs weeds

An important part of a native plant garden is leaving last season’s dried vegetation in place over the winter. It helps trap snow for moisture and provides seeds for birds. A Habitat Hero sign shows this is not a patch of weeds. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Firewise information, plus city ordinances regulate weeds and native plant gardens

Published March 15, 2024, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

Firewise

            Firewise is a program educating homeowners, especially in areas prone to wildfire (grasslands or forest), on measures to safeguard their homes. The idea is to eliminate flammables within 5 feet of buildings, including under the porch or deck and in the gutters, plus other aspects within 30 feet.

            You can read my interview with folks creating a Firewise community across the highway from Curt Gowdy State Park, https://cheyennegardengossip.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/firewise-preparing-your-home-for-wildfire-season/, and find information at www.firewise.org.

            Native plants are recommended for landscaping Firewise homes.

Weeds and the native plant garden

            I recently heard a story about a man who has been working on turning his front yard into a native plant garden since 2003 and how it was mistaken for non-compliant weeds and mowed at the direction of the city.

            The good news is that most of the plants in a native plant garden are perennials that will come back. But how did this happen and how can we keep it from happening again?

            This incident came up at the 10^th annual Cheyenne Habitat Hero Workshop in February and I followed up later with more questions. It seems that the homeowner had just left for vacation when the notice came and “the time for appeal had expired by the time I returned,” he said.

            I asked if he had a plant list. Not really, but plants include penstemon, asters, yarrow, salvia, columbine, coneflowers and early blooming non-natives such as tulips, daffodils and crocus.

            One way to mark an area as a flower garden is to have flowers blooming across the entire growing season, which his spring bloomers help with. He said he even does some deadheading to get plants to bloom a second time. But the city mowing took place in October, when it can be difficult for some to see the beauty of seedheads attracting birds.

            I asked if he has a weed problem. “So far bindweed hasn’t been a problem in the front yard (it is in the backyard). Thistle is an issue and I work to keep it under control,” he said.

            Another way to indicate a flower garden is to define the edges well. At my house, it’s a sharp shovel making the line between bed and turf. The sidewalk is one boundary, he said, “I place a 4×4 between the sidewalk and yard as an additional buffer. I trim back the plants when they grow into the sidewalk.”

            City councilman Richard Johnson, who attended last year’s Habitat Hero workshop, put me in touch with John Palmer, code enforcement supervisor, who emailed me a reply:

            “If a homeowner who is turning their yard into a garden receives a letter for a potential violation of the weeds/grass ordinance, they should call or email the nuisance officer listed at the bottom of the letter as soon as possible and arrange for a meeting at the address to discuss the matter on site.

            “Our concern usually is that noxious weeds or weeds that spread quickly, such as dandelions, are allowed to grow along with flowering plants and become a problem for neighbors who have a traditional grass yard. Also, some of these locations allow flowering plants/weeds to grow tall enough to become an obstruction of the sidewalk.

            “If troublesome weeds and any obstruction of the sidewalk is addressed, then we generally don’t have a problem with whole yard gardens and the case would be closed.

            “As with any violation letter that we send out, timely communication is important to resolve situations like this,” wrote Palmer.

            As in traditional flower beds, you can plan for short plants along the sidewalk—keeping the sunflowers farther back so they don’t lean over the sidewalk.

            Another traditional flower bed design element is planting drifts of each species rather than a patchwork of “onesies.” Of course, self-reseeding perennials don’t always cooperate.

            Zach Hutchinson, from Audubon Rockies, who lives in Natrona County, said he had a similar experience with someone mistaking his native plant garden for weeds. The county people suggested that to show his intentions better, he should put up a sign.

            Habitat Hero certification through Audubon Rockies, https://rockies.audubon.org/habitat-hero, or the National Wildlife Federation, https://certifiedwildlifehabitat.nwf.org/ both offer signs.   

            And of course, keep your garden weeded. Some Wyoming native plants are considered agricultural weeds, but they shouldn’t be a problem in your garden unless you are on a farm or ranch.             Nancy Loomis’s advice at the workshop (follow her on Facebook, NativeNancy3072): Disturb soil as little as possible to keep weed seeds from germinating. Cut down annual weeds before they drop seeds. Consider targeting difficult perennial weeds that don’t respond to digging, like bindweed and thistle, with the right poison at the right time.              

10th Annual Cheyenne Habitat Hero Workshop Feb. 3, 2024

10th Annual Cheyenne Habitat Hero Workshop

Feb. 3, 2024, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Laramie County Community College:

 “Ways to Make and Keep a Garden for the Birds and Bees Plus Advice on Trees”

          This year we look at how different people approached making a Habitat Hero-style garden and how they maintain it.
 We will introduce the makers of six local gardens who will be panelists for discussion on what works and doesn’t work:
Gary Kayser has created a meadow at the corner of 3rd and Carey avenues that drew the attention of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle photographer.
Eric Dalton has made Habitat Hero gardens at his home and his business, Bella Fuoco Wood Fired Pizza on Warren Avenue.
Nancy Loomis keeps the weeds at bay in the garden at the Laramie County Library.
Isaiah Smith, horticulture and operations supervisor at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens installed gravel garden beds in the parking lot last year.
Isaiah Smith and Jacob Mares prepared the Habitat Hero garden site at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens and Barb Gorges keeps it weeded.
Rex Lockman, wildlife and range specialist for the Laramie County Conservation District, will report on the Native Prairie Island project, sowing seeds over new septic fields.

Lunch – Included in registration
Jacob Mares, Community Forestry coordinator for the Wyoming State Forestry Division, will introduce trees appropriate for water-wise Habitat Hero gardens.
Scott Aker, director of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, formerly in charge of horticulture and education at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., will show how to prune young trees to help protect them from wind, snow and ice damage. 
          To bring us an update on the size and scope of the Habitat Hero program, we will hear from Audubon Rockies staff.
         Finally, everyone’s favorite part–Michelle Bohanan has selected native seed for everyone to take home for winter sowing.

Registration for in-person attendance will be $25 and will include lunch. Registration for Zoom only will be $5. Registration information at: www.CheyenneAudubon.org/habitat-hero/

Or register directly at: https://act.audubon.org/a/make-keep-garden-birds-bees

Bindweed wars, new weed

Bindweed is one of the hardest weeds to kill because it grows so fast. The arrow-shaped leaves can be hard to see at first, but the white morning glory-type flowers are not. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Gardener wars with bindweed, discovers new weed

Published Aug. 11, 2023, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

            The weed I dread the most is bindweed, a native of Europe and Asia. I think the seeds must travel by bird and once sprouted, they are quick to spread underground, popping up new vines that quickly engulf competing plants.

            Even in the thickest vegetation you’ll suddenly notice the white mini-morning glory flowers blooming and then realize half the greenery is bindweed’s arrow-shaped leaves. Trying to unwind the vines leaves their victims somewhat tattered.

            The organic method of bindweed control is to break off the vines at ground level frequently, eventually exhausting the plant. I’ve been nipping a new infestation this year nearly every other day and the leaves are staying tiny. It’s the vines that infiltrated the beebalm for weeks that have leaves two inches long. At the very least, don’t let bindweed flower and set seed.

            If you choose to use a systemic herbicide in which the plant takes up the poison and sends it into the roots (versus topical that only kills the leaves), I wouldn’t blame you. But please consult an expert so that you don’t endanger people, pets, wildlife, water and other plants.

            For other weeds, it might be worth considering cutting them off at ground level rather than disturbing the soil by pulling them. Many weed seeds need light to germinate and so hoeing might disrupt the weeds in your vegetable garden, but it starts up a whole new crop – of weeds. Consider mulching with lawn cuttings or straw (not hay – it has seeds) to block the light.

            The Habitat Hero gardens I tend depend on self-seeding perennials to fill in spaces. There are a few biennials, short-lived perennials and weeds that put out a rosette of leaves the first year that can be difficult to identify. By the second year, it is easier to decide what stays and what goes.

            However, in early July, an unidentifiable plant as tall as me began to flower profusely at the back of the Habitat Hero garden at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens.

The mystery plant in the Habitat Hero Demonstration Garden at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens is thought to be White Mullein, Verbascum lychnitis. Photo by Barb Gorges.

            I took pictures and went home to page through my native plant books as well as my copy of “Weeds of the West” to no avail. So, I sent the photos to Jane and Robert Dorn. She illustrated “Vascular Plants of Wyoming” and he wrote it.

            Jane suggested pulling the plant while figuring out what it was – so many flowers would indicate a lot of seeds on a plant that might be detrimental to agriculture.

            Bob thought it might be a type of mullein. Common mullein is found all over, along roadsides and other disturbed areas. It’s the tall one with a rosette of big fuzzy leaves and a thick stalk covered in tiny yellow flowers that bloom one ring at a time. And there are many ornamental mulleins.

The flowers resemble those of Common Mullein, Verbascum thapsis. Photo by Barb Gorges.

            By the way, they asked, would I press the plant for future inclusion in the University of Wyoming’s herbarium?

            Herbarium specimens are mounted on 11.5 x 16.5-inch sheets. Just how do you press a 5.5-foot-tall plant, plus the 1-foot-long root? You preserve only the flowering part and bend it to fit and cut a bit of stem that has a couple leaves and save the root.

            I don’t have a plant press anymore, so I inserted the plant parts between multiple layers of newspaper. That sandwich I inserted between squares of rubber-backed carpet tiles – carpet side in, in lieu of blotter paper, allowing for some airflow so the moisture could escape. And then I laid a couple of concrete blocks on the whole thing.

            Jane and Bob came a few days later to pick up the damp plant, transferring it to Bob’s plant press, a simple plywood affair.

            At home, Bob dissected flowers and determined it was probably white mullein, Verbascum lychnitis, native to Europe and Asia. It’s a somewhat variable plant. Sometimes the flowers are yellow.

            I uploaded my photos to iNaturalist and it also suggested white mullein. Many of their photos looked somewhat like my specimen.

            Then I looked at the map locating 61 white mullein observations so far. There were a handful on the West Coast, a handful in the Midwest, one in Florida and the most in the area around Philadelphia, where it probably landed in North America.

            There was only one observation in all the Rocky Mountain west, Canada to Mexico, and that was in Fort Collins, Colorado. My observation won’t show until it has been approved.

            There are birds that fly up and down the Front Range during spring and fall migration. A seed may have dropped off of, or out of, a bird coming up from Colorado, if digestion didn’t harm the seed.

            I expect in a few years, white mullein will be joining our common mullein along the side of the road.  

Local gardening wizard retiring

Laramie County Master Gardeners, interns and other volunteers plant the extension of the Habitat Hero garden at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens June 1. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Laramie County gardening wizard retiring

Published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle June 16, 2023.

By Barb Gorges

            After 21 years, Laramie County Extension Horticulturist Catherine Wissner is retiring. She has often been my go-to person the 12 years I’ve been writing this column.

            It’s difficult to find hyper-local gardening information online or in print. Every location is different. In Wyoming, it is hard to generalize because of our variety of elevations, precipitation zones and weather patterns.

You need the voice of experience, someone like Catherine who, over the length of her Extension career, has been on numerous yard calls to help locals solve landscape, gardening and farming problems. The plants she suggested to my neighbor are still colorful and going strong years later.

            Catherine augmented her professional horticultural training and previous experience by listening to experienced local gardeners. She made her accumulated wisdom available to Laramie County, including teaching the Master Gardener classes.

            By July 1, Catherine will no longer be officially available and there is no one immediately taking her place. I don’t know if she will be going from her role as Laramie County Master Gardener advisor to unpaid volunteer like everyone else, and still be available for questions. We should at least let her have a vacation first.

            In the meantime, the “Ask a Master Gardener” committee is ramping up. Chair Marie Madison is setting up a table at every Tuesday Farmers Market at the mall, southside of J.C. Penney, starting June 13, 3 to 6 p.m. Bring your questions, pictures, unidentified plants and plant problems.

            I’ve been doing a little teaching myself and realizing how much I don’t know. Wanda Manley and I went over to give a program about Habitat Hero for the Laramie Audubon Society, about planting native plants for pollinators and other wildlife. Even though Laramie is on the plains like Cheyenne, it is 1,000 feet higher, and their growing season is shorter. Their list of native plants might include more alpine species.

            Then, at the last minute I was asked if I could Zoom in the next night with the same PowerPoint program for Evergreen Audubon in Evergreen, Colorado, a mountain town with the same elevation as Laramie. However, my list of prairie native plants might not all work there.

One of the questions was how to grow flowers under evergreens, especially lodgepole pine. Property owners in Cheyenne recognize the same problem and vainly try to grow grass when the better solution is to not cut the lower branches of spruce and pine and enjoy the natural groundcover of old needles. Less work.

            However, in the mountains, it seems to me property owners should be studying Firewise recommendations (search for the column I wrote at my http://www.CheyenneGardenGossip.wordpress.com site) in which evergreens, being very flammable, should be removed within a certain distance of buildings, replaced by a less flammable rocky or grassy or flowery terrain.

            Some horticultural advice can pertain to wider areas. Kenton Seth, the crevice garden guru who designed the one at the entrance to the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens conservatory, showed me a new way to plant.

            When transplanting a potted plant to the garden, pop the plant out of the pot. Then gently remove all the potting soil from the roots. Some people even wash the roots before planting directly into the new soil. Kenton does this because a regular root ball isn’t going to fit into one of his rock crevices.

            Removing all the potting soil means that instead of confining themselves to it, the roots will have to reach into the new soil and will establish more quickly.

            I’m not planting in rock crevices like Kenton, but holding a small plant with wispy roots coming from a 2.5-inch pot, I realize I can essentially plant it in a crevice I make with my hand trowel, hori hori or soil knife. I just plunge the tool in the soil, wiggle it enough so there’s room to tuck the roots in and press some dirt in the opening – much easier than digging a hole.

             I’m not sure all 11 volunteers helping me plant the extension of the Habitat Hero garden at CBG June 1 caught on to my planting technique. But all these daily rain showers have erased any inconsistencies. When I checked June 4, all the transplant droopiness was gone.

            We didn’t have enough fence to protect all the new plants, but Isaiah Smith, the horticulture and operations supervisor, thinks that with so much lushness to choose from everywhere, the rabbits won’t decimate the unprotected plants, like they did when we planted the first part in 2018.

            At home, I’m doing a little editing of my own Habitat Hero garden. I’m replacing more non-natives that filled in the gaps early on with natives I started last summer in my little nursery plot. We will see if the bees, butterflies, bats and birds notice.  

Turf is so last century

Native plants are showcased at the Laramie County Library Pollinator Habitat. Photo by Jeff Geyer.

Published April 21, 2023, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Turf is so last century, especially if there is no water for it

By Barb Gorges

            Walking the puppy every day gives me time to contemplate my neighborhood’s lawns as they recover from winter. And the puppy introduces me to neighbors who sometimes tell me their lawn woes.

            Of the 200 homes in our subdivision, it seems like most have dead spots in their bluegrass lawns (only a few are not bluegrass). One neighbor, let’s call her Debbie, said she did everything as usual last year, fertilizing according to instructions in May and September, watering three times a week for 20 minutes per zone, mowing every six or seven days. And still, dead areas adjacent to the sidewalk increased in size.

            Last year was dry. People who did not water killed their grass, leaving behind gritty dirt soon infested with drought-resistant weeds. The rest of us, without rainfall to make up for dry spots in our irrigation patterns or hotter spots next to the sidewalk, started to see problems like Debbie’s.

            I sent a photo of Debbie’s bare area to Catherine Wissner, Laramie County Extension horticulturist, asking for advice.

            “For starters, they are mowing their lawn way too short,” Catherine responded.

Grass needs to shade itself. If it isn’t a putting green, set your mower blade as high as it goes.

            Next, Catherine recommended reseeding. But first, do some core aeration and treat the area with Revive. This product improves the soil’s ability to take in water and nutrients. She said to look at our local nursery, Riverbend, or JAX, a chain headquartered on the Front Range, for high quality grass seed meant for our area.

            Don’t throw on any fertilizer until the grass starts growing. And because it will need extra water to get started, get the Cheyenne Board of Public Utility’s “New Lawn Permit” at www.cheyennebopu.org. It’s free.

But what about going native instead?

            If your bluegrass lawn has died, now is your chance to replace it with native grass and or other native plants. I spent many hours digging up part of my healthy front lawn last fall to expand my native plant garden.

            Native plants are the hot topic in every garden publication these days. Native plants support native animals, including insects, that are beneficial to us directly and indirectly. They are also adapted to the climate they are native to, so in our area, that means they need less water. Bluegrass is not native to our high and dry prairies.

Water shortages may be coming

            Growing a bluegrass lawn these days in our location is an outdated concept. Here in Cheyenne, we have even more reason to establish less water-thirsty landscapes: the Colorado River problem. Through a series of tunnels and agreements, 70 percent of our city water comes from that river, and it is suffering due to drought. We have junior water rights compared to other states, so it is quite possible we could lose that water.

            BOPU estimates that 30% of Cheyenne’s water is used to water our landscapes. So if we retrofit our yards now, maybe we won’t have an entirely dead moonscape when we are cut off from Colorado River water.

Retrofitting our yards

            We need only look at the High Plains Arboretum on the west edge of Cheyenne to see that there are trees and shrubs that survived 50 years with rainfall and snowmelt alone.

            There are people growing buffalo grass instead of bluegrass and saving money and time (see https://cheyennegardengossip.wordpress.com/).

            There are several demonstration gardens in town full of waterwise perennials. The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens features the crevice garden, Habitat Hero garden and the new Plant Select gravel garden beds out front and more in back. The Pollinator Habitat in the corner of the Laramie County Library parking lot is all local native plants.

            For information about growing a native plant garden in the Cheyenne area, see https://cheyenneaudubon.org/habitat-hero-resources/.

To find native plants for sale, check the Laramie County Master Gardeners plant sale May 6 out at the Archer Complex. See the High Plains Environmental Center’s nursery offerings online at https://suburbitat.org/, order, then pick up your plants in Loveland, Colorado, only 50 miles away. Order or collect seeds next fall. Once you become familiar with the easiest-to-grow natives, you might recognize a few of them at the big box stores. 

            Yes, there is a little work to native plants. You still need to match the right plant with the right place and water it the first year. In late April or early May, you’ll want to cut back the dead stems of last year’s growth. It sure beats the costs of lawn maintenance in time and money. And you get flowers. And bees and birds and butterflies and maybe even bats.

Habitat Hero workshop about prairie restoration, water

Habitat Hero workshop considers prairie restoration as a means for saving water

Published February 17, 2023 in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

            Earlier this month, the ninth annual Cheyenne Habitat Hero workshop was held at Laramie County Community College. It attracted about 100 in-person registrants and 400 online. The topic was how to garden in a future with less water available.

            Keynote speaker Jim Tolstrup, director of the High Plains Environmental Center in Loveland, Colorado, gave us the background on how the high plains plant and animal communities have fared, first under the indigenous people, then trappers, settlers, ranchers, farmers and suburbanites.

            Ninety-seven percent of American grasslands are degraded. It means that what we need today is not conservation – there is barely anything left to conserve – but restoration.

            Restoration with native prairie plants is obvious for acreage owners. Prairie flowers replacing our urban lawns benefit pollinator species, if not antelope – unless you live near the base.

Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan). Photo by Barb Gorges.

            One attribute of prairie plants is that once established, they don’t need irrigation.

            The voices of experience included Jim’s, with his slide of lush vegetation that is no longer irrigated. Rex Lockman from the Laramie County Conservation District discussed the Native Prairie Island Project that started a seeding program for old and new septic leach fields last year. Nancy Loomis explained how to harvest free water.

            Instead of driving over the snow in your driveway, shovel or blow it onto the lawn on either side. Nancy has put in a garden next to her driveway and the water from the snow she places on it means she doesn’t have to water it in the summer. She planted traditional groundcovers like creeping phlox, partridge feather and candytuft. Her future garden expansion will favor the natives she encourages at the garden next to Laramie County Library’s parking lot.

            In Nancy’s and my 1950s-1960s neighborhoods, the sidewalk is adjacent to the curb – no green strip in between. It makes total sense to throw the shoveled snow on your lawn or garden instead of in the street – which makes it difficult for people to park in front of your house when they visit anyway.

            A fair amount of your harvested snow from your hardscape, walks, decks, driveways, will evaporate on windy days. Plus, it isn’t going to sink much into the frozen ground. Obviously, more of the water from spring snowstorms will sink in.

            But extra snow cover provides longer protection from our drying winds for your lawn and garden.

            There is another way for you to harvest snow away from your hardscape areas. Let last year’s garden growth act as snow fence that collects blowing snow in drifts.

            However, I recommend removing vegetable garden vegetation because those plants are prone to diseases. Consider replacing them in winter with other obstacles for collecting snow.

            The most thought-provoking presentation was by Cheryl Miller, from the U.S. Geological Survey. She has a groundwater demonstration setup that reminded me of an ant farm. Sand and dirt were pressed between two clear vertical panels. Tubes inserted vertically represented wells. Food coloring representing pollution in one well could be seen to migrate into a neighboring well that was being pumped.

            The representation of a stream was kept flowing by snowmelt and stormwater runoff as well as groundwater. Pumping nearby wells caused it to dry up.

            Cheryl showed why septic systems need to be monitored so that they don’t adversely affect wells for drinking water. The same can be said for nitrates from over-fertilization.

            I think the take-home for rural as well as urban residents and gardeners is that groundwater is precious and maybe shouldn’t be wasted on landscaping, especially when there are low water alternatives for lawns and flower gardens.

            Zach Hutchinson from Audubon Rockies gave us an update on the development of a pollinator survey we can use in our home gardens.

Zach Hutchinson (center, green shirt) demonstrates how to do a pollinator survey one morning in July 2022 at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens’ Habitat Hero demonstration garden. Photo by Barb Gorges.

            Michelle Bohanan gave us a pep talk on winter sowing, and provided the jugs, soil and native seed to try it at home.

            We are already talking about a theme for next year’s workshop: getting back to basics. How do you restore, or install, a piece of prairie on your property?

            Meanwhile, check the Habitat Hero information available at Audubon Rockies and Cheyenne Audubon websites.

            This spring, look for native prairie plants for sale, but not the fancy varieties at the big box stores. Try shopping online at the High Plains Environmental Center’s plant sale featuring 150 straight native species. It starts March 31 and continues into September.

            Place your order and then drive down to Loveland in the next day or two to pick it up. Be sure to allow time for a walk around the demonstration gardens there. It’s hard to believe only the new transplants are irrigated.

Jim Tolstrup discusses prairie plant propagation at the High Plains Environmental Center June 2022. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Transplant jam

Yellow monkey flower towers over other native plants waiting to be planted in the Gorges yard. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Published July 16, 2022, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Transplanting calculations plague local gardener

By Barb Gorges

            Every summer I get myself in the same jam.

I transplant new plants and then leave them at the mercy of our pet sitter, Becky. She’s a good sport and good gardener and when we leave again later in the summer she will get to take home any of our ripe tomatoes.

            This time she’s sitting the cats and seedlings from my winter sowing as well as $100 of young plants from the High Plains Environmental Center in Loveland, Colorado. They’ve been propagating native plants from seed and demonstrating their use in suburban gardens for some time now, but it was during the pandemic when they adopted a summer-long, online plant sale.  

All HPEC’s plants—all straight natives, no hybrids—are offered for sale at www.suburbitat.org, with photo and description (size, bloom color and season, water and light needs). Place an order and it should be ready for pickup in three days.

            A group of us coordinated our ordering and drove down together. Director Jim Tolstrup gave us a summary of HPEC’s origins. Some 20 years ago, when 3,000-acre Centerra was on the drawing table, the development set-back from the two reservoirs became HPEC’s 76 acres. Small fees based on square footage of residential and commercial buildings became HPEC’s endowment.

In 2018, Centerra became the first Wildlife Habitat Community in Colorado certified by the National Wildlife Federation.

            HPEC is open free to the public daily, dawn to dusk. It features hiking trails, community garden plots, native plant showcase and an ethnobotanic exhibit, the Medicine Wheel Garden.

            When I got home, my dilemma was whether I should transplant my new plants four days before my vacation or leave them in their little pots. I decided on planting. Some plants were potbound and would have needed frequent watering, more often than if they were new transplants.

            But first I had to make room.

Out back I dug out some turf for the western virgin’s bower vine and removed volunteer Sweet William to make room for yellow monkey flower. Out front, I removed part of a large swath of cornflower, or perennial bachelor buttons, and gave much of it away, with the warning that it is not native, fills space easily, and is popular with bees. In its place I’m trying more monkey flower, western spiderwort, blue lobelia, and right on the edge of the bed because it’s so small, fernleaf fleabane.

            My gardening is mostly about trying new plants. I wonder how these straight natives of prairie and mountain will do in my shady, tree root-filled yard. By buying at least three of each, I can try them either in different spots or together to measure their odds of survival. I find out what they look like in winter, early spring, mid-summer and fall, and which insects like them.

HPEC’s plants are in 2 and 3/8ths inch pots, but 2 inches taller and less tapered for more root development than the standard pot. And faster establishment than plants in a larger pot.

            I tried transplanting gallon-sized, blooming, purple coneflowers into bare spots in the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens’ Habitat Hero garden one July and no matter how often I drove over there and threw water on them, some folded up shop within a month and the rest didn’t come back the next year.  I don’t think I used my current bare root planting technique—gently knocking (or washing) off most of the potting soil before planting. Mulching after planting is important, too.

            I’ve also tried setting out seedlings and year-old plants in spring there, but someone needs to keep an eye on them every day, like I do at home. This year, I made a deal with Isaiah, the exterior horticulturist at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. He could have my excess winter sown seedlings if he would keep an eye on my year-old transplants. So far, his success rate is similar to mine at home.

Rain

            Rain clouds keep dodging Cheyenne. By June 19 we were 3 inches behind, compared to the average year by that date. That’s a lot when the total annual average is only 12-15 inches. It’s hard to make it up with irrigation. One upside: less rain, less hail.

            In the summer of 1980, I was hired by the Bureau of Land Management office in Miles City, in southeastern Montana, to do plant surveys. They were cancelled because it was so dry that year. Nothing greened up, thus no plants to survey. We aren’t that bad off yet.

            But be moderate with your watering—just in case next winter’s snow doesn’t refill the reservoirs and recharge the wells.

Prairie plants adapt to town

Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, attracts bees. Photo by Barb Gorges.

“Prairie plants can be part of low-water town landscapes” was published Feb. 19, 2022, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

            The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities is looking for examples of low-water yards. I can point to several in my neighborhood that received no irrigation last summer, but they aren’t pretty. Either they filled with thistles or they developed bare patches where the topsoil was blowing away and leaving grit behind.

            Sarah Bargsten, BOPU’s water conservation specialist, is looking for examples of low-water residential and commercial landscapes that are inspiring and informative and that would be identified on a map available on the BOPU website. If you think your landscape would be a good candidate for this project, send her an email at sbargsten@cheyennebopu.org.

            Low-water landscaping is one aspect of the series of annual Habitat Hero workshops put on in Cheyenne since 2015. Last month, Jeff Geyer, water specialist for the Laramie County Conservation District, took the audience through his experience converting his lawn from non-native bluegrass to native buffalograss.

            It struck him as expensive insanity to spend money on irrigating his large yard, anywhere from $400 to $600 per month during the growing season, plus fertilizer and herbicides, just to grow a “crop” of bluegrass that cost him and his wife even more time and money to mow just so they could pay the city compost facility to pick up the clippings.

            He experimented with establishing buffalograss, which is native to our naturally low-water prairie. It takes a lot less water to green up once established. It doesn’t need fertilizer. After a year or two of hand weeding, it will be thick enough to shade out any further weeds. It’s only 4 to 5 inches tall so you can get away without mowing and the seed heads look ornamental.

            However, one drawback is that it doesn’t grow well in shady yards. And its season of green is shorter than bluegrass, a small thing when you consider how water will become a costly commodity in the dry West.

A bee investigates the disk flowers of this composite flower, Purple Coneflower. Photo by Barb Gorges.

            Everyone’s favorite part of the Habitat Hero workshop is talking about the plants. The other prong of the Habitat Hero program is encouraging people to plant for pollinators—but plants that need less water than traditional flower gardens. Guess what? The plants native to the grassland surrounding Cheyenne are perfect. And popular.

            Showy prairie flowers like blanketflower (Gaillardia), black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) and coneflower (Echinacea), have been very popular for years with conventional horticulturists wanting to develop cultivated varieties that are showier, taller, shorter, prettier and maybe even hardier.

            There’s a variety of purple coneflower that was introduced in 2012 called “Cheyenne Spirit.” Any given seed packet will give you a combination of white, pink, purple, orange and red flowers. It was developed by a plant breeder in Holland who apparently equates the name of our city and the tribe with this flower native to the Great Plains.

            Some coneflower cultivars however, get so showy that the daisy-like center disk flowers become more like the ray flowers, or petals, and they don’t produce pollen and nectar. Steer clear of those if you are trying to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

            Also steer clear of stores where the clerks can’t tell you if the plants and seeds were grown without neonicotinoids. Neonics are a group of powerful systemic (internal)  insecticides. Any insect that chomps on leaf, stem or flower will die. Not good if you are encouraging caterpillars that feed baby birds or that you want to have become butterflies. Neonics also get into pollen and nectar and kill the bees and butterflies that way.

            So, if the clerk doesn’t know what you are talking about or can’t show you some documentation, go somewhere else. Or grow your own. It’s not too late for winter sowing—search for the topic at my website: https://cheyennegardengossip.wordpress.com.

            A terrific resource for learning about native plants for our area and finding sources for them is the new document by Jane and Robert Dorn, “The Cheyenne Plant Selector.” Find it and other resources at https://cheyenneaudubon.org/habitat-hero-resources.

            To remove bluegrass lawn to plant buffalograss or native flowers and other grasses, there are choices: smothering with sheets of cardboard, solarization by covering with sheets of clear plastic (cooking the existing vegetation), poisoning with an herbicide (get recommendations from the Conservation District) and what Mark does at our house, remove the turf with a shovel and compost it. Don’t till or the bluegrass will just pop up again.  

            Planting natives does not mean you have to give up all your favorite ornamentals and vegetables. Think of it as a new aspect of gardening to explore, one that benefits many more creatures and by extension, people.

This bee has collected a lot of pollen. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Habitat Hero Garden Walk July 11, 2021

The Habitat Hero Demonstration Garden at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens is full of blooming columbines, penstemons and other prairie flowers in late June-early July. Photo by Barb Gorges.

July 11 Garden Walk theme is “Habitat Hero”:

Water-smart, bird-bee-butterfly-friendly gardening

By Barb Gorges

            The Laramie County Master Gardeners’ Garden Walk is back. The theme is “Habitat Hero” gardens. It’s scheduled for July 11, 1-4 p.m. It’s free, but donations are appreciated.

            Five gardens are on the walk, and all are certified Habitat Hero gardens. You can start at any garden and pick up the booklet that has the location and description of each. It might be easiest to start with the Habitat Hero Demonstration Garden at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, next to the parking lot in front of the conservatory, 710 S. Lions Park Drive.

            This garden will be hosted by two people who have been supporting the Habitat Hero gardening movement for about eight years, my husband, Mark, and me.

            Habitat Hero is an Audubon Rockies program, https://rockies.audubon.org/habitat-hero. It was first conceived of by a woman who moved from Florida to Colorado. She soon realized she needed to relearn how to garden. Her love of birds and her recognition of the lack of water in the west helped her formulate the tenets of the program.

            The Habitat Hero certification process looks for water-wise gardening and landscaping practices that are bird and pollinator friendly and that emphasize native and native-type plants.

Bird and pollinator friendly practices include:

— Switching out bluegrass turf for native grasses or plants

— Foregoing chemical pesticides and fertilizers for other proven options

— Keeping cats indoors or at least in a screened patio or “catio”

— Finding plants that are native to Wyoming that will support native bees, or non-native ornamentals that haven’t been overbred and still produce nectar and pollen.

The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities replaced turf at their headquarters with a water-smart, bird-friendly certified Habitat Hero garden. Photo by Barb Gorges.

            The five gardens are proof that a bird-friendly garden doesn’t need to look like a weed patch. The one by garden designer Kathy Shreve coordinates perennials into a season-long succession of blooms in the Habitat Hero Demonstration Garden at the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities office, 2416 Snyder Avenue.    

            Nursery plants were purchased and planted in 2018. Garden host Sarah Bargsten, the new BOPU water conservation specialist, is quickly learning to distinguish weeds from self-seeded seedlings so that eventually the spaces between the original plants will fill in.

            Three private gardens are all tended by people who love to collect plants, so while you will see borders and raised beds like a normal garden, there is a lot of variety.

Experiments growing Wyoming native plants and other plants that might find Cheyenne’s climate comfortable fill Michelle Bohanan’s flower beds. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Master gardener Michelle Bohanan uses the database function on the National Gardening Association website, https://garden.org, to track 900 species or cultivars she’s planted to date, though many have not survived Cheyenne’s climate.

Michelle has a mix of natives, horticulturally “improved” native cultivars and non-natives from parts of the world with climate similar to ours. Her garden is more of a laboratory but the overall effect around her pre-1890s house is quite charming. Her husband, Dean, is in charge of the temperamental roses.

Jutta Arkan’s ranchette landscape includes a variety of pollinator-friendly plants in raised beds, a rock garden and wildflowers out on the prairie. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Master gardener Jutta Arkan has an eye for landscape design. She and her boyfriend, Gus Schliffke, both retired Air Force, moved to their ranchette in 2018, about two miles north of Little Bear Inn.

Immediately, they went to work on a multi-year plan that included adding a third raised bed made with 70-pound stones, a rock garden, a “she shed” with a potting shed attached, vegetable garden, other garden beds and wildflowers seeded into the native prairie.

You will notice that the turf adjacent to the house looks like a golf course. It’s Gus’s domain and is managed with conventional practices as an intense recreational space. But Gus fully supports Jutta’s flower mania, calling himself her “indentured servant.”

Jack Palma, a member of the Cheyenne Habitat Hero Committee, provides water for wildlife in the shady garden behind his circa pre-1890s house. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Jack Palma is a member of the Cheyenne Habitat Hero Committee and has long been interested in birds and gardening. He and his wife, Do, own a pre-1890s historic house a couple blocks north of the Capitol. Big old trees make for a secluded backyard that he has enhanced with plants that appeal to him yet survive in shade.

Since joining the Habitat Hero committee, Jack has started to incorporate more natives. New this spring is a gravel garden at the side of the house that is almost entirely western natives.

As for the Habitat Hero Demonstration Garden at the Botanic Gardens, it started in 2018 with the seedlings I’d planned to put in my own garden plus other donations. It reflects my attraction to the prairie plants I first learned to identify in the “Sticks and Weeds” class at the University of Wyoming. It has lots of penstemons, coneflowers, columbines, milkweeds, yarrows, blanket flowers—all self-seeding and easy to grow. We’re all looking forward to welcoming you to the 2021 LCMG Garden Walk!

Cheyenne Botanic Gardens Habitat Hero Demonstration Garden