Jeff's Ecofriendly Kansas Garden

Fox Sparrow visits my yard for the first time

2010-02-07T19:18:00.001-08:00

Not the best picture but you can see that it is a fox sparrow. He is perched in my aromatic sumac shrub.

Song Sparrow

2010-02-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

This song sparrow hung around the backyard when we had snow. First time I've seen one in my yard in the winter.

Horefrost on Hawthorn leaf

2010-02-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

I think horefrost is the coolest thing. Seemed to form when we had fog combined with freezing temperatures. How can you not like winter.

Horefrost on big bluestem grass

2010-02-07T19:03:00.001-08:00

We had a nice horefrost outbreak in Topeka. Here it is on some big bluestem grass.

Rusty Blackbird

2009-12-08T12:19:00.001-08:00

What a surprise to find a Rusty Blackbird in my own back yard. There was only one.

I think it was eating cracked corn that I had scooped off the back patio. Hard to tell in the picture but his head is rusty. What a great bird to have visit my backyard.

Partially Albino Junco

2009-12-03T07:26:00.001-08:00

This little misfit showed up in my backyard on Dec 1, 2009. Took this picture on Dec 3. I originally named him Wacko Junco (after Michael Jackson). But he is sort of a Rudolph because the other Juncos shun him. Anyway, hopefully he suvives the winter.

Seeds Galore

2008-11-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

I've been harvesting and cleaning seed from my garden to sell on my native landscaping website. When I saw these, I thought they were gorgeous and grabbed my camera. They are Rough White Lettuce (Prenanthes aspera)

Starry Campion

2008-10-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

This is a gorgeous flower that likes to grow in part shade.

I have these growing in my backyard. Aren't they attractive. GO NATIVES!

2008-10-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Another very attractive native wildflower. This one is similar to Cleome that many people grow. It's common name is Clammy-weed (Polanisia dodecandra). Insects love the flowers. It's an annual and reseeds nicely. An interesting characteristic is that the foliage smells exactly like green peppers!

Elm-leaf Goldenrod

2008-10-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

One of Kansas' coolest goldenrods. I love the dainty flowers that form on long spires. These grow right in front of the house and they like shade.

Willow-leaf sunflower

2008-10-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

Is this the most incredibly cool looking plant or what? The tips look like little fireworks displays. It also reminds me of something from Dr. Seuss. It's one of many Kansas sunflower species. These are growing along my driveway.

Tiger swallowtail

2008-10-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

You have to love native wildflowers and the insects they attract. This plant is Canada verbena (Glandularia canadensis). It has the sweetest scent. The butterfly is a tiger swallowtail. Difficult to get a decent picture, but I like this one.

Hybrid Verbena in my garden

2008-10-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

I was amazed by how gorgeous this swamp verbena was earlier this spring. But after some thought, and reading about verbenas hybridizing, I thought this might be the case. It turns out it is a hybrid between Verbena simplex and Verbena hastata. It bloomed about the same time as Verbena simplex but had flowers more like Verbena hastata but even showier.

Round-headed Bushclover leaves

2008-10-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

It's always fun to look at water droplets on plants, but these were just incredible. The plant is Round-headed bush clover. Because the leaves have fine hairs on them it caused the droplets to form as they did. The fold in the leaf seems to have kept them in place.

Missouri Evening Primrose

2008-06-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

The 4" in diameter blooms make this one of the most magnificent flowers of the prairie. Plant this one in the hottest, driest location and it will thrive. This is a definite requirement in everyone's garden.

Gromwell or Marbleseed

2008-06-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

I just love the name gromwell. This member of the borage family adds interesting texture to a dry prairie garden. It likes dry soil and is very drought tolerant. Bees also love this plant.

Prairie Spiderwort or Ohio Spiderwort

2008-06-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

One of the few blue flowering plants of the Kansas tallgrass prairie, ohio spiderwort shines in my garden. Each flower only lasts one day (it's a member of the dayflower family), but it keeps blooming for about a month. The flowers are only open in the morning. Blossoms can be used in salads. Everyone should grow this plant in their gardens!

White Wild Indigo Blooming

2008-06-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite native wildflowers of the Kansas prairie, White Wild Indigo is the last of my wildflowers to come out of the ground. When it first comes up, it looks similar to a spear of asparagus. These are very long lived plants. From seedling to bloom takes about five years, but it's worth the wait.

Wildflower seed is germinating

2008-04-04T19:39:00.001-07:00

The wildflowers that I planted in pots last fall are beginning to germinate. I notice most of the asters and goldenrods have germinated as well as the beardtongues. The evening primrose are germinating too. Milkweeds have not, but they tend to like warmer temperatures. Seeds in the garden haven't germinated. I need to put some grass clippings on the row to keep the soil moist.

Sharpshin Hawk comes back to visit

2008-01-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

What was interesting was he probably scared most of the birds away when he arrived, but some were hiding in the brush pile.

I watched him fly down to the pile and perch on it for a while. Then he did something I had never seen before. He crawled into the brush pile. He flushed a few birds out, and flew back to his perch. Then he flew down to the pile again, trying to get a bird. Then he flew back to his perch. He never did get a bird, but hopefully he returns.

Crows are so cool

2008-01-19T09:49:00.000-08:00

Since I've been doing feederwatch http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/ I have been trying to attract as many birds as possible (except for ugly starlings). Normally I have three crows. But I think they told their friends because yesterday I had 11 crows. I had been feeding them leftover waffles so I decided to make my own recipe just for them. I take 1/4 cup of corn meal, oatmeal, wheat flour and white flour; add an egg, some baking soda, and water. Then I cook them like pancakes in bacon grease. The seem to love them. Today I even crunched up the egg shell in with the crow pancakes.

Seeds Available

2008-01-10T09:05:00.000-08:00

I have various wildflower and grass seeds available for purchase. Visit my store at http://www.kansasnativeplants.com/storeorder.php?itm_typ=seed All seeds harvested from my growing beds in Topeka.

Native Plant Landscaping Class

2008-01-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

I'm offering a class on Landscaping with native plants in Manhattan, KS at the UFM community learning center. Here is a link to it. https://ufmprograms.org/CourseStatus.awp?~~08AEN51

Here is a picture of my hawk from back in december

2008-01-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

The Hawk Left

2008-01-10T08:48:00.000-08:00

I was right, there was a Hawk in my yard because I just saw it fly away. The second it left all the birds flew out of the brush pile that I created this winter. EVERYONE needs a brush pile in their backyard. And it should be relatively close to your feeding stations. Here is a photo of brushpile area.

Sharpshin or Cooper's Hawk

2008-01-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a "bird" hawk fly through my yard. I believe he must be back this morning because its a busy feeding time and there are no birds present.

The snow is gone

2008-01-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

I have mixed emotions about all the snow having melted. The warm weather does give me spring fever, but the backyard bird visitors have dropped off substantially. One good thing about this weather is I can plant seeds in my garden now. You're probably thinking I'm crazy, but most of our kansas wildflowers need to be planted in winter to get the seeds to break their dormancy. The freezing and thawing and cooler temps will do that to the seeds so that they germinate in the spring. I plan to plant some things today.

Red Crossbills return

2008-01-04T17:58:00.001-08:00

I was thrilled to look out at my feeder this morning and saw five red crossbills eating sunflower seeds. I had some back in December but its been a few weeks since I've seen them. I believe the house finches finally drove them away. I had about 50 house finches mixed with a few purple finches having a feeding frenzy in my yard. I hope they return tomorrow. I'm posting a picture that I took of them in December.

Crows Return

2008-01-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

Four black crows showed up in the backyard to feast on table scraps. I through out a waffle and some chicken bones, and the crows love that stuff. It was also a good day for finches: 6 gold, 18 house, and 5 purple. Finally saw some woodpeckers. A redbelly and a flicker, but no downies - which have always been regular visitors.

Cold Sunny Day

2008-01-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

The morning low was 5 degrees F. The backyard is alive with juncos. One of my juncos is missing his tail. The purple finches are back, along with goldfinches and bluejays. The sun is shining bright. Everything is snow-packed. Topeka has 12 inches of snow in December.

New Bird at feeder

2008-01-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

I noticed two purple finches at my bird feeder. This is a first for my yard. I've also had red crossbills and pine siskins at my feeders this year. Those are also firsts. There must be no food far north, as these birds are all residents of the far north. Also have red-breasted nuthatches, but I have had those in years past.