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Sustainability

Here in the Midwest, with its frigid days and frequent snowstorms, the winter months are the perfect time to immerse yourself in nature. No, you can’t head to the garden to putter, but you can curl up with a good book  --  or a magazine  -- or a blog -- or even a stack of seed catalogs to expand your horizons, learn something new and get your nature fix. 

I’m always searching for something new to dig into and through the years, recommendations from friends and from professionals in the field have led me to some outstanding reads. This year I asked the staff at Embassy Landscape Group to share some of their wintertime favorites. 

Not surprisingly, they’ve suggested some great choices.

  By Sandra Nelson   Wasps, as a family, have gotten a bad rap over the years. They have been branded as destructive and aggressive, working together in mobs intent on harming every human within the reach of their seemingly enormous stingers.     While some wasps, especially social ones, are nuisance insects, a large number …

By Sandra Nelson  

In the last few years I have come to understand how important it is to make my garden inviting for pollinators such as bees and butterflies. Pollination by bees help support the four crops that make up 90% of the world’s food production while butterflies also act as pollinators and are …

  By Sandra Nelson  

The more I read about bees and their relatives, wasps and flies, the more fascinated I become with these tiny powerhouses and the more I understand why people are so passionate about providing for them and protecting them. As we mentioned in last week’s blog, honeybees may be the most well-known bee, …

  By Sandra Nelson   One of my favorite things to do this summer is to quietly sit on my deck, watching dozens of bees and butterflies flitting through the yard enjoying the nectar buffet I’ve planted. This is the first year that I’ve had a steady stream of visitors and it feels like the …

  With all the Buzz about pollinators in the news lately (sorry, just couldn’t resist it), I thought that this might be a good time to think about adding a pollinator garden to the landscape.       For the past few years, flower and gardening magazines, websites and even home improvement television shows have …

By Sandra Nelson  

With the days all seeming to melt together, it’s hard to realize that today is already May 7th. In another week or so it will be time to begin planting the bulk of my vegetable garden  —  the warm season plants like tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini, and some seeds like …

Brilliant color, delightful fragrance and easy care  — a winning combination!   Butterfly bush, also known as summer lilac, is a perfect addition to a Midwestern summer garden. Although it absolutely requires full sun, 8 hours a …