Publications articles

Previously published articles written by CSP staff and colleagues.

Meadows: The Low-Care Lawn No matter how well you like your mower, no one wishes they could spend more time mowing lawn. Why not rethink your current landscape plan? Replace high-maintenance lawn and garden areas with easy-care native meadow patches. In sizes from 1,000 square feet to several acres, native grasses and wildflowers can help you create a beautiful, low maintenance landscape and reclaim recreational hours.

Who You Gonna Call? Clay-busters! Cardinal Flower, Blue Lobelia, Soft Rush, Purple Coneflower and hundreds more. These native plants aren't just pretty faces. Unlike non-native cultivars, their more tender, horticultural cousins, native plants have adapted to their environment's climate and are rugged and ready for action.

Native Plants Make Any Yard a Hummingbird Haven Each year in late April or early March, hummers return to our area from their over wintering grounds in Central America.

Spring Into Better Lawn Care With every warm spring day, many homeowners become more anxious to get out and start working on their lawns. But, as your grass begins to green up, resist the temptation to run out with the fertilizer spreader. A little patience at this point will reward you with a more vigorous and durable lawn.

Fall is for Gardening The days of fall are here with crisp days, football and piles of autumn leaves. It's almost time to trade our trowels for remotes. If you're not quite ready, you'll be glad to know that there's still plenty of time for adding native plants, shrubs and trees to your landscape.

Beat the Heat with Drought Tolerant Ornamental Natives When the heat index hits 100 degrees, it's enough to make even the most veteran gardeners hang up their gloves. It seems no amount of water can revive our heat-stressed flower gardens and lawns. But native wildflowers and grasses are right at home in our Midwest summers. So why not add some native color to your landscape?