Episode 3

Native Plants- Not Just A "Spring Affair" with Bob Henrickson

Published on: 28th March, 2023

Native Plants-Not Just A "Spring Affair"

Episode Introduction

In today's episode we chat with Bob Henrickson, the horticultural program coordinator for the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum about upcoming events, his picks for a rain garden, historical uses of prairie plants, and much, much more. We're excited to share this with you. Thanks for listening.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Guest Bob Henrickson

Bob Henrickson attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology in the School of Natural Resources. Currently, Bob is the Horticulture Program Coordinator with the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, Inc., a private, non-profit organization and program of the Nebraska Forest Service. Bob is also a Nebraska Certified Nurseryman and a Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. Bob has hosted a live, call-in gardening talk show called How’s it Growin’ on a community radio station in Lincoln since 2000. He is passionate about native plants, herbs, dried flowers, vegetable gardening, wild mushrooms and wild edible plants.

Thank you, Bob, for providing some rich and interesting content for this episode!

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Episode Content

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum- Find them here

Purchase Details/Sale Dates: Click here to view the calendar TIX here

Spring Affair Preview Party and Public Sale April 27th-29th

Omaha Extension Office Appearance May 13th 9am-12 pm

Fontenelle Forest Appearance June 17th 9am-12pm

How's it Growin? Radio Show-https://kzum.org/howsitgrowin/

Prairie 3 Mix:

Little Bluestem, Blue Grama, and Side Oats Grama- A good baseline for your habitat soundscape

Aggressive Plants:

When we say something is aggressive, that doesn't mean you aren't allowed to plant them. Just know that they excel at domination. Some we brought up today: partridge pea, Jerusalem artichoke,

BEE LAWNS!

The topic of bee lawns came up again in today's episode and we chatted about purple poppy mallow and wild petunia.

Prairie Wildflowers for the Seasons:

Spring favorites of Bob's are wild geranium, pasque flower (especially planted next to a bunch grass such as little bluestem or blue grama,) prairie smoke, and spiderwort (notably Dwarf or Tharp's Spiderwort, although we also talk about Ohio and prairie spiderwort.)

Summer favorites of Bob's are purple poppy mallow; purple coneflower, pale purple coneflower for hot, dry areas; tickseed, stiff, lanceleaf coreopsis; smooth and shell-leaf penstemon; black-eyed and sweet black eyed-susans (fragrant as hinted by the namesake,) Canada milk-vetch (especially planted next to bee balm,) and of course milkweeds such as swamp milkweed (those are fragrant, too, folks.)

Fall favorites of Bob's including some knockout native grasses are little bluestem, ("On fire, but not burning...,") prairie dropseed (also fragrant in a unique way,) switchgrass, Indian grass, asters, goldenrod, and wild senna.

Wild Native Edible Plants:

Jerusalem artichoke- not an artichoke, not from Jerusalem but a native sunflower with delicious, edible tubers. What's in a name anyway?

Solomon's Seal- edible roots, thirst quencher, tinctures for joint pain/stiffness

Purple Poppy Mallow- leaves can be used for thickening soups, tubers can be roasted

Native Herbal Teas- wild bergamot tea, lead plant tea, mountain mint tea

More Historical Uses of Native Plants:

Goldenrod and wild false (also known as wild blue) indigo can be used for natural dyes

Goldenrod was grown for Henry Ford when he started looking for rubber sources for tires

Rain gardens

Plants that are wet and drought tolerant- SEDGES! Bob wants you to grow more sedges! He also mentions swamp milkweed, New England aster, joe pye weed, white wild indigo, blue flag iris, and sneezeweed. Here's a great printable article from the Arboretum, scroll down to find some additional plant suggestions.

Sedges

We went down a rabbit hole started talking about Pennsylvania sedge. Don't ask Bob about sedges... just don't do it.

The true enemies of habitat

Bob says we need less lawn, less concrete, less asphalt, less soybeans, less cornfields, less turf grass... so don't begrudge your neighbors their hydrangeas. Sterile landscapes are the competition!

Additional resources related to this episode:

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web:

BONAP aforementioned

BNPS aforementioned

http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety- BNPS on Facebook

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska