I first created this site back in 1998 to document the wild plants that I encountered. But it has grown into a clearinghouse of information on landscaping, backyard birds, butterfly gardening, plant identification and making paper from plant fiber. After leaving Kansas, I thought of deleting the site. But realize it has a wealth of information that people rely upon.
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Landscaping Home
Why Kansas Native Plants?
woodland phlox surrounded by Canada ginger - Native plants are those plants that are indigenous to a region.
- Many of these plants are perfect for your gardens and landscaping your yard.
- They are hardy, beautiful, and unusual.
- Learn more about why you should use native plants in your home landscape from Frequently Asked Questions.
Photos of Gardens and Wildlife
Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta) My Galleries show you native plants in my various landscaped habitat types as well as wildlife that has visited my yard.
- Prairie Garden contains sun loving plants
- Woodland Garden contains filtered sun & shade plants
- Water Garden contains plants found around my pond
- Bird Gallery contains images of birds in my yard
- Butterfly Gallery contains butterflies and moths in my yard
- Insects Gallery contains insects other than butterflies and moths in my yard
- Animals Gallery contains mammals, reptiles and amphibians in my yard
Gardening for Butterflies
Zebra swallowtail on butterfly milkweed, http://bugguide.net/node/view/383694 Butterflies are dependent on plants as food for the caterpillars as well as flower nectar for the adult butterflies.
Butterfly Gardening describes the plants needed by adult butterflies for nectar but more importantly the host plants used by butterfly larva.
Butterfly Host Plants is a table of butterfly species and the plant families used as host plants.
Gardening for Birds
Eastern bluebird fledglings with the male I've documented over 100 bird species using my yard. All come to feed at feeders/plants or the many insects that are attracted to the plants. And some even come feed on other birds! Learn more about these many Yard Birds.
I've also taken a keen interest in creating nest boxes (birdhouses) for many species of birds. Birds that nest in nest boxes or make their own holes in trees are known as Cavity Nesting Birds. I've had house wrens, carolina wrens, chickadees, bluebirds, and great crested flycatchers use my nest boxes. I've even had flicker woodpeckers nest in my large nest boxes.
Plant Identification Guide
Identification Guide: Plant of the Day
The Plant Guide can help you identify an unknown plant, tree, or weed.
Use it to determine what native plants you might want in your landscape.
The guide contains growth characteristics of 850 species of plants.
There are 4289 images of plants in the guide.
Plant Fiber Paper
Paper Making: Plant Fiber of the Day
Plant Fiber Paper showcases paper made from Kansas plants.
See the process of making paper from plant fiber.
Plants for the Garden
Landscaping: Plant of the Day
These are plants that I encourage people to grow in their gardens. Not only are they beautiful, they will also provide food for butterflies and bees among other beneficial insects. These insects in turn can provide food for birds. Native plants are the base of the food chain that other animals depend upon.
In the past I sold seeds for these plants. The information on these plants is still useful so you can still browse them.
Site Updates
2023
The site was getting errors because of upgrades to software so I made changes to prevent the errors in August 2023.
2022
The following changes were made in February 2022
- Website was moved to new hosting company
- Navigation was changed to remove the store and service pages
- Plant ID Guide and Papermaking were added to the navigation
- Header was updated to be the same for entire site
- Contact and About pages on Papermaking and Guide were eliminated
2022
- Prairie Garden updated 2/21/22
- Woodland Garden updated 2/21/22
- Water Garden updated 2/21/22
- Bird Gallery updated 2/21/22
- Butterfly Gallery updated 2/21/22
- Insects Gallery updated 2/21/22
- Animals Gallery updated 2/21/22
DISCLAIMER: This page contains affiliate links in the right hand panel, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support my website and allows me to continue to add new content. Thank you for the support!