It must be garden planning season because two different people recently asked me variations of this question. Let’s dig in. Question: I’d really like to convert part of my yard into a prairie garden. Can I just stop mowing it and let it naturally convert back to prairie? If I want to add plants, which…

This question came via Facebook, and I sadly have personal experience with it. You’re trying to grow native plants and support pollinators however you can, and then your neighbors are spraying chemicals all over their lawn. It’s a super frustrating experience, but let’s break this down and see if there are ways to constructively deal…

“It’s taking over,” exclaims another exasperated homeowner, examining their bumper crop of spreading perennials. “It’s crowding everything else out” and “I’ll be pulling this up for weeks.” Sound familiar? I talk with hundreds of homeowners every year during on-site landscape consultations, and one of the most common issues people look for help on is controlling…