Landscape management

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NAOO) released their prediction for winter precipitation. The bad news? The Great Plains region will continue to experience drought through at least January 2025. This is not good news for Nebraska landscapes, since the entire state is currently experiencing anywhere from abnormally dry to extreme drought conditions.

Many gardeners are starting their fall garden and landscape clean-up - which is good and bad. Garden sanitation, if insects or diseases were a problem this year, is an important step to reduce problems next year. But we need to balance pest control with allowing habitat for beneficial insects and pollinators. So, how can that be done? 

Whew, has it been hot! Scorching temperatures and dry conditions in the last few weeks have made it difficult for both people and plants. Our trees are still recovering from the last two years of severe drought and are not fully recovered yet. Fall watering is one of the best things homeowners can do to prevent further stress and help their trees continue to recover.  

But the drought’s over, why are trees still stressed? 

During severe drought, as we experienced in 2022-2023, trees were damaged in several ways as listed below.  

Ornamental groundcovers are a great way to reduce landscape maintenance while adding color and textural patterns to areas in the landscape. They are also a good tool for dealing with those difficult landscape sites where maintenance is a challenge or it’s hard to get other plants to grow. Steep slopes, narrow or irregular patches, and shady areas under low-branched trees and shrubs - these are all natural places to use a groundcover.

Benefits of Groundcovers

It’s amazing to gardeners that our lawns and landscapes can just be greening up in spring and yet there are weeds already growing like gangbusters and blooming! How do they get started so quickly? Aside from dandelions, three of the most common culprits found in the spring landscape are creeping Charlie, henbit and field speedwell.

Caring for a lawn and landscape is a lot of work! Mowing, fertilization, seeding and weed control in a lawn, along with planting, pruning and pest management in trees and landscape areas requires more time than many homeowners have available or the equipment to accomplish. Plus, the identification of weeds and pests often needs a professional's knowledge.

A weed is any plant growing where it isn’t wanted and, although they are less common than other weeds, trees and shrubs can also become weeds. Usually, these plants get started through seed dispersal by wind or wildlife and they can pop up in the most inconvenient places – fence lines, right next to a home’s foundation, planters or even in the middle of the lawn.

And it doesn’t matter what tree species it is, if it’s growing in the wrong place and can’t be moved, then control is necessary.

When working in the landscape it’s common to find a surprising treasure – a healthy little tree. Usually, they were planted by squirrels or birds so aren’t in an ideal location, but it is possible to relocate and grow them into large shade trees. First, consider which seedling trees are worth saving.

Choosing the Right Trees - Good Guys vs. Bad Guys
Not all trees are equally beneficial to the landscape. Avoid saving trees with any of these qualities.

Looking at your pine trees this time of year, you may see generalized yellowing of the tree, brown needles or brown branches. Several problems could be responsible, including winter burn and winter drying, Diplodia tip blight or pine wilt. And unfortunately, some trees can be affected by more than one problem at a time.

Slime molds are interesting and unusual organisms which frequently appear in landscapes and on the blades of turfgrass. When gardeners call Nebraska Extension for help, usually the call goes something like this, "There is something on the mulch in my flower beds. It looks like a dog vomited, but I know that can't be right because my yard is fenced and I don't have a dog. Can you help me figure out what it is?"

Or the question might be, "I have patches of dark gray fungus growing in my grass. How can I get rid of it before it kills my grass?"