04/16/2025
First of all, THANK YOU to those of you who stopped by my booth at the Kansas Grown Inc. Farmers' Market last Saturday! It means a whole lot to me that you choose to spend your hard-earned dollars on my plants and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.
Second, this morning as I was driving in the pasture, I happened to look across the creek and see a great blue heron along the bank and a barred owl in the nearby tree, both staring at me. We all studied each other, the heron with the side-eye and the owl with its dark gaze.
"I don't know, Francine, should we get out of here before she spots us?"
"I think she already has, Bob. Let's stare her down and see who caves first."
(This is what my brain does. Groan if you must.😆 It was, however, a pretty amazing couple of minutes.)
Finally, I wanted to highlight a few plants that I'll be bringing along on Saturday to the farmers' market, Rayless Gaillardia or Pincushion Daisy (Gaillardia suavis) and Old Plainsman (Hymenopappus scabiosaeus v. corymbosus).
Rayless Gaillardia is a perennial in the aster family that blooms here in Kansas from April to June, found in north and south central Kansas. They form basal leaves and send up a long stem with a fragrant flower ball on top with a bunch of disc flowers within and mostly lacking ray petals. They can get up to 3 ft tall and need well-drained soil, as they prefer growing in areas of sandier or even gypsum soils. They attract pollinators of all kinds such as green metallic sweat bees, bumblebees, beetles, moths and butterflies. It's the host plant to several schinia flower moths and the blanketflower moth. I have these in a 3.5" x 5" deep pot.
Old Plainsman, also in the aster family, is an incredibly drought-tolerant biennial once it gets established and it happily exists here in Reno County, also liking well-drained soils and lots of sun. They grow along our pasture fence line and along many fence lines, as they escape the roadside mowers this way. The foliage of this plant is unique with its wooly feel and green to white-ish coloration. It grows up to 3 feet tall with many white disc flowers in clusters, very unique flower heads when you look closely. These are in 1 gallon pots, overwintered with a good-sized root ball.
Full list of plants traveling to the market on Saturday will be posted towards the end of the week. Take care!
A little native prairie nursery in the Ninnescah River Valley, Kansas.🌻 Open by appointment M-F and at various weekend markets/events spring and fall.
