The Prairie Garden

There’s a tiny hummingbird flitting round the patio trellis, looking for the nectar from the red mandevilla cascading from its planter high on the trellis wall. The hummingbird can be considered symbolic of our Prairie summer: it is beautiful in the sun, as delicate as some of our summer flowers, and most of all, a fleeting presence. In addition to those beautiful brief summers, we must also contend with long, dark, and often stormy Prairie winters, and so we need to look at bringing our gardening activities indoors.

The late summer flowers – including echinacea, rudbeckia, and the oh-so-fragrant phlox – are in full bloom. It seems like just yesterday that the kaleidoscopic tumble of early summer flowers, featuring irises, peonies, and Asiatic lilies followed by daylilies, had just begun. When you walk out the door, the summer and early-fall heat wraps around you like a warm blanket. But remember: it never lasts too long. Get ready to curl up on the couch during winter storms with a different type of blanket – the newest edition of The Prairie Garden – and learn how you can garden indoors and out, all year-
round.