Harmony in Bloom

09/09/2026

Yes. 🫑

28/08/2026

Look, we all buy junk we don't need because we think it's pretty, or it makes us feel better for a minute. Seasonal decor is such a money pit.

Don't buy grocery store mums if you think they're going to help wildlife -- they don't (no access to pollen or nectar). They are akin to the plastic tulips my grandma planted in a shade bed.

It's ok to get these mums if you want to because you want a fall decoration. I mean look, there's only one plant police, and they dictate lawn length and lawn existence.

I just want to suggest a few things as alternatives which support way, way, way more adult insects and bugs while serving as a host plant for larvae of things like butterflies and moths (and which happen to be growing at HQ)

Eurybia divaricata
Eurybia macrophylla
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
Symphyotrichum cordifolium
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (species and 'Purple Dome')
Symphyotrichum laeve
Symphyotrichum ericoides
Symphyotrichum oolentangiense
Symphyotrichum sericeum
Symphyotrichum turbinellum
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium

Solidago flexicaulis
Solidago speciosa
Solidago nemoralis
Solidago missouriensis
Oligoneuron rigidum

18/08/2026

13/08/2026

Native plants can do that!

The picture is from a switchgrass seed field managed by our friends at Ozark Native Seed. They recently experienced a 1000 year flood along the Huzzah Creek in Crawford County, Missouri. They are shared tenants on this farm with another farmer that grows continuous soybeans on an adjacent portion of the creek bottom. In the cropped areas there were many scours and severe erosion. The photo shows switchgrass roots holding and stopping the scour that formed under the beans. Many scours in this bottomland were 50 feet across. After the water dried this hole was about 8 feet deep. The first row of switchgrass was all that was damaged for about 20 row feet. Not only can native warm-season grass roots help water infiltrate into the soil, it can also hold the soil during a flood event!

12/08/2026

An Iowa senator with Parkinson’s is pushing to ban paraquat, a herbicide linked to the disease.

The Environmental Protection Agency warns paraquat can cause lasting health effects and should never be used near schools or playgrounds. It has killed people who have accidentally ingested it, including children. After banning paraquat’s sale in 2012, South Korea saw an “immediate and clear decline” in suicides from poisoning by pesticides, an umbrella term for herbicides and insecticides, among other substances, according to the World Health Organization.

Art Staed wasn’t alone in his attempt to get paraquat banned this year: Lawmakers in at least 10 states — including Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan — proposed prohibiting paraquat’s sale or use. Three other states floated outlawing its application near schools, according to The Council of State Governments. Despite growing concerns about the w**d killer, only Vermont has successfully banned it.

From the Midwest Newsroom: https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2026-08-12/missouri-illinois-paraquat-w**d-killer-iowa-man-parkinsons-banned

11/08/2026

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/09/us/lake-mead-water-level-record-low.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4lA.RvZ-.mlv_DSVCwMyQ&smid=url-share

Water levels in the reservoir, which sits behind the Hoover Dam, are at record lows. A continued drop would imperil water supplies for millions of people and cut electricity from the dam.

06/08/2026

Rolla’s Ber Juan Lake is using tiny floating wetlands to naturally reduce algae and improve water quality.

Every year, the lake becomes choked with algae and other unpleasant stuff because it is mostly fed by stormwater runoff carrying high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, largely from fertilizers.

The low-cost project is helping the city avoid chemical treatments while creating wildlife habitat.

The tiny islands are made of rubber-coated foam and covered in a collection of native plants. They float in the middle of the lake, anchored like a buoy. They are porous, so the plants’ roots grow through them and into the lake.

It costs about $3,000 to get one of these floating wetlands into operation.

Read more below. ⬇️ https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-environment/2026-08-04/floating-wetlands-missouri-lakes-healthy-algae-pollutants

06/08/2026

That's why I always ask you to keep some stumps, rocks, and other organic matter.