Growing Deeper Show Notes

Need help planning a summer vacation or family trip? Justin Evertson (Green Infrastructure Coordinator) and John Woodworth (Community Forester) join us to talk about our favorite trips to public gardens across the state.

We know our listeners enjoy learning about plants they should consider or try each year and we like to make those lists based on a theme. We've done pollinator habitat, we've done other wildlife, we've done shrubs, etc. This year we're going through our team and sharing everyone's signature, or favorite plants.

Plants are often used to screen visually, for protection from wind, and to limit sound pollution from roadways. One of the most common questions we get is how to select trees, shrubs, grasses (and even perennials) for use in a screen or ‘Living Fence’. Today we’re discussing some of our go-to plants as well as the framework for designing a living fence or creating a visual screen.

Thanks to the Lied Center, we had the opportunity to meet Dr. Tyson over Zoom and ask him two questions related to his Cosmic Perspective talk! He will be at the Lied Center tonight for a sold-out show. This week we’re partnering with the Lied Center to celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day, check out the show notes for our tips and events.

This week, we're Growing Deeper into a topic introduced in an episode of our Plant Talk webinar series (watch here). Keystone species, an idea discussed by entomologist Doug Tallamy in several of his books, are a foundation of healthy, functioning habitat. Today we're discussing some of the keystone species of the Great Plains and how understanding this theory impacts the way we design urban greenspaces.

This was by far been one of the most popular episodes we have recorded. It's practical, it's helpful, and it brings us hope of spring and new projects. Whether you are a new or longtime listener, we hope you enjoy this look back at how to prepare a new garden bed or get ready to replant an old one. An insider tip: as gardeners we're always in a hurry to get outside so we often shorten well used phrases like "preparing a new bed" to "bed prep".

There are so many things to keep in mind when trying to garden sustainably and it would be tempting to think they are all black and white issues, “choose this not that and you’ll have the perfect, ecologically friendly garden”. In this episode we’re sharing specific choices we’ve had to make in our own gardens based on available time, physical ability, budget, and problems we’ve needed to solve.

The 2025 issue of The Seed (our largest annual publication) is out and we're giving you practical tips and steps to advocating for tree planting and greenspaces in your community!

This week we are replaying one of our most popular early episodes. All about soil; what it is, what it isn’t, what lives in it, why it’s so important, and what we can do to improve and protect it.

The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum mission is to plant Nebraska for healthy people, vibrant communities, and a resilient environment. This week we're reflecting on what this means to us and why, when our jobs often involve more people and paperwork than plants, we continue to be inspired to keep planting. We truly have a wonderful team to work with and we were glad the whole NSA team and our community forestry partners at the Nebraska Forest Service we willing to share their stories!

Sarah and Hanna review their resolutions from last year, plan their 2025 garden projects and share their predictions of what will be in and what will be out this year.

Bob Henrickson joins us to announce the 2025 Great Plants for the Great Plains selections!

Friluftsliv, translated as "free air life", is the Norwegian value of time spent in the outdoors. Michelle, whose family fully embraces friluftsliv, introduced us to the idea last episode during our book review. We've thought of several ways that we practice the free air life, intentionally or naturally, to share and have decided to join Norway in declaring 2025 the year of friluftsliv!

We're kicking off the holiday season with our annual book review and gift guide! Michelle DeRusha joins us again this year and we share some of the garden related books we read this year (or are looking forward to reading). We also share our list of gift ideas for the gardener in your life, or for your own wish list.

Dr. Dennis Ferraro, herpetologist, joins us to talk about the reptiles and amphibians that live in and around our gardens. Nebraska is home to many cool species, some can find habitat in our yards and some cannot.

Hanna and Sarah talk about their fall garden plans, cleanup and compost. Dr. Amy Schmidt "The Manure Lady", a livestock bioenvironmental engineer and professor at UNL, joins us for an interview about how manure can be used to improve our garden soil.

Hanna and Justin talk about trees and shrubs as weeds. Which species are problematic and how to manage them. Justin has many years of experience working with towns, parks and larger conservation areas to manage invasive and weedy species and shares some of his best tips!

Sarah is back! Hanna and Sarah are joined by Carina and Kim from the Nebraska Recycling Council to talk about recycling and other waste reduction practices. We learn about how recycling works in a broad sense, how recycling and waste reduction help our communities and our environment, and what we can strive for as individuals.

In this episode, Hanna gets some late summer gardening advice from the all-knowledgeable Bob Henrickson. They talk about watering, weeding, prepping garden beds, planting trees, and more. Listen now and learn how you can set yourself up for success this fall for next year!

Hanna is joined by Kim Slezak, Wood Utilization expert with the Nebraska Forest Service, to talk about how to use wood. There are so many ideas, from biochar to furniture to woodchips, we can give you a way to use your trees if they must come down.

Christina Hoyt from the Nebraska Forest Service is back as promised to talk with Hanna about the history and trends in community forestry in Nebraska. Listen now to learn easy ways you can support community forestry right in your own neighborhood.

Our song of the summer is the sound of cicadas. Jody Green from Douglas-Sarpy County Extension joins Hanna to talk about the essential Nebraska summer insects, cicadas and fireflies. Learn how to support these bastions of summer in your yard and garden by listening now.

Christina Hoyt from the Nebraska Forest Service joins Hanna to talk about how their gardens are looking this summer, how to be a more relaxed gardener, and answer a listener question about community trees.

Hanna is pleased to talk with Dan Moore from Kinghorn Gardens all about what it takes to manage the beautiful and environmentally friendly gardens on the Assurity Center campus in Lincoln near Union Plaza.

An intro conversation to the water cycle and how water gets to our homes and gardens. Hanna interviews her sister Dr. Lundon Pinneo, professor of education at the University of Arkansas Little Rock.

Jennifer Morris, Forest Health Specialist for the Nebraska Forest Service, joins us this week to help us recognize tree problems. She walks us through deciding if this is a 'wait and see', 'I can fix it', or 'call an arborist' issue.

In this episode, we talk about the struggles and fun of gardening with pets. Toby joins us to talk about his experience and Sarah and Hanna share their tips.

Tired of having a yard full of grass? Whether you are trying to create habitat, save water, be more sustainable, or are just plain tired of mowing we have some ideas for you!

Let us help you learn how to design your own pollinator garden!

Spring Affair 2024 is right around the corner! Hanna and Sarah highlight a few plants that you should know about. They also share a few tips for shopping and making the most of the event.

This week we are switching things up and talking about our favorite annual flowers!

Thinking about adding fruit trees or shrubs to your landscape this year? Bob Henrickson and Brad Kindler join us to talk about native fruits and more traditional fruits we can grow in our home landscapes, acreages or farms. We also talk about what to consider when deciding what to plant and how to choose fruits that will fit your gardening style and your family.

Kyle Martens, friend of the podcast and garden enthusiast, joins us to talk about how he starts vegetable seeds at home. He has some great tips on timing, supplies, and realistic expectations for beginners.

Hanna and Sarah are joined by Justin Evertson and Kendall Weyers to hear what advice they would give someone who wanted to start a project in their town.

Ron Poe from the Nebraska Department of Transportation joins us to talk about NDOT's goals for creating a "Nebraska" landscape along our state highways. He answers our questions about pollinator habitat, erosion control, tree planting, mowing practices and more.

A little light reading for those who are interested: NDOT's Vegetation Manual.

Sarah and Hanna review their resolutions, goals and plans for their 2024 gardens and share their predictions of what will be in and what will be out this year.

Sarah, Hanna and Bob review the Great Plants selections for this year. The Great Plants program is a collaboration between the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum and the Nebraska Nursery and Landscape Association to promote underutilized plants that are favorites of industry professionals in Nebraska. Each year a tree, conifer, shrub, perennial, and grass are selected to be highlighted and promoted for the year.

This week we will review the recent USDA Zone Map update and what it means for Nebraska. We also talk about the limitations of the map and the other factors we consider when predicting plant hardiness.

Our top gifts for gardeners! Each year we round up some of our favorite gardening/outdoor products that we think would make good gifts, many we have enjoyed receiving ourselves.

Dave Zahn is back to finish our conversation about harvesting and storing nuts so they can be enjoyed through the winter. Also joining us is Sam Creal who makes syrup from the walnut trees on his property.

Dave Zahn, a long time member of the Nebraska Nut Growers Association, joins us this week to talk about nut trees that are native to Nebraska as well as introduced species that grow well here. We talk planting, growing and a little about harvesting nuts both for personal use and as a crop. To be continued with part 2 focused more on harvest and processing!

It may be fall but gardening season isn’t over! This week we are talking all about fall planting bulbs: how, what, when and how to protect them from critters. Spring Blooming bulbs make up a key food source for pollinators, especially native bees, since they bloom before many other plants have even started to green up.

Heather Beyers, founder of Great Plains Nursery, joins us this week to talk about trees to plant in your landscape or community. Great Plains works hard to promote native trees that increase the biodiversity of our landscapes while meeting the needs of humans and thriving in urban settings (not an easy task!). That mission makes Heather a good source of ideas for trees to plant, not just for their beauty and hardiness, but also for wildlife and insects.

An interview with Jenny Hopwood from the Xerces Society all about the life cycle of stem nesting bees and how we can create habitat for them. Often known for their work with pollinator habitat, the Xerces Society works with any invertebrate species.

Listen in to today’s episode where Sarah and Hanna share and discuss their favorite nature and gardening related apps. From iNaturalist to SkyView to Planter there are a lot of tools to help you learn about and enjoy they great outdoors.

Did you know Nebraska has over 200 species of butterfly? Hanna and Sarah compare which species they see the most in their urban vs rural yards and how to create nesting habitat. They also take a look at the species that migrate including Monarchs.

Botanical Latin- the language of plants- can be baffling but also incredibly helpful. Not really a language at all, this system of naming (nomenclature) gives each plant and official and universal name.

Erin Ingram and Jenny Keshwani join us from GROWABLE, science literacy team, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They recently hosted an event called Climate and Mental Health for high school and college students and shared with us what they learned.

It’s the middle of the summer and hopefully everyone has something blooming in their garden! But, midsummer brings some issues with it as well; flopping, insects, diseases & Random Death (it happens to us all). These issues aren’t unique to this time of year but they often intensify in the summer heat.

How does heat affect plants? How do plants affect temperature?

The first week of June we always celebrate Nebraska Wildflower Week by traveling to the panhandle to spend time hiking and visiting with our partners and friends. For this episode we’re going to take you along with us.

It’s time for another episode of the Bloom Box Growing Deeper podcast. In this edition, Sarah and Hanna answer listeners’ questions about gardening, including how much to water during this very dry spring, how to deal with invasive weeds and more.

Denise Wally, former Nebraska Forest Service coworker and current friend, joins us to talk about her love of growing mushrooms.

It’s Spring Affair Week and that applies to EVERYTHING we do at NSA. So, today’s episode is all about Spring Affair.

Trees play a key role in pollinator habitat; from providing early spring food to shelter for winter hibernation. Flower get most of the attention when we talk about gardening for pollinators but let's not forget to plant trees too!

No tricks here! But we are changing things up and talking about all our 'unpurposeful' gardening projects. We always try to help you garden with a purpose but today that purpose is whatever brings you joy whether or not it has a direct tie to habitat or ecological services.

Victory Gardens made a comeback during Covid. This is an opportunity for us to talk about a significant movement in home horticulture- similar in many ways to the current movement of sustainable/habitat gardening at home.

The days are getting warmer (between snowstorms) and we're getting excited for spring!

Between the Spring Affair plant list and the Bloom Box design archives this episode is dedicated to pre-spring "window" shopping.

In today’s episode, Sarah and Hanna revisit the foundation of good gardening: soil. If you’re ready to get into the garden, now is a good time to work on your soil before you start spring planting.

Our interests and hobbies matter to the people who care about us most, sometimes they come along for the ride, diving in with us, and sometimes they cheer us on while appreciating the fruits of our labors (pun definitely intended).

We took a look at some of the research around using plants to create community in public spaces and keep those spaces safe and inviting.

Great Plants is a program of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum in partnership with the Nebraska Nursery and Landscape Association.

The Great Plants Gardeners is published annually to announce the plants of the year along with other timely topics.

Get cozy with a book this winter while we wait for the ground to thaw and planting to begin! Sarah and Hanna, along with Michelle our communications specialist, talk about their favorite books that keep them thinking of gardens and growing.

Help us Plant Nebraska by supporting the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum Annual Campaign

The winter solstice is drawing near! This week we're talking about winter survival methods, human and animal. For humans, a major cold survival tactic is to celebrate with feasts and holidays; so we're learning about solstice festivals around the northern hemisphere.

Some ideas for the gardeners in your life this holiday season! (or give gardeners ideas for their Christmas lists)

In this episode Sarah and Hanna talk about what they wish they had known when they started gardening. They get into proper tools, soil types, and size and timing among other things.

Happy Halloween from Bloom Box!

What do bees do in the fall? Courtney Brummel from the UNL Bee Lab talks us through fall in the life of both native bees and honey bees.

Fall beauty is more than just brightly colored trees and pumpkins (thank goodness because good tree color years only come around once in a while)!

It's easy to understand why fall is so many peoples' favorite season; cooler temperatures, beautiful colors, hot drinks! Gardeners tend to focus on spring and ride the wave of spring planting fever but we love planting in the fall too.

It's easy to understand why fall is so many peoples' favorite season; cooler temperatures, beautiful colors, hot drinks! Gardeners tend to focus on spring and ride the wave of spring planting fever but we love planting in the fall too.

School may have started but it's still summer! We've weathered the July/August heat flash and are ready to get back outside. We're playing a little bit of catch-up and looking forward to fall.

One of the magical things about plants is their ability to bring people together. Whether its the beauty, the connection to nature or the source of food; gardens create common ground between people who may have little else in common.

Being a gardener means trying new things, embracing our failures, and experimenting again. Anyone who has gardened for more than a year has likely experienced some pretty epic successes and a few hard falls.

Have weeds? Looks like you’re a gardener! And you’re not doing it wrong- there’s no way to have a garden and not pull some weeds.

We discuss some common terminology in the garden!

It’s National Pollinator Week! Obviously we love our pollinators here at Bloom Box so join us in talking about some of the most important insect pollinators and what we can do to help them.

Ann is a Research Technician for the Department of Agronomy & Horticulture at the University of Nebraska. She graduated this spring with her Masters of Applied Science and presented her research on the Bloom Box program!

We went a little long this week, there was just so much to talk about! Gardening in apartments comes with some unique challenges but plant lovers are creative and will always find a way to grow.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and mother figures in our lives who taught us to love the outdoors and inspired us to grow (pun intended ;) ).

It’s Spring Affair Week! Spring Affair is the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum’s largest fundraising event and the largest plant sale in the Midwest.

We love getting your questions and hearing about your gardens! We answer questions as they come in but every so often we’ll share some of those questions with everyone.

Many gardeners are birders and many birders are gardeners. It’s a natural crossover as you work in the garden to notice the birds that come and go. Sometimes they’ll even follow after you; digging for worms in your new plantings or picking up seeds scattered during your cleanup efforts.

Climate is a huge deal in the garden; whether you are worried about the effects of climate change on your garden, started gardening in an effort to do your part, or are learning about how to choose plants that will grow in your climate. Many of our gardening choices are dependent on the climate and learning how to work with it’s variability and the weather it produces.

Don’t grab that rake yet! It’s still not quite time to start cleaning up the garden. We just want to help you get ready and maybe talking about it will let off some of that impatience we’re all feeling about now.

We promised to help you “grow deeper” and this week we delivered! We talk all about soil; what it is, what it isn’t, what lives in it, why it’s so important, and what we can do to improve and protect it.

Spring is on the way! And we look forward every year to the gardeners, volunteer groups, students and teachers who we will be privileged to help plant.

This episode we’re diving right into gardening topics with how to prepare a new garden bed or get ready to replant an old one. An insider tip: as gardeners we’re always in a hurry to get outside so we often shorten well used phrases like “preparing a new bed” to “bed prep”.

Get to know Sarah and Hanna- how they became gardeners, why they love working for NSA and what they are looking forward to about podcasting together. We’ll also tell you more about what Bloom Box is, our plans for this podcast and how we plan to help you become the gardener you want to be.