Bees are important insects for our food sources. Seventy-five percent of our major food crops depend on pollination to mature, and bees are great pollinators. While honey bees are an important source of that pollination, and provide the added benefit of delicious honey, they are not the only bees that we enjoy here in Wisconsin.

Dodge County is graced with many lakes, rivers, and streams. Much of the shoreline of this vast water network is on private land, and we manage it for recreational use, property beautification, and for the creatures who inhabit this place between land and water, known as the riparian zone.

It is January and the weather outside is frightful; what is a gardener to do? The catalogs are rolling in and it is time to plan!

Cyclamen is a lesser known, but oft-appreciated addition to the gift giving line-up.  With its brilliant blooms and marbled foliage, it has definite eye appeal.  You might just become the recipient’s favorite gift-giver, even if the recipient is you. 

Hardy geraniums are a great choice for a ground cover plant in sun to part-shade locations. Perennial hardy geraniums are the “true geranium” with about 300 species available, including one native to Wisconsin woodlands. With a myriad of choices, there is a hardy geranium suited to every landscape, although they are vastly underused.

2020 has been a challenging and unusual year. The gardening season was unusual as well, as I encountered considerably more fungi than I have seen in the past. While none of these fungi are pathogenic (disease-causing), they are a site to behold, and worthy of discussion.

The WDNR puts the 2019 deer population between 1.2 and 1.5 million deer. As their habitat overlaps with gardeners more and more, there is bound to be conflict.

A chill is in the air, gardens are dwindling, and it is time to close things up for the season. Gardeners should clean, sharpen, and store tools properly in the fall. Keeping your tools in good, sharp working order is an excellent step in making them efficient at the job they were designed to do.