Hello friends!
We're thrilled to bring you the latest edition of our newsletter, packed with exciting updates and gardening tips. We’ll shine a spotlight on our featured plant of the month and share more about our approach to naturalistic garden design.
We hope you find inspiration, knowledge, and a sense of community within these pages. Thank you for being a part of the Norm's Greenhouse & Nursery family!
Horticulturally,
The Norm's Greenhouse & Nursery Team
ROOTED CUTTINGS HAVE ARRIVED!
While we grow a variety of bedding plants from seed, we are fortunate to partner with cutting growers to bring in starter plugs for our finishing in desired planters and pot sizes for all of you. Patented and copywrighted varieties, slow or difficult to grow, and high-demand selections are on our list for cutting-grown.
By growing rooted cuttings, we are able to plant into our own South Dakota custom soil mix. In comparison to many available plants in the area, we customize our soil blends in-house for transition into your landscape or garden beds.
LET IT SNOW!
Our region received much needed snowfall in Februrary after January precipitation accumulations amounted to less than one inch. In February 2025, Brookings, SD received a total of 4.5 inches of snowfall. This snowfall provided some moisture and insulation for plants, helping to protect them from the cold winter temperatures.
The blanket has has since melted, and warmer temps may present some confusion for landscape plants. Stay tuned in April for watering recommendations if precipitation does not occur.
VEGETABLES
We will be releasing a complete spring 2025 vegetable grow list soon! Germination and transplanting is well underway in the greenhouses and we are eager to offer you a wide variety of the best of the old and new varieties. We hope you’ll consider trying a few new varieties!
We’ve curated a variety of unique heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, vine crops, cabbage, kale, broccolli, cauliflower, peppers, onions, leeks, eggplant, seed potatoes, and more.
NATURALISTIC GARDEN DESIGN: A CLOSER LOOK
Naturalistic garden design focuses on creating garden spaces that ensure longevity, year-round interest, and ecological impact.
Record heat, wind, and storm water extremes are all environmental challenges our landscape plantings, drainage, and turfgrass will experience throughout their lifecycle. We put together a palette of plants that can regenerate and work together as a prairie can and once did throughout the South Dakota plains.
Planting density is one of the keys to success in perennial plantings in a naturalistic style. The diagram above provides a reference of a sample bed with dimensions and plant spacing. While garden design is not one size fits all, this provides a starting point to improving diversity and native plant density in your landscape beds. If you’re beginning to find more holes in your landscape from plant loss over the years, or have a vision to create a garden with 4 seasons of interest- we hope you’ll consider giving a native plant pocket a try and see how it changes through the seasons.
THE PALETTE
Plant selection with a right plant, right place philosophy will setup a naturalistic garden for success. The Great Plains prairie plant palette has drought, heat, cold, and wind tolerance for our region. The palette shown below is just the beginning of the plant combinations possible in a full sun, dry garden with natural soils. For a site with a clay soil type, an adapted palette is acheivable and will be shared in a future newsletter and online.
Ornamental interest in the garden is acheived through lush foliage and texture, seasonal blooms, grass seed heads, and fruits. Each plant has a season or two of "primary" interest, but ecologically the benefits go much deeper. The perennial palette is designed in layers of larger structural shrubs, mid-layer flowering perennials/grasses, and groundcover. The groundcover layer is essential to retain moisture and prevent weed germination throughout the seasons.
PLANT FEATURE OF THE MONTH:
AMORPHA
There are several native Amorpha species. Amorpha nana, commonly known as Fragrant false indigo, is a new addition to our seed-produced perennial inventory in 2025. The long-lasting summer flowers provide a pollen source for many pollinators, as well as a food source for larvae of the native Silver Spotted Skipper butterfly.
We are looking forward to sharing more native plants with you this spring!
TOP PHOTOS CREDIT: PRAIRIE MOON NURSERY
Amorpha is a genus home to many prairie perennials found native to the Great Plains.
Amorpha canascens, commonly known as leadplant, has been a popular prairie plant in our inventory for many seasons. It pairs well with grasses and stands tall as a structural perennial throughout the summer and fall seasons.
Good stuff! Excited to see all the cool stuff coming this season!