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The Latest on Miss Smarty Plants

Visiting Seed Savers Exchange

by Keri Byrum | Jul 21, 2017 | Garden Visits

On a perfect summer day last week, Mike and I made the trip to Decorah, Iowa to visit the Seed Savers Exchange. I’ve heard about Seed Savers Exchange for many years, but since our trips to Iowa were often very short, we just didn’t have time to include this in our itinerary. Not so now! Seed Savers Exchange Mission: We conserve and promote America’s culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants. The very charming Lillian Goldman Visitors Center was our first stop. I probably should have taken a photo of the inside of this building, with walls filled with their seed offerings and various gardening books and tools, it was a little bit of heaven!… Read Full Post

What does poison ivy look like?

by Keri Byrum | Jul 16, 2017 | Plant Spotlight

What a way to start a blog post, eh? “What does poison ivy look like?” has been heard a few times around here lately. We are clearing out an area of old trees, shrubs and underbrush and my lack of familiarity with some of these plants is prompting this question. So, what does poison ivy look like? Leaves of three, let them be… Leaves of five, let them thrive. This little rhyme is keeping me in check these days with my poison ivy “sightings.” Look for plants with leaves in groups of three as an initial indicator. Not to get too technical, but I have to put in here that technically these are leaflets, comprising a single leaf. As a vine, look for hairy roots that are holding on tightly to a tree or wall.… Read Full Post