Sarah Browning Horticulture Columns

Sarah Browning is an Extension Educator with the University of Nebraska Lincoln Extension. She offers her expertise in horticulture through these newscolumns.

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Lively Landscape Design - Publication EC1254

Planning how to improve your home garden? Start with the new Extension publication, Home Landscape: Understanding the Basics of Landscape Design, EC 1254 (PDF). Step-by-step guides, beautiful photos, sample layouts and tips for coordinating your garden's color palette make it a resource you'll use over and over again.

This 32-page guide can help you take a problem-solving approach to assessing your current landscape and planning how to give it a new look. By identifying the constraints of your site and creatively applying basic design principles, you can create a functional landscape that meets your needs, is environmentally sound and aesthetically pleasing, and demonstrates your own sense of style.

Cost of the book is $6.50 and can be ordered through the University of Nebraska Lincoln Publication E-Store.

Butterfly Gardening - NebGuide G1183

If watching butterflies is a favorite pastime, you'll want to draw them to your garden. A UNL Extension publication provides information about how choosing the right plants will make butterflies, moths and skippers come to you.

Click on NebGuide G1183 - Butterfly Gardening (PDF)

Bats In And Around Structures - NebGuide G1667

This NebGuide describes common bats and their habitats in Nebraska, and provides recommendations for their exclusion, and removal from homes and structures.

Web Version of G1667 - Bats In and Around Structures
PDF Version of G1667 - Bats In and Around Structures

Bait Stations for Controlling Rats and Mice - NebGuide G1646

Bait stations increase both the effectiveness and safety of the toxic baits used to control rats and mice. Learn how to build, bait and position bait stations around your home and farm to maximize rodent control.

Backyard Wildlife: Birdhouses and Shelves - NebGuide G1427 (PDF)

Providing bird houses and shelves can be a fun and rewarding part of a wildlife program. It doesn’t matter where you live — in an apartment, townhouse, or single family dwelling in a town, a suburb, or the country, you can attract birds by providing the proper nesting structure. Birds such as black-capped chickadees, purple martins, or bluebirds are cavity nesters and can benefit from bird houses. Other birds like the American robin and the barn swallow will use open nesting structures. A well-built house that is durable, rainproof, cool, and easy to clean can add to the attractiveness of your property.