November is a good time to visit a prairie and collect a few seeds to spruce up your yard with beautiful native grasses. Big bluestem and Indian grasses grow well in most lawns in the Omaha area. These tall grasses are well behaved and make great landscaping plants. They even remain colorful through the winter.

Caring for your seeds over the winter is critical. These seeds will not germinate in the spring unless you give them a cold treatment during cold weather. Just find a cold place in your garage or on your back porch and put the seeds in a metal container with a tight lid to protect them from critters, which will eat them.

Our prairies can be incredibly colorful and really put on a good show in November and December. After the first snow, colors literally jump out at you. Winter landscapes create stunning photo opps, so be sure to keep your camera–and cold weather gear–ready.