To place an obituary, please include the information from the obituary checklist below in an email to obits@pioneerpress.com. There is no option to place them through our website at this time. Feel free to contact our obituary desk at 651-228-5263 with any questions.
**General Information:**
– Your full name
– Address (City, State, Zip Code)
– Phone number
– An alternate phone number (if any)
**Obituary Specification:**
– Name of Deceased
– Obituary Text
– A photo in a JPEG or PDF file is preferable. TIF and other files are accepted. We will contact you if there are any issues with the photo.
– Ad Run dates
There is a discount for running more than one day, but this must be scheduled on the first run date to apply. If a photo is used, it must be used for both days for the discount to apply. Contact us for more information.
**Policies:**
*Verification of Death:*
In order to publish obituaries, a name and phone number of the funeral home or cremation society is required. We must contact the funeral home/cremation society handling the arrangements during their business hours to verify the death.
If the body of the deceased has been donated to the University of Minnesota Anatomy Bequest Program, or a similar program, their phone number is required for verification. Please allow enough time to contact them, especially during their limited weekend hours.
A death certificate is also acceptable for this purpose, but only one of these two options is necessary.
*Guestbook and Outside Websites:*
We are not allowed to reference other media sources with a guestbook or an obituary placed elsewhere when placing an obituary in print and online. We may place a website for a funeral home or a family email for contact instead; contact us with any questions regarding this matter.
**Obituary Process:**
Once your submission is completed, we will fax or email a proof for review prior to publication in the newspaper. This proof includes price and days the notice is scheduled to appear. Please review the proof carefully.
We must be notified of errors or changes before the notice appears in the Pioneer Press based on each day’s deadlines. After publication, we will not be responsible for errors that may occur after final proofing.
**Online:**
Changes to an online obituary can be handled through the obituary desk. Call us with further questions.
**Payment Procedure:**
Pre-payment is required for all obituary notices prior to publication by the deadline specified below in our deadline schedule. Please call 651-228-5263 with your payment information after you have received the proof and approved its contents.
– *Credit Card:* Payment accepted by phone only due to PCI (Payment Card Industry) regulations.
– *EFT:* Check by phone. Please provide your routing number and account number.
**Rates:**
The minimum charge is $162 for the first 12 lines. Every line after the first 12 is $12. If the ad is under 12 lines it will be charged the minimum rate of $162.
Obituaries including more than 40 lines will receive a 7.5% discount per line.
On a second run date, receive a 20% discount off both the first and second placement.
Place three obituaries and the third placement will be free of charge.
Each photo published is $125 per day. For example: 2 photos in the paper on 2 days would be 4 photo charges at $500.
**Deadlines:**
Please follow deadline times to ensure your obituary is published on the day requested.
**Memoriam (Non-Obituary) Request**
Unlike an obituary, Memoriam submissions are remembrances of a loved one who has passed. The rates for a memoriam differ from obituaries. Please call or email us for more memoriam information.
Please call 651-228-5280 for more information.
HOURS: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM (CLOSED WEEKENDS and HOLIDAYS)
Submit your memoriam ad to memoriams@pioneerpress.com or call 651-228-5280.
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## Give Pollinators a Soft Landing by Landscaping Under Trees
By Jessica Damiano
If you’re like most well-intentioned gardeners, you might give a lot of thought to planting the “right” plants to nourish pollinators and other wildlife with nectar, pollen, seeds, and fruit.
But have you given much thought to those animals’ habitat?
In addition to sustenance, beneficial insects and critters need a safe home in which to rest, hide, breed, and pupate. One area crucial to their lifecycles is around the base of trees.
“We talk about the importance of (native) trees in creating the caterpillars that drive the food web,” Doug Tallamy, entomologist and bestselling author of *Nature’s Best Hope* and *Bringing Nature Home,* told me the last time we spoke.
“But those caterpillars drop from the tree and they pupate in the ground. And how we landscape under those trees determines whether or not those caterpillars will survive,” he said.
### Giving Caterpillars a ‘Soft Landing’
So, how are we landscaping under our trees? Raise your hand if your grass goes right up to their trunks. Instead, Tallamy says, “we want uncompacted areas where we’re not walking, which means (planting) beds around our trees. If you’re mowing or walking under them, you’re squishing all those caterpillars.”
Caterpillars feed birds, which provide pest-control services in our gardens by feeding thousands of insects each to their young every year. Caterpillars are also a crucial food source for reptiles and spiders. And they themselves eat up garden pests like aphids.
Later in life, they morph into moths and butterflies, becoming important pollinators for flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
Creating a so-called “soft landing” for them, while at the same time providing habitat for native bees, fireflies, beetles and other beneficial insects, is essential for a healthy ecosystem. And it’s easy to do in two simple steps.
### How to Do It
For starters, allow leaves to rest directly under trees where they fall. Those pupating caterpillars will get cozy in their natural blanket, and you’ll get a break from raking.
Next, plant groundcovers and other plants under the tree’s canopy—the overhead area that extends along the width of the tree from branch tip to branch tip.
“Choose plants that are going to support the food web, the ones that will share the most energy with other living things,” Tallamy advises.
That means opting for ferns, woodland phlox, sedges, and other native groundcovers, shrubs, and perennials.
Plug your ZIP code into the National Wildlife Federation’s native plant finder to learn which plants are best suited for your region, according to Tallamy’s research.
Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up [here](#) for weekly gardening tips and advice.
For more AP gardening stories, visit [AP gardening](#).
https://www.twincities.com/2025/11/08/gardening-soft-landings/