Stella!!

That’s my garden blogger’s imitation of Stanley Kowalski. Stella is back–Stella d’Oro, that is, probably one of the most planted perennials of the past 20 years, a plant that is both loved and disdained. I’ve heard it called,”the most worthless perennial of all time,” by Northern Gardener’s own Don Engebretson, a.k.a., The Renegade Gardener, [...]

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Blooming Prairie

The back of our yard butts up against what is locally referred to as the “nature area.” It’s a series of storm water retention ponds with grasses and plants around them. The area boasts lots of birds and occasional visits from loons, which my friend, Penny, posted about earlier this year. It also hosts a [...]

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The Grief of Peonies

During my recent vacation, I read Helen Humphreys’ novel, The Lost Garden. It’s a story about the Women’s Land Army in Britain during World War II. “Land girls,” as they were called, were sent to the countryside to raise food, particularly potatoes, for hungry Britons during the war. Humphreys has a lyrical style and the [...]

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New Northern Gardener Available

The July/August issue of Northern Gardener will be on news stands soon. This issue features articles on new hydrangeas, how to use tall plants and how to incorporate variegated foliage in your landscape. It also has a must-read article for folks interested in water gardens. Soni Forsman, an expert water gardener who has worked with [...]

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Bloom Tuesday, No. 7

With the warmer temperatures and steady sun we’ve had the past 10 days, blooms and plants are exploding. Several new blooms are showing up in my garden. One of my favorite shrubs, Goldmound spirea (Spiraea japonica ‘Goldmound’), has started to bloom. These are tough shrubs that you see all over the Midwest. The leaves start [...]

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It’s Garden Tour Time

Late June and July are the big months for garden tours in the Midwest. This weekend the Northfield Garden Club is hosting its annual tour, so I headed out early to check out the gardens. I made it to five of the seven gardens on the tour and came home full of ideas and inspiration.
At [...]

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Library in Bloom

Kudos to Judy Code, Pat Allen, the Northfield in Bloom committee and the Northfield Garden Club for all the work they have done this spring getting Northfield gorgeous for the America In Bloom judges, who will be arriving in town in July. Many businesses downtown have participated in the project and the garden club [...]

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Hydrangea Heaven

Lombard Street in San Francisco is probably one of the most recognizable streets in the United States. Its curves and switchbacks (added in 1922 to reduce the 27 percent grade on the block between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets) are filled with hydrangeas and other flowering plants. Last week, the hydrangeas were in full bloom, making [...]

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Belated Bloom Tuesday (No. 6)

The blog has been quiet this past week because I’ve been on vacation. My family took a train trip to Portland, then visited San Francisco. It was a great trip and it reinforced how BIG this country is. North Dakota and Montana alone seem to go on forever. I visited a few gardens during the [...]

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Bloom Tuesday, No. 5

According to my neighbor’s rain gauge, we had a hair under 2 inches of rain over the past week. This has not promoted much blooming this week, but it has encouraged growth, particularly of weeds! I spent part of last night roving the yard, pulling up some of the interlopers. We do have plenty of [...]

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