New Northern Gardener Available

If you are planning a garden or landscape renovation for this year, please pick up a copy of the January/February issue of Northern Gardener, which  is on bookstore shelves now. The magazine includes a story by Don Engebretson, a.k.a., the Renegade Gardener, on how to design your own landscape. As usual, Don’s advice is spot [...]

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Plant Seeds for New Year’s!

Maybe it’s a little early, but I couldn’t resist setting out some of my winter sowing containers this weekend. Winter sowing is a method of starting perennials and some hardy annuals from seed in the winter. Michelle Mero Riedel, a Twin Cities-based photographer and proponent of winter sowing, has been teaching classes on this method [...]

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Garden Travels from Home

I enjoy visiting gardens while on vacation, but you can visit many gardens from the comfort of home through books, web sites, and DVDs. This Christmas, the man in my life gave me a trip to the gardens of Jane Austen through a just-released book by Wisconsin writer Kim Wilson. I’m a minor Jane-ite (as [...]

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The Good Thing About Snow

Two inches here, three inches there, now we’re talking about decent snow cover. While shoveling the snow is a chore — although one I don’t mind — and driving in it can be hazardous, northern gardeners should rejoice with every inch. According to U of M Extension, snow is the best insulation for perennials. Kathy [...]

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GIY: Hot Trend (and Acronym) for 2009

It took me years to figure out that DIY meant Do-It-Yourself, but the acronym I’ve been hearing and seeing for 2009 is GIY — Grow It Yourself.  This was the No. 2 garden trend for 2009 identified by Garden Media Group, a market research company that tracks trends for the industry every year. (The No. [...]

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If You Love Garden Books….

Don’t miss the MSHS Holiday Open House, which will be held tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 13) and next Saturday (Dec. 20).  The open house features classes with a holiday theme, discounts on merchandise in the MSHS store, and a used garden book sale.
This year’s book sale is especially tempting. A prominent Minnesota horticulturist recently culled her [...]

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More Fun with Greenery

Making your own holiday wreath is easier than it looks. I followed (more or less) the instructions offered by Susan of The Shambles under Highland Butte, a fellow blogger from Oregon, to make two wreaths for our front and back entries.  I used a red-twig dogwood branch for the form and leftovers from my holiday [...]

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Sedum in Snow Caps

Sedum is one of my favorite perennials. The plants look like little cabbages when they emerge in spring; the flowers change colors almost weekly in the summer, and then in the winter sedum lets the snow pile up, like a little hat. This variety is in my new front yard garden and has especially broad [...]

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The Pots of Northfield

This is my riff on the famous “Doors of….” poster series. It features the holiday container plantings I’ve seen around my hometown, Northfield, recently. This weekend promises to a busy one here, with Winter Walk scheduled for Thursday evening and the St. Olaf Christmas Festival on tap Thursday through Sunday so many of the businesses [...]

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Holiday Containers by the Numbers, Part 2

With the basics of container design in mind (see previous post), I set up shop in the mudroom and gathered the equipment and materials for making a holiday container. These included: the pot filled to within 2 inches of the top with compost, four kinds of greens, three decorative things that are pretty and not [...]

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