Posted in Uncategorized on March 3, 2008 | 3 Comments »
My order from Baker Creek Seeds arrived a week or so ago. I set the seeds aside for now, but could not stop fiddling with a new gadget that I ordered. It’s called “Clyde’s Garden Planner,” and is basically a simplified slide rule for seed starting times. (For those of you too young to know [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on January 17, 2008 | No Comments »
Attending a presentation on great perennials is like going to one of those restaurants where the menu runs 10 pages. What to choose? What to choose? I felt that way last Friday at Richard Hawke’s talk on winning perennials from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s flower trials. Each year, the Chicago Botanic grows every available [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on January 11, 2008 | No Comments »
One of the great things about editing Northern Gardener is I get a chance to attend the Minnesota Green Expo, the annual trade show and educational event of the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association (MNLA). I went to Minneapolis this morning to catch the last day of the show.
As always, the Northern Gardener bookstore was [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 23, 2007 | No Comments »
This is a gift I gave myself. Today I potted up a coleus stem-cutting that I took in November, just before the frosts killed all my coleus plants. Coleus are one of the easiest plants to grow from stem cuttings. Just snip a piece of the plant 4 to 6 inches in length, then set [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 6, 2007 | 1 Comment »
In summer, gardeners rely on flowers and foliage for color. But what do you do in winter? In Minnesota and other northern or snowy places, planting red-twig dogwood is one solution. This hardy shrub features bright red stems that stand out against a backdrop of snow. Botanically the plant is Cornus sericea or Cornus [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on December 6, 2007 | No Comments »
While some garden centers close late in the fall for the winter season, many stay open–or reopen–around the holidays. Special events are held at many of the large garden centers, including Bachmans, Gertens, Mickman Bros., and Linders. Several wonderful small shops are open, too, including Squire House Gardens in Afton (I’ll be visiting [...]
Posted in Seasons, Uncategorized on December 1, 2007 | 1 Comment »
With about four inches of snow on the garden, the calendar turned to December, and temperatures in the single digits on the bank clock downtown, it’s time to concede some garden jobs will not get done.
I bought the wood to make the trellis system for my raspberries, but never got around to building it. I [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on October 13, 2007 | No Comments »
I cannot remember a more wonderful day for gardening than today. Temperatures were in the 60s most of the afternoon, sun shining, just a slight breeze–perfection!
The favorable weather led to much activity, too. My teenage daughter mowed the lawn. My husband trimmed some trees. I planted 157 bulbs, moved a couple of perennials [...]
Posted in Landscaping, Trees, Uncategorized on September 17, 2007 | 1 Comment »
The single best landscaping decision we ever made was to plant big trees on a new lot. Like many new homes, our house was built on a former cornfield. It had been terraced, but it was bare. At the suggestion of our landscaper, Leif Knecht of Knecht’s Nurseries and Landscaping, we planted six large trees, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on September 16, 2007 | No Comments »
The September/October issue of Northern Gardener has been available for a couple of weeks now. It’s a great issue with articles on the trouble with bees, using golden foliage plants in your garden, shrubs and trees with ornamental fruit, and an article about Living Legacy Gardens in Staples. It’s available on the magazine racks at [...]
