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Category Archives: Gardening Know-How
Garden Tours 2011: Raining Ideas
I’ve been on four garden tours so far this summer, and despite rain falling on every tour, the gardens looked lush and beautiful. Tours give me ideas for my own garden as well as for stories for the magazine, plus … Continue reading
Right Plant, Right Place
One of the most repeated mantras in gardening is “right plant, right place.” Like other garden sayings, there is a lot of truth in the advice to choose plants that fit the conditions of a landscape rather than try to … Continue reading
Posted in Amazing Plants, Gardening Know-How, Perennials
Tagged 'Kobold' blazing star, allium, maestro sedum, perennial salvia, Russian sage
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This Plant is Illegal, Kind Of
Argghh! It’s happened to me again. I’ve inadvertently planted an invasive plant in my garden. A couple of years ago, I attended a garden tour in the Twin Cities. Sponsored by a garden club, the tour ended with a sale … Continue reading
Best Resource on the Web for Northern Gardeners
During last week’s Master Gardener training session, Julie Weisenhorn, the state program director, reviewed some of the resources available to Master Gardeners in Minnesota. Many of these resources are also available to the public and probably the most useful one … Continue reading
Compost Tips from a Pro
While the compost piles here in Minnesota are frozen solid and buried under a couple of feet of snow now, it’s fun to imagine the time when they will begin churning and decomposing and creating delightful humus for the garden. … Continue reading
Posted in Compost, Gardening Know-How, Master Gardeners
Tagged Carl Rosen, compost, Master Gardeners
2 Comments
Five Tips for Great Container Gardens
At last week’s Northern Green Expo, I had a chance to hear DeAnne Bennett, a garden maintenance consultant with Bachman’s, talk about how to create and maintain fabulous flower beds and containers. The plant combinations she puts together for homeowners … Continue reading
Posted in Container Gardening, Gardening Know-How
Tagged Bachman's, container gardens, DeAnne Bennett
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Garden Tour Take-Aways
This past month, I have been really lucky to attend several garden tours. I started with tours around the Quad Cities in Iowa as part of a Garden Writers Association event, then hit the Northfield Garden Club tour, followed by … Continue reading
Posted in Garden Design, Garden Travel, Gardening Know-How
5 Comments
Northfield Garden Tour Ideas
Despite heat and humidity Saturday and intermittent storms Sunday, attendance at the Northfield Garden Tour was high this past weekend. I managed to visit four of the six gardens on the tour and came away with several ideas for my … Continue reading
Posted in Events, Gardening Know-How, Northfield
4 Comments
Cherry Protection Plan in Place
The ‘Bali’ cherry tree in our front yard is weighed down with hundreds of big, sour cherries. Birds love these cherries even more than people do, so some kind of protection is necessary if I want any cherry pie this … Continue reading
Putting Plants to Sleep?
Today I attended the Outdoor Living Extravaganza in Minneapolis, one of six events sponsored by Proven Winners, a plant propagation and marketing firm. (It’s the company with the nice white pots at garden centers.) This is the first time Proven … Continue reading
Posted in Cool Stuff to Try, Events, Gardening Know-How
2 Comments