I’m one of the fortunate few Minnesota gardeners who — at least so far — does not have a problem with Japanese beetles. The JBs can be extremely frustrating and they have driven two of the most peace-loving ladies I know to near distraction. There are lots of rumors about what works and what doesn’t work with the beetles. Hand…
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This spring I blogged several times about my Bali cherry tree and my efforts to prevent the blossoms from freezing during our warm/cold/warm/cold April. I’m happy to report that many of the cherries did survive and, in some ways, I had a productive cherry season with a big harvest, most of which I pulled off the tree earlier in July….
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Well, look who showed up in my garden last week. This lovely fellow is the tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata), a caterpillar that can quickly defoliate tomato plants. He’s about 4 inches long and as fat as your finger, having just munched his way through a big branch on my tomatoes. The hornworms — they get the name because of a…
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This past weekend, I had a chance to visit about a dozen gardens on three tours: the Hennepin County Master Gardeners Learning Tour, the Red Wing Arts Association tour, and the Northfield Garden Club annual tour. One point struck me strongly at all three tours: Gardens are not just visual. We experience them with all our senses: sight, sound, touch,…
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I posted over the weekend about the Hudson, Wis., Artful Garden tour, which included a variety of large and small gardens and different garden styles. On Sunday, I attended the South St. Paul Garden Tour, a one-day event with eight private gardens (and one public) open to the public. The gardens illustrated many of the basic concepts of garden design…
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