When the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum announced it was sponsoring a contest to name 10 plants that changed Minnesota, my first thought was…Asian milfoil? Creeping Charlie? But enough of that late-winter negativity! The U is looking for plants that improved Minnesota’s landscape, and fortunately, there are plenty to consider. My garden is full of Minnesota hardy plants, many of…
Read More
A Gardener’s Reading, 28 of 30. By Beth O’Donnell Young (Timber Press, 2011) Beth O’Donnell Young A couple of years ago, I started to notice more and more gardens that seemed to be built around wildlife. Maybe this is a trend; maybe I just opened my eyes, but it seemed that more people were concerned with providing the water, food,…
Read More
A Gardener’s Reading, 27 of 30 By Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry (Storey Publishing, 2011) I just received this book, so this is really more of a first impression than a full-fledged review, but I am eager to get into this manual on growing fruits, which was originally published in 1992 as Fruits and Berries for the Home Garden. Except…
Read More
A Gardener’s Reading, 26 of 30 By Katherine Whiteside (Clarkson Potter, 2007) I first read The Way We Garden Now when it came out in 2007, and almost immediately did one of the 41 projects in the book to create a new garden in my front yard. Looking it over again to do this review, I found two other projects…
Read More
Maybe it was because I’m at the end of a moderately miserable cold, but I really wanted to visit the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Park this week. Luckily, I had two meetings in the Twin Cities today, with a nice spot of time between them to go soak up the warm, humid air of the Como conservatory. Even though…
Read More