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 cherry tree protection is necessary if I want any cherry pie this summer. As I discovered the first couple of years we had the tree, the birds will clean it…
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Despite the rain outside, today is a day for celebrating, because my Martagon lilies are blooming! Martagons are a hardy lily that enjoys a shady location, the perfect complement to hostas and other shade-loving plants. I was introduced to these wonderful lilies by Frans Officer, a member of the North Star Lily Society and a full-blown martagon lily fanatic. Frans…
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We missed the April showers, but we got a few in May, and now we have the flowers that bloom in May to prove it. I just love this tree peony, which is in its third season in my yard. It may be located in a spot that is just a bit too shady, but the blooms are a lovely…
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Last night, I was one of about 30 people attending a talk by Northern Gardener writer Eric Johnson at the Northfield Public Library on creating a big impact with a small garden. Eric gardens on a standard city lot in Minneapolis, yet he manages to have a prairie area, a water garden, a shade garden, a vegetable garden, and many…
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The tulips in front of my house are in full bloom today — about three weeks to a month earlier than previous years. In 2009, I wrote about these on May 13, and commented that they had lingered longer than usual due to cool wet weather. On the same date in 2008, the blog noted that the purple tulips at…
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