Debbie Lonnee, the production manager at Bailey Nurseries in Newport, recommends a plant to try in each issue of Northern Gardener. Many of her picks have made it into my garden, but my favorite by far is this variegated Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium reptans ‘Stairway to Heaven’). It’s in bloom now, and the blue flowers are delicate and pretty. While it…
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Here’s what my new front-yard garden looks like. Kind of skimpy? Well, that’s OK. Plants grow and next year, and especially the year after that, this garden will look full and lush. Starting from the left, here’s what is planted in it. Those lighter colored mounds at far left are ‘Silver Mound’ artemisia, a softly textured foliage plant. They only…
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Last fall, I marked off the area for a front-yard garden, something I’ve been wanting to do for a couple of years. Our front yard faces east and south and while we have planted some big trees, the corner in question gets baked by sun, and consequently, required watering all the time, and still the grass looked brown. Minnesota doesn’t…
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I’ve been so busy in the garden and with work that I haven’t had much time for garden-related reading, but four new books worth mentioning recently came my way. Two of them are part of a series of regional gardening books put out by Lone Pine Publishing, a Washington-based publisher of gardening and how-to books. Herb Gardening for the Midwest,…
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The cherry blossoms–along with crabapple blossoms–are opening up all over Minnesota. My ‘Bali’ cherry tree began blossoming two days ago. It will look fluffy and white for a week or so before the cherries that ripen in late July or August begin to form. Bali (Prunus ‘Evans Bali’) is a variety developed in Canada, where it is known as the…
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