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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Self control during plant shopping season? No, not so much. But you can you get a great garden without going broke? Here are four suggestions I’ve heard (though not always followed!) from savvy gardeners. Remember: Plants grow. Look at the mature size of a plant before you buy 10 flats of impatiens. That little coleus may grow to 2 feet…
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Not many of us can garden in the fashion of impressionist Claude Monet. Lacking the 5-acre garden, help from a full-time gardener and (most importantly) artistic genius, we instead look at Monet’s paintings, and sigh. There was a lot of sighing, and gasping, and general oohing and aahing at the Minneapolis Institute of Art this morning during photographer Derek Fell’s…
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