The Garden Scoop

Something old is new again. Keyhole Gardening has (re)gained popularity. It originated in Africa out of necessity. Creating an organic recycling tank in the center of a garden to help grow vegetables in dry, rocky soils. 

As our climate continues to warm up, native plants continue to capture our attention. There is nothing wrong with planting cultivars, let’s face it, they’re gorgeous! 

Pots for Pollinators! That reads like a poster. It really should be on t-shirts too. Soon garden centers will be filling up with all sorts of amazing annual flowers. I had a chance to go on a Nursery Tour at Gertens and I can assure you they’ve got it growing on!

Why would a leader in the Gardening Industry choose a “weed” as their choice for perennial of the year? Easy, it’s not a “weed” but it can be abundant! I’ll have more on that in a moment…

Our “average” last frost date for Spring has been May 15th in zone 4 for a long time, but according to Dr. Mark Seeley, University of Minnesota professor emeritus and meteorologist, he reported in 2021 that we can expect new normals, adding that in the last 20 years, April 20th was the average date for the last frost in zone 4!

As garden enthusiasts, many of us look to see what the new trends are for the coming year. Monrovia, one of the nation’s largest growers of plants, trees & shrubs, conducts surveys online, in garden stores and searches connections between gardening & art, design, cooking and all the other things that make “houses” homes!

Oh boy, All America Selections has chosen their winners in an array of categories but today, we're celebrating a few of their chosen Annuals. And, WOW, they are amazing. The 'Scoop gives some background on AAS and shares photos of these annuals along with a little story about a wild "pet" rabbit... 

January 6th is the official last day of the 12 Days of Christmas, the Epiphany. The word itself has several meanings but for Christians it signals the coming of the Magi, or 3 Wise Men. Celebrations abound around the world, some involving plunging into icy water. For many of us it means packing away the Christmas decorations and taking out our fresh Christmas tree. Before you kick it to the curb, The Garden Scoop has some fun ideas to put that tree to good use!!

Many years ago, I went on a local garden tour and saw these AMAZING yellow flowers. I found these flowers were NATIVE annuals to Minnesota! Super easy to start from seed and a pollinator magnet.

"It's YOUR turn, Monstera", so says the National Garden Bureau, of which I am a member. From their website: Each year the National Garden Bureau selects one annual, one perennial, one bulb crop, one edible, one houseplant and one shrub as our "Year of the" crops. Plants are chosen because they are popular, easy-to-grow, widely adaptable, genetically diverse and veratile. 

Literally, it's not easy to dig in clay soil. It's heavy, sticky and a bit stubborn to work with. You could work trying to amend the soil, but I choose to work with what I have and choose plants that naturally "thrive" in clay soil. A reminder of the Master Gardener creed, "Right Plant, Right Place". You may be questioning my sanity right now but stick with me... no pun intended.

Fall is here and we are now looking at our depleted vegetable gardens, spent perennials and brown lawns; our trees in various stages of color and/or "balding"! Is there anything we can do right now to help tuck them in for winter? Yup, there sure is. And in particular, new plantings.

Ahh fall... Our summer flowers are fading, and autumn colors are reintroducing themselves. Can anyone say, "road trip"? Heading north you'll find plenty of color change already.

The ‘Scoop recently wrote about how our annuals & tomatoes are suffering with torrential downpouring from above, however, there are more issues in our landscapes. This article discusses what you need to know for this time of year!

Come again some other day. Who knew we’d be saying that? The last couple of years we’ve been in a drought. This year our soils are saturated, and our rivers, lakes & ponds are overflowing.