September 2, 2010 – 6:27 am
Okay – this has to be one of the best ways to use those fresh summer veggies from the garden… I tried this last week, and have made it twice since. The retail crew here absolutely gave me rave reviews on this one…
4 medium tomatoes – diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
3/4 cup fresh (or frozen) sweet corn
1/2 cup minced cilantro
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 japaeno pepper – seeded and diced
3 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients and chill before serving. Serve with the tortilla chips that are scooped, or the “fiesta” variety with the multi-colored chips – makes a great presentation.
September 2, 2010 – 6:21 am
‘Fox Valley’ Dwarf River Birch – Betula Nigra – Over the years many people have admired the beautiful cinnamon color peeling bark of the River Birch. Handsome as both a single stem, or clump, this Minnesota native has been a staple of beautiful landscapes.
One difficulty with normal River Birch has been that they are sometimes too large for smaller areas of our landscapes. Fox Valley Dwarf River Birch solves this problem with a mature size rating of 12′ tall by 12′ wide. Fox Valley sports an interesting bark similar to regular River Birch, can handle damp soils, and can be used as a focal point around which to artfully group shrubs and perennials.
The ‘Fox Valley’ Dwarf River Birch prefers neutral to acidic soils, and with just a bit of supplemental watering, can prosper in upland soil. Check out this new and interesting birch for small spaces.
I have also shared this post with the Northfield News.
August 31, 2010 – 9:23 am
This amazing feast of flowers provides reliable color all summer long. Tomato Soup expands the echinacea color palette by providing warm tomato red flowers that don’t fade to pink. These plants are amazing companions to daylilies, heliopsis, sedums and ornamental grasses. Versatile and tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions provided they remain well drained and don’t end up in a low or soggy location. They attract birds and butterflies but are not considered of any great interest to deer. Full sun is what they prefer to give you their best display, but will tolerate light shade. Zone 4 hardy, they will grow to 24″ tall and wide.
Our perennial of the week, through Labor Day, at 10% off regular prices.
This post was submitted by Heidi Brosseau, our retail manager.
August 30, 2010 – 7:03 am
Have you noticed here and there the beautiful white (and pink) blossoms on small (4′-9′ tall) trees over the last 5-6 weeks? You have probably been admiring the lovely mid to late summer blossoms of the hardy hydrangea trees.
The whole paniculata family of hydrangeas are exceptionally cold hardy, and are useful in the landscapes in both shrub form and also when carefully trained into small trees.
My wife and I are frequent visitors to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which takes up to Ely, MN on a regular basis. I gained an awful lot of respect for hardy hydrangea trees when I noticed several large specimens growing in the front yards of homes in Ely, where -40 degrees temperatures occur almost every winter, and sometimes as low as -55 degrees. The trees were in full bloom in late July to late August and had to be 30-50 years old or more, judging from the trunks that were up to 6″ in diameter!
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August 29, 2010 – 11:27 am
Little Lime Hydrangea™ is awesome! We have just taken these out of our production area as they are now ready for sales and they are “flying off the shelves” so to speak! New this year, they are from the Proven Winners line of plants and it is definitely a winner.
The dwarf version of Limelight Hydrangea, also in the Proven Winner lineup, it is one third the size which enables it to fit more easily into urban landscapes. Hardy to Zone 3 – you’ll be seeing many more of them in Minnesota in the years to come. The height and width of this plant is only 3′-4′ which will make it very versatile. The standability of these young shrubs is just amazing.
We just had a customer in this morning – coming all the way from the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities metro area because we were the only ones that had these plants. She had called all of the major garden centers in the metro area and came up empty on all counts. This is one of the areas that we are striving for is to have the plants that people are looking for. We stock the standard plants that are needed, but we try to reach out and get the new varieties and try some that have been around for a while, but not found commonly on the marketplace.
August 29, 2010 – 8:22 am
Today I went out to do a “little” pruning in the hydrangea shrub section. With a mission in mind!
Each year, I take a few cuttings of flowers from the hydrangeas for drying and then I keep them in vases for displays inside the house. The ones that I currently have at home have been dried for two years now. They are getting a little brittle so I decided it was time for another round of “fresh” hydrangeas for the living room!
My bouquet here features five different varieties – Limelight, Little Lime™ and Invincebelle Spirit® – each of which is a Proven Winner variety and then Endless Summer and Twist ‘n Shout, both of which are part of the Endless Summer series of Hydrangeas. I will take these home, place in a cool location that is dark, hang them upside down for 2 to 3 weeks and that is it! The color will fade some but will still be quite colorful!
August 25, 2010 – 12:08 pm
Ornmanetal Grasses provide texture, color, movement and sound to our natural and intentional environment. Screening, vertical accent, fall and winter interest can all be achieved with well placed and selected varieties of grasses.
Providing an amazing relationship with wind, even the slightest breeze can create a rustle and gentle nod from these gracefully bending, versatile plants. They’re able to grow in a wide range of soil types from sandy to heavier clay, most varieties are tolerant of drought once established and some can be tolerant of moisture making them ideal in rain gardens.
These pictures both are of the same perennial bed – one in summer showing their ability to show off other perennials and the wonderful winter interest that they provide. Ornamental grasses are on sale through the end of August at 10% off regular prices.
The above article was submitted by Heidi Brosseau – our retail manager.
August 22, 2010 – 7:42 am
My garden is producing vegetables like crazy this year – given the rain and warm weather. We picked veggies this morning and I put the excess out on the table for a mini “Farmers Market”. There’s cucumbers, sweet banana peppers, green peppers, crook neck squash, egg plant and tomatoes.
I make my recipe for Spanish Rice often this time of year, since I can use my fresh tomatoes, green peppers and onions. I put it together in the morning and then just take it out of the fridge and pop it in the oven when we get home.
Here is is….Enjoy!
Spanish Rice
1 pound of ground beef
1 medium onion – chopped
1 green pepper – diced
1 qt. stewed tomatoes (or 15 oz. can)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup of water
1 tsp. sugar
½ cup of regular rice
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
Brown the ground beef (drain fat off), season with salt and pepper. Place all ingredients in baking dish, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.
I have had several calls the last couple of days with concerns like “my hydrangea is drooping” or the leaves aren’t looking very good and are turning brown”. These are concerns on newly planted hydrangeas. These plants are heavy water users. Here in the nursery, we are watering our container ones at least twice a day, and sometimes on the hot days – they’re getting watered three times a day. Give your hydrangeas plenty of water – perhaps even twice a day. They definitely show you that they are thirsty – they will wilt before your eyes!
Be careful not to leave a hose trickle water your plants. You have no way of knowing if they are getting one gallon of water or twenty gallons. Water in a way that you know how much water you are giving any plant. With newly planted plants – all of the moisture that plant has is in the root ball. Whether it was a small one gallon perennial, or a 15 gallon tree – once the moisture has been used up in that root ball, it is lacking moisture and is definitely under stress. You need to be sure you get enough water on the plant to soak down into the entire root system. A quarter inch of rain will only go down perhaps an inch or so into the soil surface. If your plant has mulch on it, it is likely that none of the rain water from that 1/4 inch rain will even get to any of the roots, let alone all the way to the bottom of the root ball.
For more specifics on watering, please check out our instructions page and see our watering instructions.
August 5, 2010 – 11:22 am
These part shade perennials lend a natural elegance to the garden bringing a delicate grace to the perennial border or woodland setting. The clear pink flowers of September Charm & Robustissima brighten the later half of the growing season holding their sweet saucer style flowers above dark green clean foliage on tall stems.
Wonderful groundcover when planted in mass. As petals drop attractive seed heads emerge extending this perennials’ appeal into late fall. Hardy in Zones 3 through 8, this show stopper will grow to 15″-20″ tall.
This article was submitted by Heidi Brosseau.
August 5, 2010 – 10:21 am
Our crew is continuing the landscaping makeover at the Quarterback Club here in Northfield. Our team of Jim Westlund and Todd Marnie are shown here putting in our landscape soil mix. Good soil is key to any project’s success. The plants will thrive in good soil. Once the soil is in, they will begin the planting of the shrubs and perennials. By tomorrow afternoon – a transformation will have taken place!
Other contractors that we have had work on this project are the folks at D & S Cement, Stanke Masonry, Oddette Welding Resources, DLC Irrigation and the sod will be the finishing touch and will be provided by Jirik Sod.
We still have a nice assortment of shade and ornamental trees from 2009 spring dig available at 50% off.
These trees have exceptional prices for larger trees.
Okay – this has to be one of the best ways to use those fresh summer veggies from the garden… I tried this last week, and have made it twice since. The retail crew here absolutely gave me rave reviews on this one…
