The Magnolias are blossoming at the nursery now! WOW! We have about the prettiest Royal Star Magnolia tree that any of us have ever seen. It is perfect, and it is full of the whitest, fragrant flowers! It is in our Creative Corner right now and we are sure it won’t be here long!
We are carrying four different varieties of Magnolias this year. The Merrill Magnolia, Royal Star Magnolia, Ann Magnolia and the Leonard Messel. The Merrill and Royal Star have white flowers and the Ann and the Leonard Messel have pink flowers. There are shrub form and tree form available with several different price points!
The main difference in these different varieties are the heights – so if you are wanting to plant a Magnolia but are concerned about the mature height of the tree – one of these will definitely fit the bill for you. All four of these plants are hardy in Zone 4. They prefer slightly acidic, moist soil conditions. When planting a magnolia, you should avoid southern exposures which may lead to buds freezing in the early spring with a sudden drop in temperatures.
April 10, 2010 – 10:05 am
We are well underway with tree planting for this landscape season. Jim Westlund, our landscape division manager, and Todd Marnie are planting an Autumn Blaze Maple along the boulevard for Evergreen Townhome Association. We have an incredible sale on our balled and burlapped trees from 2009 right now and even with hiring our crews to plant them for you – it’s still a tremendous bargain!
When we are hired to plant the trees for you – the only thing left for you to do is to keep it watered. We plant it, fertilize, stake and rope it if needed, and apply a layer of mulch.
If a larger tree is not in your budget – we have trees in small #1 containers all the way up to a #25 container, in addition to the larger balled and burlapped trees. We try to have a selection available to fit most any budget. For even larger trees- we do have hundreds of in-ground trees as well.
Check out our plant list for the many varieties of trees we carry – over 300 varieties. Stop in soon for the best selection!
We normally think of beautiful spring flowers as crocus, tulips, daffodils, flowering crabs, magnolias, plums, cherries and redbuds. One of my spring favorites is often overlooked.
Red Maple trees (Acer rubrum) quietly put on a wonderful show of beautiful red flowers each spring, long before their leaves emerge. Preferring mildly to strongly acidic soil, Red Maple trees and their popular hybrids push out early spring flowers that cover the canopy of the trees in a beautiful mantle of lacy red.
The spring color show generally lasts for one to two weeks, and depending on the way spring weather breaks, can begin at the end of March or as late as mid-April. Take time this early spring to enjoy the show put on by rubrum maples. The lovely spring color is a good reminder of the fantastic fall colors of yellow, orange, red and magenta that Red Maples give us every autumn.
I have also blogged this article on the Northfield News website.
Spring tree harvest is under way at the nursery. This means that if you have been thinking about moving some trees or shrubs around your property, the next 15 or 20 days will be your best opportunity of the year for most varieties.
If you are able to move plants before they leaf out, the buds that swell up after you transplant will send a hormonal signal to the cut roots to begin very rapid growth of tiny new roots out into the surrounding soil.
Make sure to dig your planting holes extra wide so the new roots will have plenty of soft soil through which they can penetrate. Avoid heavy packing of the soil you fill around your relocated plant. Waterings and rainfall will settle the soil just fine.
Your plants will be especially happy if you mix some slow release fertilizer into the backfill soil before you bank it in around the roots. Be sure to plant no deeper than the depth at which the plant was growing in its previous location. Remember – even though it’s not a “new” plant for you, it has been newly transplanted so you will need to water it all season as if it were a brand new plant.
You’ll find this blog also posted on the blog post for the Northfield News.
The following blog article was submitted by Heidi Brosseau – our retail manager….
A new perennial that we haven’t carried before has already pushed itself onto my favorites list.
Silene ‘Rollie’s Favorite’ aka Campion has already started to fill it’s pots and open up it’s brilliant pink flowers. It is going to keep blooming right through spring and summer, attracting oodles of butterflies. It grows in clean compact mounds that reach about 18″ tall in full to part sun.
Sounds great so far doesn’t it? In addition to all these amazing attributes, it has a little Minnesotan in it. Hardy from Zones 3 to 9, it will survive a minus 40 degree winter. It has quickly impressed me in the greenhouse. I’m sure it will become a favorite to many in no time. This perennial would be beautiful with deep blue Salvias, bright blue Forget Me Nots, or vivid yellow Coreopsis and a wonderful addition to container plantings. Stop by the nursery soon to pick yours up – I don’t think they’ll last very long!
This is a great time to cut firewood. With the early snow melt, and cooler or slightly below freezing nights, it may be possible to get to some of those dead trees you’ve had your eye one.
Even if you can’t drive right to the trees due to soggy ground conditions, you can carry in your saw, gas and a small tool box and enjoy an hour or two of pleasant work dropping and slicing/dicing trees into convenient lengths. I have always preferred to split the blocks of wood out in the woods before loading. In this way the mess stays in the woods and I can load, unload and stack lighter pieces of wood, means less effort and less risk of back injuries.
You will get the great benefits of more heat and cleaner burning if you are able to dry your wood for two years prior to use. By working ahead two to three years, everything about making and using firewood gets easier and more satisfying.
If you are cutting ash trees, be sure not to move the firewood out of Rice County. This will be a habit we should all observe from now on to minimize the chances of spreading Emerald Ash Borer to un-infested areas. While no infestations have been found in Rice County, this new way of handling wood from ash tree should become standard procedure for all of us. Read More »
Do you need a hostess gift for Easter or another spring event? We have these cute little spring planters with Hyacinth bulbs in that are just the way to say “thank you”. They’re only $6.99 – perhaps get one just for yourself – while supplies last. They’ll be up and blooming in no time!
We have our plant material uncovered from it’s winter storage and will be working over the next two weeks on getting it into position in our sales blocks and production blocks. Our designers are also busy working on plans and consultations for customers.
We are here now from 8 am to 4:30 Monday through Friday and will be here from 8 am to 4 pm on Saturday March 27th and Saturday April 3rd while we’re getting organized and ready to go. We are selling trees and shrubs – actually last week we sold several of our large B&B trees that are currently on sale! Beginning on Monday, April 4th, we will once again be open 7 days a week – from 8 am to 6pm M-F, 8 am to 5 pm on Saturday and our Sunday hours will be 10 am to 4 pm.
We look forward to seeing you all this spring!
The heavy and deep snowpack we had this winter means there is very little frost in the ground. Even though it has seemed as if winter will never end, and all the plants will wake up late, we just might see buds swelling at normal or slightly earlier than normal dates since many trees and shrubs will be able to have root systems activate in unfrozen ground.
The last day or two, I’ve noticed that puddles of melt water were disappearing rapidly. This also speaks to the large amounts of unfrozen ground beneath of those snowbanks. Crocuses on southern exposures are now blooming, so spring is right around the corner!
We all are looking out at our lawns that were hidden for so long. My lawn definitely needs a little TLC once it dries up. In addition to the light spring raking that we’ll need to do – we have many little mouse tunnels several places in the lawn. The mice were able to tunnel from place to place underneath the snow this winter and were safe from the predators. We have one little mouse racetrack off the corner of the house that we will actually need to fill with soil and seed. Read More »
March 17, 2010 – 11:29 am
What’s so exciting about this picture? This is what the crabapples (berries) on our Red Jewel Flowering Crab are looking like today! March 17th! They are still a very bright red – with a few a little bleaker looking. What a fantastic tree! The Red Jewel is an ornamental tree that fits in smaller spaces. We have it planted right next to our front door, so going in and out all year we see it. In the spring, we are delighted with the white flowers while it is blooming, in the summer it sports the glossiest green leaves and mid fall, the apples start to turn a brilliant red which lasts all the way to spring. The name ‘Red Jewel’ promotes the color of the fruit and not the blossom.
It reaches a height of only 15′ and a width of 12′ – meaning 6′ in any direction. This enables you to plant it closer to either the house, deck, patio area – whatever you have which makes it the perfect tree for smaller places. The fruit is smaller – 1/2″ in diameter and is persistant. It hangs on all the way to spring (pictured) and will simply dry up and fall off when the tree starts it’s new growing cycle. Our tree is closer than 6′ to our house, and we know we will need to prune the back branches more frequently, but for the effect we wanted, we chose to plant it closer.
Spring is almost here and the crabapples will be blossoming before we know it! When you’re looking to plant a new ornamental tree – keep this little “jewel” in mind! We will be having a great selection of the Red Jewel available.
We have a new landscape designer! John Oehlenschlager, along with our lead designer Kristin Lucas are both busy setting up appointments and booking landscape jobs! Check out our specials page – they are offering an early-bird discount for plans drawn before April 1st!
John comes with 24 years of experience – as a designer and a landscape installer! His specialty is hardscapes and we are very excited to have him on board!
Check out our Landscaping Page for more information on our design services! Even if you don’t need a landscape plan drawn up, our landscape consultations are a very valuable service! Give us a call and you can discuss your landscaping needs with Kristin or John!
Spring has arrived in the greenhouses! We have been planting perennial plugs for the last several days and the houses are filling up quickly. We’ll have the usual go-to perennials, but we have many of the newest releases coming this spring as well. I asked Heidi – our retail manager – what she was excited about so far in the ones that they have potted up, and she said the Jade Phlox and the Geums looked awesome, but the one she sounded most excited about was the Red Knee High Echinacea. A deep, deep pink color with a mature height of 24″ makes this an echinacea for use in front of the taller perennials or shrubs where a more compact plant is needed.
Our plant lists have all been updated with the plants available now in 2010, and our Plant Search has many of these plants on it and will be soon updated with many more.
Did you know that there are many new varieties of Elm trees now available that have very high resistance to Dutch Elm Diease? At long last, we will once again begin to see stately Elms offering the benefits of their rapid growth and cooling shade. Elms are fast growing trees that offer plenty of shade.
We have many varieties of the disease resistant Elms available including Danada Charm, Frontier, New Horizon, Princeton, Prospector, Triumph, Valley Forge and Vanguard. The two stand-outs on this list are the Princeton American Elm and New Horizon.
Princeton American Elm – a true American Elm with a classic elm vase-shape and large leathery foliage. The National Arboretum ranks the ‘Princeton’ Elm as one of the top American Elms that shows excellent disease resistance. When you purchase a ‘Princeton’ Elm ask for your “Owner Certificate” for planting an American Elm! 120 Princeton Elms were planted along Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House – why not think of planting one at your house??
New Horizon Elm – This is an Elm hybrid with a compact growth habit and an upright form. It’s adaptable to a wide range of soils and is very tolerant of urban conditions.
The time period from mid-March to mid-April is especially good for pruning trees. With no leaves on the trees, it is much easier to evaluate the structure of the tree, choosing weakly attached branches for removal and leaving strongly attached branches to become the permanent framework. The next month is also a good time for pruning Oaks and Elms, since there is a far lower chance of infection of the pruning cuts to cause Oak Wilt and Dutch Elm disease, than during the warm season from may through mid-October.
Last April in my Blog Post, I discussed tree pruning — rather than re-writing another post – I am bringing it back this year. It is so relevant and after a long winter, everyone is anxious to get outside and get something done and pruning your trees might be on your list. The following is my blog post from April 15th of last year.
During late winter and early spring yards and gardens can often look their worst. The grass is brown and sometimes damaged by winter stress, pets, de-icing products leaking off sidewalks, driveways and streets, snow plows, squirrels, and even foot traffic. The tops of perennials that may have provided some winter interest are now tired and faded. Interesting shrubs, vines and ornamental trees such as Winterberry, Bittersweet, High bush Cranberry, Mtn. Ash and certain flowering crabs that displayed beautiful red fruits all winter long now have finally faded. Certain evergreen trees and shrubs show ugly browning foliage due to winter burn. Read More »
