February 6, 2012 – 10:45 am
Red Sprite Winterberry
Winterberry is one of my favorite shrubs for great winter color. During a time of year when color is usually in short supply, a nice mass of winterberry can light up the landscape with beautiful red and orange colored berries.
As summer draws to an end, the 1/4″ inch berries that cluster in large numbers along the stems begin to turn from light green to bright orange or red. Partially hidden bybeautiful green foliage, the beauty of winterberry shrubs really becomes evident when the leaves drop off as they enter dormancy in preparation for winter.
From mid-September to late January each year, my heart feels a little lighter as I walk past the beautiful Red Sprite Winterberries framing the right side of my front entry at home. Perhaps winterberry can add a smile to your face if you include this fix of color to your winter landscape.
The female winterberry shrubs are the ones that have the showy fruit displays. To produce the colorful berries, they must be pollinated in springtime by the pollen from a male winterberry.
The varieties we have seen do well in southern Minnesota are Red Sprite, Afterglow, Berry Heavy and Berry Nice. These are all pollinated by a male variety named Jim Dandy. Winterberries are native in Minnesota. We have been watching a cluster of native Winterberry on a portage in the Boundary Waters now for years. The size of winterberry shrubs can be from 3′ in height to 8′ – depending on the variety. Width 3′ up to 8′ as well.
Check out a complete listing of the shrubs we carry on our Plant page. When doing your plant “wish lists” keep in mind the definite need to winter interest in your landscape.
January 25, 2012 – 4:18 pm
Despite these changes, caution is advised if you don’t want to run the risk of losing plant materials that may be marginally zone hardy. On the other hand, it can be an awful lot of fun to experiment with marginal plants that can sometimes be a nice surprise on hardiness and a visual delight. We’re happy to visit with you about this subject concerning plants you might consider that are “on the edge”.
January 23, 2012 – 12:24 pm
In 5 short weeks – we start up our greenhouses and hit the ground running. Next week, we have two full-time people coming back already! We are beginning our hiring process for the upcoming season. The following are the jobs available at the current time:
Retail Sales Asst. Manager – Fulltime Previous sales expereience and knowledge of plant material IS REQUIRED!
Nursery Production Asst. Manager – Fulltime Previous horticulture experience is required
Watering – Parttime Work hours would be mornings – 3-4 hours per shift. Watering container plants and plant maintenance
All positions are outdoor positions. Must possess the ability to tolerate all weather conditions. Must be able to safely lift up to 60 pounds. All positions will require weekend hours. Weekends are rotated. Wages are commensurate with experience.
Job applications can be picked up here at the nursery. Week of January 23rd – Mon – Fri. – 9 am to Noon. Week of January 28th and after – Mon – Fri. 8 am to 4 pm. Job interviews will be scheduled starting the week of January 28th.
January 12, 2012 – 10:08 am
- ‘Karl Foerster’ Feather Reed Grass
Now that winter is here – finally – we can think in terms of winter. Now is the time to look around at your garden, at gardens of others, in parks, around commercial buildings – anywhere you see plants that catch your eye. We need to plant in the growing season with winter in mind.
Ornamental grasses have become one of my favorite perennials since they offer so much – for such a long time. You cut these down in the late winter – early spring depending on the weather – and they then start their new growing season. After 6-8 weeks – you will again see your ornamental grass and you will be enjoying it for 10 months! Amazing for perennials in Minnesota!
‘Karl Foerster’ – officially known as Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ is a stunning example of ornamental grasses. This grass will reach a height of approximately 5′ once the blooms come out in mid-summer. The spread is only about 2 feet in diameter. The blooms are a soft beige tone and once opened up – will be almost white and feathery. We have found this grass to have excellent standability after snows here in Minnesota, bouncing back to continue to delight the gardener.
They make excellent background plants with shorter perennials in the foreground and also can provide a natural fence of sorts. Tolerating partial shade – reed grasses tend to flop and bloom less if not in full sun. This variety of ornamental grass will adapt to moister soil conditions but do best planted in well drained soil conditions. Karl Foerster was named the perennial of the year in 2001 by the
Perennial Plant Association. To be selected as perennial of the year, a plant has to demonstrate the ability to grow in a wide variety of situations, multi-steason interest, availability and more!
This picture was taken in our meadow last winter. You can see the beauty of the grass against the snow, and beyond is our collection of dogwood and flame willow with their red to orange stems giving the winter landscape a pop of color! We’ll have ‘Karl Foerster’ available come spring! Start making your wish list now!
Visit our
Perennial Plant List on our Plant Page to see a listing of all of the perennials we’ll have available this year!
January 2, 2012 – 8:09 pm
Blue Beech in Big Woods State Park
Blue Beech is a lovely small native understory/edge tree that is not well known, but deserves to be used more often in southern Minnesota landscapes. Characterized by smooth grey/blue bark that covers the undulating wavy trunk wood, an appearance developes that resembles the rippling muscles and sinews of a body builder’s forearm, earning this interesting native tree it’s other common name of Musclewood.
Fall color of the Blue Beech
Botanically named Carpinus Caroliniana, Blue Beech occasionally can be found growing wild in remnants of the Big Woods deciduous forest dominated by Oak, Maple and Basswood. A native size of 20-30 feet tall by 20-30 feet wide, makes Blue Beech a good choice where a native tree of modest size is desired for a small area, perhaps to lend a mid-level architecture to a shade garden.
My favorite features of Blue Beech are the very pronounced veins that give the leaves outstanding texture, and the lovely ornamental seed heads that hang on the tree for several months with splayed petals similar to a fuschia. An outstanding mix of yellow/orange and red fall color is yet another reason to consider including Blue Beech in your landscape
Visit our Ornamental Tree Lists on our Plant Page for a listing of other trees we have available.
November 30, 2011 – 7:49 am
Our December office hours are Monday through Thursday – 9 am to 1 pm. We do answer phone messages and e-mails 7 days a week – so if you’re in need of firewood or gift certificates – we’ll get back to you right away! Gift Certificates can be mailed out (to you or to the recipient) anytime or we can arranage a time for them to be picked up if the office hours don’t work for you!
We’ll be closed from December 23rd through January 1st. We’ll be back in the office on January 2nd!!
November 30, 2011 – 7:41 am
We have a limited amount of super dry firewood left for sale. This is all hardwood that has been cut, split and drying for three years. A fireplace cord – or face cord – when stacked is 8 feet long, 4 feet high and 15″-18″ wide, sells for $175 delivered to a Northfield address. Outside of Northfield – call for delivery costs. This is exceptional wood! Most of the wood in this photo has been sold – except for just a few loads.
Firewood makes a great Christmas gift as well!
November 23, 2011 – 10:28 am
We want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
We will be closed from Wednesday November 23rd through Sunday, November 27th.
November 21, 2011 – 2:00 pm
We have gift certificates available for your holiday gift ideas! What’s better than to give a gift that can be used for flowers in the spring – a tree for the yard – for shrubs around the house .. the list could be endless! We can do gift certificates in any amount. We will mail them to you – to your recipient – or if you need to pick them up on hours we aren’t here – we can usually make arrangements to be here for you to pick one up! Give us a call or drop us an e-mail and we’ll take this one off your list!
Irrigation System Operator/Technician. Experience not needed. Perfect for the retired/semi-retired person. Work 12-20 hours per week April thru October in the mornings. Must be able to do a lot of walking, bending and stooping to activate valves and make corrections/replacements and/or repairs to the system on poorly functioning irrigation spray stakes and lines. Closely observing plants to determine how much to irrigate and where to make the upgrades. We will train the person hired. This is a fairly light duty work position requiring the ability to be detail oriented and consistent.
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’™The 2012 Perennial Plant of the Year! May we introduce you to 
