Heavy winds on May 17th and 18th when the new leaves of some trees are very thin and tender has caused some tearing and racking of the tissue of the leaves. Some leaves get torn off and others lose a piece or two of the leaf, which results in leaf litter on the ground. Within [...]
Crimson Sunset Maple (Acer truncatum x Acer platanoides PP21838) is a nice edition to the maple varieties that have colorful reddish/burgundy leaves. Intitial field trials at North Dakota State University have been encouraging which is especially good news since Crimson Sunset Maple has so many fine qualities that make it attractive for use in urband [...]
Magic Carpet Spirea continues to rank as one of my favorite shrubs because of its multiple color phases throughout the growing season, ease of maintenance and modest size. With a rated size of 18″-24″, Magic Carpet Spirea is very useful in smaller spaces in the landscape. In very good quality soils, Magic Carpet may grow [...]
Cardinal Redtwig Dogwood has long been my favorite variety of red twig dogwood because of it’s vigorous growth, ability to grow in a wide variety of soil types, and its electric orange/red winter twig color. While most red twig dogwood varieties have a nice burgundy with a tinge of red winter stem color, Cardinal Red [...]
Long range forecasts look pretty good, so in all likelihood, annual flowers and veggies planted now will escape frosts. Enjoy your time in the garden as you paint the landscape with the nonstop color of annual flowers. This year at Knecht’s Nurseries, we are featuring a brand new line of extra large cell annuals that [...]
Many landscape plants broke dormancy extraordinarily early this year, and had new growth or swelled buds that were damaged by a hard freeze several weeks ago. Many plants had new growth shrivel and turn brown or black. Now we are seeing that many of these plants are putting out a second push of new growth [...]
It’s safe to plant elm trees! Now that many excellent varieties have been developed that are extremely resistant to Dutch Elm Disease. You can plant Elms with confidence. Triumph Elm is a complex hybrid elm that has been extensively tested and proved itself to rank very high in its resistance to Dutch Elm Disease. Not [...]
White barked birch trees have long been among the most graceful and eye catching landscape trees, and Renaissance Oasis Paper Birch ranks among the best choices for use in the upper Midwest. Oasis Paper Birch grows quickly, tolerating a fairly wide range of soil types, and as stems increase to a diameter of 2″ to [...]
Bloomerang Dwarf Lilac is creating a stir in the gardening world. Like it’s close cousins the dwarf lilac category, Bloomerang Lilac displays nice fine textured foliage, fragrant lilac blossoms, and most notable of all, blooms more than once during the growing season! With a compact and mounded shape, Bloomerang Lilac fits well as a foundation [...]
The mild winter and extremely early start to the 2012 growing season has been both very enjoyable and extremely challenging at Knecht’s Nurseries. A very warm February and early March forced us to uncover protected plant materials almost a month early. More abnormally warm weather throughout March got most trees and shrubs to break dormancy [...]
Autumn Spire Maple While maples are among the most favored of shade trees, due to good form and nice fall color, many produce seed crops most years. Happily, there are a handful of seedless maple varieties currently available for people who want to avoid seed litter. Fast growing and colorful hybrid maple varieties that are [...]
After prolonged and record warmth in March this year, we have experienced a fairly hard frost/freeze that many of us dreaded as we watched landsape plants of all types leaf out and blossom to begin their spring growth spurt 3-4 weeks ahead of normal. How much damage your plants suffer will depend very much on [...]
Autumn Blaze Maple – Great Color Times Two! Over the last 15 years, Autumn Blaze Maple has gained widespread popularity as a fast growing shade tree with excellent red fall color. Tolerant of a wide variety of soil types, and climates from frigid Zone 3 to a balmy zone 8. Autumn Blaze Maple rapidly develops [...]
With the memory of our mild Minnesota winter rapidly fading and the grass growing greener by the day, you may be feeling the need for a little something to chase away the last of the winter blahs. A color burst from the Rhododendron family may be just the thing to perk you up! Winter hardy [...]
Winter hardy Magnolias are bursting into bloom all across southern Minnesota. A few days after the bright yellow color bursts of the Fosythias start, the Magnolias swell and unfold their visual feasts of white/pink and reddish purple blossoms. Royal Star Magnolia and Merrill’s Magnolia sport pure white blossoms, while Leonard Messel Magnolia delights the eye [...]
