February 21, 2009 – 9:45 am
Bluto, the garden toad is ready for spring. He’s anxious for warmer weather! December and January were cold and snowy. February provided a reprieve with warmer temperatures, not alot of snow (until last night) and warmer temperatures. The snow melted in the open areas and people were beginning to optimistically look to spring!
There are many ways to get a jump start on spring! Start planning your annual flower beds, containers and hanging baskets. I read an article from one of our wholesalers that the colors that are going to be popular this year with annual plantings will be yellow with blue and purple accents. Yellow is the color of hope! Perhaps if we all plant yellow flowers things all around the world will turn around and head in the right direction! Make your lists of the colors, the numbers, plants that you like and so on. Hang onto the list and when the weather warms up – you’ll be ready.
Our lead designer, Kristin Lucas is offering a special for landscape design. The details are on our “Specials Page”. A facelift to your current landscape may be in order and even if it’s a smaller area, having a design to work from is the right way to start. Consulting with a designer this time of year will give you a more leisurely pace to start your conversations and by the time the ground thaws – you’ll know what you want to do and you can dig right in!
Don’t dispair Bluto – the snow will melt soon and you’ll once again be sitting in the garden among the many annuals and perennials!
January 21, 2009 – 5:05 pm
On Monday, we took a few hours to head to St. Paul to the Como Park Conservatory. It was the last day of their featured Rainforest Display and the winter Poinsettia display in the Sunken Garden. The flowers were still perfect – and this was the last day of the exhibit!
The next transition in the Sunken Garden is the Winter Flower Show which starts on January 30th. There is an orchid display this weekend in conjunction with the St. Paul Winter Carnival also at the Conservatory.
The “weather” in the Conservatory definitely sets Spring Fever in full gear. Even though the holiday flowers still abounded -the displays had Coleus and Begonias mixed in – which being annuals, made us think of spring.
The begonias in the photo here are just some of the many that we’ll have available in the spring. With the cold weather, spring gardens seem a long ways off – but spring will be here before we know it. Start thinking now about what you want for colors in your annuals this upcoming season – what perennials you want to move around – some new places for new plants… start dreaming!
September 7, 2008 – 10:20 am
Our spring bulb assortment just arrived!
We have tulips, daffodils, narcissi, hyacinth, crocus, allium, muscari and scilla bulbs ready for your fall planting. These will add a riot of color to your spring garden.
We have tulips in several colors including a two toned maroon and gold – the Northfield school colors! We also have blue tulips and gold, for Carleton’s school colors and black tulips and gold ones for the St. Olaf school colors.
If you have a special event planned for next spring and you would like to have the school colors in your garden – plan now and get them planted this fall!
Bulbs can be planted safely anytime in September and October. You should plan out where you want your bulbs planted and with the other plants in your garden that will also blossom in the spring so you can have an incredible color display. You will get the best results with bulbs if you plant them in clusters of several bulbs together.
Now is a great time to start planning your beds for the spring of 2009! By now you know what did and didn’t work this season and you can also see what other people have done and how it’s doing. I can take full credit for very few combinations of annuals and perennials – most have been found by trial and error on my part or on the part of a fellow gardener. 
So, make those notes now, take those pictures, and let yourself start dreaming about those colors, textures and combinations that are yet to be.
Pictured here is a glorious Morning Glory. A blue that true will make anyone stop and take notice. It’s like the sky dropped a little piece of itself and it landed on our trellis. These Morning Glory vines may be annuals but they are wonderfully vigorous and fast growing climbers that can make quick work of a trellis or an arbor. This year we planted them on the same trellis as our porcelain vine so that the trellis would fill in more quickly but also to extend the bloom season.
(The above article was submitted by Heidi Gervais – our retail manager)
Everyone wants to get into the yard and garden now with at least a hint of warmer weather…. Leif’s article from the Northfield News last Saturday highlights the different sequences for success in the garden………
A long winter and a scattering of nice days in April have most gardening enthusiasts eager to till and plant. The sequence of what you plant first and what you delay until later may determine the difference between success and disappointment.
April and the first half of May is a great time to plant cool season varieties of annuals, as well as trees and shrubs. Pansies, petunias, snap dragons, dianthus and alyssum are good choices for early season flowers. Cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, potatoes, radishes, lettuce and spinach are fairly safe early season vegetables that should prosper in cooler soil temperatures. Read More »
April 17, 2008 – 10:52 am
Nothing says spring more than the arrival of the pansies, snapdragons and the cool season vegetables. Our first shipment arrived today.
Pansies are hardy plants that withstand colder temperatures at night and can also handle a fair amount of shade. We usually plant pansies in the window boxes here on the office which is quite shady.
Plants arriving today include Alyssum, Dianthus, Dusty Miller, Lobelia, Pansies, Petunias, Snapdragons, Violas, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cabbage, & Collards.
Decorate your window boxes – put a few planters out – enjoy the bright colors of spring annuals. Even though these plants can tolerate the cool spring weather – you will still need to be prepared to protect them if the lows get down around 28 degrees or so.
Northfield retailers will be promoting their annual Crazy Days Sale on Thursday, July 24th starting at 7 am. We will be having over 50 varieties of trees, shrubs and perennials on sale at 50% off! 
