Knecht’s

It’s tulip time at the Gonnerman’s here in Northfield.  This afternoon, Leif and I took a little time and went and visited the backyard garden paradise of Fred Gonnerman.  From the street, you would never imagine that this was anything other than another beautiful old home in Northfield.  Enter the garden gate, and you are transferred into a private flower sanctuary!

Fred and his wife have lived here for 40 years and he has been an avid gardener ever since.  He has thousands of tulip bulbs planted throughout the gardens that wrap around the perimeter of his yard and in the little island gardens.  Grass pathways will lead you to discover more flowers around the next turn.

Fred and his wife live at 709 West Third Street in Northfield and they are opening up their gardens for all to see this weekend, May 16th through the 18th.  They say you don’t even need to knock - just open one of the two side gates and stroll around.

Yes - this is Northfield nice.  A big thank you to Fred and his wife for sharing their little slice of heaven with all of us!

Okay - it is getting warmer - we all want to get out and plant… So let’s see what’s doing the blooming…..

There are many spring perennials that add so much to our gardens but perhaps the best loved spring perennial is the bleeding heart or officially - “Dicentra”.  It is a part sun/part shade plant - and jumps out of the ground in the spring.  Even in this cold spring - my bleeding heart is almost a foot high already at home!

It produces these wonderful little pink and white flowers for several weeks, after which it will provide a nice green foliage plant until mid-summer.  After that time, it will begin it’s journey into dormancy and will most likely to brown by mid-August at which time I simply cut mine off and wait again till spring.

The picture here is of our grandson, Tyger, who when this picture was then was 2 years old.  A bleeding heart, given good well drained soil and the right light conditions will explode with vigor in the spring.

We have the old fashioned bleeding heart plants which are pictured here, as well as the White Bleeding Heart, the King of Hearts and Luxuriant varieties in this year!  Given the head start in the greenhouse - many are already blossoming and are ready to be planted in your garden!