Knecht’s

This medium to slightly larger than average sized shrub offers rich purplish foliage and vigorous growth. Handsome clusters of small red buds open to small white blossoms on old wood, and the plant can be cut back aggressively to both maintain a desired size and stimulate vibrant fresh foliar growth.

Best planted in full sun, Diablo will perform quite well in half day sun. Allow plenty of room for these shrubs which can quickly grow to 6 to 8 feet tall and wide, as it provides a rich color complement to the earth tone colors found in many new dwellings.

See our complete listing of shrubs for more options.

Leif has a new article posted in the library. It begins:

The environment in which we live can make all the difference in our health, happiness and energy levels. We understand very well how changes in working conditions, sleep patterns, eating habits, interpersonal relations, mobility and the conditions of our living quarters can have a big impact on how we feel and function.

At the nursery the tens of thousands of plants in containers create a unique environment that we might not think of as the perfect place to settle down and call home. Despite our human perceptions, each season we have a variety of wild creatures adopt our container plants as their nesting ground and new home.

In addition to the expected mice and rabbits, we regularly find ducks, robins, wrens, blue birds, squirrels, raccoons, ground hogs, and deer staking out territory to raise their young, or deciding that our nursery stock is a first class buffet line.

Leif’s articles appear in the Wednesday edition of the Northfield News, in the Farm and Garden section, just behind the sports page. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.

Last Wednesday I had been listening to the radio and they were reporting that the cold front was coming in the from the northwest, and that it was raining up in St. Cloud and all of that, and that the front was going to the come through the Cities and to the north somewhat. About 5:00 pm, it was getting cloudier and then the wind picked up and turned either into a mini-tornado or a huge downburst or something. It lasted all of 35 seconds, but the trees in front of the office here were at a right angle, and the havoc that the wind can do in such a short time is truly awesome.

We had some damage to alot of our container production areas, especially where trees came down on top of the fence, and consequently on top of our containers, but the worst damage was in our shade garden and hosta production areas. As you can see by the photos - we lost several big trees. (See more storm damage photos in the Summer 2004 gallery.)

Since we know of a source for good quality trees, we are turning this into an opportunity since the old “farmstead” trees are no longer there, and we’re going to plant several different varieties of trees we sell in our display. In addition to seeing the shade garden, our customers will now be able to see larger versions of the trees we sell in containers.

It makes you aware so much of how devastating a F5 tornado must be. The noise on this windstorm and the damage it caused made you sit up and take notice. I can’t think of what an F5 would be like. I think I’ve seen about as much wind as I’d like to for awhile!

Leif has a new article posted in the library. Here’s the first paragraph:

The official beginning of summer on June 21st means that good opportunities for landscaping projects lie ahead. With the long days this time of year plants that are properly planted and receive adequate and consistent water can really root into their new locations in a hurry. The whole plant world is in high gear. With 15 ½ hours of daylight, plants mushroom in size both above and below ground when soil, sunlight, moisture and nutrient availability are ideal. It never ceases to amaze me just hoe much root growth can occur in a short time when everything is to the liking of the plant.

Leif’s articles appear in the Wednesday edition of the Northfield News, in the Farm and Garden section, just behind the sports page. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.

These hardy, sun loving shrubs can be excellent choices for areas with lots of sun. Easy to prune to the size you desire, most potentillas will repeat bloom if sheared back lightly after the initial blood period in June. Modest in stature, potentillas can be nice performers in the 18 inch to 3 foot size range.

See our complete listing of shrubs for more options.

There’s still plenty of summer left to add color to your yard. Our new e-coupon, good until the the 1st of July, is as follows:

(Click here for a printer-friendly page)

Click here for a printer-friendly page.

These annuals are so familiar as container plants that we might sometimes forget to use them for our sunny area planting beds. Fertilize and deeply till a bed and mass some geraniums for a summer long feast of color. This is one plant you will want to remember to deadhead consistently to promote season long blossom production. No time to deadhead? Try impatiens, begonias, and petunias, as these prolific annuals are self-cleaning where spent blossoms are concerned.
See our complete listing of plants for more.

Leif has a new article posted in the library. Here’s the first paragraph:

Just over a month ago we were quite concerned about the drought conditions which had developed over the previous ten months. An amazing run of cool and very rainy weather has brought a complete turn around to overly wet soils and whole new set of challenges for farmers and gardeners alike. While gardeners may be facing the decision of whether or not to apply a fungicide to various landscape plants to control foliar diseases, farmers may face the prospect of yield losses due to root rot, shallow rooting, and a few areas where ponding of water has killed young plants. The irony is that with all this rain and the recharge of soil moisture that has taken place, some of the row crops might still suffer from lack of moisture later in the season if July and August rains are not timely and adequate. This is because plants that fail to establish deep roots during an early season wet spell may not be able to do so later in the season if a dry weather pattern returns.

Leif’s articles appear in the Wednesday edition of the Northfield News, in the Farm and Garden section, just behind the sports page. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.

We’ve started posting Leif’s essays as PDFs, as that format is more universally viewable than Word docs.

Most current web browsers can view PDFs right within a browser window. See the Adobe Reader support site for more.

Decades of intensive breeding efforts have resulted in the availability of many excellent and low maintenance varieties of shrub roses, most of which have long blooming periods or blossom repeatedly throughout the season.

They are no more difficult to maintain than other shrubs, but will need direct sunlight for as many hours per day as possible in order to produce prolific and sustained blooms.

One annual pruning is usually enough to provide good results — usually in early to mid-spring.

See our complete listing of shrubs for more options.

Leif has a new article posted in the library. Here’s the first paragraph:

If some of your warm season crops such as squash, cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins were lost to root rot during the prolonged cool wet spell the last three weeks of May, make a new mound of fresh soil not far from the first attempt and re-plant. If you are able to use a variety with a shorter number of days to maturity, it could be advantageous, but there is still a good chance that normal maturity varieties will give full production if planted in the next few days.

Leif’s articles appear in the Wednesday edition of the Northfield News, in the Farm and Garden section, just behind the sports page. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.

Many people have thoughts of what they’d like to have in their yard - or they see a plant that they really like, and then it’s a harder decision on what to put with it to give their yard just the right look.

Matt and Nikki Schemmel along with Zachary pulled out several shrubs and arranged them on one of our drive lanes to see how they looked together. We encourage all of our customers to do this - it really helps them visualize just how things will look together!

If you are thinking of a landscape project, stop out to the nursery. If you want to just “get away” for a few minutes, stop out and stroll through our display gardens - they are looking fantastic right now.

We surpassed a sales record for May and we’d like to thank all of our wonderful customers for their business. Our website is being visited by more and more people all the time. To thank all of our customers who visit the website, the following is our coupon for the first two weeks of June!

(Click here for a printer-friendly page)

Click here for a printer-friendly page.

Petunias - An oldie, but goodie. Petunias have profuse blossoms all season long and lots of colors to choose from. You should plant petunias in plenty of sun.

We had a great Memorial Weekend even with all of the rain and cloudy weather. The nicer weather on Monday provided for a busy day. My daughter called and was having problems finding a babysitter when she needed to work Monday night, so she brought the boys up to the nursery. Jordan, 4, and Tyger, 1 1/2, are so much fun. We enjoy every moment we spend with them.

Once we had locked the gate and everyone else had gone home, Heidi Gervais (our retail manager), Leif and the boys, got out Heidi’s kite. This was the first time the boys had flown a kite and the look of awe on their faces was truly a treasure!

Once we got home, the boys had to “drive” Grandma’s lawn mower. Jordan wasn’t sure if he really wanted to share with his little brother or not. They spent the night and Mom came the next morning to pick them up. Jordan says he’s going to work with Grandpa when he gets a little bigger!