See more shrubs on our Shrubs page.
Leif has a new article posted in the library. Here is the first paragraph:
Landscaping season usually extends into late November here in southern Minnesota, and as property owners watch the rush of activity to beat old man winter, some good questions come up concerning the best ways to get good results, and the reasons. This time of year construction sites can get pretty messy if wet weather moves in. As new homeowners contemplate going through a winter surrounded by a sea of mud, the desire to get landscaping in place, and sod down becomes a high priority!
Leif’s articles appear in the Saturday edition of the Northfield News, in the Home and Real Estate section. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.
We have been very busy the last few weeks! The number of trees leaving here is overwhelming. Fall is definitely a great time to think about planting trees, shrubs and perennials. Our 30% off sale will continue for a few more weeks. Our plan is that we will begin our overwintering process the week of November 8th and our plants will be “tucked in” their winter blankets on the 13th! We have a “Fall Planting Guideline” sheet that we give to customers when they buy plants now to take home which gives the information needed to make your fall plantings successful!
Bulbs can still be planted now as well. The winter may get long, but there’s nothing better than watching the early spring crocus sneak out of the melting snow with their bright yellow, white and purple flowers!
This morning I spent sometime at home before heading to the nursery waiting for my daughter to come and pick up the boys since we watched them last night. Once again, I was reminded why I love the fall. The colors of the American Highbush Cranberry are really showing their stuff right now. The leaves will fall in a few weeks, but we will be able to enjoy the red berries throughout the winter. Behind these bushes we have a large white pine. In the winter we get cardinals coming in and perching in the white pine. The reds of the birds and berries and the white snow make for many great winter memories. This is a reminder to all of us that we need to landscape for winter interest as well as just the growing season!
For those that follow our stories in the blog, know that we love the canoe country. A couple of years ago, we built a boulder garden at home - not a wall - but a garden where we have boulders like the canoe country, including several Ely greenstone boulders. We have planted various plants which are native to our area, but also some native to the canoe country. It is a garden that can be lived in - as is evidenced by my two little helpers here. For more information on this - give us a call or use our Contact Us page. We’ll be able to assist you in having a boulder garden at your home too!
We have featured Dogwoods as a plant spotlight a couple of different times – however, they are one plant that is definitely worth mentioning again. We always encourage people to think about the winter season when they pick plants for their landscape. The dogwoods provide excellent winter interest to the landscape with their brightly colored stems. The brilliant orange of the Cardinal Red Osier Dogwood (above), the red of the Red Twigged Dogwood to the yellow of the Yellow Twigged Dogwood! They tolerate many different types of soil, even wetter than average soil conditions! They are excellent bird habitat in the winter as well! Some dwarf varieties will go only 2-3′ in height while the standard dogwood may go as high as 10′! A great plant for naturalizing areas.
See more shrubs on our Shrubs page.
Leif has a new article posted in the library. Here is the first paragraph:
Moving of larger trees with tree spade trucks is in full swing and will likely continue up to about Thanksgiving. Make sure your first priority is to tree spade in high quality trees. It’s no bargain to get a larger tree installed if it is of poor quality. Contact a reputable nursery professional if you’d like assistance obtaining trees of suitable quality. If you till mulched leaves and other organic yard and garden waste into your soil, be sure to add a source of nitrogen to help the decomposition process over the winter. This will assist in the release of the valuable plant nutrients, and help avoid a nitrogen poor environment in the soil come spring. .
Leif’s articles appear in the Saturday edition of the Northfield News, in the Home and Real Estate section. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.
One of the calls that we get several times a day is “Where are you located?” While we give directions from the interstate, and Hwy 3 to get to us on Hwy 19 - we also say that we’re right across form the entrance to St. Olaf College. Now only if we could say what the following pictures show 365 days a year - that would be something. This is the view we have for several weeks every fall - it’s fun to work outside when you can look at this!
Yesterday was a special day for me. I took my two little grandsons on a train ride! Jim Machacek from Northfield is gracious enough to once a year - for a Saturday and Sunday afternoon to open up his hobby for all area residents to come out and go for a train ride on his collector steam engine railroad! My little guys had such a good time - the absolutely beautiful fall weather, fall colors and the popcorn at the trail station also helped! I’d like to say a big “Thank You” to Jim! It makes memories for so many people!
The stars of the late fall landscape are Red Oak (above) and Northern Pin Oak (below), both Minnesota natives. The red and rust tones of their fall color phase brighten the landscape and if you plant them in good soil, they will grow into beautiful specimen trees in just a few years time. Sturdy, hardy and stately, these oaks will add a touch of class to any property.
See more trees on our Shade trees page.
Leif has a new article posted in the library. Here is the first paragraph:
Recently, I’ve been admiring some of the lovely plantings of Asters around town and the countryside. Wild Asters have been decorating the road ditches the last couple of months with shades of white, blue, lavender and purple. Cultivated varieties of Asters have made some show stopping color statements with huge mounds of vivid purple.
Leif’s articles appear in the Saturday edition of the Northfield News, in the Home and Real Estate section. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.
With the fall color change taking place literally on a day to day basis - we are rapidly selling lots of trees! Here is a customer with two B&B trees about to head home to plant these in his front yard! With our 30% off sale in progress - you can get some great values on trees! The fantastic red color you see here is from the Autumn Fantasy Red Maple! Stop in to see all of the many varieties of Maples, Oaks, and more!
I have worked on a new album within our Photo Gallery. One on Fall colors! I’ve deleted a couple of pictures when I take a better one, and keep adding as I find more awesome displays of Fall color! Please take a few minutes and run the slideshow - it’s worth it.
Now is a great time to plant those trees, shrubs and perennials that will give you that fabulous display of fall color next year! If you have any questions on any of the plants featured in my photos - just Contact Us and I’ll get back to you. I’ll keep adding or changing photos all during the fall color change - keep looking!
We live out in the country and one of our goals initially with our acreage was to create a wildlife cover area for the deer, pheasants, turkeys and all the other wildlife. Approximately 15 years ago, we planted a row of Amur Maples as one of the windbreaks. The picture below is showing our Amur Maples in their fall display of color. This and many more photos are in the Fall Colorshow Album!
Fall is my most favorite season! The days start to get cooler, the air is crisp and the color change going from green to yellow, orange and red is wonderful! One of my best fall memories is out harvesting pumpkins with Leif. We used to grow several acres of pumpkins to sell in the fall, and now we have gotten too busy at the nursery to tend to a pumpkin patch so we buy them in from other local farmers.
However, going through the pumpkin patch that has been hit by a few frosts and picking the bright orange globes from between the browning, crisp leaves was such fun. We have all sizes of pumpkins, corn shocks, Indian corn, etc. available for sale here at the nursery.
Our fall sale is continuing. Starting October 1st and continuing until the end of the season - (mid-November) we have gone to 30% off on our container plants - trees, shrubs & perennials, including the B&B trees.
As a bonus to our internet customers - we are having a special internet sale on our balled and burlapped Holmstrup Arborvitae. These are great upright shaped arborvitae that grow well in the sun as well as in quite a bit of shade. They stay narrow - 2 to 3 feet in width and will grow from 5 to 10 feet in height. These are regularly $99 and we will extend a 40% discount while supplies last to our internet customers. All you need to do is mention that you read it in the blog newsletter and we’ll give you 40% instead of 30%!
Leif has a new article posted in the library. Here is the first paragraph:
Last week I touched on the topic of double digging landscape and garden beds as well as the great benefits of deep tillage to gardeners and farmers alike. This week, I’ll touch on variations of the same deep tillage concept which can also help with the shaping of outdoor spaces.
Leif’s articles appear in the Saturday edition of the Northfield News, in the Home and Real Estate section. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.
