The number of summer blooming perennials is endless. In our display gardens the Gailardia and Coreopsis are blooming. These wonderful sun perennials are great as a single specimen plant or even better when massed for that big splash of color!
We have many different varieties of both of these perennials in stock. Stop in and check over the wide variety of perennials we carry. We have the largest perennial inventory in southern Minnesota!
This is a winter hardy Zone 4 cactus! One of our former employees, Debra Bjornard, gave us this cactus a few years ago and it loves its new home. It blossoms only a few days a year and the cactus is now in it’s glory! What a wonderful site!
We have over 50 feet along our driveway here at the nursery lined with common orange daylilies. The last few days have shown an explosion of orange along the hillside by the drive. What a great plant for naturalizing an area. We did it to help control erosion since the driveway is at the top of the hill and it seemed like with every rain, we had a new little gulley form. These orange wonders have performed their functional duty as well as their aesthetic duty as well!
Over the course of the growing season, we have birds in the birdhouses here at the nursery but we have all kinds of nests in the trees in the sales and productions areas of the nursery as well! This robin’s next is located right behind our office in a Linden tree. It had three eggs in it, but only one baby robin is now in the nest. The adult robin built the nest rather low in the tree and we think perhaps a nighttime visitor has pulled at the nest causing it to tip slightly and perhaps get the other two eggs.
Mama Robin did her “I’m hurt” act to steer me away from the nest. We’ll continue to watch the baby for the next few days and monitor his early days!
The challenge for shade gardeners is finding color in the shade. These photos show how we have incorporated yellows and greens next to our house which is in the woods and has all kinds of shade! We have a Golden Yew, Taunton Yews, Blondie Euonymous, Palace Purple Heuchura, Twist of Lime Hosta, and Paul’s Glory Hosta in this area.
To the right of the path is a new Liguilaria we have this year. It is green with bright yellow spots. It is not Zone 4, so this year I am treating it as an annual, but will mulch heavily this fall. Stay tuned on its arrival or non-arrival next spring.
So even with very little for flowering plants, we have a very bright spot along this side of the house. Around the corner, we have a large planting of Goldsturm Rudebekia and AnnaBelle Hydrangea. They’ll be blossoming soon. Keep in mind foliage color and texture when designing your shade garden!
Casey, a Vocational placement manager and Nathan from the EPIC Enterprises here in Northfield worked at the nursery for a few hours this week. EPIC Enterprises does vocational evaluations on individuals with disabilities to see what kind of work and conditions they can handle, as well as the individual discovering a little about different types of vocations that are available. Nathan watered plants, and according to Casey, also did some work out at CarTime in Northfield. The one thing we found out about Nathan was that he loves cars - (Fords to be exact). We wish him well as he continues his endeavors at finding out what type of job will fit him!
Our climbing rose in the display bed by our main greenhouse has exploded in blossoms this past week. It is awesome! Almost every customer who comes in remarks about it. The one photo shows the May Night Salvia blossoming in front, with Miscanthus Flame Grass behind the Salvia. One of our new mulches this year - Autumn Blaze Mulch is shown in the photo as well.
The Henry Kelsey Rose is in the Explorer Series of roses that were named after the trailblazers of the Canadian wild. The early breeding of these roses took place in Ottawa, Canada. The Explorer Series offer gardeners the perfect combination of salt tolerance, disease resistance, extreme hardiness and repeat blooming. This rose has long limber canes which makes it a wonderful climbing rose. It offers a rich spicy fragrance. It will reach a height of 6′-7′. As you can tell - it offers vivid red flowers!
Leif and I went to check out one of the field sites - our Radio Tower plot which is located on the north side of St. Olaf College.
When we drove in - this hawk was sitting on the sign and directly above him was a robin (with a worm in her mouth). I didn’t have my camera so he dropped me back at the nursery, I grabbed my camera and went back, and the hawk was still there. I sat and waited and watched these two carry on for about half an hour. What I initially thought of as the hawk was after the robin or her nest - the robin was actually after the hawk. The hawk finally flew to the east among the townhomes with the robin following.
We enlarged our garden here at the nursery this year - and the employees who want to help out will help enjoy the produce starting mid-summer! We tilled the garden up and applied 2-3 inches of composted cow manure from Wisconsin! After this was worked in, we took a high quality weed barrier fabric and laid down before we cut rows to plant in.
Here is the view form the one end looking down. We have radishes, onions, beets, carrots, potatoes, 25 tomato plants and a dozen or so assorted peppers in addition to the vine vegetables. The far middle section is where we have the vines. They will vine over the fabric and it is so nice to have clean vegetables that are full of mud, etc. when you pick them. The fabric helps keep the soil from splashing back on the tomatoes and peppers as well.
We’ll be watching the garden and showing its progression as the summer goes on. We’re excited about the tomatoes again. Last year was such a cold wet summer that our tomatoes didn’t really respond much. This summer looks a little better and we again planted them with a piece of banana peel. Two years ago - we had such large plants and tomatoes that went over 2 pounds each!
We have received several calls from customers that are concerned about their newly planted trees or shrubs. It’s a toss up as to what’s wrong, but it almost always comes back to watering. We always give out watering instructions when you purchase trees or shrubs so by all means read it thoroughly. However - some thoughts to remember…
1. Yes - we have had alot of rain - but around the Northfield area it is only a couple of tenths here and there and somedays it is during the course of several 5 minutes showers. The rain has to be enough to penetrate to the bottom of the plug of dirt that your plant has. Most shrubs will have a root ball anywhere from 10 to 20 inches deep. A quarter inch of rain is not going to get all the way through to the bottom of the root ball. You need to specifically water those new plants.
2. Please do not love your plants to death. They need to be watered - but don’t drown them. Keep in mind that the breathing roots on plants are typically within the first foot of the soil surface. If you saturate this by leaving the hose to trickle water - you don’t have any idea as to how much water you’ve given the plant. Most shrubs will need only a couple of gallons of water at each watering. A typical garden hose will pump out two gallons in about 20 seconds - you don’t need to let the hose run. To water 10 shrubs with 2 gallons of water each - will take you less than 3 minutes. Larger trees will need a little more water - check your watering instructions and know your soil conditions!
3. Mulching your plants will help retain moisture, control weed growth, keep lawn mowers and weed whips away, but it will also absorb that 1/4 inch of rain and nothing will get below to the root ball. Check the soil moisture if you’re not sure!
Please give us a call if you have questions concerning watering - we’ll be glad to answer them for you!
