Knecht’s

This Memorial Day will mark the first Memorial Day Service to be held at the new Northfield Veteran’s Memorial Park. The services will start at 9:00 am on Monday. The Veteran’s Memorial Park is located along Highway 3, in Riverside Park, in Northfield. The award winning memorial is a site to behold and is a wonderful memorial to our veterans. The committee worked hundreds of hours putting this together from a dream on a piece of paper to a reality that is second to none!

Jim Westlund, our landscape division manager and Luis Olave are planting a few more shrubs and are putting the finishing touches on some of the landscaping. We do want to encourage everyone to keep in mind what Memorial Day Weekend is all about - it’s not a three day weekend at the cabin or three days to work in the yard - it is a time when we all need to stand back - stop for a moment and to thank our lucky stars for these men and women who have given so much - many with their lives to keep our country free.

From all of us here at Knecht’s Nurseries & Landscaping - THANK YOU VETERANS.

One of the most stunning flowering crabapple varieties is the Prairie Rose Flowering Crab. It blossoms slightly later than the other crab trees and the rose-like flowering is amazingly beautiful. This tree will reach a mature height of 20′ x 20′ and it’s double, deep pink flowers are very fragrant. The tree originated in Michigan and the parent tree is fruitless. The other sterile tree (producing no fruit) is the Spring Snow - which blossoms white.

We have Prairie Rose available in #15 containers and #7 containers.

We have many flowering plants for Mother’s Day. The phone orders have already started and we will be delivering hanging baskets, patio pots, rose bushes and azaleas to moms all over town in the next few days.

We have just taken delivery on our “Blooming Roses”. These are rose bushes (shrub roses) that have been jump started in the greenhouse so they are blossoming in time for Mother’s Day. We have them in several colors!

The other plant that we have in our bud and bloom program for Mother’s Day is the Endless Summer Hydrangea. Endless Summer was developed by Bailey Nurseries and is an absolute must for your garden!

Our shipments of annuals just arrived this afternoon and we have just received an awesome shipment of Thumberia Vines in large containers! Wow! is the only word for them!

Come and shop for Mother’s Day and see all of our bloomers!

The Tina Flowering Crabapple is one of the many varieties that we have available here at the nursery. The Tina is a dwarf flowering crab - reaching a mature size of between 6′ and 8′ tall and wide. In the spring it is full of beautiful white blossoms which are followed by small red fruit in the fall. Very diesase resistant as well - you can’t miss if you plant a Tina Flowering Crab.

One of the most popular flowering crabapples is the Prairiefire Flowering Crab - reaching a mature height of 15′ to 18′ - and with a deep pink - almost red - flower. My favorite is the Red Jewel Flowering Crabapple. It is 15 tall by 12 wide so it is great planted next to a house or in smaller spaces. It has white blossoms and perhaps the reddest of the fruit in the fall.

The flowering crabs will be in full blossom this week and next here at the nursery! Now is the time to stop and check them out!

This morning we welcomed the guys and gals from the Rochester Garden and Flower Club to the nursery. These folks had lots of energy and were ready to shop! Hot cider and coffee took the chill off the early morning temps. Lots of annuals and perennials took a ride on the big charter bus back to Rochester. We extend our thanks for making us one of your stops today and we encourage all of you to stop back!

This Saturday - we are welcoming the Rochester Garden and Flower Club to the nursery. They are making us their first stop of the day on their annual spring bus tour. We will having coffee and cider ready for them! Casey - (my contact at the club) said that last year she sat next to a potted tree on the bus on the way back to Rochester from one of the garden centers they had stopped at! These folks have to be serious gardeners!

We welcome Garden Clubs to the nursery anytime! We take pride in having a very knoweldgeable sales staff, but when we have avid gardeners stop in - it seems that we always learn something from them as well!

The past month has been so hectic here, not enough hours in the day to get things done and we’re all tired! This morning while we were getting ready for the day - two bluebirds - a male and a female were trying to get into the birdhouse we have on the tree right outside of the office! How exciting! These birds are so incredibly beautiful we just sat back and declared that today was going to be a good day!

For more information on the Minnesota Bluebird Recovery Program - click here and it’ll link you to their website.

The Minnesota hardy Redbud is a gorgeous contribution to the spring color palette. We have a foursome of Redbud planted on the edge of one of our display gardens and it is in full blossom!

The Redbud will grow to approximately 20′ tall and wide, with a rounded shape. It’s blossoms come out in a rose/pink color ahead of the leaves. The Redbuds really need to be planted in well-drained soil and do very well in protected locations.

One of the old-time favorite spring perennials is the Bleeding Heart. Lovely pink and white flowers that hang out over a mound of lush green foliage and is a stalwart of the spring garden! When gardeners come into the nursery they all seem to have a story or a favorite memory of the Bleeding Heart. We have the pink and white or Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart and the White Bleeding Heart. They prefer well-drained soil and part shade.

I have spent the last two days getting our hosta collection ready for the spring season! We have over 200 varieties for sale and one of our favorites is the montana “Aureomarginata”. It is a large hosta - growing upwards of 30″ tall. It is a vigorous grower and illuminates the hosta garden with its vibrant gold and green coloration.