INSIDE: DIY CUTTING GARDEN PLAN
Gardener Northern
A MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION
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SUMMER 2023 l VOLUME 151 l NUMBER 2
Table of Contents 30
38
A Collector’s Garden
Design Class
Something sparked Jill Stevens’ love for peonies—now she’s an expert with a garden filled with blooms. BY SARAH COLBURN
Let a native plant expert help you create a welcoming garden with common plants and uncommon savvy. BY BENJAMIN VOGT
SUMMER 35 YOUR GARDEN CHECKLIST It’s the heart of the growing season, so enjoy every minute of planting, watering, weeding and harvesting that your garden offers. After the winter of 2023, you have earned it. Here’s what to do during each of these glorious months. BY MARY LAHR SCHIER
IN THIS ISSUE 2 Director’s Note 4 MSHS News: Classes, calendar and more. 10 Garden Plan: Cottage Cutting Garden. By Amy Kainz 12 Plant Profile: ‘Montrose White’ calamint. By Matthew Olson
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A Passion for Martagons
Patience and a zeal for beauty inspire this amateur lily breeder. BY GAIL BROWN HUDSON
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50
Good-Looking Garden
Weird but Wonderful
Tasty and pretty, these nine vegetables deserve a spot next to your favorite flowers. BY JENNIFER RENSENBRINK
These wacky plants might grow on you, given a chance. BY MICHELLE MERO RIEDEL
14 Garden Hack: Check Your IDs. By Eric Johnson 16 Ask the Expert: What’s the Iris Blooming Problem? By Diane McGann 18 DIY: Pruning Artistry. By Kathy Purdy 20 Garden Solutions: What’s Wrong with My Lilacs? By Diane McGann 22 Growing Together: Front-Yard Farming. By Michelle Bruhn
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24 Kitchen Garden: Go Fig-ure! By Lee Reich
Friend Group
28 Pollinators: Meal Plan. By Beth Stetenfeld
BY KATHY PURDY
60 Before & After: Cabin Vibes. By Mary Lahr Schier
Meet your garden’s new BFF, easy-going geraniums.
ABOUT THE COVER: Brighten your summer garden with sea holly and other unusual plants. Page 50. Photo by Michelle Mero Riedel
New MSHS Executive Director Lara Lau-Schommer has a joy for gardening, no matter the task or the weather! Here she works at a community garden in St. Paul.
A NOTE FROM
The Director let’s be honest: gardeners get obsessed. For some of us, it’s growing that challenging houseplant and giving it all the care and the attention that it needs. For others, it’s native plants and pollinators; for still others, it’s hostas or growing as much food as we can to feed our families. This issue of Northern Gardener celebrates our many garden obsessions. Sarah Colburn introduces readers to Jill Stevens, a Central Minnesota gardener who started growing peonies and other plants to keep teenagers from drag racing on her property. Now she grows more than 1,000 peony varieties on her smalltown lot and is a peony expert. Read more on page 30. Rick Rodich is a trained horticulturist but his efforts to create new varieties of martagon lilies is a labor of love. Gail Brown Hudson gives us a look at how plants are hybridized and why martagons are so special to northern gardeners in her article on page 42. Benjamin Vogt’s obsession with creating native plant habitats has led to a book and a business. His article on how to create a beautiful and functional landscape bed using the plants you’re
Minnesota State Horticultural Society
MSHS Staff
likely to find in a nursery is a must-read for all native-plant lovers. Check page 38. Here at the hort society, we are obsessed with helping cold-climate gardeners grow the best gardens they can—and with introducing as many young people as we can to gardening as a hobby and a way of living in our communities. That’s one reason you’ll find more articles aimed at new gardeners in each issue. We were thrilled at the positive response our Spring 2023 issue received—our first quarterly magazine. We loved sharing it at the Minneapolis Home + Garden Show and will be sharing it at plant sales and other events this summer. If you enjoy Northern Gardener and value your hort society membership, please share this issue with a gardener you know. Pass the obsession on!
Lara Lau-Schommer, Executive Director Becky Swee, Communications and Marketing Director Diane Duvall, Development Director Mary Ohm, Office Manager and Voluteer Coordinator Betsy Pierre, Advertising Sales Manager Elsa Hoover Quaker Voluntary Service Fellow
Northern Gardener Mary Lahr Schier, Editor Debbie Lonnee, Horticultural Editor Julie Jensen, Copy Editor Barbara Pederson, Designer Joe Luca, Newsstand Consultant
Lara Lau-Schommer, Executive Director P.S. Thank you for the kind messages after the announcement of my promotion to executive director of the hort society. I look forward to working with you as we grow together!
651-643-3601 l info@northerngardener.org
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MSHS Board of Directors Mary Hockenberry Meyer, Chair Mary Marrow, Vice Chair Paul Markwardt, Treasurer Renay Leone, Secretary Nan Eserkaln Gail Brown Hudson Judy MacManus Steve Poppe Jill Rulli Don Smith Laura Wagner Rhys Williams
@mnhort
Copyright 2023 by MSHS. Printed in the USA on recycled paper. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reprinted without permission from MSHS. The information published in Northern Gardener® reflects the experiences and opinions of the writers and is not necessarily endorsed by MSHS. Northern Gardener is a registered trademark of MSHS. (ISSN) 1529-8515. Northern Gardener is published quarterly (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) with an additional digital issue in January by the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, Minn., and additional post offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northern Gardener, 1935 County Rd. B2 W., Suite 125, Roseville, MN 55113.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
MSHS Calendar
It’s Sow Easy: Winter and Spring Sowing, Part Two Tuesday, May 16, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Price: $5 members, $10 nonmembers Location: GoToWebinar Instructor: Michelle Mero Riedel, University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener
In this discussion and demonstration class, Michelle will share her successes with perennials, annuals, veggies and herbs. She’ll show you when and how to open the mini-greenhouses, how to divide the plants and plant into smaller pots until they are garden ready. Michelle will also answer all your questions. Plan to share your successes and failures using this method to easily start seeds and grow starter plants.
Creating and Managing Landscapes for Native Bees Tuesday, May 23, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Price: $10 members, $15 nonmembers Location: GoToWebinar Instructor: Heather Holm, biologist, pollinator conservationist and awardwinning author
When creating and managing thriving habitats for native bees, many factors such as seasonal phenology, nesting strategies and flower preferences must be considered—and with approximately 3,600 species in North America (north of Mexico), there are many unique aspects to keep in mind when managing successful landscapes for bees. Join Heather as she explores the nesting habitats, life cycles, pollen collection, brood rearing, and general characteristics of some of the most common native bees in eastern North America, while highlighting the pollination of native plants and the mutualism between native plants and native bees. Learn about pollen specialists, the presentation of floral resources and how the physical characteristics of bees can influence their effectiveness as pollinators. Heather will also discuss ways to manage landscapes to enhance bee diversity, plant selection considerations, and ultimately how to think like a bee!
Growing Oyster Mushrooms at Home Tuesday, May 30, 6 – 8 p.m. Price: $15 members, $20 nonmembers Location: Gibbs Farm, 2097 Larpenteur Ave. W., St. Paul Instructor: Randy Strobl, biologist and Mycological Society member
In this workshop, you will learn one of many methods to grow oyster mushrooms, the easiest mushrooms for beginners to cultivate. You will prepare a small blue oyster mushroom growing system using the bucket method. About two to three weeks later, you should pick enough mushrooms for at least a couple of delicious, umamifilled meals from your harvest. Methods for extending your harvest until the next snow flies will be presented. Your registration fee covers all the material for this workshop.
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Minnesota State Horticultural Society
Playing with Space by Growing Vertically Tuesday, June 6, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Price: $5 members, $10 nonmembers Location: GoToWebinar Instructor: Michelle Bruhn, author and founder of Forks in the Dirt
Learn how to get height and abundance in your garden. Plant spacing and trellising is all about knowing the rules—and how to bend them mindfully. Michelle will cover the basics of plant spacing, interplanting and then show you what she does in her own garden.
Perennial Perfection: Medicinal Foods for your Gardens Hennepin County Master Gardener Volunteers Upcoming Events For more information: hennepinmastergardeners.org/events
Learning Garden Tour
Plant Sale
Saturday, July 8, 8:30am-4:30pm Saturday, May 20, 9am-2pm Master Gardener Extension
Hopkins Pavilion, 11000 Excelsior Blvd., Hopkins, MN
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Offering perennials, annuals, natives, vegetables, herbs & more! Featuring our exclusive line of Minnesota Winners! One of the largest plant sales in Hennepin County. Bring your wagon!
Tuesday, June 13, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Price: $5 members, $10 nonmembers Location: GoToWebinar Instructor: Linda Black Elk, director of food sovereignty at United Tribes Technical College
Annual plants are fun and productive, but there’s a certain magic to perennial plants and their independent nature. Join Linda Black Elk as she discusses some of her favorite perennial “medicinal foods.” Recipe ideas and tips for making the most of your perennial plants included.
Explore 10 inspiring gardens!
This year’s self-guided tour showcases 10 gardens in west Hennepin County. Join us for inspiration, educational opportunities, and garden-related shopping. Cost: $15 in advance; $20 day of tour. Discounts for groups of 10 or more. Children under 12 free with a paying adult. Tour held rain or shine.
Fully staffed by Master Gardener Volunteers ready to answer all your gardening questions. Free parking!
All proceeds support the University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener Volunteer – Hennepin County community programs.
To learn more: https://hennepinmastergardeners.org/events/ annual-plant-sale-2023/
To buy tickets & learn more: https://hennepinmastergardeners.org/events/ learning-garden-tour/
MASTER GARDENER VOLUNTEER PROGRAM | HENNEPIN COUNTY
Planting for Pollinators Tuesday, June 20, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Price: $5 members, $10 nonmembers Location: GoToWebinar Instructor: James Wolfin, conservation specialist at Twin City Seed
Learn how to support pollinators with your own yard! This class aims to teach attendees about different types of plantings that can be installed by residents to provide high-quality forage for pollinators. Whether you're looking to install something small and easy to maintain or hoping to do a larger-scale project, you will leave this presentation feeling confident in your ability to plant for pollinators!
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to register for classes, visit northerngardener.org/classes.
Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Community Events Dakota Gardeners Saturday, May 20, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. Location: Community of Christ Church, 5990-134th St. Ct., Apple Valley Perennials donated by club members. Contact: joyce.vickers712@yahoo.com.
PLANT SALES Anoka County Master Gardeners Tuesday, May 16, 3 – 8 p.m.; Wednesday, May 17, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Location: Anoka County Fairgrounds, 3200 St. Francis Blvd. N.W., Anoka Huge variety of locally grown plants. Contact: anokamgs@umn.edu. St. Cloud Flower and Garden Club Thursday, May 18, 4 – 7 p.m. Location: Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Dr., St. Cloud Trees, shrubs, plants and garden items. Contact: scflowerandgarden@gmail.com. Rochester Garden and Flower Club Thursday, May 18, 4 – 7 p.m.; Friday, May 19, 8 a.m. – noon Location: Graham Park – Building 41, Olmsted County Fairgrounds, Rochester Perennials, annuals and native plants. Contact: rgfc@rgfc.org. Lakeville Area Garden Club Friday, May 19, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 20, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Location: 9975 194th St. W., Lakeville Plants, handmade items and more. Contact: lagcmn.programs@gmail.com. Soil and Sunshine Garden Club Friday and Saturday, May 19 and 20, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Location: 8713 Lincoln St., Blaine Garden advice and assistance available. Contact: 763-355-7030. Dakota County Master Gardeners Saturday, May 20, 8 a.m. – noon Location: White Tail Woods Regional Park, 17100 Station Trl., Farmington Plants and gently used tools and garden art. Contact: dakotamastergardeners.org.
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Minnesota State Horticultural Society
Wright County Horticultural Society Saturday, May 20, 8:30 – 11 a.m. Location: Buffalo Covenant Church, 1601 Hwy. 25 N., Buffalo Cash or check only. Contact: wrightcountyhorticulture@gmail. com. Perennial Garden Club of Stillwater Saturday, May 20, 9 a.m. – noon Location: 601 Olive St. W., Stillwater Proceeds fund scholarships and projects. Contact: cherrywoods_417@msn.com. Garden Club of Ramsey County Saturday, May 20, 9 a.m. – noon Location: St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 1807 Field Ave., St. Paul Cash, check or charge accepted. Contact: sstein@mail-stein.com. City of Burnsville Saturday, May 20, 9 a.m. – noon Location: Parking lot across from City Hall, 100 Civic Center Pkwy., Burnsville Multiple vendors. Contact: burnsvillemn.gov/nativeplants. Hennepin County Master Gardeners Saturday May 20, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Location: Inside Hopkins Pavilion, 11000 Excelsior Blvd., Hopkins Sale includes MN Winners® plants. Contact: hennepinmastergardeners.org. Ramsey County Master Gardeners Saturday, May 20, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Location: Church of the Holy Childhood, 1435 Midway Pkwy., St. Paul Funds support horticultural scholarships. Contact: ramseymastergardeners.org. Rice County Master Gardeners Saturday, May 20, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Location: 4-H Building, 1900 Fairgrounds Dr., Faribault
Interesting and unusual plants. Contact: jenri001@umn.edu. Washington County Master Gardeners Saturday, May 20, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Location: Washington County Fairgrounds, Building A, 12300 40th St. N., Lake Elmo Hundreds of varieties of plants. Contact: washingtoncountymg.org. Shades of Green Hosta Society Saturday, June 3, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Location: Graham Park, 112 Arena Dr. S.E., Rochester Mini to extra-large mature varieties available. Contact: gramakj@charter.net. ANA East Neighborhood Saturday, June 3, 9 – 11 a.m. Location: Alice Smith Elementary School, 801 Minnetonka Mills Rd., Hopkins Cash or check only. Contact: anaevents@theavenueshopkins. com. St. Anthony Park Garden Club Saturday, June 3, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Location: St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, 2323 Como Ave., St. Paul Pollinator-friendly annuals and more. Contact: stanthonyparkgardenclub.com. Minnesota Hosta Society Saturday, June 3, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Location: Smith Coffee & Cafe, 8107 Eden Prairie Rd., Eden Prairie More than 1,500 hostas for sale. Contact: mnhosta.org/calendar. Diggers Garden Club Saturday, June 3, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Location: Robbinsdale Historical Society, 4915 N. 42nd Ave., Robbinsdale Contact: 763-588-2216. Daylily Society of Minnesota Sunday, June 4, 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Location: Bachman’s Heritage Room, 6010 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis Minnesota-grown daylilies, many cultivars. Contact: daylilysocietyofminnesota.org/ dig_sale.
Hennepin County Master Gardeners Saturday, July 8, 8:30 a.m. – 4: 30 p.m. Location: West Hennepin County Explore nine inspiring west metro gardens. Tickets: $15 in advance; $20 on the day of the tour. Proceeds support master gardener programs. Contact: hennepinmastergardeners.org.
GARDEN TOURS St. Anthony Park Garden Club Saturday, June 24, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Location: St. Anthony Park Library, 2245 Como Ave., St. Paul Self-guided tour of 10 gardens. Tickets: $15 in advance or on the day of the tour. Contact: stanthonyparkgardenclub.com.
visit northerngardener.org/ community-events.
Rochester Garden & Flower Club Saturday, July 8, 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. Location: Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC), 1926 College View Dr., Rochester Enjoy five beautiful private gardens, each with local artisans, vendors and musicians. Contact: rgfc.org. Northfield Garden Club Saturday and Sunday, July 8 and 9, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Location: Six area gardens Proceeds go toward the beautification of downtown Northfield. Contact/tickets: thenorthfieldgardenclub.org.
The Minnesota Water Garden Society Saturday and Sunday, July 29 and 30, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 day of tour. Ticket and tour information available online June 1. Check online for location. Contact: https:/mwgs.org. Winona County Master Gardeners Saturday, July 29, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Enjoy a free, self-guided tour of six gardens. Check online for location. Contact: extension.umn.edu, search for “winona county tour.”
GARDEN EVENT Easy Steps for Sustainability Men’s & Women’s Garden Club of Minneapolis Tuesday, June 13, 7 – 8 p.m. Location: Hopkins VFW, 100 Shady Oak Rd., Hopkins Presenter: Gail Hudson Contact: gadenclubmpls.org.
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GARDEN PLAN
Cottage Cutting Garden Plant this whimsical, pollinator-friendly garden for plenty of blooms. Design by Amy Kainz
a mix of annuals and perennials with colorful blooms will attract and sustain many pollinators and produce bouquets for your home. Add a birdhouse or birdbath and enjoy the show with birds, butterflies and bees from May through September. This cutting garden is about 5 feet by 10 feet with taller plants in back, including a trellis covered with sweet peas. Plants will thrive in full sun with adequate moisture. To vary your bouquets over the years, choose different annuals for new color schemes or plant shapes. Amy Kainz is an organic flower and vegetable gardener living in central Minnesota. She specializes in pollinator-friendly landscaping, edible flowers and customized garden layouts. Follow her on Instagram at @milkweed.and.daisies.
Plants in the design include: ‘ProCut’ sunflower (annual) Purple coneflower (perennial) ‘Red Ruby’ daylily (perennial) Autumn Joy (‘Herbstfreude’) sedum (perennial) Tall garden phlox (perennial) ‘Tetra Mix’ snapdragon (annual) ‘White Lace’ dianthus (perennial) ‘Serendipity’ PP32,203 ornamental onion (perennial) Annual tulips in yellow, red and pink (plant bulbs in fall) ‘Sweet Dreams’ sweet pea (annual)
10 Minnesota State Horticultural Society
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Black-eyed Susan (perennial) Feverfew ‘Psyche Mix’ cosmos
Mixed zinnias (annual) Purple bearded iris (perennial) White dill (Ammi) (annual)
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PLANT PROFILE
‘Montrose White’ calamint This well-behaved plant is a favorite of gardeners and bees. Story and photo by Matthew Olson
when I first encountered this plant, what caught my attention was not the blooms or fragrant foliage. It was the pollinators. Bees covered the plant as they gathered nectar from the dainty white flowers. Since then, I haven’t seen a plant that attracts pollinators like Calamintha nepeta ‘Montrose White’. Pollinators aside, this perennial has several features that make it desirable in the garden. Despite being a member of the mint family, it doesn’t spread by runners or seeds, so there are no concerns about invasiveness. ‘Montrose White’ is sterile and remains compact. Its foliage has a pleasant minty aroma. Its attractive blooms float above the foliage, like baby’s breath (Gypsophilia). In my Wisconsin garden, calamint typically begins blooming in mid-July and continues into October. The white flowers take on a light purple hue as cool weather arrives in the fall. You can also use them for winter interest before the snow covers them because their structure has an appealing shape, even when dormant.
Care and Maintenance
An excellent choice for low-maintenance landscapes, ‘Montrose White’ requires only a spring trim. It prefers full sun but will flower in light shade, though it tends to flop in the shade. Calamint isn’t picky about soil but requires good drainage and tolerates drought. At maturity, this plant is 12-18 inches tall and wide. While labeled as hardy to USDA Zone 4, I’ve seen ‘Montrose White’ grow well in zone 3. In the garden, calamint can be grown in many ways. Consider using it alongside Rudbeckia, Allium and prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) in naturalistic plantings. Its compact habit looks excellent in front of borders or along walkways. Low retaining walls are good spots for calamint, too,
12 Minnesota State Horticultural Society
Catmint vs. Calamint While they look similar, catmint (Nepeta) and calamint (Calamintha) are different plant genera. Many new Nepeta cultivars have been introduced recently that are more compact and flower better than older varieties. All of them have flowers in shades of purple. Unlike catmint, calamint blooms nearly all summer and its flowers can come in shades other than purple, such as ‘Montrose White’. If you prefer to add a Nepeta to your garden, one of the best new cultivars is ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ PP31127. It grows only 12-14 inches tall, perfect for containers and small gardens. Unlike other catmints, its buds form at the soil level, allowing the flowers to densely cover the plant and maximize the floral display. An excellent choice for mass plantings, rock gardens and path edges, ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ has a similar growth habit as ‘Montrose White’, and is an excellent companion plant that provides color from early summer to fall. —M.O.
because it provides a softer look. Its drought tolerance makes it good for rock or herb gardens, and it can be grown in containers as well. No plant is 100 percent deer resistant, but this one is close because the minty taste and smell of the foliage are unattractive to
deer and rabbits. ‘Montrose White’ has few pest or disease problems, though crown rot can be an issue in poor draining soils. Matthew Olson is a Wisconsin-based horticulturist and writer.
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GARDEN HACK
Check Your IDs Plant tags that look good and survive in the North. Story and photos by Eric Johnson
we all know how handy it is to read a plant marker when visiting a public garden. How else will we identify the plants we swoon over? Deciding how to mark and label the plants in your garden seems to be as personal a choice as selecting the plants themselves. Here are a few ideas for plant labels, both humble and grand, to incorporate into your yard and garden. Plastic plant labels. These are my go-to for labeling plants. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes and are readily available. They are made of PVC plastic, making them less prone to breaking and becoming brittle. My preferred size is 8 inches long, which provides enough space to write long botanical names and still have enough stake to send a couple of inches into the ground. You’ll also need water-resistant markers or oil-based pens to keep the labels visible. I am a fan of the Sharpie Pro marker that is made to write on PVC (as well as metal, wood and steel). Together these tools create labels that are easy to read, durable over many winters and fairly inconspicuous in the planting beds. PVC markers also come in more decorative shapes. WHAT TO ID? I don’t love the look of highly visible markers in perennial beds, and I find them annoying to weed around. That said, I do label perennials in the first years after planting. This is most important during the first winter to track whether they survive. What else do I label? Late sprouters—Baptisia comes to mind—so I don’t damage the emerging shoots during spring garden prep. Annual vegetables and flowers directly sown in the garden, if for no other reason than to know where the ends of the rows are. Annual starter plants I try every year, so I know which to plant again and what varieties to recommend. —E.J. A longtime contributor to Northern Gardener, Eric Johnson blogs at gardendrama.wordpress.com.
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A quick and easy plant marker is a stick in the ground with the empty seed packet slipped over it.”
Copper and steel options. For a more permanent marker, search for copper and galvanized steel options online and in garden stores. A bit pricy, these mimic the plant markers in arboretums and public gardens.
Get crafty
Metal punches or stamps create striking plant markers. Also available at craft or hobby stores and many hardware stores, they are metal rods, like thick nails, with letters and numbers on the end that you place on a piece of metal
Canning jar cover. A quick and easy plant marker is a stick in the ground with the empty seed packet slipped over it. Then, cover it with an inverted canning jar (or leftover pickle or jam jar). It protects the seed packet from rain and watering and creates a vintage, homespun look.
Wood burning. The wood burning tool is inexpensive, as little as $20 for a simple one at craft or hardware stores, and requires only close care and patience. Rushing is the enemy of wood burning. Smooth wood surfaces are the easiest to work on and produce the sharpest results. I've used wooden mixing spoons with great results. In the example with the twig, I took a sharp vegetable peeler and sliced away a few layers to create a smooth surface to burn. Practice a while to get a feel for the process.
and strike with a hammer to create an impression of the letter. It’s easy to learn to work with them and it’s easiest to work with softer, more malleable metals like aluminum and pewter.
I’ve had success—and fun—crafting plant markers using two popular hobby utensils: a wood burning tool and metal letter punches.
Plant tags?
Often, I default to the tag that comes with the plant and tuck it next to the perennial as it goes in the ground. They serve their purpose for about two years before the plastic grows brittle and cracks. I have also tucked them a bit away from the plant, along the perimeter, where they are out of the way when I weed. If you have a fence, try tucking them into available openings between boards. Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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ASK THE EXPERT
What’s the Blooming Problem? Revive your irises with these tips. Story and photos by Diane McGann
My irises didn’t bloom at all in 2022. What’s going on? —Julie T. from Facebook Given the right conditions, irises are reliable bloomers and provide color when not much else is flowering. If your irises aren’t blooming as prolifically as you’d like, check these five factors. Sun. Most irises require at least six hours of sun daily for full bloom. If that’s your issue, move them to a sunnier site or trim vegetation that is shading them. You can even enjoy irises if your garden is less sunny by planting the low-growing crested iris, which will spread to form a groundcover. Moisture. Irises tolerate drought but do need watering when the soil is extra dry. If the soil near your plants feels dry down to 3 inches, then water. Don’t overdo it; too much water can lead to rhizome rot. Crowding. Irises need to be divided periodically, usually every three to five years, to continue blooming well. To divide, lift the clump, and gently tease or break apart the bulbous rhizomes. Division is easier if you trim the iris foliage to about 6 inches, shake off the soil, and use your fingers to gently remove the young bulbs. As a bonus, you now have more irises to plant. Rhizome depth. When you replant those rhizomes you’ve just teased apart, place them root side down with the upper portion of the rhizome left uncovered. Planting too deeply can reduce blooms. Water them well until they take hold. The best time to divide irises is one to two months after bloom, usually in late July or August. Nutrients. Using a fertilizer with too much nitrogen will generate healthy leaves but not beautiful blooms. Irises prefer a fertilizer mix with more phosphorous, the middle number on the fertilizer bag. A 5-10-5 or a fertilizer labeled for bulbs should do the trick. Sprinkle a little of the mixture around (but not on) the plant both before and after bloom. Irises are a great plant to fill that void in your garden after the spring beauties fade and before the summer perennials kick in. With almost 300 species in all sorts of colors and forms, this is one plant you don’t want to miss. Diane McGann is a University of Minnesota Extension master gardener in Washington County.
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Iris ensata ‘Variegata’
NORTHERN IRISES Northern gardens host three types of iris: bearded, Siberian and Japanese. Bearded iris is the most popular, offering hundreds of varieties and colors. Even after their blooms fade, irises offer striking vertical stalks, a design feature that contrasts nicely with other foliage.
Siberian iris, unknown variety
WHERE TO SEE IRISES For a display of a variety of irises, visit the Northeast Minneapolis Municipal Iris Gardens (nemmig.org) throughout the season. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum also has an iris garden and most public gardens feature irises in June, including the Duluth Rose Garden and the Munsinger Clemens Gardens in St. Cloud. FOR MORE INFORMATION Minnesota Iris Society, irismn.net —D.M.
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DIY
Pruning Artistry Bring out the tree hiding in that shrub. Story and photos by Kathy Purdy
why prune a shrub into a tree? To branch out in your gardening skills. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Seriously, pruning a shrub into a tree combines thinking like a plant and drawing on your inner artist. The design benefits are many. You can grow additional plants under a shrub that’s had its canopy raised. A shrub pruned into a tree form (also called a standard) adds structure to your garden and will function as a focal point for your landscape. It won’t grow so tall that it shades out other plants. The downside? This is not a once-and-done project. It evolves over time, so if you’re the impatient type, you might want to buy one already made. While a tree-form shrub takes several years to create, you
don’t spend much time per year creating or maintaining it. Ready? Let’s get started! Find your shrub. Whether you buy one or choose one already on your property, look for a shrub with a strong, almost vertical branch that can function as the trunk. It doesn’t matter if it has side branches because you will cut them away. Even a forked branch can work if one of the two branches is clearly stronger. In general, hardy shrubs that don’t sucker, such as panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), some lilacs (Syringa sp.), star magnolia (Magnolia stellata), some viburnums and some cotoneasters, are good choices. Check the roots. If your shrub is in a container, check the roots. If it’s pot-
Five years after the first pruning, the rebar stake has been removed and the shrub has a distinct treelike trunk.
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bound, pot it up to a larger container before you do any pruning. If you plan to grow it in a container for a while, keep in mind that a plant in a container needs to tolerate two hardiness zones colder than plants in the ground to survive winter. Plan to protect it or choose a very hardy shrub. Start pruning. This is the fun/scary part. Starting at the bottom, cut off all side branches from your proposed trunk, leaving three or four branches at the top to continue producing leaves. If you have a very young plant, you may not be cutting much off at this point. It’s a judgment call how much to remove; consult your inner artist and cut until it looks good to you. I started with a 3-yearold panicle hydrangea that was growing weirdly. I cut off three ½-inch thick branches that were growing very low to the ground, plus some skinny branches along the trunk. About 6 inches off the ground, the trunk forked, and I picked the more vertical branch to keep. Stake it. Insert a stake into the ground as close to your shrub as possible and tie your vertical branch to the stake in two or three spots using a soft material and a figure-8 loop. The size and thickness of the stake will depend on the maturity of the plant and how much “persuading” it needs to stay vertical. Normally a bamboo stake will do. I used rebar because I was working with a thicker, more mature branch that needed some encouragement to stay vertical. Monitor and prune. The first and second years, periodically check for side branches forming on the trunk or from the base. Rub or clip these off. In the second and following years, evaluate the proportion of top growth to trunk. Clip additional branches off along the trunk if you want your tree to be taller. Clip the existing branches shorter if you want to make the top bushier. Re-tie the stake as needed. You may also need to replace the stake with a sturdier one. Eventually
the trunk will support itself, at which point you can remove the stake entirely. I removed the rebar after five years. Think of this project as an experiment: relax and have fun with it. Award-winning garden writer Kathy Purdy gardens in upstate New York. Find her writing at coldclimategardening.com.
BUYING STANDARD SHRUBS
In its early years, the forked branch of the hydrangea that was cut off is visible. A rebar stake next to the plant keeps it vertical as it grows.
If you’re too impatient to prune your own, tree-form shrubs are available at many garden centers. They are more expensive because of the time and labor involved to create the tree form. Viewing online sources will give you an idea of the variety of shrubs that will work in this form. Beware of grafted varieties as sometimes they are not as hardy as own-root varieties, especially if grafted high. You might prefer to ask your favorite garden center to order one for you. They will advise you if your choice is suitable for your climate and can often get larger specimens. —K.P.
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GARDEN SOLUTIONS
What’s Wrong with My Lilacs? Septoria and other leaf diseases are usual culprits. Story and photo by Diane McGann
lilacs—the shrubs that announce spring with their bright blooms and enticing scent—have generally been a trouble-free garden choice in the North. But weather conditions in 2020 gave rise to a harmful blight, turning our beauties into brown-leaved disasters. What should we expect this year, and what can we do about any problems that might arise? Brett Arenz, director of the University of Minnesota Plant Disease Clinic (PDC), says experts have seen or suspected six lilac problems in the past few years. They are Pseudocercospora leaf spot (also called Septoria leaf spot), verticillium wilt, phytoplasma, pseudomonas, lilac borers and powdery mildew. By far, the most common condition is septoria. Septoria leaf spot is a fungal disease that causes lilac leaves to turn yellow and brown before dropping off the plant. It mostly attacks the common lilac, although the Japanese tree lilac may also be susceptible. Septoria usually affects only part of the shrub; some branches will look healthy, while others will exhibit leaf browning and dieback. If summers are wet, symptoms can occur as early as July, but they usually don’t appear until August. If you see or suspect septoria leaf spot, be fastidious in cleaning up around the shrub. Prune any infected branches. Then rake up fallen leaves and other debris because spores from the fungus can persist for years in leaf and twig litter and transfer to other plants. As an additional precaution, consider installing mulch to protect against the release of any fungal spores lying in wait beneath the shrub. If significant leaf blighting occurs, fungicides may be needed to protect the lilac from new infections and to
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prevent further leaf loss. Timing is key when applying a preventive fungicide, and Arenz advises that it may be too late to save a branch when its leaves are turning brown. Verticillium wilt may also affect lilacs and other shrubs, although the PDC sees it much less often than septoria leaf spot. This is good because
there is no cure. The clinic diagnoses only one or two cases each year, although Arenz says that the condition may be more widespread than suspected because thick branch cuts are needed for analysis. Most people send in only small twigs and leaves. When verticillium wilt is present, sudden dieback occurs as a result of
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the verticillium fungi blocking access to the water and nutrients needed for survival. Again, sanitation is important to prevent this disease, and, if all else fails, replace the shrub with a resistant cultivar. The PDC suspects that other lilac problems such as phytoplasma, caused by parasites, and pseudomonas, a shoot or blossom blight, exist in the Upper Midwest, but they’ve seen few occurrences. Both conditions cause brown, dying leaves. Lilac borers, while present in other states, are rarely seen here. Powdery mildew, a fungal disease that whitens lilac leaves, is mostly cosmetic and seldom serious. It most often appears in warm, humid weather. The common lilac is primarily susceptible, while the Korean lilacs are resistant. Placing your lilacs in a sunny area and increasing air circulation by careful pruning will help prevent this problem. Keep an eye on your lilacs this summer and quickly address any emerging problems. Diagnose the culprit and then act to eliminate it so that your beautiful lilacs will continue their springtime display for years to come. Diane McGann is a University of Minnesota Extension master gardener in Washington County.
RESOURCES Diagnosis: U of M Plant Disease Clinic, pdc.umn.edu Photos and information on lilac diseases: purduelandscapereport.org, search for “lilac” —D.M.
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GROWING TOGETHER
Front-Yard Farming CSA feeds a neighborhood and builds community. By Michelle Bruhn Photos by Carrie Thompson
imagine discovering blocks of frontyard food gardens right around the corner. Thanks to the artists and market gardeners of The Black Radish, there’s a thriving example in South Minneapolis. As a couple, Carrie Thompson and Jade Townsend dove into market gardening after cultivating their own lawn into a food garden a few years ago. Nourishing their neighbors with food grown throughout their neighborhood keeps them motivated.
Gardeners from The Black Radish install, plant and maintain gardens in the front yards of their neighbors, then share the harvest with them.
How It Works
Carrie and Jade plant on 14 of their neighbors’ yards and are planning to have more than 50 individuals and families enjoy community-supported agriculture (CSA) shares this season. The neighbors agree to give garden space and water access to the farm for the season. In turn, they get a raised bed constructed in the agreed-upon spot(s) and dreamy garden soil along with a CSA share for the season. “It’s amazing how many people don’t want to mow their lawns,” Carrie says. “They’d rather have food growing there.” The couple says they’re simply filling a hole in our food system and our communities, one bike-hauled harvest at a time. Shares are distributed from an on-site packing shed where neighbors fill their tote bags with what makes sense for their family for that week. This system streamlines both distribution and usage. They also offer sliding-scale CSA shares for purchase to make this a truly accessible option for all of their neighbors. Their multi-plotted farm grows a lot of food—close to 400 bushels of produce last season—and 80 percent of the shares go to folks living within a few blocks of each other.
community. “Having time out in the neighborhood, sharing gardening tips and recipes has given us the chance to become the stitching in the fabric of the community,” Jade says. They envision a future where every neighborhood has a farming family within a few blocks, “so every neighborhood has the chance to eat vine-ripened tomatoes and cook with fresh-cut herbs without everyone having to be a gardening expert,” Jade says. Community remains at the heart of their grand experiment. While they used to create art as artists, they now get to live art and partner with nature as gardeners.
Community Impact
The CSA not only reduces the neighborhood’s carbon footprint but opens new lines of communication for the whole
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Sharing Small Space Issues
Because they grow intensively in small spaces, they focus on making the most of
Harvesting early season lettuces
Join our circle of visionary gardeners.
TOP COMPANION PLANTING TIP:
“
Plant lots of nasturtiums with squash; it keeps the squash bugs down!”
“ CONNECT Contact Jade and Carrie of The Black Radish at: theblackradishmpls.com or on Instagram @theblackradish_ to talk about volunteering, donating tools or to fund CSA shares for local families in need.
every square foot. They make their own organic fertilizers, use cover-cropping techniques to build soil health, practice crop rotation (one spouse more than the other) and top off annually with compost that’s been tested for jumping worms. From evolving garden issues like jumping worms and Japanese beetles to the new Swede midge, Jade and Carrie figure out ways to work with nature to solve problems and still produce enough food for all the CSA members. Then, they teach what they learn to neighbors and Instagram followers, cultivating community along with weekly CSA shares. Michelle Bruhn is co-author of Small-Scale Homesteading (Sky Horse Press, 2023). Connect with her on Instagram at @forksinthedirt.
GOOD GREENS After harvesting greens for 50plus families, Carrie and Jade know what works. Harvest as early in the morning as you can. You don’t need to wait for the dew to dry on greens because you will be washing anyway. Wash them well with cold water and use a salad spinner to remove moisture. Keep greens refrigerated in a plastic bag to keep them fresh at least a week. WHAT IS A CSA? A CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a way to support farmers by purchasing a “share” of their produce up front so they have the funds to purchase seed, soil amendments and tools to grow the food. There is a long history of CSAs in northern climates. —M.B.
As members and volunteers of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, we’ve seen the society grow and prosper. We are making sure that growth continues by including the society in our will.” –lee and jerry shannon, mshs lifetime and heirloom circle members
LEGACY GIFTS FROM MEMBERS LIKE YOU HELP TO ENSURE THAT MSHS PROGRAMS INSPIRE GENERATIONS OF GARDENERS TO COME.
To make a legacy gift, call 651-643-3601 or email info@northerngardener.org Visit: northerngardener.org/ support/heirloom-circle/
Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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KITCHEN GARDEN
Go Fig-ure! With smarts (and muscle) you can grow figs here. By Lee Reich
i planted my first fig tree in a pot as a newbie gardener in Madison, Wis. I’m not sure what possessed me—and I’ve learned, possesses many people—to grow this Mediterranean plant in subzero climates. Fifty years later, I grow figs much more successfully even though I still live in a climate with winter lows well below zero. Figs accommodate cold-climate gardeners in a number of ways. First, they are subtropical plants, cold hardy into the teens. Also, figs are deciduous. Once they lose their leaves, they can be moved, wrapped or buried to stave off winter’s coldest temperatures. They actually like some winter rest. The plants also tolerate all sorts of abuse, everything from having their roots or stems hacked back to drastic bending of those stems. Finally, and very important, most varieties bear their crop on new growing shoots. New fruits develop as the shoot grows, with those lower down ripening even as new fruits are forming. That’s very different from, say, an apple tree, which bears fruit on old stems, and whose fruits ripen pretty much all together. While figs will form all along a tree, they may not ripen. To ensure they do, some length of older stem or stems—2 or 3 feet—must be carried through winter to develop new shoots on their upper portions along which fruits will ripen.
What could be more delightful than a bowl of homegrown figs!
Cold-Climate Methods
Knowing all these figgy quirks has made it possible for fig enthusiasts from Moscow to Minneapolis to develop methods for growing fig trees for fresh fruit. Grow in pots. Potted, for example. The larger the pot, the greater the fruit yield. But pot size is also dictated by how large a pot you can muscle around. Which you must do, bringing the plant to a protected location in late fall, then
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With winter protection, fig trees can be grown in containers.
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Bagged and stowed, this fig tree is ready for winter.
back outdoors to bask in sunlight in late winter. The ideal temperature for a fig in winter is between 25 and 45 degrees F. I move my potted figs down to my barely heated basement for winter, but a mudroom, an attic, even a barely heated or attached garage often works well. Dig up the tree. A variation on the potted method, one which mostly frees you from watering or fertilizing during the growing season, is to plant a fig in the ground, then dig it up late each fall with a good root ball. Into a plastic bag it goes, tied shut to seal in moisture, for storage. Pot in ground. I’ve used a variation of this method by planting a fig into an 18inch diameter, plastic pot, in whose side I’ve drilled a number of ½-inch holes.
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Kitchen Garden continues on page 26 Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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Kitchen Garden continued from page 25
Planting a fig in a pot with holes allows it to grow in the ground, then move to a protected spot for winter.
In spring, the fig that spent the winter in a bag (page 25) is replanted and watered in. Severe pruning will not impede growth.
In late winter, I plant the potted fig into a waiting hole, packing soil around the pot, then water the pot and surrounding soil thoroughly. Once roots grow out into the surrounding soil, the plant becomes self-sufficient. Come late fall, I cut roots where they exit the holes, and lift the pot for winter storage. Minnesota tip, fig version 1. Ground temperatures in winter are warmer than air temperatures, which leads to another method of overwintering figs, which may be familiar to rose growers who have tried the Minnesota tip. In this method, you bend plants down to or below ground level in late fall. Fig wood is flexible, but the plant is even easier to lay prone if a shovel is driven into the ground to sever roots on the side opposite the direction it’s going to be pushed down. Once the plant is down, piling leaves, wood shavings, wood chips or other insulating material atop the stems—with more depth the greater the degree of cold expected—creates a cozy, warm environment. Minnesota tip, fig version 2. An even greater degree of cold protection is offered by digging a shallow trench in which to bury the stems. Planting the fig at a 45-degree angle means less oomph needed to flex the stem when bending it down or when it’s time to resurrect it to a vertical position. Greenhouse growing. Four of my fig trees are grown by my favorite method—planted in the ground in my barely heated greenhouse. A greenhouse for my figs might seem unduly extravagant, but this greenhouse allows lots of bang for the buck: fresh salad and cooked greens through winter, a place to grow all my vegetable and flower seedlings in spring and ginger, cucumbers and other heat lovers in summer. During the growing season, the fig above remains in its pot and in the ground.
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Plants Selected for Your Success
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In our Farm Fresh Selects® greenhouses we select only the finest performing plants. These Farm Fresh Selects® varieties are chosen by testing in trial gardens and selecting the varieties that will perform for you. Figs develop along new shoots, making them a doable option for nothern gardeners.
Pruning Figs
Because figs grow on new shoots, you need to coax them into growing by a drastic shortening in late fall or winter. I like to grow my potted figs with a permanent trunk 2½ feet high. In late fall, I prune all growth back to that trunk. I then remove as they grow any shoots originating below its upper 6 inches or so. With any of these methods, you can harvest fresh, ripe figs in just about any cold climate. Figs do not ripen once harvested, so wait until a fruit is soft, often drooping and with a “tear” in its eye before picking it. If you’ve never eaten a truly ripe, fresh fig, you’re in for a treat. Fresh, the fruit is juicy, with a honey sweet, rich flavor—well worth the extra effort they require. Lee Reich is the author of Growing Figs in Cold Climates (New Society Publishers, 2021) and many other garden books.
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FIGS ON OLD WOOD Some fig varieties ripen an earlier crop on 1-year-old wood. To reap the breba crop, as it’s called, you have to carry some of those stems through winter. Varieties that bear good breba crops include Black Mission, ‘Desert King’, Lattarula, Negronne and Verte. —L.R. Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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POLLINATORS
Meal Plan Serve a nutritious feast for pollinators all season. By Beth Stetenfeld
what’s on your garden’s menu for pollinators in spring, summer and fall? A garden with only summer blooms is like a brunch buffet that’s only open for an hour. In addition to offering lovely color and display for a short time, it offers habitat and nourishment for pollinators for just a brief portion of the growing season. The goal—providing nectar, pollen and larval nutrition from spring through fall—can be challenging. But with a little planning and care, it’s achievable.
Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
What’s on Offer Now?
Perhaps the best place to start is to take stock of your current garden offerings. What native plants are growing and blooming in each month? Is there a stretch of time when you need to add flowering or larval host plants? Do you need to boost the native plantings, or would it help to supplement with some noninvasive, nonnative shrubs, perennials or annuals? Let’s start at the very beginning of the growing season. Some of the earliest native plants to appear in the Upper Midwest include the spring ephemerals—plants that appear and bloom for a very short time. Examples include bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), great white trilliums (T. grandiflorum) and shooting stars (Dodecatheon meadia). You can supplement these natives with annuals like pansies (Viola spp.) and petunias, and bulbs such as snowdrops (Galanthus spp.) and daffodils (Narcissus spp.). In midspring, the native offerings increase. Plants such as prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) and wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) take the stage. And just in time for the returning butterflies, host plants like the milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) for the monarchs and the nettles (Urtica spp.) for red admirals, commas and others emerge.
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Shooting stars (Dodecatheon meadia)
In late spring and early summer, anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), golden alexander (Zizia aurea) and many others appear. Both the hyssop and mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) carry the show through the entire summer and into early autumn. Bee balms (Monarda spp.) and coneflowers (Rudbeckia spp.) are hardy and beautiful choices for midsummer. Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and great blue lobelia (L. siphilitica) are particularly attractive
summer blooms to hummingbirds. Finally, in autumn, dramatic stars include the asters (Symphyotrichum spp.), goldenrods (Solidago spp.) and some late-blooming sunflowers (Helianthus spp.). There are aster and goldenrod species for both sun and shade. And, as in early spring, you can supplement the late-season native blooms with annuals, like zinnias and cosmos—plants that continue the pollinator offerings until the hard frosts.
RESOURCES Native Plant Bloom Calendar created by MSHS is available at northerngardener.org/ bloom-calendar. It gives bloom times for plants in USDA Zones 3, 4 and 5. Minnesota Wildflowers website (minnesotawildflowers.info). Use the “advanced plant search,” to find plants that bloom in specific months, Minnesota counties and other specific characteristics. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower native plant database (wildflower.org/ plants) offers a “combination search” to narrow choices to your area or other conditions.
Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)
Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Beyond Plants
A focus on providing native plants, with perhaps a few supplemental annuals, to cover the entire growing season can go a long way toward supporting pollinators in your garden. Other ways to help them include providing nesting sites, such as dead limbs and trees, planting in swaths to attract more visitors, and avoiding pesticides and herbicides. The goal: to have flowers, host plants, water and shelter for pollinators all season long—from early spring through the end of the growing season. By adding more options, you’ll welcome greater numbers and varieties of pollinators to your garden. Good luck, and enjoy planning and planting the buffet! Native-plant enthusiast Beth Stetenfeld is a garden blogger and writer, and a master naturalist volunteer and instructor.
—B.J.S.
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+ $1 from every pack sold supports MSHS community outreach programs. Find participating Pollinator Paks™ vendors near you: northerngardener.org/what-we-do/pollinator-paks Northern Gardener l Summer 2023 29
GARDEN TOUR
Something sparked Jill Stevens’ love for peonies— now she’s an expert with a garden filled with blooms. Story and photos by Sarah Colburn
A COLLECTOR’S GARDEN Paeonia nomala semiplena, a herbaceous hybrid
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E
very morning from mid-May to early July, Jill Stevens can be found in her peony gardens tracking the blooms. Clipboard in hand, and glasses perched on top of her head, she inspects each plant, writing down the first day it blooms, the last day it blooms and any issues. As she traverses her garden for a morning check, she lets out an audible yip of excitement as she spots a ‘Dreamtime’ herbaceous peony that has opened for the first time this year. Even with more than 1,200 different varieties on her 100-by-500foot lot inside the Benson, Minn., city limits, she never tires of seeing the petals slowly give way to magnificent blooms. At peak season she splits her time, two hours in the garden before work and two hours after. Though each plant is labeled, Jill can call out the names of many as she walks the gardens that surround her house, wrapping from the front to the deep back and up the other side. She pays special attention to the newest plants, the ones she’s been patiently anticipating the opening of for three years as they settle into her garden’s soil. “It’s exciting to see them bloom for the first time,” she says. “When they’re young, they look a little different than when they mature, and babies are cute and adults … you’ve seen them before.” Jill, who serves as the vice president of the Minnesota Peony Society and is an American Peony Society judge, keeps a close eye on her plants so she can help fellow gardeners. She has plants where the blooms open for a mere 72 hours and some where the blooms last up to 21 days. “If you’re going to invest, you might want some that are going to last longer than others,” she says. “I do it to share my knowledge with other people, especially among us nerds.”
“
It’s exciting to see them bloom for the first time. When they’re young, they look a little different than when they mature, and babies are cute.” A portion of the back garden at the home of Jill and Kevin Stevens Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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A Collector’s Garden
A Garden Evolves
Jill and her husband, Kevin, purchased the property in 1993 and when she moved in, the landscape already boasted two peony plants, one light pink and one white. Those two, she says, multiplied into 14 as she propagated the original, still unidentified plants. She began growing the new plants as a way to deter teenagers from drag racing and whipping donuts in what was to become her garden. For years, before she and Kevin moved in, the neighborhood kids would use the stretch of land to practice their driving skills. She remembered her grandmother’s row of peonies that served as a signal to her grandfather that he couldn’t bring any machinery closer to the house than that fence of flowers. “I thought, if it could work for grandma, it could work for me,” she says. It didn’t. She went on to add trees and a wooden fence to the landscape. Over time, with support from Kevin, Jill built up the space with more and more plants.
“I thought when I started that there were three varieties, white, pink and fuchsia,” she says of her peony passion. “When I saw in catalogs they had other names, then I thought ‘I gotta have them all.’ It started out, how many can there be? If a catalog has 10, there can’t be too many more than 10.” She soon learned. There are about 8,000 varieties of peonies. “I’ve probably come close to my limit unless I buy some acreage,” she says. “When I hit 200, I thought my yard was looking gaudy and then I thought ‘I’m beyond gaudy so just keep going.’ ” Through the years, she’s slowly added water features and benches for relaxing among the plants. She hosts honeybees on the property, and she revels in day-to-day life in her garden. Her hobby took off when her three children left the nest for adulthood, the youngest in 2008. Now, she and Kevin welcome their kids and their grandkids back to the garden. Their granddaughters hide behind the garden art, peeking at bold red blooms graced by the sun.
Collecting and Learning
Jill watches the peony market and she spends her winters
Peony Care With proper care, peony plants can grow for more than 100 years. Whether herbaceous, woody, itoh or species, Jill maintains her peonies the same way. Plant peony roots in the fall or winter as bare roots. The feeder roots on live plants can be easily damaged. Plant with eyes less than 2 inches below the soil. Peonies prefer dry soil. Jill has never watered her gardens. Use a granular time-release fertilizer each April. Jill waits until the shoots are about 4 inches above the soil. Apply the fertilizer only to the surrounding soil. Clean up fall leaves near plants in the spring, either before the shoots appear or when shoots are 4-6 inches high. Apply fungicide each spring to plants that had fungal problems the previous year. Weed regularly. After blooming, cut off spent blooms so the plant can focus its energy on creating more blooms. Wait until fall to remove foliage down to 4 inches from the base. Don’t compost the foliage on site to reduce fungal issues. —S.C. Top: ‘Kelway’s Rosemary’, below: ‘Old Soldier’
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choosing her next garden adventure. She works with Swenson Gardens of Howard Lake, Minn., for access to exclusive seedlings. She also orders from companies she considers reputable, including Warmerdam in the Netherlands as well as some from New Zealand. Health and safety regulations can make it difficult to bring plants in through customs. Right now, she says, enthusiasts are struggling to get peonies from Canada but those from the Netherlands are readily available. Some peonies, she says, can sell for as much as $5,000 a plant. Jill sets a limit on what she’ll pay but says it’s difficult to stick to it when new varieties hit the market and plants are released that she’s never seen before. “When they’re new, they’re going to be expensive,” she says. “They eventually come down; you just have to have patience, which is hard for a collector.” She orders her plants in January or February to ensure she gets the best selection. The plants usually arrive bare root in the fall and look like dormant peony roots with fingers, typically three to five eyes per plant. She has planted peonies in the snow on Nov. 18, and last year, she says she even planted some as late as December.
Top: ‘Golden Glow’, below: ‘Leda’
Peony Types Herbaceous. They die to the ground each year and bloom between late May and early July. Most are extremely hardy; very easy care. Woody (Tree). These deciduous peonies lose their leaves each fall but continue to grow from the woody stems. Not as hardy as the herbaceous types, they produce more and larger blooms at maturity and grow 3 feet or taller. Itoh (Intersectional). A cross between woody and herbaceous peonies, the itoh peonies bloom later and show greater disease and deer resistance. They die to the ground in fall but have the large blooms of tree peonies. Species. Whether woody or herbaceous, species peonies are the members of the genus Paeonia found in the wild. Less available commercially, they have become more popular with collectors recently. —Eds.
Top: ‘Green Halo’, below: ‘Haleigh’s Hallelujah’ Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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A Collector’s Garden
“It’s better to plant a peony when it’s dormant than to plant it in the spring with its leaves,” she says. Jill admits her taste runs counter to current trends. She prefers single, herbaceous peonies because of their wider color palette and hardiness. Her current favorite is called ‘Orange Glory’. Her garden also contains some of the plants that prompted her peony passion all those decades ago—three of her grand-
Winning Peonies Award of Landscape Merit Peonies are named by the American Peony Society based on their ornamental value, overall appearance throughout the growing season and reliability. A full list of winners is available at americanpeonysociety.org. Jill Stevens recommends the following: ‘Pastelegance’ (herbaceous hybrid), a creamy pink double peony, was released in 1989. People are always drawn to it, Jill says. ‘Bartzella’ (itoh) stands up well and the pretty yellow blooms won’t flop when it rains. Once expensive, Bartzella is easy to find and has come down in price, Jill says. ‘Shimadaijin’ (P. suffruticosa) has large (8 inches across) purple-red flowers. This tree peony is readily available and easy to grow. Stevens recommends gardeners understand specifically what plant they are buying when it comes to Paeonia tenuifolia (fern leaf and fern leaf hybrids) because there is a difference. To get a true plant, she recommends looking for only those advertised as Paeonia tenuifolia. —S.C.
mother’s peonies reside in her garden, amidst all the rare and wonderful plants she’s amassed. “I don’t know the names of them but I don’t have any others like it,” she says. “I’m thrilled to pieces to have them. The fact I’m not able to identify them means they’re not very common and that’s pretty special.” Sarah Colburn is a freelance writer based in the Twin Cities.
“
When they’re new, they’re going to be expensive. They eventually come down; you just have to have patience, which is hard for a collector.”
Itoh peony ‘Morning Lilac’ gives way to herbaceous hybrids ‘Claudia’ and ‘Elizabeth Foster’. Above: ‘Elizabeth Foster’; inset: ‘Helen Matthews’
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YOUR SUMMER GARDEN CHECKLIST Story and photos by Mary Lahr Schier
It’s the heart of the growing season, so enjoy every minute of planting, watering, weeding and harvesting that your garden offers. After the winter of 2023, you have earned it. Here’s what to do during each of these glorious months.
JUNE n Finish planting
n Prune springflowering shrubs
Don’t rush to put out warm-season vegetables. Early June is fine for tomato and pepper starts, green bean seeds and other plants that like warm soil. You can plant annuals throughout June as well. Lilacs, rhododendrons and other spring-flowering shrubs should be pruned after blooming. Don’t wait until too late in the season or you may cut off next year’s flowers.
n Deadhead bulbs
The flowers on tulips, daffodils and other spring bulbs can be cut off after they fade. Leave the leaves, though, as they nourish the bulb for next year.
n Cut back floppy perennials
Russian sage and other late-blooming, flop-prone perennials can be cut back by one-quarter in mid-June. Plants will be shorter when they bloom.
n Harvest greens
Lettuces, spinach and other greens planted early in the season can be harvested now. As they are harvested, replace with new plants
n Weed, weed, weed
Get ahead of the bad guys by spending 15 to 20 minutes a day cutting back or pulling weeds.
n Fertilize roses
After their first flush of blooms, add a handful of a balanced fertilizer to the soil around roses for more blooms later.
n Water
After a garden trowel, a rain gauge is your best tool. Vegetable gardens typically need an inch or more a week.
n Mulch
Let the soil warm up before adding mulch. If jumping worms are present in your area, consider a living mulch or none at all.
n Divide perennials
By early June, perennials, such as hostas, should be up enough to divide. The tell-tale donut shape means it’s time to divide and decide: replant or compost.
n Send houseplants to summer camp
Once the weather is warm, your houseplants may appreciate a few months outside. Don’t put them in too much sun.
n Shop the sales
June is a great time to find deals on plants. $$$ Late Check out your favorite nurseries.
A rain gauge is your BEST tool in summer. Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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Your Summer Garden Checklist
Observe your garden daily. You never know who else is living there. Trim back catmint after blooms fade and you’ll get another flush later in the summer.
JULY If you have not already done it, raise your mower blade to 3 inches. Longer grass handles heat better and tends to need less water.
n Raise the mower n Give scruffy plants a haircut
Trim back spirea, catmint and other June bloomers. If container annuals look rough, cut them back, too. The plants will reward you with more blooms later in the summer.
n Fertilize containers
By now, the soil in containers may be depleted of nutrients. A shot of fertilizer mixed in the watering can will encourage blooming.
n Water and weed
If you weeded diligently in June, you may see fewer weeds now. But a regular sweep of the garden will prevent weeds from getting a foothold there. Water as needed, but keep the hose focused on the soil around the plants, not the leaves.
n Scout for pests
Japanese beetles will be out by July. Sweep them into soapy water to reduce their numbers. Left to right, spinach flea beetle, polydrusus weevil, Japanese beetle
n Scout for problems
Seeds for green beans, summer squash, turnips and kohlrabi can still be planted. They will love the warm soil of summer. ISTOCK
n Plant
You may see signs of early blight, blossom-end rot on tomatoes and powdery mildew. With blossom-end rot, pick off damaged fruits. The plant will produce more.
n Start Seeds
In July? Yep. Start seeds in seed packs, then plant out seedlings for a fall harvest. Quick cool-season crops are best, such as lettuces or broccoli.
n Harvest
July is when the fun begins in the vegetable garden. Harvest herbs for pesto, greens, sour cherries and by the end of the month, cucumbers, early melons and green beans. Pick early and often!
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BEST GARDEN RESOURCES
AUGUST n Keep up the 3 Ws
WATER, WEED and WATCH for diseases or pests. If plants are past bloom or harvest and look diseased, pull them and plant something else.
n Harvest
Continual harvesting not only encourages some plants to produce more, it also spreads out eating and preserving time. Too much for you to handle? Share with friends, neighbors or your local food shelf.
n Start a fall crop
Leaf lettuce, kale, radishes, spinach and other greens can be planted in early August for a September harvest in USDA Zones 3, 4 and 5. Start them indoors or in a shady spot to avoid overheating the seedlings.
n Buy bulbs
The best selection of mail-order, spring-blooming bulbs is available early in the summer, but August is a good time to make lastminute orders for planting in September and October.
n Divide perennials
Pick a cool day and divide your irises, daylilies, alliums and other early season bloomers.
n Take pictures!
Is there a spot you love? A hole in the garden? A container that’s not working? Pictures taken now will help you plan next year’s garden.
n Take care of the birds n Buy a fall perennial
n Enjoy!
Keeping birdbaths filled will help the birds and other garden visitors. Leave some seed-bearing crops standing. Goldfinches love hyssop, coneflowers, sunflowers and more. Does your garden have asters, goldenrods or other great blooming plants for fall? If not, find a spot and plop one or more in. Pour yourself a cool beverage and savor all the beauty and food you are growing.
Observing your garden—which plants are thriving and which are struggling, which creatures are visiting and which diseases are present—is one of summer’s most important tasks. It’s enjoyable, too, as you walk around your garden examining leaves and flowers and watching birds and bugs. Identifying what you are seeing is not as easy. Insects flit away. Some diseases look similar to others. And weeds come in so many types, it’s hard to know what you have. Fortunately, there are more tools than ever before to help gardeners identify plants and problems. First and foremost, carry your phone into the garden and use its camera to snap a photo. Then, check some of our favorite garden ID resources. University of Minnesota Extension is the first site to check when faced with an unknown disease, weed or insect. Go to extension.umn.edu and search for “diagnose.” The site will link you to extension’s weed, insect and disease tools, which will walk you through the options. The photos on the site offer confirmation. Good Bug, Bad Bug (St. Lynn’s Press, 2011) by Jessica Walliser. Easy to carry, this book offers identification tools and information about which creatures are beneficial. (Spoiler alert: Most are.) If you garden with children, this is a fun resource. Common Backyard Weeds of the Upper Midwest (Adventure Publications, 2017) by Teresa Marrone offers photos and information about more than 150 weeds. The same company publishes Birds of Minnesota, Wildflowers of Minnesota and Trees of Minnesota, all useful guides and many are carried at local libraries. Plant and Insect Apps. There are dozens of apps for your phone that identify plants and insects, both free and paid. I’ve tried several and found that the identification functions are spotty. My favorite is iNaturalist, which shows you the plants and insects found in your neighborhood, though you can stretch the map to include a larger area. PlantNet also gets good reviews. Both are free and based on observations of users, so if the plant or insect you want to identify has not been submitted by a fellow user, it won’t be in the database. Northern Gardener Resource Hub. The northerngardener.org site contains nearly 1,000 articles on common garden problems and plants in cold climates. —M.L.S.
Mary Lahr Schier is a longtime Minnesota garden writer. Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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NORTHERN NATIVES Let a native plant expert help you create a welcoming garden with common plants and uncommon savvy.
Story and photos by Benjamin Vogt
Design Class 38 Minnesota State Horticultural Society
THERE ARE TWO EMOTIONAL STATES MOST GARDENERS WILL EXPERIENCE while standing in a plant nursery. The first is the euphoria of life—everywhere it’s green with blooms and buzzing and humming, alongside the musty, warm smell of soil. And the second is—this is overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be, though creating a new garden bed using common nursery plants does require some thought and planning, both before you get to the garden center and after. Let’s take it step-by-step.
Start with the Site
Let’s say you want to remove some of your front lawn and replace it with a wildlife-friendly garden bed. Only you know your aesthetic goals and site conditions—sun, soil, drainage, the current plants on site—as well as any environmental issues that need to be addressed, such as runoff, standing water or a dry slope. Since this will be a wildlife garden, your plant choices likely will focus on native plants that provide for adult insects, their larval young and more. The plants need to work as an ecosystem based on local climate. Checking some trusted online resources may get you started on the best types of plants for your site. But there’s some common fare that’s easily obtained locally that you can use to create a nice starter bed where the plants grow well together as a natural community. To get us started, let’s say that bed is in full sun to part sun, with a medium to dry clay or clay-loam soil.
Asclepias
What’s in the Store
In the Upper Midwest, these are the native plants most commonly for sale: Agastache foeniculum (anise hyssop) Amsonia hubrichtii (threadleaf bluestar) Asclepias incarnata (red milkweed) Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) Baptisia australis (blue false indigo) Coreopsis verticillata (threadleaf coreopsis) Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower) Eutrochium purpureum ( joe-pye weed) Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star) Monarda fistulosa (wild bee balm) Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) Ratibida pinnata (gray-headed coneflower) Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan) Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem) Solidago speciosa (showy goldenrod) Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (New England aster)
Bouteloua curtipendula
Narrowing the List
In a natural garden, just as in a wild meadow, there are layers of plants. Usually, sedge or grasses form the base layer, then masses of seasonal flowers above, then a few taller architectural plants, such as towering perennials, shrubs or small trees. Combined, these layers create a dynamic wildlife habitat that appeals to many species at different stages in their life cycle. But since this garden bed is also going to be replacing lawn in the front yard, it needs to look presentable for the neighbors. The first strategy then is to consider native plants that are shorter and less prone to flopping over; basically, plants that don’t get too big in any direction. That really narrows our list! Agastache foeniculum (anise hyssop) Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) Coreopsis verticillata (threadleaf coreopsis) Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower) Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan) Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem) Solidago speciosa (showy goldenrod) Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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Design Class We also want to avoid any aggressive self-seeders or root runners. The hyssop and little bluestem are out. Suddenly, our list is down to five not terribly exciting plants. It’s a solid base to work from as you keep looking around the nursery or head off to the next one in search of options to fill gaps.
Mind the Gaps
Echinacea purpurea
Liatris aspera
Some of those gaps have to do with bloom time, making sure we and pollinators have some useful beauty to enjoy. We’re definitely missing some spring flowers; you should be able to find Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine). If you want to go to the next level, through mail order or a local native plant society sale or small nursery, Heuchera richardsonii (prairie alumroot) and Baptisia bracteata (cream wild indigo) are solid choices for spring bloom. One of the tenets of a natural garden design that helps show a bit of order to neighbors is making sure there’s not more than one to three species in bloom at once, but that there’s still decent bloom succession through the growing season. Our current list lacks late summer and fall bloomers, but Liatris aspera (button blazing star) and Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster) shouldn’t be too hard to find. So, let’s look at our new list that’s in its probable bloom sequence: Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine) Heuchera richardsonii (prairie alumroot) Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) Coreopsis verticillata (threadleaf coreopsis) Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower) Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan) Liatris aspera (button blazing star) Solidago speciosa (showy goldenrod) Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster) Did you see how some of the original plants were replaced with others in the same family, like the Liatris (tall but stouter) and the aster (shorter)? If you wanted to add the Baptisia, it would work while providing some cool, jet-black and puffy winter seed heads. But wait! We’re missing the ground layer, what some call the green mulch or matrix that we’d see in the wild. We need grasses.
Add in the Grasses
Solidago speciosa
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I’ll bet a flat of milkweed that the nursery you’re at also has some Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama), maybe even Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama). These are both lovely short grasses to place in and among plants. Again, if you want to explore the next level, you could also add some sedges that green up earlier and are fairly adaptable while being happy to get shade in midsummer from taller plants. Carex blanda (common wood sedge) and Carex albicans (white-tinged sedge) are solid options, but you probably won’t see them at larger nurseries. Ask. Give the manager a list of native plants you’d love to see. Most nurseries are responsive to plant requests. Ask, and you may receive.
Boutelous gracilis
Asclepia tuberosa
With a base layer of grasses and plants that bloom throughout the season, this design is pleasing to people and pollinators.
Solidago speciosa
you have this bed designed on site or on paper, just replicate it over and over until you fill the entire space. This is something called modular design, and it makes laying out a large space Aquilegia canadensis much easier because you’re creating one small garden to cut Liatris aspera and paste. Heuchera Now go shopping and have fun. richardsonii Echinacea purpurea
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium Rudbeckia hirta
Benjamin Vogt is author of Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design (University of Illinois Press, 2022) and owns the prairie-inspired design firm Monarch Gardens.
Coreopsis vertricillata
Time to Design!
OK, great, you’ve got the plants, so now we have to lay them out. Let’s make another assumption that your bed is around 100 square feet. Let’s keep it simple and have a grass every 18 inches from one another in a grid pattern, which is 40 plants. Here’s how we’ll arrange the rest, keeping in mind repetition of masses to show design intention, as well as how the plants prefer to grow in the wild (singly or with friends): Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine) – 1 winding drift of 7-10 plants Heuchera richardsonii (prairie alumroot) – 3 masses of 3 plants Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) – 3 plants scattered individually Coreopsis vertricillata (threadleaf coreopsis) – 3 masses of 3 plants Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower) – 3 masses of 3 plants Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan) – 5 masses of 3 plants Liatris aspera (button blazing star) – 1 mass of 3 plants (in the middle or back of the bed) Solidago speciosa (showy goldenrod) – 1 mass of 3 plants (in the middle or back of the bed) Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster) – 1 plant If you’re going to add the Baptisia, try one to three of them scattered individually. As for the carex, jam those in wherever there’s an open gap. You can’t have too many plants, especially if we want to greatly reduce weed pressure by the second year. So, there you go. We’ve started with a base of commonly available native plants, added a few that won’t be hard to find at a native plant nursery, and we’ve taken into consideration such aspects as: site conditions, bloom succession, floppiness, behavior and design. What’s more, this garden will look good in winter, too, as long as you make sure not to cut it back in the fall. And what if you have more than 100 square feet? Once
Rudbeckia hirta
Aquilegia canadensis
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DIGGING DEEPER
This hybrid produced lovely flowers, but its susceptiblity to botrytis made it a poor candidate for future breeding work.
A PASSION FOR Story and photos by Gail Brown Hudson
MARTAGONS Patience and a zeal for beauty inspire this amateur lily breeder. Story and photos by Gail Brown Hudson
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Rick Rodich clips a stamen on one of his martagon lilies.
Like someone’s first romance, Rick Rodich will never forget his first lily. He distinctly remembers the down-facing Michigan lily (Lilium michiganense, USDA Zone 4) that captivated him at age 13 with bright orange color on its tips fading to yellow in the middle with maroon spots. “I was smitten,” Rick says. A couple of years of delight was all the youngster had, however. A gopher ate the bulb. But his affection for lilies
Patience, Please
Many gardeners have tried their luck at creating new Asiatic lilies or trumpet lily varieties by crossing plants. “They’re quick; you get results,” Rick says. But few people tackle martagons because this Eurasian species can be a challenge to establish even in the best conditions. In 2008, the year he bought a house with a spacious yard in St. Bonifacius, Minn., Rick began to hybridize martagon lilies, crossing them to
Created from the same parent plants as the white martagon on page 45, this lily shows the diversity of plant genetics.
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICK RODICH
grew, and he began to grow more dangling, upside-down lily varieties simply because they were different. Martagon lilies (L. martagon, zone 3), which he describes as graceful, intricate and alluring with their slender curved petals, became his passion. “There’s so much variation in the hues of the colors that make it really intriguing,” he says. “And the back of the petals is going to be just as important as the face of the petals.” A martagon lily bulb can produce 30 or more demure 2-inch blooms on a single stem. One online bulb seller describes the flowers “like so many little hanging presents with fancy bows.”
produce seeds. Rick has a degree in horticulture but describes himself as a happy-go-lucky breeder since he doesn’t have the room to grow hundreds of seedlings. “I say, ‘Let’s cross that one with this one over here and see what happens,’ ” he says. Enormous patience is required for Rick’s dream choices to come to fruition. On average, martagons produce one flower in the fifth year. With other lilies, two to three flowers in the second or third year is more common. Rick waited two years for his original martagon seeds to germinate. When they finally flowered, he threw them out because “they were pretty blah,” he says.
“
Many gardeners have tried their luck at creating new Asiatic lilies or trumpet lily varieties by crossing plants. They’re quick; you get results.”
A cross of L. martagon and L. hansonii, this cross is botrytis resistant.
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A Passion for Martagons
The breeding process: After removing the stamen from what will be the mother plant, Rick touches the plant’s pistil with the stamen of another plant to spread pollen. He caps the area with foil, marks it and waits for seed to grow a new type of martagon lily.
Timing is Everything
Armed with bits of aluminum foil, twist ties and little gauze bags, Rick sets out eagerly every summer to make some magic happen. Like a bee, he cross-pollinates 90 to 100 lilies in a season. “Every year, I say I’m not going to make that many [crosses],” he says, “but I always end up making that many.” To prevent insects from pollinating his flowers, Rick gets up early in the morning to gently put gauze bags over any flower buds about to open. When it’s time to cross the plants, he picks two parent plants with buds that have just opened. With small scissors, he clips the fuzzy yellow stamen off of what will be the mother plant, clearing the area around the pistil in the flower’s center. From the other parent, he removes one stamen and touches the tip of the pistil (stigma) with it several times, gently wiping the pollen onto it. Then, he creates a tiny foil cap to cover it up so it won’t be re-pollinated with anything else. “The stigma is not going to actually be receptive usually until the second day,” he says. “You can pollinate it the first day—it usually works—but it works bet-
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ter if you wait until the second day.” The final step is one of the most important—marking the cross with a piece of tape and magic marker. Rick wraps it around the pedicel (the small stem attached directly to the base of the flower)—not the main flower stem—so he can keep track of the crossed flower. In roughly 30 days a seed pod will form. When it starts to crack, the seeds are mature. He picks the pod to finish drying
it inside the house. Only half of the crossed flowers will produce seeds. Sometimes a single crossed flower produces 300 seeds that are all viable or many seeds that won’t have developed embryos in them. Rick uses a technique called candling to tell the difference. “You put a light behind it and you can actually see the embryo inside it with your naked eye,” he says. Rick is watching this unnamed martagon in hopes it will be a hardy variety.
“
I say, ‘Let’s cross that one with this one over here and see what happens.’ ”
A Surprising Result Says Rick, about this stunning white martagon: “This may look like a Lilium martagon album at a glance, but it resulted from a cross of a pink martagon hybrid and a naturally occurring orange hybrid from the Korean wild. A beautiful and curious outcome, it must have lots of hidden genes that I will continue breeding with.”
Searching for New Beauty
“You never really know what’s going to happen,” Rick says. “You’re always going to get good ones and bad ones.” But Rick follows one over-arching principle about which lilies he’ll continue to grow: “It should be different in some way.” Every year, he examines his crosses for characteristics such as color, color patterns, flower and plant size, flower groupings and how they’re arranged on a stem, plant vigor, stem strength and foliage. He also notes the health of the plant—is it disease resistant? It’s an effort 15 years in the making. And so far, Rick’s favorites include a pure white martagon and a shorter martagon plant with pink and yellow blossoms. He’s also keeping an eye on an Asiatic lily he hybridized, producing an out-facing white flower with a chocolate center in the middle. “It’s bloomed for three years now,” he says. Fingers crossed, a light pink oriental trumpet lily seedling will also be a winner. The color is not very common, and he hopes it will be a long-lived plant.
A Tasty Adventure
Rick’s passion for hybridizing lilies produces a lot of plants. He also happens to be an adventurous cook. He’s been known to either taste lily bulbs or sauté them. “I think it started because it was a novelty thing,” he says. “In China, they do it all the time.” But he promises he only eats the surplus of his beautiful martagon plants. Gail Brown Hudson is a horticulturist, an Emmy® award-winning journalist, writer and video producer, as well as an avid gardener in Minneapolis.
Resources
Martagon Basics The perfect lily for shade, Lilium martagon can form small colonies creating a stunning midsummer floral display. Plants are 3-6 feet tall with lance-shaped leaves that form whorls that circle the length of the stem. Flowers bloom from July to September, ranging in color from pink to white, with dark maroon specks on the interiors of the recurved petals. It’s a long-lived perennial with few pests and disease issues. Martagons don’t need to be divided. They attract monarchs, swallowtail butterflies and hummingbirds. How to Grow Martagons grow best in dappled shade to shade, particularly afternoon shade. The more shade, the longer the flowering stems and, hence, the showiest blooms. Plant bulbs in early August. Well-draining soil is essential. A lily bulb root can be 8 inches long. The bulb is susceptible to rotting, especially if the soil is wet. In areas with heavy snow cover and frequent thaws, fungi may kill the plant. Deadhead martagons by clipping them down to the leaves if you don’t want them to produce seeds. It will give the bulbs more energy for flowering in the following year. Mulch with organic matter such as leaf mold or grass clippings in the fall. Fertilize in the spring when the shoots start popping out, then again in early June. Stems can be cut back in the fall once the leaves turn yellow. —G.B.H.
North Star Lily Society, northstarlilysociety.com l North American Lily Society, lilies.org, offers propagation information. —G.B.H. Northern Gardener l Summer 2023
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KITCHEN GARDEN
GOOD-LOOKING GARDEN
SHUTTERSTOCK
Tasty and pretty, these nine vegetables deserve a spot next to your favorite flowers. Story and photos by Jennifer Rensenbrink
Vegetables were my first gardening love, and although I’ve since become passionate about native wildflowers and prairie grasses, I still get a thrill every time I pull a perfect carrot out of the ground or beat the squirrels to a beautiful beefsteak tomato. To me, all vegetables are beautiful. If you’re not convinced, try these nine vegetables that look so good, they deserve a spot next to your best flowers.
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Runner beans
These pole beans tick so many boxes: easy to grow, small footprint, pretty flowers that attract bees and hummingbirds, and delicious, large green beans that don’t get woody quickly. I usually grow them on a trellis at the entrance to my garden. I’ve also planted them in random places along my chain link fence and let them ramble around, their flowers providing interest near a gate. They even thrived on simple conical structures that I made out of bamboo sticks in my community garden. Planting and growing: Like most green beans, runner beans thrive in full sun and hot weather. Sow seeds in the garden after all danger of frost has passed and the soil is at least 60 degrees F. Be sure to provide support—these can get well over 6 feet tall. Depending on the type of trellis you
use, you may need to occasionally train loose vines.
Okra
Not everyone loves to eat okra, but I’d wager it’s because they’ve never had it properly cooked. When sliced and fried in butter, moments after picking, okra is a treat. The other neat thing about these plants is their statuesque presence in the garden. They would be welcome along the back edge of any sunny flower border. Many varieties can grow 6 feet or taller and they feature beautiful hibiscus-like tropical flowers. Planting and growing: Okra likes hot weather. Start seeds indoors or purchase seedlings, and plant outside after any danger of frost has passed. Okra needs the sunniest spot you have.
Runner beans usually have red flowers but other colors, such as peach, are available.
You’ll also get to harvest time faster if you choose smaller-statured varieties. Pick it often—the pods are best when 2-3 inches long. Once they get bigger, they get woody and inedible.
Swiss chard
If you’re going to grow greens, why not grow some with gorgeous red, yellow and orange stems? The large, glossy leaves of chard contrast beautifully with the brightly colored stems and veins. It can be used exactly like spinach, and it is easier to sprout and tolerates heat better than its more popular relative. Planting and growing: Buy seedlings in spring, or you could sow seeds. Since it withstands light frost, chard can be planted as soon as the soil has reached about 50 degrees F. You could even do both seedlings and seeds in succession to lengthen your growing season. Swiss chard will get bigger and more impressive in full sun, but it also does fine in part shade. It’s a great choice as a “filler” for a container, complementing tall or cascading flowers nicely.
Okra’s flowers look like hibiscus blooms.
Northern Gardener l Summer 2023 47
Good-Looking Garden Bull’s Blood beets
I grow lots of greens, and Bull’s Blood beets are a favorite. This heirloom variety has beautiful, edible purple foliage atop small, delicious roots. It tolerates cold well and can be harvested late into the fall. The leaves make a tasty and visually appealing addition to salads. Planting and growing: As with all beets, direct sow seeds into the garden as soon as the soil warms up. These are a cool-season plant, preferring spring or fall and struggling during the hottest part of summer. Many people grow them only in the shoulder seasons since they mature quickly. They grow best in full sun. In part shade, you’ll still get the gorgeous purple leaves but the roots will be tiny.
Bull’s Blood beets Malabar spinach
Sunchokes
Sunchokes, also called Jerusalem artichokes, hold a special place on this list as the only North American native perennial vegetable. They are also easy to grow—so easy, in fact, that you should not plant them unless you are quite sure that you want them. They spread aggressively if not harvested regularly.
one who grows them and ask them for a couple of tubers. You plant them much like potatoes. Because they spread aggressively, consider growing them in a large container buried in the ground.
Thai peppers
Sunchokes flower
Sunchokes are similar to sunflowers but have a slightly smaller, brown-eyed Susanlike flower that appears in late fall. The plants grow 10 feet tall and are great for screening. Harvest in the fall after a hard frost. Pull out the plants and dig around for tubers. Treat them as you would potatoes, but note that they are high in inulin so eat small amounts to avoid intestinal discomfort—they are also known as fartichokes. Planting and growing: The easiest way to get sunchokes is to find some-
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Aren’t these pretty? A master gardener I know grows these each year, carefully saving the seeds from year to year and starting them indoors. They’re a type of Thai pepper, but this particular one has been saved by his family for many years. Several different varieties of tiny decoThai peppers rative pepper plants are usually available at farmers’ markets and nurseries each spring. Planting and growing: Peppers should be purchased as seedlings or started inside under grow lights. Do not place them outside until all danger of frost has passed. Consider growing them in a container as they like “warm feet.”
Brussels sprouts
because they have a long growing season. You can harvest one meal’s worth at a time starting in late August. Harvest from the bottom of the plant and work your way up.
Malabar spinach
Here’s another green that is easier to grow than spinach. When it gets hot outside and early spring greens start to bolt, it’s time for Malabar spinach to shine. It’s not a true spinach, but its leaves look and taste very similar. The dark green, glossy leaves contrast beautifully with the red vine and the tiny, dark purple flowers. Planting and growing: A tender annual in northern gardens, Malabar spinach does best when purchased as a seedling or started indoors. Plant in full sun to part shade, only after all danger of frost has passed. Provide support as this vine will twine on its own, branching out as it grows to a height of 5-6 feet.
Snap peas
My garden is small so I love any vegetable that grows up. And who doesn’t love sugar snap peas? The flowers are beautiful, too. I plant sugar snap peas thickly, so that I can thin them out and eat the delicious pea shoots as an early-spring harvest.
Brussels sprouts
As they grow, Brussels sprouts leaves form a fractal, geometric pattern around the stem. When viewed from above, they look like a giant green flower. Later, as you start breaking off the lower branches to encourage and then harvest the sprouts, they take on the appearance of a Dr. Seuss-like tree, a ball of green leaves atop a skinny stalk. Planting and growing: Brussels sprouts grow to 2 feet wide and at least 3 feet tall. They are heavy feeders, so spread some slow-release fertilizer around them at planting time and then at least two more times throughout the growing season. They prefer full sun and should be started indoors or purchased as a seedling
Shade-Friendly and Beautiful Swiss chard Kale Collard greens Leaf lettuce Bull’s Blood beets (shade-friendly if grown for just leaves)
Mix several of these together to create contrasting textures.
Edible Climbers Malabar spinach Snap peas Runner beans
All of these require full sun.
Container-Ready and Gorgeous Currant tomatoes All of these Potatoes require Small hot peppers— full sun. a variety of shapes and colors —J.R.
Anything is beautiful if you love it, so this list is really just a sample. Also: mixing vegetables in with your perennial flowers and shrubs can help manage pests, especially if you grow natives or pollinator-supporting annuals. You’ll make both your garden and your dinner table prettier. Jennifer Rensenbrink grows edibles, native perennials and dahlias in her Minneapolis yard. Follow her garden adventures on Instagram at @jenniferrensenbrink.
Planting and growing: Snap peas are a cool-season vegetable; they will die off as soon as the summer heat kicks in. Get them planted early, as soon as the ground can be worked and the soil has warmed into the 50s. Soak the seed overnight to speed germination. Snap peas can handle a light frost and require full sun. Northern Gardener l Summer 2023 49
GARDEN DESIGN
WEIRD WONDERFUL BUT
These wacky plants might grow on you, given a chance. Story and photos by Michelle Mero Riedel
Above, right: pitcher plant; left, sea holly
50 Minnesota State Horticultural Society
Break free from your spring plant-shopping rut and consider unusual, weird-looking plants. A flower that looks like a brain or a snake’s tongue. An eerie plant resembling alien fingers or one that exhibits eyeballs. Creepy carnivores that consume insects. Petunias, coneflowers and ferns aren’t your only options. You might get hooked on the fun and fascinating world of peculiar plants. You can find these 12 bizarre-looking, attention-grabbing plants at most Twin Cities nurseries. American Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia) Type: Annual Growing facts: Full sun preferred, USDA Zone 7+, 6-24 inches tall depending on the variety An exotic, alien-looking foliage plant that grows best in water
gardens or moist soil. Pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant that traps and digests undesirable insects like mosquitos. Bring it inside for the winter and give it a sunny location for additional insect trapping. Artichoke Agave (Agave parryi) Type: Annual Growing facts: Full sun, zones 7-10, grows about 3 feet tall and wide Artichoke agave is an attention-getting plant in the cacti family. I recommend planting it in a pot so you can bring it inside for the winter. This exotic specimen deserves a fantastic coordinating container with good drainage. Keep it away from children as the plant does have sharp points. Artichoke agave is an easy-to-grow desert plant requiring very little water. Put it in quality cacti soil mix, and you’ll enjoy this beauty year after year. Sea Holly (Eryngium maritimum) Type: Perennial Growing facts: Full sun, hardy in zones 4-10, grows 18-36 inches tall, depending on variety Sea holly emerges looking like thistle, but by midsummer its blooms turn a stunning shade of blue. It’s easy to grow and handles drought and wind. (I have it growing on a hillside where it receives plenty of drainage.) Deadhead the eerie blossoms so the seeds don’t disperse everywhere. Use surrounding plants to hold up taller sea holly varieties.
Firethorn or Porcupine Tomato (Solanum pyracanthum) Type: Annual Growing facts: Full sun, hardy in zones 7-10, grows 3 feet tall and wide This plant is wickedly interesting thanks to its velvet, silver-green leaves with ¾-inch long, florescent orange, protruding thorns. In the mid- to late summer, stunning purple flowers appear, which provide pollen and nectar for pollinators.
X The Frizzle Sizzle Show St. Paul’s Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Como Park Zoo and Conservatory has a new horticulture curator, Lisa Philander. One of Philander’s responsibilities is to acquire new plants and maintain a collection of permanent plants. She is an expert on unusual plant types and bizarre botanicals. One of her favorites is the Albuca spiralis, commonly called frizzle sizzle, that blooms in the winter and spring. Besides the unique, blue-green, dark-spiral leaves and dangling yellow-green flowers, it’s the scent, similar to a sweet hyacinth, which draws her to the plant. A. spiralis is a rare, sun-loving, succulent bulb native to South Africa, and it can be mail-ordered during the warm months. Anytime you want to be surrounded by peculiar, weird plants, indoors and outdoors, head to the conservatory at Como Park. And don’t forget your camera! —M.M.R.
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Weird but Wonderful Silver Squill or Leopard Lily (Ledebouria socialis) Type: Annual Growing facts: Part shade, hardy in zones 8-10, grows 6-8 inches tall With its green-hued, leopard spots, you’ll find this petite plant charming and exquisite. Silver squill looks great as a groundcover outside or in a pot that can be transferred inside to enjoy all winter. This drought-loving, easy-to-care-for plant is actually a bulb. Rest the bulb above the soil line. Note that this plant is toxic to humans and pets. Buzz Buttons or Spilanthes (Acmella oleracea) Type: Annual herb Growing facts: Full to part shade, hardy in zones 9-11, grows 10 inches high by 20 inches wide I love this plant’s eye-catching maroon and gold buttons, plus its ability to sprawl. Many gardeners grow buzz buttons because all parts of the plant can be used for medicinal and cooking purposes. It’s not a high-maintenance plant, but it does get thirsty in full sun.
Brass Buttons (Leptinella squalida) Type: Perennial Growing facts: Part shade, hardy in zones 4-10, groundcover 2 inches tall by 1 foot wide I like brass buttons’ stunning soft texture, and it’s a good groundcover for the shade. Place it in between steppingstones as it tolerates some foot traffic, or place it along the garden’s edge. This fernlike plant’s black and lime tones are a great attraction. Tassel Flower (Amaranthus caudatus) Type: Annual Growing facts: Full sun to part shade, hardy in zones 2-11, 4-5 feet tall by 2-3 feet wide Plant tassel flower, also called love lies bleeding, once and you’ll have plants indefinitely. This easy-to-grow, downward-drooping, broomlike flower creates a dramatic focal point in the garden. When the flowers get too heavy, bring them indoors to use as a vase spiller. Songbirds are very fond of the plant’s seed.
X More Weird and Wonderful Plants Here are some additional annuals and perennials to consider adding to a garden or container. Each has an unusual shape, color or flower. Try them all.
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Annuals Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia) Q Bloodleaf (Iresine herbstii) E.T. Fingers (Crassula gollum) R Venus Flytrap (Dionaeo muscipula) Passion Flower Vine (Passiflora) Pickle Plant (Kleinia stapeliiformis) Spider Flower (Cleome)
Purple Parsnip (Angelica gigas) R Type: Perennial Growing facts: Full sun to part shade, hardy in zones 4-9, 3-5 feet tall by 2 feet wide Purple parsnip is a stunning ball of maroon, and it attracts bees and wasps when it fully blooms in the fall. It’s a shortlived perennial that grows for two years and finally blooms in year three. Allow some of the flowers to reseed and watch seedlings self-start the following year. This plant is unique, easy-to-grow and pest-free. Cockscomb (Celosia cristata) Type: Annual Growing facts: Full sun, zone 10+, 8-12 inches tall by 8 inches wide Cockscomb is a dramatic-looking plant that features a single, large flower resembling a brain. It comes in many striking, long-lasting bloom colors that, depending on the variety, coordinate with the plant’s leaf veining. It works well in a garden border or in a container. For intense bloom color, put the plant in full sun. Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium) Type: Native perennial Growing facts: Shade, hardy in zones 4-9, 2 feet tall and wide Green dragon is a cousin of the native Jack-in-the-pulpit. In the spring, it
X
Pickle plant (Kleinia stapeliiformis)
Perennials Black Snakeroot (Actaea racemosa) Globe Thistle (Echinops spaerocephalus) Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia) Shredded Umbrella Plant R (Syneilesis aconitifolia) —M.M.R.
shoots up one leaf with a unique, long cylinder flower stalk that resembles a tongue. After flowering, the plant produces berries. Green dragon does well in a woodland garden with moist soil. Golden Shrimp (Pachystachys lutea) Type: Annual Growing facts: Full sun to part shade, hardy in zones 10+, 2-3 feet tall by 2 feet wide Tall, exotic and quirky, the shrimp plant is ideal for anyone looking for a bright yellow accent. The yellow bracts retain their color all season with white flower shoots jutting out sideways, resembling a shrimp. The flowers last a couple of days and attract hummingbirds. You can also bring golden shrimp indoors and enjoy it as a houseplant. Professional photographer and U of M Extension master gardener Michelle Mero Riedel gardens in Washington County, Minn.
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PLANT PROFILE
Geranium pratense ‘Dark Reiter’
Story and photos by Kathy Purdy
Friend Group
WALTERS GARDENS
Meet your garden’s new BFF, easy-going geraniums.
Your best friend is trustworthy, reliable and low-maintenance (no drama). He or she makes you look good; they don’t upstage you or steal your thunder. Let me introduce you to your garden’s best friend: the hardy geranium, also known as cranesbill. Resources
The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Hardy Geraniums (Timber Press, 1994) by Trevor Bath and Joy Jones Hardy Geraniums: The Complete Guide to the Genus (Timber Press, 2002) by Peter Yeo The Plant Lover’s Guide to Hardy Geraniums (Timber Press, 2016) by Robin Parer Plant source: geraniaceae.com has an extensive selection of cranesbills. —K.P.
54 Minnesota State Horticultural Society
Hardy geraniums (Geranium spp.) are trustworthy—they won’t take over your garden when you turn your back. They are reliable, coming back year after year. And yes, they are low-maintenance. Once established, you can forget about them. And they look good, too, with attractive foliage, which often colors nicely in the fall. Disease-free, mine have never been eaten by rabbits or deer either. Clockwise from top: Geranium maculatum ‘Espresso’; hedgerow cranesbill (Geranium pyrenaicum); mourning widow cranesbill (Geranium phaeum)
Meet the Geranium Family
Hardy geraniums are perennials with roundish, toothed or notched leaves, five-petaled flowers, and a seed capsule that looks like a crane’s bill, hence the common name. Most are hardy to USDA Zone 4—some are hardy to zone 3. Some hardy geraniums are clumpers; they stay in their spot and just get a little bigger every year. Some are spreaders, taking more and more territory each year—but are easy to pull up where you don’t want them. And some are seeders. If you don’t deadhead them, you will find baby plants popping up in gaps. For cottage gardeners like me, this is a feature, not a bug, but deadheading right after bloom will keep seeding in check. Most of them prefer full sun but will do fine with a half a day of sun. A few, like G. maculatum and G. phaeum, can take even more shade. Here are my garden’s best friends, in roughly blooming order. Spotted geranium (Geranium maculatum) is native to eastern North America, growing in damp places at the forest edge, along rural road ditches and in forest clearings. I grow ‘Espresso’, whose leaves are dark reddish brown when they emerge and make a wonderful companion to early spring bulbs and primroses. When temperatures warm, the foliage color fades slightly. Pink flowers bloom in mid-May. Hardy to zone 3, some sources say this plant benefits from a post-flowering cut-back, but the one time I tried it, the plants sulked for the rest of the season. Make sure it doesn’t dry out if you decide to cut it back. ‘Espresso’ is a clumper, but the wild form must seed where it’s happy or it wouldn’t be so prevalent.
Mourning widow, the common name for Geranium phaeum, has dark purple flowers, which do tend to nod as if grieving. A seeder, it grows up to 3 feet tall but stays shorter and bushier with less competition. Like G. maculatum, it tolerates some shade—part-day sun or dappled shade. The plant shines next to peachy-apricot blooms or fronting yellow-green foliage. I bought my original plant, identified as ‘Samobor’, at a garden club plant sale. However, ‘Samobor’ has attractive dark variegation on its leaves, and mine does not. Seedlings do not necessarily have all
the characteristics of their parents. If a characteristic is important to you, make sure your plants are vegetatively propagated, that is, taken from cuttings or divisions of the original plant. Hedgerow cranesbill (Geranium pyrenaicum) was a gift from another gardener. Short with small, magenta flowers, many people consider it a weed. In my clay soil, it’s cute and never a bother. If you have sandy soil, it might be more aggressive. Sources say it is zone 5 hardy, but I’ve seen it grow in zone 4.
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Friend Group Pratense means “of a meadow,” and Geranium pratense behaves like a meadow plant, seeding itself into any available gap. Its lilac-blue flowers go with just about everything. They show up in early to mid-June, just in time to accessorize bearded irises, spiraeas, peonies and the first roses. Zone 3 hardy, this is a variable species and many cultivars are offered in the trade. ‘Midnight Reiter’ has lovely dark foliage in spring, but not all its progeny share this trait. These cranesbills aren’t especially long-lived.
Clockwise, from top: G. sanguineum forms a living mulch. Turned-back petals make ‘Biokovo’ a dramatic choice. ‘Tiny Monster’ pairs well with spirea.
Geranium Groundcovers
Elizabeth Lawrence once wrote, “There are two difficulties with groundcovers: first to get them to grow, and then to get them not to.” Bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) is not that kind of groundcover! It is easy to grow—stick them in the ground and they will root. It’s also easy to pull out if it spreads too much. The foliage has a piney, minty smell, and while heavy foot traffic would do it in, an errant soccer ball is no problem. Hardy to zone 3 (some say zone 2!), it has attractive fall foliage and pretty pink flowers. It tolerates drier soil than many cranesbills but does fine in my damp clay, too. Geranium ‘Tiny Monster’ is a hybrid of G. sanguineum ‘Ankum’s Pride’ with G. psilostemon. Its magenta flowers bloom the second week of June. It gets about a foot tall (the tiny part) but can grow up to 4 feet wide (the monster part). I let it weave among taller, golden-leaved plants such as ‘Color Guard’ yucca and Glow Girl® spirea. After the first flush of bloom, it blooms sporadically for the rest of the summer. Geranium sanguineum ‘Pink Summer’ is a pastel pink version of bloody cranesbill. Why bloody? The straight species has magenta flowers, but to my eye magenta doesn’t look anything like blood. Not to worry, there are many cultivars of G. sanguineum available. Hardy to zone 3, bloody cranesbill forms low mounds of foliage with groundcover ambitions but does not spread as fast as G. macrorrhizum.
56 Minnesota State Horticultural Society
Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’ and ‘Biokovo Karmina’ are sweet hybrids of G. macrorrhizum with G. dalmaticum, found in the Biokovo mountain range in Croatia. They are both short, with slightly fragrant foliage. ‘Biokovo’ has white flowers and ‘Biokovo Karmina’ has orchid-pink flowers, with petals slightly turned back on each cultivar, giving it a windswept look. They have wonderful fall color and are hardy to zone 3. I’m bowled over by Geranium ‘Boom Chocolatta’ PP32,026, a hybrid of G. pratense bred by Minnesotan Hans
Hansen and selected for its vigor and longevity. These plants grow to the size of small shrubs and are extremely floriferous. They bloom around the third week of June, and steal the show when they do. It’s a winner. Yes, geraniums are a gardener’s BFFs. There are so many different species and hybrids. Find your new best pal in your local garden center or online. Award-winning garden writer Kathy Purdy gardens in upstate New York. Find her at coldclimategardening.com.
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Society and Affiliated members of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society receive a membership card and access to discounts with our trusted partners across the Upper Midwest. Find each partner’s unique discount offer and an online map of participating locations at northerngardener.org/membership/discount–partners. 101 Market – Otsego Abrahamson Nurseries – Scandia, Stillwater MN & St. Croix Falls WI All Seasons Garden Center, Grand Forks, ND NEW! Anoka– Ramsey Farm & Garden – Ramsey Axdahl’s Garden Farm & Greenhouse – Stillwater Bachman’s – Apple Valley, Eden Prairie, Fridley, Maplewood, Minneapolis & Plymouth Beisswenger’s – New Brighton Como Park Zoo & Conservatory – St Paul Costa Farm & Greenhouse – White Bear Lake Countryside Lawn & Landscape – Zumbrota Dan & Jerry’s Greenhouse – Monticello Dolan’s Landscape Center – Austin Dragonfly Gardens – Amery, WI NEW! Drummers Garden Center & Floral – Mankato EggPlant Urban Farm Supply – St. Paul Fair’s Nursery – Maple Grove Farmington Greenhouse – Farmington Fiddles & Fronds – Minneapolis Flower Power Garden Center & Fred Holasek & Son Greenhouse – Lester Prairie Flower Valley Orchard Flower Farm – Red Wing NEW! Forest & Floral Garden Center – Park Rapids Friends School Plant Sale – Falcon Heights Garden Divas – River Falls, WI Garden Expressions – New Richmond, WI Gordy’s Gift & Garden, Hermantown Green Lake Nursery – Spicer Green Space, LLC – Minneapolis Green Valley Greenhouse – Ramsey Hartman Garden Center & Landscaping – Victoria Heidi’s GrowHaus – Corcoran Home Sown Gardens – Eagan Horta Culture – Afton NEW! Hugo Feed Mill & Hardware – Hugo
Jean’s The Right Plant Place – Perham Kelley & Kelley Nursery – Long Lake Kern Landscape Resources – St. Paul Knecht’s Nurseries & Landscaping – Northfield Landscape Alternatives – Shafer Lilydale Garden Center – Lilydale Lynde Greenhouse & Nursery – Maple Grove Mickman Brothers – Ham Lake Miltona Greenhouses – Parkers Prairie – NEW! Minnesota Landscape Arboretum – Chaska Mother Earth Gardens – two Minneapolis locations Nagel Sod & Nursery – Medford Nature’s Garden World – Fergus Falls Nelson Nursery Garden Center – Zimmerman Otten Bros. Garden Center & Landscaping – Long Lake Pahl’s Market – Apple Valley Paisley Gardens – Northfield Patio Town – Brooklyn Park, Burnsville & Oakdale Prairie Moon Nursery – Winona (offer online only) Prairie Restorations, Inc – Princeton & Scandia Sargent’s Nursery – Red Wing Sargent’s Landscape Nursery – two Rochester locations Schulte’s Greenhouse & Nursery – St. Michael Seed Savers Exchange – Decorah, IA South Cedar Garden Center – Farmington Spring At Last Greenhouse – Duluth NEW! Terra Garden Center – Lakeville Terrace Horticultural Books – St. Paul (offer online only) The Garden By The Woods – Chanhassen VIP Floral & Garden Center – Slayton Wagner Garden Centers – Minneapolis & Hugo Winter Greenhouse – Winter WI Zywiec Landscape & Garden – Cottage Grove *Locations are in MN unless otherwise noted.
The Minnesota State Horticultural Society is a 501c3 nonprofit. We are thankful for our Discount Partners and members. Your support powers our mission to deliver valuable programs, education and resources to northern gardeners of all skill levels and backgrounds.
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BEFORE & AFTER
Cabin Vibes Trees, perennials and vegetables transform a suburban yard into a woodsy oasis. By Mary Lahr Schier BEFORE
when adam mcguire and his wife, nicole, moved into their Ham Lake, Minn., home in 2019, the 2½-acre property had some older, lawn-forward landscaping. But it lacked trees, a foundation planting and the food-gardening space the couple sought. “We really like cabin time and traveling,” Adam says, “so we tried to take an authentic approach to make us feel like we were up there.” Creating a cabin feel meant adding lots of trees; pollinator-friendly plants of different heights, colors and textures; and a firepit. They also like to grow their own food and started the transformation by adding a 34-by-34-foot fenced area of raised beds to grow vegetables as well as an orchard and fruit garden. They planted apple, plum and cherry trees, along with plantings of blueberries, grapes, raspberries and more. To give the property a Northwoods feeling, they planted 37 trees, including pine, spruce, juniper, aspen, birch, larch and maple. They love ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas and planted a line of nine (soon to be 12). More than 150 additional perennials and deciduous and evergreen shrubs have been added since they moved in. The 19-foot firepit pad—a graystamped Italian slate pattern with an almost black stamped edging—is a favorite with the couple, their friends and family. While Adam and Nicole have done most of the planning and planting of their yard themselves, with some help from family, they hired local firm J&B Concrete to build the firepit. “Doing it yourself, you save a lot of money,” Adam says, “but you have to be prepared for somewhat of a learning curve. You’ll probably replant/rehome many plants along the way. Just like in interior design, sometimes you have to live with things for a bit to decide if they work there.” But, he says, “gardening is very forgiving,” and the couple continues to learn and plan new garden spaces. With busy
60 Minnesota State Horticultural Society
careers in health care (Nicole) and “corporate America” (Adam), the couple enjoys their downtime in the garden—and in the kitchen with all the produce they grow. “We like to eat,” Adam says, “so we harvest about 100 heads of garlic each season and can too many jars of red sauce. “We enjoy the sacred Minnesota seasons,” Adam says, “so it was important to us to have a comfortable and beautiful space and utilize the larger property we are thankful to have.” Mary Lahr Schier is a longtime Minnesota garden writer.
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We really like cabin time and traveling, so we tried to take an authentic approach to make us feel like we were up there.” AFTER
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Northern Gardener l January/February 2022
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