Iris Time is coming soon!

Iris blooming in Washington State right now!

 A friend just sent to me this picture of her white iris!  Wow!  A reminder it will soon be Iris Time for Minnesota!  I so envy her longer gardening time!


A creative planter stand for your landscape!

My Denny began making a unique planter stand late summer last year in response to friends commenting on how much they'd like to have one we had seen in a garden on a tour.  Denny looked it over and agreed he could probably make them.   I recalled I had one I had used many years ago but had not used it recently.  Using my gardening friends for advice for design details he launched his manufacturing in our garage.

He just finished filling orders for spring 2015 delivery and is now stocked again to fill more orders! 

The wonderful feature is that it can be placed midst plantings

 without taking up space at the base!

 

I've been planning to use several of these in my own gardens this year and am looking forward to shopping for plants to use.  I also plan to use some to display a few of my fairy gardens!

April is National Gardening Month!

One of the suggestions to celebrate this special month is to share your gardening love with a child!

Every April I share my passion for spring, gardening and pansy planters with my great granddaughter Josie.  Gardening has became our special bonding activity!



  2010 was my first Pansy Time with
Josie!  Love the shades she has on!
You should have seen the snazzy boots
she wore when shopping for her plants!
She fell in love with the big purple and white faced variety and picks them out
every year until she found a new love this year!

This year she was captivated by this pot containing different varieties

Then Josie spotted the purple Alyssum close by and was enchanted by them so I suggested that we plant them in the pot we had planned to put pansy plants in since we had decided on the preplanted pansy pot!  Needless to say she was delighted so we went home to have supper and plant up her pot!  She had 3 plants leftover that didn't fit in the planter so we decided she would take them home and put one in each of her fairy gardens.  My suggestion that she could handle that without me was eagerly agreed to.  She has graduated to the next gardening level and I am so proud of her!

Our next gardening fun will be her Fairy Gardens.  We started her fairy gardening fun in 2011. 

Perennial planters survive MN winter again!

A week earlier than last year, I gathered my supplies and tackled the fun of finding what fairy garden plants and containers of hostas with companion plants survived the MN winter in my garage and help them wake up to spring. 



Looks like a garden bed in the yard at this point!

Ready for sunshine!



 

 I gathered my tools and supplies for this fun task and enjoyed the sunshine in the driveway as I "woke" up my special gardens.  Armed with my bucket of saved compost from last year, a jar of Osmocote fertilizer, a kitchen fork and spoon and my favorite pruner for deadheading and flower arranging I was delighted to discover almost all the dwarf perennials and trees were already awake and looking for sunshine and water!  Hostas were all poking up under the dried leaves, etc.  How exciting!  This is a week ahead of last year's event when I didn't see much of anything up so this early spring is wonderful!  This year I was treated to several plants ready to be split!   I took off the leaves and dead plant material, sprinkled some compost on the top with the fertilizer and scratched it all in using my fork, watered it all well and left them on the driveway to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air!  They looked  so happy!

This  miniature garden Aug. 2014

I have some exciting new accessories to add to this one and decisions to make about what different plants I may want to use! 



Gal Gardeners Spring Ritual

Nothing helps us celebrate spring gardening like our annual visit to Bachman's Nursery and Idea House in Minneapolis! 

We arrive in time to scope out the greenhouse and gift shop area before we head to partake in their special lunch.  We dine in their huge greenhouse surrounded by all those beautiful colorful plants in full bloom with sunshine streaming in from above!  The menu selections are chosen with care but the desert selections take the longest to decide upon! 

Next we take a tour of the Bachman Idea House to check out their new ideas for decorating.  Then we return to the Greenhouse and Gift Shop to make some final purchases we just can't resist.

The trip back home includes a stop at Gerten's Nursery for their pansy pots and check out their newest fairy garden accessories and plants.  With the car jam packed with spring goodies we head home in time to enjoy supper with families. 

There is nothing like a lingering visit to a green house with the fragrance of flowers and soil to get our "Spring Gardening Mode" on!

Here's inspiration at Bachman's!

 

http://www.bachmans.com/bachmans/?q=aboutus_IdeasHouse

 

http://www.gertens.com/

 

 

Tiny blue or white spring flowers are delightful!

Squill

Another 'along the sidewalk' spring treat for neighborhood walkers!  Along with the crocus these dainty delights pop up to announce spring has sprung!  I planted these several years ago among hostas at the edge of my hosta bed and love them! 

They have readily multiplied but have not become a nuisance or needed thinning out!  Once they are done blooming they soon disappear back into the earth and allow other plants to take their turn creating beauty!

More information available: 

 http://hort.uwex.edu/articles/siberian-squill

A welcome home greeting in my gardens!

What a way to be welcomed home to MN spring!

Crocus
 

A few days ago we arrived home from 3 months in AZ to find a normal spring time in MN!  Yipeee!  The snow is gone, tulips are up 4-6" high already, and early spring flowers are peeking up looking for me!  What a treat after the last two late springs!

I love crocus for so many reasons!  Their bright spot of color heralding the awakening of other plants with their special colors, shapes and bloom times!  To plant a garden is to have faith in the future and crocus don't disappoint me! 

Many years ago I planted some crocus bulbs along the edge of my main hosta bed that begins less than 2 feet from a sidewalk.  This way crocus get to greet our neighborhood walkers also!  I often wonder how many smiles they get!

Check this website out for some interesting information on this wonderful sign of spring busting out!  Just click on this:

http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/growingflowers/growingflowers/crocus

Crocus readily multiply but one just cannot have too many crocus planted so put them on your shopping list for fall planting!  When they are done blooming they just hide back in the ground and let other nearby plants strut their stuff! 

Fairies attended the AZ Hobby Show

I had a table at our mobile home park's Annual Hobby Show again!

This year we (Harriett & I) needed two tables to display all the Fairy Gardens we had to display!  We had some new Fairy Gardeners join us who attended our class we held in January.  Fairy Gardens have increased in the park this year.

It was lots of fun chatting with people who came to explore hobbies on display!

My friend, Harriett

 


 

Me talking, as usual!
 

Agave for AZ Gardens

On the AZ garden tour we found a variety of Agave plants in home gardens.

Many agave varieties grow well in Midwest zones also!

They are always a great plant to make a statement as a specimen plant or when they are small in a container.



Agave angustifolia  Marginata   'Varigated Caribbean Agave'



Agave vilmoriniana  'Octopus Agave'



Agave Americana  'Mediopicta Alba'



Agave parryii trincata  'Artichoke Agave'   COLD TOLERANT

Ready for 2015 Spring Gardening?

Do you want inspiration?  Want ideas?

Want to know how to update your garden beds?

Check out your area garden clubs & plant nurseries for gardening seminars!  If you are in SE Minnesota, check this fabulous seminar out and register today!  Yes, I'll be there, I know how great these gals are and it is an opportunity to network with other gardeners in this area!

2015 Spring  Gardening  

 with Kerin Marek and Beth Solie!

Presented  by:

 Minnesota State Horticulture Society and Rochester Garden & Flower Club

When:     Tuesday, April 21, 2015  6:30pm - 8:00pm            $10

Rochester Golf & Country Club, 3100 Country Club Road S.W., Rochester.

Beth and Kerin will walk you through spring garden tasks, including spring cleanup, splitting perennials, moving volunteer plants and removing overgrown shrubs to update your landscape.

Get ideas on how to reassess your garden, such as changing your garden outline or moving plants out of crowded areas.

 They will help you to choose where split, new and poorly growing perennials should be repositioned to by using sun/shade, height, texture, color of foliage and flowers and season of bloom.

 They will also discuss fertilizing, mulch choices and how to freshen up your garden art accents.

Kerin Marek of Shade of Green Landscaping has been in the horticulture business for 26 plus years. She has worked at Sargent's and Hallstrom's Greenhouse in Red Wing and the special events department at Disney World.

Beth Solie with Solie for You Landscape Design guides her clients on how to be successful at their own level of gardening. She is a Master Gardener, teaching middle school butterfly gardening classes.

                                                                    Class size limited

Register over the phone (651) 643-3601 / (800) 676-6747

or MSHS website   www.Northerngardener.org

Cactus in AZ gardens

Cactus provide texture, shape, height and seasonal color to AZ gardens.

We found quite a few interesting cactus on the AZ garden  tour:



Echinocactgus grusonii   'Golden Barrell Cactus'



Cephalocereus senilis  'Old Man Cactus'





Marginatocereus marginatus   'Mexican Fencepost'

Opantia basilaris   'Beavertail Prickly Pear'




Echinopsis oxygona  'Easter Lilly Cactus'

Water feature in a desert garden!

Wow, a gentle flowing stream that flows around a desert yard on three sides!

Not only is it a stream, it has ponds and waterfalls here and there including a koi pond, a sunfish pond and a garden pond growing tomatoes and basil!



Yep, that is a tomato plant!

Butterflies and humming birds

We are all concerned about butterflies, bees and humming birds no matter where we live!

Finding these signs on the AZ garden tour reminded me that all gardeners are doing what they can to publicize how to feed these three important visitors to our gardens no matter where we live in this country!  Made me feel right at home when I saw these: