Northern Gardener - Winter 2022

THE AUTHORITY ON NORTHERN GARDENING FOR

150

YEARS

Gardener Northern

A MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION

WINTER 2022

HERBAL HAPPY HOUR

GARDENERS’ WINTER TO-DO LIST BY MONTH

Strange gifts every gardener would love

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z.umn.edu/ProHort Presented by The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and University of Minnesota Extension.

MSHS Board of Directors Mary Hockenberry Meyer, Chair Mary Marrow, Vice Chair Paul Markwardt, Treasurer Renay Leone, Secretary Nan Eserkaln Judy MacManus Steve Poppe Laura Wagner Rhys Williams

Winterberry

A NOTE FROM

MSHS Board Chair what do northern gardeners do in the winter? Some say that we garden so intensively in summer that we need a break in the winter. I wonder if that is true... most gardeners I know are thinking of plants no matter what the season! This issue of Northern Gardener is full of ideas to keep you busy thinking of gardening all winter long.

Give the gift of a hort society membership this holiday season, and dig into our online Resource Hub this winter for garden planning tools, winter sowing ideas and more. And don’t miss the article on shrubs for containers — yellow twig dogwood has survived in my front porch containers for three straight winters! It looks great in the winter with yellow bark and then flowers in the spring. Who knew this plant would survive Minnesota winters in a container? Looking for ways to get your garden ready for 2023 or practical items that can be repurposed for clever

gardening uses? How about growing an herb garden for mocktails and cocktails for your winter entertaining? Just look inside for your winter reading and planning.

Yes, this is our first official winter issue. Members and subscribers, look for a digital supplemental issue in your inboxes in January (don’t miss an issue – share your email if you haven’t already).

The next print issue will hit mailboxes March 1, 2023. This new spring edition will be longer and packed full of seasonal tips to kick off the growing season.

Despite winter and gardeners relaxing from the summer work, we are always thinking of next year and planning ahead for the best garden ever! Wishing you a restful and fulfilling winter and holiday season.

— Mary Hockenberry Meyer MSHS Board Chair

MSHS Staff Lara Lau-Schommer, Interim Executive Director Becky Swee, Communications and Marketing Director Diane Duvall, Development Director Courtney Tchida, Community Programs Director Ann Londrigan, Membership Associate Betsy Pierre, Advertising Sales Manager Elsa Hoover, Quaker Voluntary Service Fellow Emma Krasky Education and Outreach Coordinator

Northern Gardener Cynthya Porter, Editor Debbie Lonnee, Horticultural Editor Sarah Squires, Copy Editor Barbara Pederson, Designer Joe Luca, Newsstand Consultant

Copyright 2022 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.

MSHS community outreach programs generously supported by: 651-643-3601 l info@northerngardener.org

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

@mnhort

(ISSN) 1529-8515. Northern Gardener is published quarterly (March, May, August, November) 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

WINTER 2022 l VOLUME 150 l NUMBER 6

Table of Contents 27

28

Herbal Happy Hour

Winter Garden Calendar

Savory herbs take on delicious dimensions when they are infused into these winter cocktails.

No need to sit and twiddle your green thumbs all winter long.

BY MICHELLE BRUHN

BY CYNTHYA PORTER

IN EVERY ISSUE 2 MSHS Board Chair Note 4 MSHS News: Classes, calendar and more.

14 Garden Vibes: The Journey.

By Cynthya Porter 14

By Design: More to Do.

By Diane McGann 12 Northern Natives: Thicket creeper, grape-woodbine, woodbine, False Virginia creeper. By Beth Stetenfeld 20 Plant to Pick: Little Hottie® Panicle Hydrangea. By Debbie Lonnee

32 Foamflower Fan Forever!

21 Pollinators: Thanks to the Volunteers.

By Cynthya Porter

BY GAIL HUDSON

22 DIY: Making Sunprints.

By Eric Johnson

A must-have, truly low-maintenance groundcover for the shade.

36 12 Little Shrubs for Containers & Small Gardens Add fuss-free sparkle with pint-sized perfection!

BY GAIL HUDSON

40

24 Kitchen Garden: 2022 Garden Recap.

By Samantha Johnson 26 Garden Solutions: Never Perfect.

By Laura Schwarz 44 Northern View: Fairies & Freakouts.

By Cynthya Porter

Nine Gifts No One Will Give Me

Weird stuff that will make you a better gardener.

BY KATHY PURDY

ABOUT THE COVER:

Cover image by Cynthya Porter Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

3

How to Preserve Your Fall Harvest!

7.5 × 9

SMALL-SCALE HOMESTEADING

6-2

MSHS Calendar

thurow & bruhn

9/Can. $33.99

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday, October 18, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. $5 members, $10 nonmembers (free for GIAB and MN Green members) Location: GoToWebinar Instructors: Michelle Bruhn & SMALL-SCALE HOMESTEADING Stephanie Thurow, authors of Suburban Homesteading SPINE: 0.6875 FLAPS: 0

A Sustainable Guide to Gardening, Keeping Chickens, Maple Sugaring, Preserving the Harvest, and More Practical Skills for a Resilient Lifestyle

We’ll look at what veggies are still coming out of the garden and find the best ways to preserve them! We’ll go over the basics of preserving, covering cold storage, freezing, dehydrating, water bath canning and pressure canning. You’ll walk away ready to ‘put up’ some fall favorites in a few different ways. You’ll learn the pros & cons of the methods plus we’ll have a time set aside to answer many common questions.

stephanie thurow & michelle bruhn

9/13/22 10:34 AM

Make-and-Take Evergreen Container Class Saturday, November 12, 3–4:30 p.m. $65 members, $70 nonmembers Location: Wagners Greenhouse, 6024 Penn Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN Instructor: Chris Gueorguiev, manager of Wagners Garden Center

Simple and attractive winter evergreen arrangements add beauty and color to your front door throughout winter. After a brief presentation, you will work with various greens, including red and white pine, cedar and balsam, to create an eyecatching container. Also included is your choice of red or yellow dogwood to add height and color to your arrangement.

Additional products will be available, including natural products as well as colorful baubles if you want to add glitter and glam. Please bring gardening gloves and pruners.

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

Winter Wreath Making For date and time, visit northerngardener.org/classes $42 members, $48 nonmembers Location: Bad Weather Brewing Co., 414 7th St. W., St. Paul, MN 55102 Instructor: Jenn Hovland, principal designer and owner of Studio Louise Flowers

Sip on a complimentary Bad Weather Brewing Company beer or house-made soda and enjoy an evening of wreath decorating. Kits include a variety of trimmings and you're welccome to bring items to personalize your wreath too! Jenn will lead you through the process of thinking creatively and individualizing your wreath.

Please bring a wire cutter and ribbon scissors if you have them.

Plant Your Garden, and Cook it, Too! Sunday, November 20, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. $25 members, $30 nonmembers Location: GoToWebinar Instructors: Courtney Tchida, Community Programs Director at MSHS, and Beth Jones, Executive Chef at the University of Minnesota's Campus Club

Before all the local produce is gone for the season, explore what you can make with the season's bounty. Courtney will share tips and tricks for growing an abundance of veggies in next year's garden, including when and what to plant and how to harvest. Beth will share vegetable-forward recipes and kitchen techniques to show off your produce at its peak. After signing up, you’ll receive an ingredient list, recipes and a GoTo Webinar link so you can cook along and have a delicious dinner ready for that evening. Feel free to grab someone to cook with you to make it extra fun!

Plants Ablaze - Design Your Garden for Winter Interest and Wildlife Tuesday, December 6, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. $5 members, $10 nonmembers Location: GoToWebinar Instructor: Gail Hudson, Northern Gardener contributor

Winter is the season Minnesota gardeners ignore when it comes to our landscapes.

Believe it or not, you can turn your winter garden into one with brilliant color and texture. Our expert designer and horticulturist, Gail Hudson leads this online class to show you how to plant your garden for fall-winter-early spring interest. The wildlife in your neighborhood will thank you for it, too!

To register for classes, visit northerngardener.org/classes.

Sustainable Landscape Design Basics

Community Events

Five sessions: Mondays, January 30, February 6, 13, 20, 27; 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Deadline for registration: January 16 Cost: $199 members; $209 nonmembers.

Price includes 15 hours of instruction, a comprehensive course packet of lab materials and a set of basic landscape design tools Location: Zoom Instructors: Julie Weisenhorn, UMN Extension Educator; Jim Calkins, Ph.D.

Mushrooms: Delicious, Deadly & Fascinating Goodhue County Horticultural Society Monday, Oct. 17, 7 - 8 p.m.

Location: First Presbyterian Church, 503 West 6th St., Red Wing, MN (Please enter through the doors on West Ave.) Laura Teele, Goodhue County Extension master gardener, presents useful and fascinating information about mushrooms. Contact: Cindy Peterson, clp55066@yahoo.com

This five-session workshop is your opportunity to learn the theory and basic principles of sustainable landscape design and avoid the mistakes commonly made by novices and professionals alike. The curriculum is comprehensive and has been specifically developed to allow participants to use their own property as a class project by designing an entry garden, a deck/patio garden or other landscape space. Students will receive the materials packet prior to the first class.

Each workshop session will culminate in a hands-on, take-home assignment that will allow participants to put pencil to paper and apply the techniques learned to a personal landscape project in preparation for the next class and the next steps in the landscape design sequence.

The workshop will also include time for personalized critiques of your ideas during the last four sessions as you develop your designs.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Fall Display and Sale African Violet Society of Minnesota Saturday, Oct. 22 - Sunday, Oct. 23, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Location: Northtown Mall, 398 Northtown Dr. NE, Blaine, MN There will be a display of show quality African Violets and other Gesneriads, as well as a sale. Contact: Randy G Deutsch, rcjsch@prodigy.net Fall Bulb Sale North Star Lily Society Saturday, Oct. 22, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Location: Bachman's on Lyndale, 6010 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN NSLS Fall Bulb Sale – an event you don't want to miss!!! At Bachman's on Lyndale.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/northstarlilysociety Contact: Peggy Nerdahl, peggynerdahl@comcast.net Volunteer Seeding at John Peter Hoffman WMA Great River Greening Wednesday, Oct. 26, 4 – 6 p.m.

Location: John Peter Hoffman WMA, 29460 County 6 Blvd., Red Wing, MN Join the first public restoration event at John Peter Hoffman WMA! Pre-registration is required. Website: www.greatrivergreening.org Contact: Jessica Drummond, jdrummond@greatrivergreening.org Plant Seeding and Educational Event at Redwood Falls Great River Greening Saturday, Oct. 29, 10 – 12 noon Location: Near 41001 Impala Ave., Swedes Forest Township, Redwood Falls, MN Volunteers will plant native wildflowers and milkweed seeds. Website: www. greatrivergreening.org Contact: Jessica Drummond, jdrummond@greatrivergreening.org

ISTOCK

Harry Jans: Around the World of Alpine Plants MN Chapter - North American Rock Garden Society Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1:30 – 4 p.m.

Location: Heritage Meeting Room, Bachman's on Lyndale, 6010 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN Award-winning alpine plant explorer and gardener Harry Jans will speak on "Around the World of Alpine Plants." Website: mn-nargs.org Contact: Doug Root, minn.nargs@gmail.com Volunteer Garden Market Craft Sale Washington County Master Gardeners Saturday, Nov. 5, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Location: Community Thread, 2300 Orleans St. W., Stillwater, MN Shop for nature and garden-themed crafts hand-made by our master gardener volunteers.

Website: www.washingtoncountymg.org Contact: Marge Sagstetter, sagstettermom@gmail.com Community Events continue on page 6

Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

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UPCOMING EVENTS

COMMUNITY EVENTS continued from page 5 Feng Shui in the Garden Men's & Women's Garden Club of Minneapolis Tuesday, Nov. 8, 7 – 8 p.m.

Location: Lake Harriet United Methodist Church, 4901 Chowen Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55410 Presented by Carol Hyder, an internationally recognized expert in the field of feng shui.

Website: https://gardenclubmpls.org/calendar/events/ Orchid Muse: The Story of an Obsession in 15 Flowers Orchid Society of Minnesota Saturday, Nov. 19, 1 – 3 p.m.

Location: Heritage Meeting Room, Bachman's on Lyndale, 6010 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN Erica Hannickel was bitten by the orchid bug in 2005 and now tends over 150 orchids.

Website: http://www.orchidsocietyofminnesota.com Contact: orchidsocietyofminnesota@gmail.com For a full list of upcoming community events, visit northerngardener.org/ community-events.

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wagnergreenhouses.com Shop online for store pickup or delivery.

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

Welcome, Elsa MSHS welcomes Quaker Voluntary Service Fellow Elsa Hoover. Born and raised in Portland, OR, Elsa recently graduated from Earlham College with a BA in Peace and Global Studies and minors in Museum Studies and Economics. At Earlham, she worked at the Joseph Moore Museum and was the president of a voter registration club.

She enjoys watching movies, weaving and listening to urban design podcasts.

She is joining the hort for a year, supporting our education and marketing efforts and driving our GIS program, putting community gardens, garden clubs and our partner nurseries on the map. Welcome, Elsa!

ADVERTISER INDEX Bachman’s ...............inside front cover Baland Law Office PLLC.................... 43 Egg/Plant Urban Farm Supply......... 43 Cowsmo, Inc.........................................15 Gertens....................................................7 Green Valley Garden Center...........23 Heidi’s Growhaus & Lifestyle Gardens..............................................15 Home Sown Gardens...............................43 Lynde Greenhouse & Nursery..........19 Minnesota Landscape Arboretum..... 1 Morning Sky Greenery...................... 43 Mother Earth Gardens....................... 43 Nelson Nursery .................................. 43 Osmocote .............outside back cover Paisley Gardens.................................. 43 Terrace Horticultural Books............. 43 Wagner's Greenhouse........................ 6

for advertising information contact: betsy pierre, mshs ad sales manager at 763-295-5420 / betsy@pierreproductions.com

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TREES, GLORIOUS TREES! Whether they provide shade, fruit, autumn color or a backdrop to the winter garden, trees are one of the most important landscape decisions homeowners make. How many? Which ones? How close together? Over its 150 years of providing gardening information, MSHS has offered hundreds of tips on trees, from how many you need for a shelterbelt around a farmstead (about 350, according to one 1913 article) to recommendations for new and native plants.

TIPS FOR GROWING NORTHERN TREES

1

Choose evergreens for year-round interest.

In 1957, Jane Price McKinnon advocated for more evergreens in home landscapes. The shelter the house in winter and summer, screen for privacy, and “add color and depth to the usual winter pattern of black and white lines.”

2

Plant northern-grown trees if possible. Nursery

owner Thomas Cashman of Owatonna urged nursery growers and homeowners to choose northern grown trees in 1931. “Well-grown northern nursery stock always does well when transplanted even hundreds of miles south of here, but we cannot bring southern grown stock very far north and be successful.”

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

3

Don’t over-fertilize. After planting, evergreens should be watered thoroughly, but not too often, Bailey said, and do not overfertilize or fertilize near the roots.

4

Plant evergreens in spring. J.V. Bailey, founder

of Bailey Nurseries and superintendent of the hort society’s Dayton’s Bluff station in St. Paul, recommended spring planting of evergreens in a 1927 article. He noted the increasing number of evergreens being planted was a sign of prosperity.

Recommended evergreens: Black Hills spruce, Douglas, balsam and concolor fir; native red cedar; and white, Norway, Scotch and mugo pines.

SHOWY TREES PROS LOVE In 2007, Northern Gardener asked several landscapers which ornamental trees they would recommend for suburban or urban yards. Most are smaller, colorful and healthy. Their picks: Showy mountain ash Sorbus decora Crimson Spire oak Quercus ‘Crimschmidt’ Fox Valley® river birch Betula nigra ‘Little King’ Red Jewel™ crabapple Malus ‘Jewelcole’ a taller crabapple, though all crabs are lovely in spring.

BEST TREES FOR DROUGHT In 2002, Northern Gardener asked pros which trees could take drought. Four suggestions: Ironwood Ostrya virginiana Hoptree or wafer ash Ptelea trifoliata American plum Prunus americana Bur oak Quercus macrocarpa

FOR MORE NORTHERN TREE-GROWING TIPS:

northerngardener.org/ when-to-prune-trees-and-why

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

Best in Show!

Monique Fowowe and Kris Muyskens of Families Together Therapeutic Preschool proudly show off a thriving Garden-in-a-Box.

Drumroll, please… Houseplants flooded the Potted Plant Show floor at the 2022 Minnesota State Fair in August. Our panel of credentialed judges reviewed each specimen and carefully awarded ribbons to the very best and a new grand champion was crowned. Here are the 2022 winners.

The Grand Prize went to Barbara Gasterland for her Adenium obesum, the Desert Rose. Barbara rescued this beauty from her neighbor's compost pile and brought it back to health, proving that one person's trash is another person's treasure!

Learning Patience in the Garden off a busy street in st. paul, Families greens and more. The harvests have been Together Therapeutic Preschool used for both tasting and recipe sharing. managed to create a calming garden As the fruits and vegetables are for their students to enjoy. One of growing, Kris said that one of the hardest the primary goals of Kris Muyskens, a things for the students has been patience. psychologist with the preschool, was to The green tomatoes need to ripen, and create more green space because many the collard greens need to grow bigger of the kids that before they can attend the school be picked. Kris live in multihas used this as family homes an important The green tomatoes need with limited teaching point: yard space. The Waiting is not to ripen, and the collard school garden too hard. She has greens need to grow bigger is an important taught the kids resource for the that plants are before they can be picked.’’ kids to learn the just like them. The – kris muyskens many important plants are growing lessons gardening big and strong, and nature can just like they are. teach us.

Through her teachings and curriculum, Through their participation in the she has helped foster greater curiosity Garden-in-a-Box program, Families about nature in the kids.

Together Therapeutic Preschool have Using gardening to develop a deeper been able to grow their garden from relationship and understanding of previous year’s couple of pots into nature has had a positive impact on both multiple beds. This year, they created a students and staff alike. Kris said that sensory garden, full of herbs. The kids it has been a learning experience for loved tasting and smelling the mint, basil everyone involved. They are excited to and lavender. In another garden, they continue to be creative and grow their planted cherry tomatoes, carrots, collard garden in the future.

“

To learn more, visit northerngardener.org/community-programs.

Grand Champion Barb Gasterland with her winning plant.

If you're a fern lover, you'll love this year's Reserve Champion. The reserve award (second place) went to Mary BrickzenGale for her beautiful collection of ferns.

A few notable favorites in the group?

Nephrolepis exaltata' Fluffy Ruffles', Pteris quadriaurita 'Silver Lace,' Microsorum puntatum 'Green Flame'.

To learn more about the hort society’s annual Potted Plant Show and see pictures of this year's winners, visit northerngardener.org. Maybe next year you'll have a winning plant, too?

Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

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MSHS NEWS

GREAT GARDENING CONTEST You did it again! For the third year in a row, The proof is in your photos and stories — we see you, WINNERS you had us oohing and ahhing over hundreds northern gardeners, growing wildly creative, thoughtful

of submissions, sometimes even crying over your amazing efforts to help pollinators and debating over who should take the crown in each category.

and beautiful gardens of all shapes and sizes. Consider us amazed and inspired — we’re over here rooting for you all, as always.

CONTAINER GARDEN Winner: Valerie Hsu “What she lacks in helpfulness, she makes up for in enthusiasm,” Valerie captioned this heartwarming post of her winning container garden and 1-year-old daughter, Rory. And, no, she didn’t just bamboozle the judging panel and go for cute baby points.

Valerie’s commitment to shoehorning a sea of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, carrots, cucumbers, watermelons, herbs and plenty of flowers for pollinators into a tiny yard and helping her children grow to love plants is what ultimately won us over. After leaving a large garden behind in the wake of a move, she embraced container gardening in her new, smaller space. “So far everything is thriving, and it's so easily accessible to my kids. They are always interested in what's growing.” With regular nutrient kicks from fish emulsion fertilizer and pest protection from dish soap, her garden is bursting with fruits and vegetables they eat and share with neighbors. Her main garden goal this year? To grow pumpkins for her children, especially 4-year-old “Halloween and pumpkin crazy” son,

Arlo. “With little kiddos and a full-time job, I wish I had more time to grow from seed and propagate plants.” But even with a full plate, she makes time for gardening because of the many benefits. “Start small and grow what you like to eat,” she advises fellow gardeners. “Do some research, prioritize soil health and don't stress.”

PUBLIC GARDEN

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

MELISSA PFEIFFER

ELLIE LEONARDSMITH

Winner: Capitol View Communal Garden Capitol View Communal Garden is a volunteer-run, "work when you can, take what you need" garden and orchard. Once home to a gas station, this city lot is now full of vegetables and flowers, a community space where anyone is welcome to work, learn, harvest or just hang out. When the project was approved in May, more than 50 people signed up to assist with the garden, collecting and planting roughly 500 plants (all

donated) and amending the soil with free compost from Ramsey County (they now compost on site). Volunteers grew primarily vegetables and native perennials, as well as some annuals and even three pagoda dogwoods. In the fall, they added fruit trees. The gardeners rely on natural pest solutions, untreated city water and, to reduce water usage, mulch and straw. With the exception of some initial rototilling, they use only hand tools. Neighbors are free to

Winner: Kimberly Browning

HOME GARDEN

A large, perennial rain garden full of natives? We’re already weak in the knees. Kimberly’s winning home garden captures rain from her roof, filtering the water as it seeps back into the ground. And that’s not all. Her yard is a buffet of native species—Indian grass, river oats, purple love grass, purple prairie clover, coneflowers, turtlehead, blue-eyed grass, blazing stars, Joe Pye weed, rudbeckia and more, along with other non-native plants in the mix, too. Plus, it didn’t require a drop of supplemental watering during the summer drought, and it’s a frequent stop for monarchs, swallowtails, bumblebees and a variety of other insects. Her proudest garden moment? “Seeing a rusty-patched bumblebee visit the coneflowers.” Okay, we’re head over heels. Kimberly grows most of her plants from seed and gets the rest from divisions and local garden club plant sales. She adds mulch to help the soil retain water and, while the stands of natives don’t require watering or nutrients, she sometimes fertilizes with manure from the family’s pet rabbits. As for pests? “We let natural predators solve that issue for us,” she says. In winter, they leave all seed heads up for wildlife.

Her advice to anyone growing Up North?

Remember that “gardening is a process. Just get started and keep learning.”

season, they formed outreach, construction, fundraising and maintenance committees. They also identified potential educators on topics ranging from cooking with mitsuba to tree maintenance to housing justice. “Each week we step closer to our vision of a green community center that builds resilience and connections for everyone,” Gabriel says. The best part? “We're growing lots of vegetables and flowers, but we are also growing friendships and community.”

“

We're growing lots of

vegetables and flowers, but we are also growing

BLOCK PRINT STUDIO

harvest any time and volunteers deliver nearly 25 pounds of ripe produce to a local, free farmers market on the weekends.

“We hope to grow and learn from the challenges of sharing resources unconditionally with the end goal to build community, increase food security and sovereignty, and facilitate education around healthy communities and environment, food justice and mutual aid,” says one of the project leaders Gabriel Pfeiffer. In just one

friendships and community.”

– gabriel pfeiffer Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

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MSHS GIVING

Gifts from generous gardeners like you make the Minnesota State Horticultural Society a valuable resource for the northern gardening community. honor roll of donors These individual, corporate, foundation, business and affiliated organization donors contributed fifty dollars or more in 2021.

The hort society is honored to partner with donors at every level and thanks each one for your generous support. $50,000 The Cargill Foundation $17,000 The Minnesota Department of Agriculture $5000 TO $10,000 The Capitol Region Watershed District James Cargill II Joan R Duddingston Jennifer and Phil Ebeling The Minneapolis Foundation Target Corporation USDA in partnership with The Food Group $1,000 TO $4,999 Anonymous (4) Bailey Nursery Foundation Betty Jayne Dahlberg Erin George Jean and Michael Heger Hennepin County Horticultural Society Marge and David Hols John and Marla Ordway Charitable Lead Trust Janice Johnson Judith A Johnson Adele Kaufman Susan Kennedy Marilyn R Larson Renay Leone Alice Lesney Paul Markwardt

Mary McConnell Mary Hockenberry Meyer James Miller and Cherie Peterson Frans and Helen Officer Jeri Lynn and Gordon Ommen Mary Jo Peterson Saint Paul Garden Club Marlin D Schenck Gary and Mary Ann Schokmiller Jerald and Lee Shannon Annette Wuertz $500 TO $999 Jan and Walker Angell Gordon and J osephine Bailey Denis Bakke Terry Beitlich Fred Berndt Teresa Bruckner Julie Bulver Champlin Garden Club Susan Cooper Kathryn and Wayne Damerow Tina Dombrowski Faye Duvall Eagan Garden Club Georgiann and Joseph Errigo Barbara and Hans Gasterland Elizabeth Gilthyedt Carla Goers and Tom Iago

heirloom circle Heirloom Circle members are visionary gardeners who have chosen to make a planned gift, providing the society with longterm financial stability to inspire, educate and connect gardeners.

Monica Graham Hamdon Park Co-op Pegi and Tom Harkness Blanche Hawkins The Head Family Foundation Ruth and Alvin Huss Kay Jacobson Susan Johnson Phyllis Kahn Sharon Kjellberg Becky Kleager Debra Kvamme John P Longendyke Linda Lorenz and Terry Smith Edward Maranda Mary Marrow Katherine Meehan and Emmett Carpel Karen Nemchik Warren Olson Andrew Peltier Nancy Pilgrim Gary and Pam Reierson Renee Schlabach Jean Schroepfer Paula Soholt Linda Solender Charles Sorenson South Saint Paul Garden Club Emmy Treichel Dennis Van Sloun Sara and Eric Werzel Deborah Wheeler Brenda Wickenhauser $200 TO $499 Kathleen Abbott and Douglas Nowers Ada Garden Club

Anonymous Ann Aurelius Bruce Barry John and Lisa Anne Bauch Marty Bergland Mike Boggess Peggy Burress Carver County Horticultural Society Linda Cichanowski Ann Cooper Janie Delaney Jean Dickmann Julie Donaldson Ann Dunnigan Mary Allen and Susan Eckfeldt Janet Ekern Elizabeth and Peter Ekholm Sandra Fetyko Charity Fretty Barrie Froseth and Maeve Murphy Leland and Beverly Gehrke Marilyn and Bill Gorham Janet Graves Daniel Greene and James Scott-Greene Nancy Gross Martha Hardesty and Nasser Pooladian Robert Harris Gerald and Sally Haugen Charles Hendrix and Elizabeth Dolezal Jim and Peg Hicks Hobby Greenhouse Gardeners

Anonymous (4) Carol Banister Terry Beitlich Ruth Berg* Kathy Cleary* Crystal Clift* Marlene Collen Rose M. Decker* Helen C. Fischer*

Bonnie Hollibush Kristin Hott Janelle House Marcia Jaeb Mick Johnson Sarah and Rick Juliusson Irma and Bruce Kelley Toni and Joseph Kluck Vicky Koehn Thomas A Kraack Harry Kraemer Laurel Krause Sharon Krumme Lake Minnetonka Garden Club Lake Owasso Garden Club Lakeville Area Garden Club Joyce Lasecke Sandra Lauer Judy MacManus Mary Maguire Lerman Kathi Austin Mahle and Steve Mahle Reid and Jeanne Mandel Candace and William Marx Elizabeth Massie Fred and Mitzi McCormick Amee McDonald Kathryn Davis Messerich Microsoft Judy and Glen Mitchell Bob and Trixie Newman

Marjorie Fisher* Kenneth Fisher* Hank Herrmann* Joyce & Terry Hochsprung Andrew Holewa* Marjorie A. Hyland* Esther Johnson* Sharon Krumme

Marcelle and Russell Noyes Maryann Wolters and Mike Olson Dru Osterud Jaime Pedraza Pat Peine Barbara J Peterson Susan and Pete Peterson Kent Petterson Joe Plante and Eric Neumann Gayle Rettner Jorge Rivas Tracy A Rolf Annette Roth Caroline Sazama for Beth's MN Bookclub Friends Don Selinger Shoreview Community Garden Club Todd Sicard Elaine and Robert Smith Kristine Smith DeeAnn and Dwayne Stenlund Ruth Stephens Mary Stockard Joan and Mark Strobel Janet and Paul Tolzmann Deb Tomczyk Tom Evers and Paul Tuchman Christine Umhoefer Lynn E Wadsworth and David A Amdur Rhys Williams Rosemary Wislofsky Andrew Zimmer

Melvin Lindquist* Donald* & Elsie* Miller Luanne Muller Dennis Nelson Viann Pearson Susan Peterson Joe Plante & Eric Neumann Marian Rohde*

$50 TO $199 Paulette Almsted Amazon Smile Foundation Ameriprise Financial Joan Andersen Marlys Anderson Terry Anderson Doug and Pam Anderson Elwood Anderson Linda Sue Anderson Cindy Angerhofer Anonymous (15) Gail Antonson and Steve Hunter Rebecca Arenivar Martha ArmstrongDorau Kathleen Arndt Harold T. Arneson Laura Arneson Paula Arnold Erika Austin Bob and Donna Ayers Les Bankson Sophie Barton Kate and Paul Baumtrog Nancy Beals Jay and Carolyn Becker Cory Bedeaux Toni Beitz Elizabeth Bell Dawn Bentley Linda Berntson Nancy Berry James Bertsch Best Buy Bonnie Beverly Mark Blakstad Jane Blanch William Bleier

Annette Roth Marlin D. Schenck Jerald & Lee Shannon Ralph* & Loanne Thrane Esther Tikalsky Hazel Toppari* Helen C. Wilson* Bertha Ann Witte*

our work is also made possible by more than 200 volunteers who dedicated thousands of hours of leadership, event and administrative support to the hort society. to add your name to hort society supporters, visit northerngardener.org/support.

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

*Deceased

MSHS GIVING

Susan Blohm Polly Blom Willie Bloomer Suzanne Blue Peggy Boike Judy Borgen Karen Boros Mary Helen Bosquez Sherri Boyer Dana Boyle Karen Bramwell Rochelle Brandl Naomi Brill Stephanie Brody Deborah Brown Ann Bucheck Rita Buegler Thomas and Debra Buresh Celeste and James Burton Beryl Ann Burton Roberta Butler Barbara Ann Callet Robert H Cameron Linda Canfield Pat Carley Theresa and Steve Carlson Karen Carlson Stacy Carlson Elaine Carter Karen Chandler and Craig Schulz Joel Cheney Nancy Christen Jeannine Churchill Mary Cichon Mary Cisar and David Sudermann Andrew and Susan Claar Kay Coddington Elaine and Foster Cole Andrea Cole Marlene Collen Janet Colliton Paul and Mary Ellen Connelly Charitable Fund Holly Cotner Adrian Cumming Bobbi Dahlgren Nicole Dailey Patricia Daly Elizabeth Danielson Mollie Dean Anne DeMuth Cheryl DeVaal Rita Dillon John Dimunation David Dornacker Jody Spencer and David Dornacker Martha Dorow Debra and William Doyle Diane Duvall Karen Edgar

Janis and Joyce Edstrom Barbara Ego Michele Eichhorst Rebecca and Tim Emory Pamela Endean Kirsten Engelbrecht Deborah Enyeart Elizabeth Erdahl Ron Erhardt Jim Ertl Nan Eserkain Vendla Fahning Maryse and David Fan Diane Feldman Kay and Mile Fellows Karen Fenske Jack and Amy Fistler Rhonda Fleming Hayes Joel Flemke Marilyn and Donovan Folden Renee Ford Laurie L Forsberg Jean Forster Mary Foster Katie and Rick Fournier Bobbie Fredsall Harold Freshley Cheryl Frey Shirley Friberg Kristine Fritz Catherine and Alan Galbraith Tami Gallagher Joan and James Gardner Jeanne Gehrman Arlene Geissinger General Mills Colleen Gengler Elizabeth Genovese Janice Gerke Linda Nash Mary Gilbertson Nancy Glass Becky and Robert Glesne Melinda Goetsch Betty Goodale Google, Inc Kristin Grage Edith Greene Amy Gudmestad Julie Gudmestad Patricia Gwidt Terri Hagen Kathy Halbur Ron Halgerson Margaret Hall Peggy Halpern Ramona Hanneken Barbara Hanson Judith and James Hartmann

Elizabeth Hegman Allen Heimerdinger Barbara Hemsley Marie Henriksen Diane and Steve Henry Christine Herwig Hidden Valley Garden Club Peter Hilger Jacqueline Hill and Don Christensen Roger Hintze Diane Hirigoyen Sue L Hix Johnna Hobbs Carl Hoffman Judith and Alan Hoffman Teri Holberg Barbara Holm Alice Holm Dana Holt Jane and Stanley Hooper Stephen Horan Jan Horner Diana and Terrance Horrigan Julie Houg Christine and Richard Howard Julie Hoyme Linda and Glen Huebner Gary Hughes Janet Hume Mike Humrickhouse Audrey Ice Kirsten Ingerson Jerry and Nancy Irsfeld Kathleen Jackson Adelle Jacoby Patricia James Ladonna Jensen Steven and Jerri Johnson Karen and Barry Johnson Renee Johnson Ann Johnson Larry Johnson Kristin Jonason Anne C. Jones Emily Kaczynski Rachel Kahler Jane Kalin Barbara and Jenny Kalvik Joellen Kaster Karla Kauffman Barbara Kearn MaryLynn Kenknight Polly and William Keppel Betsy Kerr and Roberta Steele Nancy Kidd

Anna Kieselbach Ada Kirscher Martha Kissell Diane Knoll Cindy Kodada Michael S Kopman Chris Kraft Erin Krebs and Lida Rogers Michael and Laurie Kruempel Patricia Kubly Tracy La Vere Patricia Lahti Mary Laine David Lande Colles Larkin Melissa Larsen Dick and Carolyn Larson Mark and Rose Larson Cynthia Launer and Will Thomas Janice Lehman Joyce Lenichek Lisa and Johathan Lewis GayLynn Liljemark Mary Lilly Deborah Lindberg Edwin Lindborg Lullo Lindstrom Faith Loggers-Jamnik Margaret Longlet Janet Lubov Gunda Luss Mary Lustig Karl Lutz Theresa Lydon Janis Lysen Dana Mack B.B. MacKenzie Debra and Brian Madden-Petersen Carol Madison Barbara and Pete Malamen Cathy Manship Peggy Marchesani Helena Mares Jean Martinez Magdalene Joy Mathiesen Susan Mattson Jean Maus Cameron McConnell Tam McGehee Catherine McGinnis Eileen McIsaac Sally and Thomas McNamara Mary and Patrick McNaughton Medtronic Terry Melcher Katheryn Menaged Cindy D Mertens Diane Schwecke

Deborah Mesplay Cathy Miller Kathleen Miller and Douglas Keller Minnesota Dahlia Society Jacqueline Moen and Steve Bailey Bradley Momsen Joyce Moody Tanna Moore Elaina Moss MSHS District 8 Jean Mueting Patricia Mullen Christy Myers Michael Nation Karen Neenan Suzanne Nelson Linda Nelson Vivian Nelson Kristen C Nelson J. Shipley Newlinn Jr. Sharon Nibbe Don and Gerda Nightingale Elizabeth Nordling Suzette Nordstrom Sandra Nordstrom Sandra Nussbaum Evie and Dan Oberdorfer Charitable Fund Douglas Oberg Carol Oeltjenbruns Laura Olive Jennifer Olson Howard O'Neill and Donald Barton Janet Orange Marla Ordway Debra Ott Grant and Laura Parcells Charitable Foundation Fund Deb Parker Sharon Parker Shari Parsons Kari Pastir-Smith Rebecca Pedersen Barbara Pederson Richard and Mary Ann Pedtke Charitable Foundation Jon Perry Grethe Petersen Maren Peterson Mary Peterson Mary L Petrisko Colleen Pieper Jackie Pierce Dianne and Daniel Latham Therese Presley Randall Propp and Randy Nelson Rojean Rada Mickey Raddohl

Debra Rappaport and Bob Zelle Susan Rasmussen Nancy Reed Margaret Reier Martha Rhode Wanda Richardson Catherine and David Richter Michelle Mero Riedel Jonathan Riehle Charlotte Roehr Christine and Randolph Roen Charlene Boise Marilyn Rose Robert Ross Sarah Louise Rossing Jim and Lorene Roste Annette Roth Ilona Rouda Jane Rouleau Sylvia Beach and Gordon Rouse Jane Ryan Alexei Sacks Edith Sandmeier Sargent's Nursery, Inc. Sue Schaffer Leslie Scharafanow David and LuAnne Scheerer Mary Schier Claudia and Clifford Schimm Eileen Schlentz Gregory Schmit John J. Schmitz Carolyn Schroeder Mark and Jane Schuck Kay Schwebke Penelope Scialla Margaret Searles Securian Financial Linda Sellars Beth Selvig Jennifer Shaltz Madelyn Shelstad Elaine Sime Ann and Wayne Sisel Glen and Anna Skovholt Roberta Sladky Andrew Smith Malinda Smith Linda Snyder Dorothy Sohn Cindy Soule Patty Sprenger Carol and Jerry Starkey Lisa Steidl Karen Sternal Margaret and James Stevenson Katherine E Steward Terri Stockinger

Kate Stolpman Melissa M Stone Roxanne Stuhr John Sulzbach Linda Swanson Lori Tate Rochelle Taube Courtney Tchida Joanne Tews Dorothy Thalhuber Karen Thimm Andrew J Thomas Marcia Thomas and Chris Pratt Marilyn Thompson Michael and Christine Till Cindy Tomashek Bryan and Mary Trandem Catherine Trescony John Tulloch Deb and Gerry Urban Annemieke Van Der Werff Jean Van Pelt Jane VanHatten Pauline Varley Dorle Vawter Ellen Veness Vicky Vogels Kaushal Wadhwani Laura Wagner Carol and Heather Wahl Joan Walkowiak Daphne Walmer Ken Walter Debby Walters Laurel Watt Judith Wehrwein Jennifer Weiss Janet Weivoda Elissa Weller Norman and Myrna Wente Michelle Wetzel Helen Patricia Whitmill Kathy Widin Sharon and Joseph Wieners Karen Williams Beth Wilson Mary Wolff Jennifer Wrenson Patricia and James Wright Norma Wubbena Theresa Yockey Gary Zahrbock Mary Zaiger Merrie Zakaras Deborah Zanish Carol Zartner Barbara Zeches Kathy Zerwas

honor roll of donors continues on page 45.

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Garden Vibes

The Journey if you are reading this magazine, you have a special relationship with making things appear from dirt. To some, it would seem an odd obsession, but to your kindred spirits here, it is a way of being. There are so many things that can bring us to this love’s doorstep: Maybe it’s the thrill of a bloom, the bounty of a harvest, the pride in a landscape, the connection to family traditions or the Zen of connecting and collaborating with the universe in a sacred way – it does not matter what brought you here. What

matters is that you are.

All of our gardening journeys start with a seed, a story, a memory – something that triggered a deepening of our relationship to the earth. My journey has been complex.

My first memories of tending a garden are of me as a seven-year-old girl in my grandmother’s backyard.

The project at hand was planting marigolds in her border and helping me was Miguel, my grandparents’ devastatingly handsome foreign exchange student. He showed me

how to support the stem upside down between my fingers while gingerly coaxing the roots from the container by squeezing it, and then placing the plants gently into a well-prepared hole.

I was in love.

“

All of our gardening journeys start with a seed, a story, a memory.”

Okay, not really – I mean, I was seven. But I certainly had as big of a crush as a little girl could have that day while planting beautiful things, and that memory has always stayed with me.

Fast forward a decade when my parents decided we should live off the land, so teleported us from California to Northern Minnesota (Zone 3A!) and built a food garden as big as a city park. We grew it all – corn, beans, squash, root vegetables – you name it, and if my mother could find a seed for it, we tried to grow it. And by “we” I mean my six brothers and sisters, every day, all summer long. That back-breaking work bent over weeds and vegetables like patty pan squash (of which the rubbery texture of and ridiculous abundance we produced have scarred me for life) produced a hatred for gardening that not even Miguel could have overcome.

As a grown woman, it was a boy again who brought me back to my love of planting, but this boy was a young teen I became the legal guardian for when he was orphaned by his grandmother. She loved hummingbirds and butterflies, so in our first year together, we went to the garden store on Mother's Day and picked out a gloriously blooming rose of Sharon to remember her by. I had only a couple of patches of hostas in my yard at the time, but as something of a memorial for her, we planted that shrub right in

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

Where service is al

the middle of my tidy front lawn.

Soon it looked lonely, so I bought a few monarda and cone flower plants at a yard sale to give it some company.

By the middle of the next summer, I had tilled up a 10-foot-square patch of grass next to it and was on my hands and knees preparing the soil when my next door neighbor, a rather humorless woman, looked at me quizzically and asked me what I was doing. “Oh, haha.

Um, I just ran out of places to hide the bodies,” I deadpanned to her. “Oh.” She nodded and walked away. That is a true story – LOL. In my gardening adventure since that time a dozen years or so ago, I’ve ripped out all but a patch of backyard grass and turned my entire landscape into a haven for bees, birds and butterflies. I lost count after about 170 varieties that I am currently trying in the ground – and absolutely none of them are patty pan squash. Every day starts with a walk through my flowers with a cup of coffee, and it brings me so much joy – it only took 40 years and a couple of boys to take me there.

I want to hear about your gardening journeys as well, and in 2023, we are going to begin a “Before and After” column that shows how our readers brought spaces to life. Reach out to the hort on Facebook and share your stories and your transformation projects, and let’s have a conversation about the joy that you are finding there too.

Cynthya

Cynthya Porter, Editor editor@northerngardener.org

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15

BY DESIGN

More to Do BEST FOR SEED COLLECTION Perennials: Anise hyssop Allium Astrantia Blackberry lily Black-eyed Susan Coneflower False sunflower Meadow rue Obedient plant Perennial sunflower Perennial sweet pea —D.M, SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Annuals: Cleome Larkspur Marigold Morning glory Moss rose Nasturtium snapdragon Poppy Zinnia

are you a bit sad that the gardening season is over and there is nothing more you can do? Not so fast – although our plants may have been hit by frost and we’re thinking of the holidays rather than flowers, there are still a few activities we can perform that will get us back in the garden and make it look even better come spring.

Collect seeds

We all want free plants, and the means to those are right outside our door. The most colorful gardens that I toured this summer all featured annuals, which bloom from spring through fall.

I’ve vowed to start seeds for annuals this winter, and collecting them now from my favorite plants will give me a head start.

Even though you can collect seeds from perennials and biennials, the easiest route to success starts with annuals, which develop lots of viable seeds each season and are usually easy to collect.

If you’d like a wider variety of plants or more information about the seed-collecting process, check out The Seed Sav-

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

ers Exchange (https://www.seedsavers. org), an organization that assists gardeners in collecting and swapping seeds.

Late fall is a good time to collect seeds. They are fully developed and are ours for the taking. Gather them in a bucket, clean out any chaff, and allow them to dry for a week or so. Then put them in a marked envelope in a cool dry location until they’re ready to plant. Be sure to label them. You’ll thank yourself next spring.

Plan next year’s garden

Late fall is also a good time for planning. We can see the garden's architecture or “bones” more clearly when the bloom is gone. With clear memories of what worked and what didn’t, this is a great time to jot ideas in your garden journal of what to do next spring.

Water

Keep watering trees and shrubs until the ground freezes. The recent droughts have really stressed plants. Keep that hose running to your prized trees until winter takes hold.

Plant spring bulbs

I can’t label this a “task” because it is so much fun to do. Pouring through nursery catalogs to pick out the spring beauties that will introduce a new gardening season pleases the eye and fuels our hopes.

Wanting to extend the gardening season as much as possible last year, I did just that, and what a reward it was this spring — dancing daffodils, colorful crocus, early tulips and spiky alliums all cheered me up on early, cold spring days and garnished lots of positive comments from visitors.

Early spring blooms speak to all of us.

As you can see, a few fun gardening tasks still await us, getting us outside and bringing thoughts of spring. Give gardening one last whirl before you pack it in for the winter respite, and you’ll have a head start on a beautiful garden for next spring.

Diane McGann is a Stillwater-based master gardener and writer.

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Gardener Northern

A MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION

Lovely

MAY/JUNE 2022

Lady’s Slippers GARDEN IDEAS FOR

RENTERS

DAZZLING LAKESIDE LANDSCAPE

NORTHERN NATIVES

PHOTOS: BETH STETENFELD

Parthenocissus inserta (Thicket creeper, grape-woodbine, woodbine, False

While it can be difficult to differentiate thicket creeper from Virginia creeper, thicket creeper has smooth stems and leaf stalks (shown), and Virginia creeper has hairier stems and lower leaf surfaces.

ask gardeners how they feel about thicket creeper and you’ll likely get a range of answers. It’s a tough, spreading plant, so it can overtake smaller, more delicate species. A fast-growing, vining ground cover, it can be a good native-plant choice to help eradicate non-native, invasive species.

Very closely related to Virginia creeper (P. quinquefolia), thicket creeper lacks aerial roots and adhesive disks or pads, and has nearly hairless leaf stalks and stems.

Where Virginia creeper tends to climb high along supports, thicket creeper tends to sprawl, although it will sometimes climb trees, fences and other structures.

There are other minor differences but, historically, they were considered natural

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

Autumn foliage color for thicket creeper ranges from chartreuse to crimson to burgundy. Color is more brilliant on plants in mostly to full sun.

varieties of the same species and are often confused with one another.

In most other ways, it’s difficult to tell the two species apart. Like Virginia creeper, thicket creeper’s foliage can be particularly colorful (orange-red to burgundy) in autumn when grown in full sun, although it’s also an excellent green groundcover in shade.

Plants in shade also have fewer flowers. Greenish-white blooms appear in late spring to early summer, and attract a wide range of pollinators, including bees and butterflies. It’s a host plant for several sphinx moths and other moths.

Berries form after pollination and change from green to blue-black in the fall.

The blooms, berries and access to

cover tend to attract many bird species, including woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, bluebirds, cedar waxwings and tufted titmice. The berries, high in oxalic acid, are inedible to humans but provide an important food source for songbirds, squirrels and other small animals.

In addition to these benefits, thicket creeper is attractive in its own right.

It can provide a frame for other plants along a rock wall or border, or climbing along a tree line. It tolerates a wide range of soils and is drought-tolerant once established. Deer and rabbits may browse the foliage, but the plant is so vigorous that their nibbling is unsubstantial.

Thicket creeper also is tolerant of prun-

Virginia creeper)

tions in just about any soil type. It’s also drought-tolerant and urban pollution-tolerant, so it thrives in both rural and city landscapes.

Like Virginia creeper, thicket creeper can be started from seed or by transplanting hardwood or semi-hardwood cuttings. Both tender cuttings in late summer and woody cuttings in early

spring should perform well.

Thicket creeper is a good choice for garden edges, in areas needing ground cover, or spots where you’re attempting to eradicate persistent non-native, invasive plants. Since it prefers to sprawl rather than climb, it’s a good “creeper” choice for all but climbing walls, where Virginia creeper thrives.

At a Glance: Thicket Creeper Hardiness: USDA Zone 2a.

Native Habitat: Along woodland edges, roadsides, floodplains, and open forests in most of North America, excluding the Southeast.

Size: Usually sprawling or trailing, but it can climb trees and supports; five to 50 feet.

Site: Tolerates sandy to loamy soils; full sun to full shade. Best fall color occurs in sunny locations. Drought tolerant.

Propagation: Can be grown from seed or propagated from cuttings or layering.

Cultivars and Other Species: A member of the grape family (Vitaceae), Parthenocissus includes about a dozen species native to Asia, and three native to North America: P. inserta, P. quinquefolia, and P. heptaphylla.

—B.R.S.

Good companions for thicket creeper include ferns, tall perennials, and framing shrubs.

ing for shaping and confining as desired.

Great companion plants include tall species that grow up, over, and through it, such as Ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum), and shrubs such as Highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum).

Thicket creeper tends to naturally appear, and it performs well in semiopen areas. It thrives from full shade to full sun, and from dry to moist locaNative-plant enthusiast Beth Stetenfeld is a garden blogger and writer, and a master naturalist volunteer and instructor.

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Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

19

PLANT TO PICK

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Bailpanone’ PP32,549 Little Hottie® Panicle Hydrangea introduced in the First Editions® brand by Bailey Nurseries, is called Little Hottie®.

It starts to bloom in July and is covered from the bottom to the top of the plant with large white panicles that have a bit of lime green at the very tip of the flower. This variety was bred in Georgia and is heat tolerant and those flowers don’t get heat stressed or turn brown in excessive heat. As we move into autumn, cool nights simulate the flowers to age to a soft pink.

It has a perfectly rounded shape and only reaches a mature height and spread of 3-5 feet. It is naturally self-branching and has a very full look to it. It doesn’t need as much pruning as some of the taller varieties in the market — in early spring while still dormant, just cut off last years flowers and shape it up a bit but don’t do a big heavy pruning.

Hydrangea paniculata are best grown in full sun (a minimum of six hours of

sunlight per day) and are not tolerant of drought. They like an evenly moist, well-drained soil. I would recommend mulching a new plant with some type of natural wood mulch to keep the soil moist and hold weeds back. Hardy to zone 3, this variety will work throughout all of Minnesota. There are no major insect pests or diseases that negatively affect this species.

The small size of Little Hottie lends itself perfectly to foundation plantings or even mixing it into a perennial border.

Need a short, informal hedge? This is perfect for the job! You’ll find Little Hottie in the bright purple pot at your local garden center this spring.

Debbie Lonnee works in the horticulture industry and is the horticultural editor of Northern Gardener.

BAILEY NURSERIES

hydrangeas are hot! Over the last 20 years, they have become the No. 1-selling shrub in the United States. Breeders have been responding to their popularity by breeding new and improved cultivars, and you’ve probably noticed many of them on a recent visit to your favorite garden center.

Hydrangea paniculata, known as panicle hydrangea, is truly one of the easiest species to grow in our Northern gardens. Many years ago, when I started my horticulture career in the garden center business, we sold an old variety called ‘PeeGee’. I remember a planting at the garden center — they were almost 20 feet in height (of course, the tag didn’t say they got that tall!). It wasn’t easy to design with unless you had a large garden space, and it certainly didn’t work in foundation plantings.

Breeders have responded by developing more compact types of panicle hydrangea. One very new plant,

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

POLLINATORS

PHOTOS: CYNTHYA PORTER

Thanks to the Volunteers

this is the time of year when my yard begins to feel like a losing battle.

My garden superstars are mostly done blooming, browning foliage and flower heads are an eyesore and precious few late bloomers offer a half-hearted encore to the glory that was my summer landscape. Plus, an end-of-summer trip to Europe created a sweeping invitation for “volunteers” to move in and make hay, so to speak, during several weeks of scant supervision.

One such plant was popping up before I left, nestled between my phlox and delphiniums. It had no flowers, but my garden app kept promising it was an aster, and I kept trying to remember if there would be any reason I’d picked up an aster and planted it there. It was growing with such confidence that it challenged my own, however, so I let it be and left for my trip.

When I returned, what awaited me was a behemoth, blooming beast of a calico aster which had fully enveloped everything for six feet around it. How it became that enormous in a compara-

tively small amount of time is a mystery that perhaps only Mother Nature holds the answer to, but one thing was clear: The sun, soil and water planets had aligned for the bush, and it was in love with this patch of earth in my garden.

Fearing for the wellbeing of my beloved perennials underneath it, I decided that, impressive as it was, this volunteer had to go. But when I got close to it with chopper in hand, I saw something mesmerizing: Its thousands of tiny flowers were covered with hundreds of bees, wasps and flies in every shape, color and size. The bush literally looked alive with movement as these pollinators flit from one tiny flower to the next in search of their fill.

I watched in rapt fascination the variety of insects in front of me, many of which were fuzzy bumblebees in a surprising variety bumbling around, and it was clear that this aster offered something special to pollinators that my handful of still-blooming flowers did not. I knew I could most definitely not cut the bush down.

I confess that I’ve planted only for my viewing pleasure and, even in the fall when my yard is its most bedraggled, I typically hunt down and remove those unwelcome bloomers lest they return in the spring and take over the joint.

Up to now, milkweed has been the only volunteer that has the gravitas to grow anywhere it wants in my yard — after all, butterflies are pretty. But seeing this furiously blooming aster providing fall fuel for more species than I could count taught me that sometimes Mother Nature knows best, and I felt kind of honored that she’d given me this amazing bush to feed them at a time when they need it the most. So really, that settles it. The phlox and delphiniums are going to have to find somewhere else to live.

And the bachelor button. And the Russian sage. And the daylilies. And, quite possibly, everything else on that side of my house. Okay, Mother Nature and I may need to have a conversation if that happens.

Cynthya Porter is the editor of Northern Gardener.

Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

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DIY

Making Sunprints focus on the process of creating a sunprint using already-prepared paper.

Selecting objects for the print. Anything that blocks the sun works. Objects with a mix of positive and negative space make the most interesting pieces.

In the plant world, I have found ferns and palms and Japanese maple leaves to be very effective because of their intricately detailed structure. I’ve also had luck with groupings of impatiens flowers. When allowed to sit in the sun for a at least 20 minutes, light partially makes its way through the tissue-thin leaves and helps to create a variety of shades and lines and textures. Spruce clippings work fairly well. Generally, flat objects work best because you can lay glass or an acrylic sheet on top of them will press the objects down and create sharper edges and more contrast between the white and blue. The cover also keeps the objects from blowing away. That said, 3-D objects can also create interesting effects with blurred lines and shadows. Plan on a lot of experimentation with object choice and arrangement. Pieces that are not to your liking as art can be used as gift wrap or for other craft projects.

Arranging the pieces. Don’t think too much. Science and happenstance do most of the work, but consider clipping and trimming pieces if needed. Also, try placing some of the objects so they are partially off the page. You can arrange a grouping of opaque objects with appealing shapes, like ginkgo and monstera leaves, in a pattern to create enough negative space to make it “pop.” Cover with glass or piece of acrylic. Because the paper begins to react the second it’s exposed, do the arranging in a dark room and keep the paper well concealed while storing.

Sun exposure. Full sun at high noon is the quickest, but later or earlier in the day, overcast days and even indoors works — it just takes longer. There are many bits of advice on timing out there

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

PHOTOS BY ERIC JOHNSON

sunprints are a fun and easy way to make your own garden art, and the results are bold and beautiful pieces worthy of decorating your walls.

They’re also a perfect way to record what’s growing in your garden. Formally known as cyanotypes, the process is steeped in nostalgia, stretching back to 1842 when the process was discovered by a Sir John Herschel. Not much has changed. A solution of potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate (which you can still buy today) is applied to a porous surface like watercolor paper, fabric or wood and then exposed to ultraviolet light such as the sun. When rinsed under cold water, water-soluble iron salts are washed away and any part of the print exposed to light turns a striking indigo blue, known as Prussian blue, while the covered areas remain white. The process is reminiscent of developing photographs in a dark room.

Sunprints involve placing opaque or slightly opaque objects on the paper, fabric or wood treated with the chemical mixture and exposing it to sunlight.

Prepared pieces of paper with the solution already applied make the process simple, allowing you to skip working with the chemicals and focus on the placement of the images to make the piece. Amazon carries many options for prepared paper, though I’ve not been able to find it locally at craft stores. Kits that include the two solutions to mix together are also available if you would like to create on fabric or wood. I will

“

Don’t think too much.

Science and happenstance do most of the work, but consider clipping and trimming pieces if needed.”

— I have found 15 to 20 minutes to produce good results, and overexposure is better than underexposure. Depending on the pack of prepared paper you get, the instruction will vary. But remember, when making art, directions are only a suggestion. Try different lengths of exposure, as trial and error is how the magic happens.

Rinse and dry. The final step of the process is to rinse the piece under cold water until the water runs clear and the areas that were covered turn white. To conserve water in this process, I create a shallow bath in the sink and soak the piece for about 15 seconds and then I run water over it, gently rubbing the sheet. “Squeegee” the piece by sliding it over the edge of the sink and place on a baker’s cooling rack to dry.

Don’t be surprised if you get bit by the cyanoprint bug. It’s an addictive process and it’s easy to find yourself making one after another on a sunny afternoon. An Internet search will show how people use the process to make large-scale prints, clothes and even napkins. It’s a limitless activity.

Minneapolis-based Eric Johnson blogs at gardendrama.wordpress. com.

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KITCHEN GARDEN

2022 Garden Recap i’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions (dieting? budgets? ugh) but I do enjoy reading year-end wrap-ups.

So here’s a brief recap of what worked and what didn’t in my kitchen garden this season. Everything we plant in the garden provides an opportunity to learn something, whether it was a major success or a “better luck next time” experience. Here are some of both!

WHAT WORKED • Planting peas and peppers together I thought perhaps it was some kind of serendipitous fluke last year when my peppers performed brilliantly when grown in a raised bed alongside a trellis of peas. Fluke or not, I tried it again and got the same results: tons of peas and plenty of peppers. They like each other, and that makes me happy.

• Experimenting with new varieties of peas Green Beauty peas are truly amazing. Pay attention, northern gardeners — these produced even before the lightning-fast Little Snow Pea White, which is really saying something. Green Beauty was prolific and gregarious, but the real surprise was their size: the pods are positively ginormous. I was quite impressed.

• Growing Dior yellow wax beans Oh, my! I’m used to applying superlatives to veggie varieties that I especially love, but I’m not sure I have enough to do justice to Dior. I could praise their productivity or exclaim over their exquisite beauty, but I really just want to cut to the chase and tell you: They’re delicious and supremely tender, and the best garden gift you can give yourself would be to grow Dior next year.

WHAT SORT OF WORKED • Letting the broccoli bolt So, some of my Jacaranda broccoli bolted before I had the chance to harvest, but I’m actually glad it happened because they blossomed with the most gorgeous

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petite yellow flowers that contrasted beautifully with the color of the leaves.

It was a truly picturesque combination!

Also, the honey bees adored the flowers and I’m sure they’re making a rare artisan broccoli honey. I wonder what it will taste like — yum!(?)

WHAT DIDN’T WORK • Allowing the volunteer sunflowers to grow It all started in May, when charming wee sunflower seedlings began to emerge — voluntarily —in the garden beds.

PAULETTE JOHNSON PHOTOS/ILLUSTRATIONS: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, UNLESS NOTED

“How quaint!” thought I. “Imagine so many delightful sunflowers grown from chance-sown seeds!” I have a soft spot for volunteers anyway, but I have an apparently super soft spot for volunteer sunflowers. So I let them grow, wherever they chanced to be.

And grow they did. In the broccoli bed, in the lettuce patch, in with the carrots and all amongst the tomatoes.

They were beautiful and colorful but unfortunately they produced shade in unhelpful places and took up more space in the beds than I’d anticipated.

Perhaps next time I’ll transplant them someplace else.

• Growing five-year-old seeds You can’t say I’m not frugal, so when I found a packet of five-year-old seeds and had an empty raised bed just sitting there, I thought, “why not?” I tossed the seeds in and waited to see what would happen. Except, nothing did. Oh, well!

WHAT I HOPE WORKS NEXT YEAR • My new sheet pan I love roasting garden vegetables and while my current sheet pans are certainly serviceable, I couldn’t resist ordering a new one that I saw

recommended in a magazine recently.

It’s supposedly the superior choice for roasting vegetables and I can’t wait to see if that’s true. If nothing else, it’s non-stick, which is always a plus.

May next year bring lots of opportunities to learn and grow in our gardens!

Samantha Johnson is a writer, farm girl, and the author of more than a dozen books on rural living. She lives on a farm in northern Wisconsin with a colorful herd of Welsh Mountain Ponies, a bossy Welsh Corgi and a wide assortment of tomato plants. View her portfolio at samanthajohnson.contently.com

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GARDEN SOLUTIONS

Never Perfect

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change the way I think about gardening.

I’m trying to move away from wanting the “perfect” garden as an ultimate goal.

When I focus on building a magazineready, no-plant-out-of-place, “finished” garden, it emphasizes everything I

haven’t gotten done, creating a false sense of urgency and failure. This mindset detracts from the process of gardening, the beautiful, valuable working hours that bring me peace of mind, increased physical strength and (really) endless joy.

Changing a mindset is easier said than done, of course. It takes time and effort to succeed, which is daunting.

To start, I’m trying to shift my thought pattern when I quit working in my garden for the day. Instead of thinking endlessly about what I still need (want) to do, I remind myself of everything I just accomplished. Sure, I might not have finished staking the dahlias, but I did hundreds of other small tasks that

are hardly insignificant! I’ll list them mentally and then spend a little time searching for something in the garden that’s pretty or interesting to look at.

Ending my work focusing on successes helps eliminate some of the dread or stress that I might feel otherwise.

Next, I’ve been thinking more about why I garden. I don’t garden to win awards or impress my neighbors or land a cover story in Fine Gardening.

I do it because I love being outside, because it’s fun to coax blooms out of rose bushes, because I have never eaten a better tomato than one that ripened in my own backyard.

I garden because it calms my anxious mind and gives me opportunities to learn about the natural world. I garden because it makes the space around me incrementally more beautiful and because I believe our lives should always have more flowers.

My garden’s imperfections don’t make these experiences and feelings less valuable. If anything, I devalue them myself by getting overwhelmed or discouraged by what could still improve.

Although practice will never make perfect, practice does make progress.

And that’s good enough.

Horticulturist Laura Schwarz writes and gardens in Minneapolis.

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

confession: My garden isn’t exactly how I want it to be, and I often get discouraged. Isn’t it crazy how our brains can focus so intensely on negativity?

I can walk through my yard and immediately pick out the problem areas.

I then fixate on those, completely ignoring the plant combinations that are working well.

The parts of my garden that need transplanting seem glaringly obvious, and I feel like I need to apologize for them when other people view my gardens.

After six years of effort, I struggle with not having a “perfect” garden.

It makes sense, right? Images of gardens in books and magazines always show a finished product, an oh-so-primpedand-trimmed border with everything in perfect, radiant bloom. These gardens show no sign of disease or insect damage, and there are no weird holes where an established plant suddenly declined for no reason.

Everything is weed-free, well-spaced and smartly placed.

But in reality, gardens are never finished. There are countless factors we can’t control, and even if we could control them all, we rarely have time to do so. Plus, no matter how much we learn, we gardeners make mistakes. We plant sun-loving plants in shady spots, forget to water at crucial times, fail to defend precious seedlings from ravenous bunnies. Gardening is like life – it’s messy and rarely goes the way we intend.

I’ve been working hard this summer to

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

HERBAL HAPPY HOUR Few things brighten up a winter kitchen like a cheerful container of herbs on the windowsill, but those savory stems take on glamorous appeal when used to class up some classic cocktails.

More than just looking pretty, however, these everyday herbs add interesting dimensions when infused into otherwise ordinary tipples. This winter, wow your guests and your tastebuds with these winterized versions of cocktail classics. Visit the blog at northerngardener. org for the full recipes.

By Cynthya Porter

Blood Orange-Grapefruit Cocktail or Mocktail Tart citrus juice is the perfect companion to herb-infused simple syrup in this easy, elegant libation that tastes as good without alcohol as it does with it. Combined flavors of sweet and sour with a hint of savory is an unexpected palate pleaser your guests will remember. Bonus: The vibrant color of a blood orange slice along with a deep green herbal garnish makes for a dramatic cocktail display.

Cranberry-Rosemary Spritzer Complex flavors meld together in this winter take on a summertime favorite, with muddled notes of juniper berries, rosemary and honey swirling around bright citrus flavors and tart cranberries. A splash of sparkling water on top keeps the drink lighthearted, while earthy herbs give it a surprising sophistication.

Winter Mojito Move over, white rum, because your sultry cousin, dark rum, takes center stage in this winter twist on a summer favorite. Still present is a generous squeeze of lime and a big splash of club soda, but rosemary, thyme and sage infused into an herbal simple syrup (see recipe in the sidebar), takes you from the beach to the fireplace in no time flat.

Drunken Cranberry Cobbler The subtle sweetness of brandy and the tang of cranberries have long been bedfellows in a cocktail glass, but that old classic gets a facelift and a new flavor profile when you muddle rosemary and sherry into the story. The result is a luscious concoction that is a plan-ahead recipe because it needs to mingle for 12 to 24 hours before it’s ready to tantalize your tastebuds. But it’s worth the wait.

HOMEMADE, HERB-INFUSED SIMPLE SYRUP Stir together 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup boiling water until dissolved. Add herbs of your choosing and steep, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a glass jar and discard solids. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

FEELING BE-MUDDLED? Muddling is simply a term for mashing ingredients to release the flavors held within, as well as for blending flavors together with a little brute force. If you don’t have an official muddler (sold inexpensively in any home goods department), any object with a blunt end will work. I’ve used a potato masher, a toothpaste case and the bottom of a glass to muddle my ingredients together.

Take care when muddling so that you break down ingredients enough to meld the flavors but not so much that you disintegrate them into oblivion.

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WINTER GARDEN CALENDAR No need to sit and twiddle your green thumbs all winter long. We’ve got you covered with ways to use our seemingly endless winter downtime to jump start the following season. l Story and photos by Michelle Bruhn

NOVEMBER

» First, pat yourself on the back for another season full of growth, remembering we learn so much more from our mistakes than our successes.

And if you had a stellar season, share your secrets to success with other gardeners!

PHOTOS DON’T LIE Before we put our gardens to bed for their long winter’s nap, snap some photos to help you take stock. Flip through last year’s garden shots and take an honest assessment of what worked and what didn’t. Ask questions like: did areas experience more/new disease or pests, is it time to remove or divide a forlorn shrub or perennial patch, were there months missing color, harvests or pollinator pizzaz?

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As northern gardeners, we cram a LOT into a short growing season, so winter can come as a welcome lull… at least for the first few weeks.

Let’s take nature’s cue and sprinkle in some R&R as our gardens slumber and we lumber along towards spring. You’ll still hit the ground running with the following tips.

FROST DATES Knowing your specific frost-free dates is essential to starting your season off right! Zones are based on annual average minimum temperatures A frost date is the average date of the last light freeze (29-32F) in spring or the first light freeze in fall. Total number of growing days range from around 90 in zone 2a to 160 in zone 4b.

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CLEAN GARDEN HAND TOOLS After a long season of putting our garden tools to the test (are you even a gardener if you haven’t found a trowel buried in the compost pile?) they deserve a good once over. Scrape off any dirt and disinfect hand tools by adding two cups of bleach per one gallon of water and soaking for ten minutes. Wipe dry and sharpen blades. Oil all moving parts and wooden handles too (any organic oil will work, I prefer linseed oil), wipe off excess and store your sparkly tools for spring.

ILLUSTRATIONS: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

MULCH TENDER PERENNIALS Placing organic mulch such as wood chips, shredded leaves or straw around the base of perennials (especially perennials growing at their zone limits) helps protect the crown and roots from extreme drops in temperature.

besides classes on the hort

MAKE YOUR WISH LIST website, you can also find Think back on what tools a list of gift-giving ideas at northerngardener.org/shop or knowledge you were missing then search out the items, books and classes that best fit you. Making a list before the holiday gifting season is a win-win for you along with your friends and family. For a full listing of Minnesota Horticultural Society classes visit the ‘classes and webinars’ page at northerngardener.org.

FORCE BULBS INDOORS Bulbs like paperwhites and amaryllis add a burst of color in the depths of winter. These bulbs don’t require a chill period, so they’ll start blooming four to six weeks after planting.

PRIORITIZE FUTURE PROJECTS Next season’s hardscape projects like fencing and walkways are best tackled before plants put on too much growth. Also, know what should be transplanted before large loads of compost or mulch arrive.

DECEMBER

» Dreaming is an essential part of gardening and December is the perfect month to dream big. Sit down with a cup of herbal tea, or an herb infused cocktail, depending on the garden season you just wrapped up. Taking time now to start conjuring up next year’s plans gives them time to simmer, settle and refine while we pine for warmer weather.

Preordering summer flowering bulbs during winter gives you a wider selection, plus they’ll ship right when they’re ready to plant (generally once the soil is 60°F).

Dream in swaths of summer bulb color with canna, calla and Asiatic lilies, dahlias, gladiolus, iris and ranunculus. Most large bulb retailers such as Brecks, Holland Bulb Farms and Michigan Bulb Co. have an email registration to be notified once their bulbs are ready to be ordered.

Buying bare root trees and shrubs is becoming more popular as we realize the many benefits. They tend to have more root mass, cost less, transplant easier because they’re dormant when you’re planting and catch up to their container grown counterparts within two years. You can typically pre-order starting in February in northern areas.

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BUYING BULBS + BARE ROOTS

Local Options for Ordering Apple Tree Guy - A northern Minnesota company specializing in bare root fruiting trees and shrubs.

Bachman’s - Start stocking summer flowering bulbs in March and April.

Shopping at their southern Minnesota supply farm is available by appointment for early season perennials, trees and shrubs.

EggPlant Urban Farm Supply - Contact them to be added to the list for preordering container-grown fruit trees.

Seed Savers Exchange - Find heritage fruit trees only available on site this year at their plant sale in early May.

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Winter Garden Calendar START SEED ORDERS To avoid the frustration of having your dream variety out of stock, start early.

First, take inventory of your current seed stash.

Then peruse those tempting catalogs sent out by national seed companies for great selection.

Local stores will start stocking appropriate seeds and bulbs by the end of the month, and don’t forget to check out your local seed library for locally adapted seeds.

JANUARY

» Knowing it’s going to be a while before you catch yourself in one of those late afternoon garden trances, it’s time to embrace all the Hygge. Dig deep into those gifted gardening books so you’ll have time to convert new ideas into action plans.

FEBRUARY

» This is that final stretch of monochromatic landscapes that can leave plant lovers feeling downright desolate.

Hang in there, fellow sun worshippers, as signs of spring are just around the corner and this month’s to do list is proof that you’ll be digging in soon enough.

Take an inventory of existing seeds either purchased or saved before ordering more.

WINTER SOW January is the sweet spot for starting native perennials with the winter sowing technique. The ‘plant it and forget it’ outside system is simple, I especially love skipping over hardening off seedlings. We have the full story on taking seeds from frozen to flourishing in the article ‘Winter Sowing Perfected’ on northerngardener.org.

START SKETCHING Drawing out a few ideas with your favorite implement: colored pencils, watercolors, or a computer program, will help you manifest your ideas.

ORDER SEED-STARTING SUPPLIES If you’ll be starting seed indoors, make sure your grow lights are working and that you’ve got your heat mats, seed starting mix, seeds and labels ready.

PRUNE Time to grab your pruning shears, trimming saw and snips. Prune fruit trees in late winter, usually the end of February. Prune smooth leaf and panicle Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculatea and Hydrangea arborescens) — the kind that bloom on new wood — in early spring once you see buds forming.

HOUSE PLANT PEP TALK As they start waking up, show those houseplants some extra love with a rinse off in the shower, maybe a bigger pot and a boost of fertilizer to welcome the sun’s return.

Starting seeds indoors is a sure way to jump start the growing season.

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START EARLIEST ANNUALS Sow those “10-12 weeks before last frost” flowers and vegetables, (onions, celery, Lisianthus) by the end of the month. Start cool weather vegetables you’re planning on placing out under cover as well.

MARCH

» With the sun’s warming glow returning and the spring equinox this month, we can breathe easier knowing outdoor gardening days are just around the bend. Start stretching those gardening muscles and focusing on our frost-free dates, counting backwards according to our seed packets.

INDOOR SEED STARTING The annual flower and vegetable seed-starting frenzy ramps up. Bulbs like dahlias, Asiatic liles and gladiolus can be started at the end of the month as well, depending on your exact location.

TURN COMPOST As soon as you’re able, turn your heap and add some fresh food to revive decomposition. Adding a shovel or two of garden soil or finished compost helps fire up the pile as well.

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CONSERVATORY CONSOLATION

Visiting a conservatory in the middle of long northern winters provides that burst of fresh (scented!) air we long for.

Visiting an indoor conservatory reinvigorates (and rehydrates) even the most despondent of gardeners. Inhaling the intoxicating aromas of plants mimics a mini vacation for us northern nature lovers.

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ACTION PLAN Time to take all your dreams and newfound knowledge and create a ‘can do’ plan. For me this starts with lists, and lots of them! Penciling-in projects on a calendar really helps me stay focused, too.

DIPPING INTO DARKNESS Minnesota averages ten hours of sunlight per day in November and February, and just nine hours in December and January. This low-light season was dubbed the “Persephone Period” by market farmer and winter-growing expert, Eliot Coleman. Even though active growth halts during this time, we can use these dark days to hold mature vegetables in the garden for harvest. From carrots and spinach under straw or in a cold frame, even in zones 3 and 4, we can squeeze out harvests well into December - and even hold those crops over winter to enjoy early the following spring.

Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory Open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., reservations required.

Meyer Deets Conservatory at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Open 9am – 6 p.m.

White Bear Lake-based Michelle Bruhn works as a local foods educator and writer, operating the website forksinthedirt.com Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

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Foamflower ‘Skeleton Key’

A must-have, truly low-maintenance groundcover for the shade Story and photos by Gail Hudson

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Foamflower Fan Forever!

If you are looking for a “set it and forget it” (that’s the best kind, right?) sort of plant as a ground cover in a shady spot with a little sun here and a little sun there, look no further than the foamflower (Tiarella spp., USDA Zone 3-9). This exceptional, low-maintenance, woodland native is only 6 to 12 inches tall, spreading anywhere from 1 to 3 feet.

But don’t be fooled by its diminutive size. This hardy semi-evergreen perennial plant is a spring showstopper with its spires of ethereal white flowers en masse under trees and in the shade.

Love it particularly next to white paper birch!

Multi-season interest

Foamflowers are on my short list of wonderful, must-have plants that aren’t used very often in landscapes. These perennials dish out unusual visual pizazz with pointed, maple leaf-like leaves and striking dark veining. Particularly happy plants can form a dense mat with their rapidly spreading runners, and the flowers, which look like little exploding stars closeup, last a long time.

This plant is also semi-evergreen.

That means it will hold onto its leaves all through the year, even in winter and in cold climates. It may need a bit of a trim come spring. A foamflower will almost immediately replace winter-damaged leaves with a new crop of healthy ones, blooming at the same time as tulips and daffodils. It is truly an all-season plant!

The Tiarella genus includes about seven different species from East Asia and North America. Plant breeders obviously had a lot of fun naming them like fine wines. While you may have to hunt for some of the varietal winners we’ve listed here, it is definitely worthwhile to seek them out using a keen gardener’s eye and a little smart Googling.

Varieties to watch for

W Tiarella ‘Sugar and Spice’ PP16,738(Tiarella cordifolia, USDA Zone 4-8) If I had to pick just one, my all-time favorite foamflower is this stunner thanks to its slightly fragrant, frosted pink flowers and deeply dissected, shiny green leaves with wine or brown colored markings along the central vein. At 8 to 12 inches tall, the lacey texture this shade lover provides makes it a great accent plant that sets off many other perennials around it like hostas and ferns.

R Foamflower ‘Fingerpaint’ PP28,012, (USDA Zone 4) Who’s pointing fingers? This Tiarella is, with its pronounced lobed leaves and burgundy blotches like a child’s painted handprint. The bright green leaves offer a “wanna touch me” kind of allure too with their soft, hairy surface. The bee-friendly flowers come in shades of white, blooming for weeks from early spring to early summer.

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Foamflower Fan Forever!

Foamflower ‘Timbuktu’ is bred to bloom for four to six weeks!

W Foamflower ‘Skeleton Key’ (USDA Zone 3-8) This hardy customer has deeply cut dark green leaves that are four inches across and tinged with purple. The markings may be subtle, but the leaves are bright green, and the flowers tend to branch out into more of a cone shape. A winner for its cold hardiness!

R Foamflower ‘Timbuktu’ (USDA Zone 4-8) Eager Foamflower fans might travel all the way to Timbuktu to pick up this handsome plant. It’s a little shorter — 8 to 10 inches tall, but it’s got wider brown markings down the mid-rib and is deeply cut — really eye-catching. It is bred to bloom for four to six weeks — you gotta like that!

R Foamflower ‘Running Tapestry’ (USDA Zone 4-8) Running Tapestry is a taller option — 12 to 15 inches — and sports multi-lobed, striking foliage marked with red speckles.

It spreads with stolons like a strawberry but it’s not an unruly character. One of the more readily available varieties.

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Q Foamflower ‘Pink Skyrocket’ PP13382, (USDA Zone 4-9) Think shrimp-pink when you consider this foamflower whose multiple delicate flowers rocket skyward. An added bonus is its glossy foliage, which turns a burnished bronze in the fall. The central veins on the leaf are outlined with dark purple. The British love it so much the that Royal Horticultural Society gave ‘Pink Skyrocket’ the Award of Garden Merit!

Q Foamflower ‘Elizabeth Oliver’ USDA Zone 4-9) Last but not least, here’s a classic-style Tiarella that is among the most widely sold fancy-leaved Tiarella in the U.S. according to the Primrose Path Nursery website. Owner and Tiarella breeder Charles Oliver of Scottdale, Pennsylvania, introduced this vigorous foamflower in 1993, and it has been used to develop many hybrid crosses ever since.

‘Elizabeth Oliver’ flower stems are 14 to 16 inches tall, light pink and fragrant.

The plant forms a 6-inch high carpet of deeply-lobed foliage with heavy maroon markings. It’s a great groundcover solution for problem shade gardens!

Foamflower care and uses

These powerful partners in a shade garden prefer moist, rich, organic, welldrained soils. Don’t let the soil dry out, but foamflowers also prefer to not sit in wet soils for a long time. I’d call this plant deer and rabbit resistant because the leaves are astringent. You can divide them in the spring.

Foamflowers are great plants for the front of the border, a groundcover or edging for shady or naturalized areas. My garden wouldn’t be without them!

Foamflower ‘Elizabeth Oliver’ is a classic-style Tiarella that is among the most widely sold fancy-leaved Tiarellas in the U.S.

Gail Hudson has a Master’s degree in horticulture from the University of Minnesota.

She is an Emmy® award-winning journalist, writer and video producer, as well as an avid gardener in Minneapolis.

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12 Little Shrubs for Containers & Small Gardens Add fuss-free sparkle with pint-sized perfection!

SPRING MEADOW NURSERY, INC

Story and photos by Gail Hudson

Fire Light Tidbit® hydrangea flowers turn from white to pink in late August when the weather gets cooler.

GROW A SHRUB IN A CONTAINER? Add dwarf shrubs to your perennial bed? Recently, a good friend and gardener scoffed at these simple solutions, but if you have a small yard or just a balcony, they can easily add new dimension and drama to your garden’s design without requiring a ton of space.

I am forever trying to squeeze in one more plant in my small urban backyard. And when it comes to shrubs, it’s a momentous decision whether to add one. The truth is, shrubs with their wooden stems are a remarkably low-maintenance choice compared to other perennials, annuals or lawn. Once you have helped their roots get established in the first year or two with regular and consistent watering, you may not have to touch them more than a couple times during the entire season to prune or top dress with compost. And the smaller ones on this list work for containers, too!

Pot up easy-care shrubs in sturdy containers to create some instant impact. A cluster of potted shrubs can delineate an eating area or a resting spot with a bench for admiring the view.

Pick the right shrub and you’ll add just as much color as annual flowers and it will be around for many summers — not just one!

Nowadays it’s super easy to find these pint-sized shrubs in local garden centers. Every year, plant breeders come up with yet another variety that’s perfect for growing and maintaining in a container or small space. You can use the shrub on its own or pair

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the plant with annuals or perennials in a complimentary color.

By making some smart choices, fuss-free “woodies” (perennial plants with wooden stems) can give your garden visual punch and create standout, year-round structure for a northern garden, too — even in Zone 2 or 3.

The flower color on BloomStruck® Bigleaf Hydrangea ranges from rose-pink to purple depending on the soil pH (acidity of the soil).

DOREEN WYNJA

Chicagoland Green® Boxwood creates an attractive background in this container combination of geranium, begonia, impatiens and sweet potato vine.

Nitty Gritty™ roses need moderate watering and mulch can help conserve moisture if planted in a container.

+ Fire Light Tidbit® panicle hydrangea (USDA Zone 3-8): At 2 to 3 feet tall and wide, this hardy miniature is one of the smallest panicle hydrangeas around, making it perfect for a pot. The large, frothy, mophead flowers make an impressive statement in mid-summer which progress from white to pink and red tones in the fall. The leaves also turn a vivid orange red.

+ ‘Golden Mop’ Threadbranch Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera, USDA Zone 4): Add a fun pop of color to a container grouping with a solo planting of this slow-growing cypress.

I found a six-inch yellow ball with stringy, mop-like leaves at my local garden center and threw it in a bright blue pot for contrast.

+ Your eyes will be drawn to the decorative bright red cones on the ‘Pusch’ Norway Spruce (Picea abies, USDA Zone 3-8). It’s another dwarf slow grower (2 feet by 3 feet). The cones are a spring surprise, turn brown and hang in there throughout the summer.

GARDENER’S TIP The more sun, the brighter the yellow color.

+ Want a hydrangea mini that blooms even longer? Look for Endless Summer® ‘BloomStruck’® (Hydrangea macrophylla, USDA Zone 4-9), which, true to its name, produces purplish-blue balls on cheery red stems from early summer to fall. It grows well in full morning sun to part shade and is very tolerant of high heat and humidity. Keep it potted for several seasons, then transplant to your garden where it maintains a small footprint at 3 to 4 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide. + Chicagoland Green® Boxwood

(Buxus x ‘Glencoe’, USDA Zone 4-9): Slow-growing boxwood shrubs are a terrific foundational plant for a container combination with annuals or perennials.

Potted up alone, they are great accents to a deck or patio, and small young plants are easy to find at your local big box store. Of the many boxwoods available, this variety is particularly hardy and adds only a couple of inches a year.

It is a diminutive 3 feet tall and wide at maturity.

The dwarf-sized, ‘Golden Mop’ Threadbranch Cypress likes to be in full sun but will grow in some shade.

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12 Little Shrubs for Containers & Small Gardens

SPRING MEADOW NURSERY, INC

The striking Weeping White Spruce should not be planted under powerlines.

It’s drought tolerant, salt tolerant and deer resistant.

The Double Play Doozie® Spirea is drought tolerant and deer resistant.

KIGI NURSERY

The Hesse Cotoneaster works well in the landscape as a single specimen, draped over a wall or as an eyecatching ground cover.

The Right Container & Care Sounds daunting to put a shrub in a pot, but follow these guidelines and they’ll be happy campers!

Bigger is better to keep the roots cool and less likely to dry out, but make sure it’s light enough to be able to move it around easily.

As a rule of thumb, plant shrubs in containers no smaller than 18 inches in diameter. Use potting mix instead of garden soil.

Make sure the pot has a drainage hole. Potted shrubs need thorough, regular watering and fertilizing to stay healthy. First Editions® recommends a bloombooster NPK formula of 10-30-20 in a diluted liquid fertilizer up to two times a month.

Eventually, the shrub will use up the nutrients in the soil and its roots will be crowded. Every four or five years, pull out the plant.

You can either put it into a larger pot or prune the roots to keep it the same size before re-potting.

Use fresh potting soil to re-pot, then water thoroughly —G.H.

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+ Nitty Gritty™ Roses (USDA Zone

4-9): What experts call groundcover or carpet roses work beautifully in a container, since they are continuous bloomers and keep to a small size. Nitty Gritty™ roses come in five colors and repeat bloom in waves from late spring to fall. As an added bonus, they are sweetly fragrant. To rejuvenate this rose, prune it in early spring to about one-third its size and feed it with rose fertilizer. Mix a compact rose with the violet ‘Rozanne’ hardy geranium in a large container for lots of pizazz.

+ Double Play Doozie® Spirea (USDA

Zone 3-8): Most spirea shrubs are either spring blooming or summer flowering.

But this new variety’s reddish-purple flowers dazzle continuously above medium green leaves from early summer through frost. The 2 to 3 feet tall and wide plant is an excellent and showy filler for containers and it doesn’t need dead-heading. Remove the oldest, woodiest looking stems every few years in early spring.

+ Emerald Fountain® Canadian

hemlock (Tsuga canadensis ‘Monler’, USDA Zone 4-8): This columnar shrub is my all-time favorite solution for small

Wintertime Care The more cold hardy a plant is, of course, the better your chances to keep them alive. Roots of above-ground container plants can be the same temperature as the winter air. To help them sail through the season, use a larger pot (more insulation) and provide some protection.

First, water it thoroughly well before the soil freezes. Evergreen shrubs do benefit from an anti-desiccant spray, which keeps them from drying out. Your pots should be lightly watered throughout the winter months but overdoing it produces root rot.

Bring smaller containers — especially clay, ceramic or glazed pottery pots which can crack in the elements — into your garage or basement for the winter months. Protect in unheated areas with bags of leaves, bubble wrap, or a blanket.

Very large wooden or concrete planters can be left in place but wrap them in bubble wrap or some other insulating material covered with plastic to help protect them. You can also bury the entire pot in the ground and cover it with soil or mulch to insulate the plant.

When spring arrives, remove the protective covers gradually to give your plants time to reacclimate.

For more information: https://extension.psu.edu/overwintering-plants-in-containers —G.H.

Good companion plants to offset the lacey foliage of the Emerald Fountain® Canadian Hemlock include lilacs, magnolias, weigela and rhododendrons.

+ Arctic Fire® Red-osier Dogwood

PROVEN WINNERS

Plant a few extra Arctic Fire® Red-osier Dogwood shrubs to use its red stems in holiday containers.

(Cornus stolonifera, USDA Zone 2-7): You can’t beat the versatility of this shrub for the small space gardener — it’s compact (3 to 5 feet tall and wide), tolerates sun to shady conditions, produces white spring blooms, fall red berries and showy red stems in the wintertime. By the way, groupings of these beauties in front of evergreens make that red stand out.

The blooms of the Olga Mezitt Rhododendron typically appear in April and look great next to spring tulips and other bulbs.

spaces, especially shady small gardens.

I’ve used this pretty, lacey conifer instead of the ubiquitous yew under a shade tree to soften the corner of my house. It is beautifully narrow — 2 to 3 feet wide and grows 6 to 10 feet tall.

+ Weeping white spruce (Picea glauca ‘Pendula’, USDA Zone 2): Here’s another tall and skinny shrub with an almost cartoonish personality, and it makes a great focal point in a garden bed. The shrub has a strong central leader and the branches sweep down to the ground like it’s wearing a skirt with layers. Best of all — avid gardeners in some of the coldest areas can grow it successfully!

+ Hess Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster ‘Hessei’, USDA Zone 4 to 7): I first fell in love with this shrub when I saw it used widely in Britain. Fortunately for us, the Chicago Botanical Garden introduced this striking variety to our region. It’s only 1 to 2 feet tall and has stiff, horizontal branches, which I prune once a year to keep it small on a low stone wall. Tiny, pinkish-red, cupped flowers open in late spring and by fall, it sports small red berries that the birds love. It is a tough, drought tolerant plant.

+ ‘Olga Mezitt’ Rhododendron (USDA Zone 4-8): Gardeners drool over elegant, flowering spring “rhodies” and lucky for us, this one is cold hardy enough for our region. Stunningly vibrant pink flowers blanket this rounded shrub in spring and its shiny, curved, green foliage turns a rich mahogany color in the fall. This variety is heat and sun tolerant, growing 3 to 4 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide. A bonus? The flowers are lightly scented.

Have I got your imagination working?

No matter where you live or how big of a garden you have, there’s a little shrub with a lot of landscape power waiting for you!

Gail Hudson has a Master’s degree in horticulture from the University of Minnesota. She is an Emmy® award-winning journalist, writer and video producer, as well as an avid gardener in Minneapolis.

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9

Gifts NO ONE

WILL GIVE ME Weird stuff that will make YOU a better gardener

2

1

T

Story and photos by Kathy Purdy

he holiday season is fast approaching, and many people are wondering what to give the favorite gardener in their life. You can find plenty of top-ten lists of gifts featuring tools, books, plants and even clothes. Since you are the favorite gardener they are shopping for, I thought I’d share my favorite non-gardening garden “thingies.” Most of them don’t qualify as tools. Some of them, quite frankly, would look like garbage to most people, and I am always a bit anxious that some of my thingies might be thrown out by mistake. But they are all things that help you garden more efficiently.

1 Tent Pegs I also mark certain plants that are late to emerge in the spring. The presence of a tent peg warns me that I had better not dig there, even if I can’t remember what’s planted in that spot. In most cases, the tent peg will soon be obscured by foliage, but if it’s too noticeable, I remove it. But then I must remember to put the tent peg back before the late-emerging plant goes dormant again.

These tent pegs also come in handy when you need to mark a straight line such as for a path or a border edge. Place them at strategic points and run string from peg to peg as a guide for your spade to follow. Check in the sporting goods department of your favorite discount store for these.

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

Use landscape flags to call attention to a plant from a distance.

3 Use tent pegs to mark special plants or special situations scrap.

2 Grated Cheese Container Hard cheeses such as Parmesan are often sold pregrated in 8-ounce containers like the one pictured. Fill it part way with sandbox sand (which is whiter than builder’s sand) as I have done here, and then mix in seed that you want to broadcast in a random fashion, such as annual poppies, flowering tobacco, nigella, and larkspur. The lid to this container has holes that allow you to shake the seed out in a somewhat controlled fashion, and the whiteness of the sand against the dark earth enables you to see where you have already sprinkled it. To get one of these, you need to buy the pre-grated cheese, or know someone who does, and ask them to save you their empty container.

3 Landscape Flags If, like me, you have wooded acreage and if, like me, you plant tree seedlings from the conservation district in those woods, landscape flags are an excellent way to find those seedlings and check on how they are doing. They are often offered on the same pricelist as the trees and at a better price than elsewhere.

4 6

Think of a baby spoon as an extremely miniature trowel.

5 4 Flagging Tape Flagging tape is handy to have around.

I keep several colors in my tool bag.

The fluorescent orange is reserved for plants that I want to remove and have no intention of planting in another part of the garden. This includes rogue phloxes that have seeded into an original clump and turn out to be a different color. I can usually find friends who want these. But it also includes trees in our woods that have fallen across a trail.

It’s easier to tell my son, “Cut everything with orange tape” than to go walking with him to point everything out.

I tie a big ribbon of pink tape for plants I want to move to new locations, such as around the base of clumps of daffodils that need dividing. The best time to divide daffodils is shortly before the foliage disappears completely. This can be akin to playing chicken with the weather. One week the leaves are still there, but all it takes is a couple of days of hot, dry weather and the leaves go from yellow and limp to brown and crispy. They can be awfully hard to find in that condition amongst lustily growing perennials, but the flagging tape will draw your eye to the fast-disappearing bulbs.

The tape is also good for marking new trails in the woods. Any color that’s not orange or pink works for this, and if you are making more than one trail, be consistent with the color you use so you

can tell the trails apart if they overlap at any point. Tie some around the trunk of a tree at eye level. Tie a bow and put the bow on the side of the tree that you want the path to take. Tie the next one within sight distance of the previous one.

Continue marking the trail in that fashion until the end. You and your helpers will have a better idea of where the brush should be cleared with those visual guides in place. And if you tie the same kind of bow as you do your shoelaces, a simple tug should release the tape when it’s no longer needed.

5 Landscape Staples

Landscape staples are commonly used for pinning frost cloth and other landscaping textiles to the soil, but they are excellent

for pinning down recalcitrant soaker hoses -- you know, those porous hoses made from recycled tires. When you first get one of those hoses out of its package, it wants to coil back up on you. Use the staples to pin the hose down wherever it wants to wriggle out of your intended layout. The staples are also good for pegging permanent id labels into the soil. Before online shopping came into my life, I would find insulation supports at the hardware store. These are pieces of medium gauge wire all cut to the same length, but since you must bend the wire yourself, they’re not as convenient.

However, if you happen to have a box of them laying around from a construction project, they work just fine.

6 Baby Spoon A very small spoon with a long handle, the kind that is used to feed babies their first pureed vegetables, makes a wonderful miniature trowel for potting on delicate seedlings. It can scoop up the little root ball without disturbing the other seedlings in the pot, and the back of the spoon can tamp the soil around the newly transplanted baby. Avoid baby spoons with the “safety” coating as it’s not nearly as effective.

Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

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9

Nine Gifts No One Will Give Me

7

Avoid compacting your soil by standing on a plywood scrap.

8 Flagging tape and golf tees communicate information through their color.

7 Plywood scrap When planting a newly tilled garden bed, the last thing you want is to step on the soil and pack down the earth you just worked so hard to loosen up. A small board to stand on is a time-honored way to avoid this.

My plywood scrap measures 21" (53 cm) by 13.5" (34 cm), the perfect length to fit between the wheels of my tool cart. The size doesn’t really matter as long it’s big enough for your feet and small enough to squeeze between plants. If I didn’t keep mine with the rest of my garden tools, another member of the family would soon find their own use for it. You can’t be too careful; someone is always ready to steal or throw out your favorite junk.

8 Golf tees Last spring, I decided I needed a row of Glory-of-the-Snow sandwiched between some miniature daffodils and some pink hyacinths. I used brightly-colored golf tees pushed almost all the way into the soil to

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mark the beginning and end of the row, and was able to plant the chionodoxa last fall without disturbing the other bulbs. Golf tees tend to fade after a while, so if you want to permanently mark something, go with the tent pegs.

9 Empty feed bag

I keep an empty chicken feed bag with my trowel to use as a mini tarp. When I am digging a small hole I like to pile the dirt on the feed bag. This makes it easier to get all the dirt back in the hole around the roots of the newly planted start. Don’t keep chickens? Any similar bag or sack will do. I have seen black oil sunflower seeds sold in the same kind of sacks.

One Person’s Junk is a Gardener’s Treasure

As you can see, there’s a reason why no one would give me these things. I wasn’t kidding: some of them really are trash under normal circumstances, and if you’re not vigilant, you’ll miss your chance to acquire a useful garden accessory. As for the things that can be bought, none of them would be a suitable gardening gift for one of the official gift-giving occasions.

However, under more informal circumstances they can still be used to show how thoughtful you are. It’s all in the presentation. If you come home from a round of errands and say, “You know how you’ve been having so much trouble getting that soaker hose to lay flat? Well, I happened to see these when I was in the big box store and thought they might be useful for pinning the hose down.”

Score! You have just demonstrated that you are both ingenious and thoughtful.

And you didn’t even have to wrap it!

Tell me about your favorite junk

What incredibly useful junk do you have in your garden shed? What common (or not so common) item have you put to better use in the garden? Come out of the closet with your favorites and share them with @mnhort on Facebook or Instagram.

Kathy Purdy lives in upstate New York and is the proprietor of the website coldclimategardening.com.

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Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

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NORTHERN VIEW

Fairies & Freak-Outs

PHOTOS: CYNTHYA PORTER

bugs. i’m not generally a fan – I don’t want them in my house, my hair or my stuff – and it’s taken a lot of maturity, mini-freakouts and online gardening (read: counseling) groups to come to the acceptance that sometimes we want them around us and our garden. And sometimes we don’t.

I admit, however, that my bug identification skills are woefully inadequate.

It just so happens that a few really beautiful bugs are totally garden monsters (I’m talking about you, you rotten little leaf-hopper that spread ‘the yellows’ to all my milkweed plants) and sometimes ugly bugs should be our best friends (pirate bugs – bleeech – plus they bite and I don’t typically consider anything that would bite me my friend). But anyway…

Every year I discover some new creature hanging around my flowers, but I generally take the peaceful approach if they aren’t familiar, leaving them be unless I can actually see a piece of my plant in their mouth. I’ve even started letting spiders live despite the fact that they absolutely terrify me. And the truth is that some bugs are really interesting and kind of fun to watch do their thing.

And some bugs fill me with wonder – like, how could the universe have created something so intricate and strange?

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Minnesota State Horticultural Society

“

Holy cow, that looks like a FAIRY. That’s AMAZING - my yard must be blessed or something.”

Case in point: A while back, I was outside planting some new perennials into an area of my garden, and I saw this beautiful little creature come floating by. It was like a little tiny speck of cotton hovering and floating through the air and I thought, "What the bleep is that?!"

So I started following it around trying to get a closer look, and I saw that it was a gorgeous little thing with bluish shimmering wings and a frondy, feathery-looking body and delicate little legs, and it didn’t really fly so much as FLOAT and I thought, “Holy cow, that looks like a FAIRY. That’s AMAZING my yard must be blessed or something.

Seriously, what IS IT?” I admit it — I was freaking out.

Then I saw another one and then another, so I spent 15 minutes following them around trying to get photos of my little magic creatures. I had NO IDEA what they were, but I figured Auntie Google might, so I typed into my browser, “small white feather bugs” and Google knew EXACTLY what I was talking about and even finished the sentence for me. I was so excited I almost couldn’t breathe.

I clicked on the first link in the search results, expecting some wonderful, whimsical bug to come up, but instead what I got was “Asian woolly hackberry aphid,” and I thought, “Well, I don’t even have any hackberries so maybe it’s okay.” But then I read they cause a powdery mold on your plants, and I noticed the powdery looking leaves on my lilac and I was like, “Oh heck no, you evil little fae - Mother Nature, hold my beer.” Then I turned my hose on jet spray and hunted down and killed every one of them.

And then I posted this story in a gardening group on Facebook and some lady came back and said they are actually pretty harmless. Now I'm a murder.

That was an emotional roller coaster I didn’t expect from a day in the garden.

And now I’ve never seen them since – I’m figuring if any escaped, they told their friends to stay away from the crazy lady with the garden hose. Oh well. It was special while it lasted.

Cynthya Porter is the editor of Northern Gardener.

honor roll of donors continued from pages 12-13.

TRIBUTE GIFTS Anonymous, In memory of Diane Herzog Laura Arneson, In memory of Dr. Cecil L. Provence Mary Jo and Michael Baglio, In memory of Frank Joseph Lockman, Jr. Dawn Bentley, In honor of Bernadene and Ordea, ahead of their time in organics and sustainability Sherri Boyer In memory of Grow Garden Karen Bramwell, In memory of Gary Barbara Ann CalletM In memory of Jan Slaughter Patricia Daly, In memory of Linda Stephan, for your garden in heaven Jean Dickmann, In honor of Anne Condon Rebecca Bode

Marie Doering, In memory of James R D Mary Foster, In memory of Lin Stephan, a great friend Charity Fretty, In memory of our favorite northern gardeners Kristine Fritz, In memory of Frank Joseph Lockman, Jr. Peggy Halpern, In memory of Evelyn Davis 'Honee' Abramson Alice Holm, In memory of Ann Mortenson, to beauty and nourishment Karen and Barry Johnson, In memory of Edna Krauseneck, who taught me the love of gardening Susan Johnson, In honor of Donna Mae Lorenzen, thank you Mom for giving me the gift of gardening!

Kristin Jonason, In memory of Gerald "Bud" Nestel Chris Kraft, In honor of GIAB Kids Katy Larson, In memory of Frank Joseph Lockman, Jr. Karl Lutz, In memory of Marlene Yenish Pat MacLean, In memory of Mike MacLean Reid Mandel, In honor of Jeanne Mandel Katheryn Menaged, In honor of Mary Maguire Lerman Diane Schwecke, In memory of Jordyn Meskan Sharon Parker, In memory of Craig and Shirley Parker Sandra and Clark Peterson, In memory of Frank J Lockman, Jr., always loved looking at your flower gardens

Mary Petrisko, In memory of Leland Pierson Kent Petterson, In memory of Helen Petterson, thanks for a life well lived Sarah Louise Rossing, In memory of David J. Cooke, my beloved gardening partner Jane Rouleau, In memory of Frank Joseph Lockman, Jr. Tim Sandager, In memory of Lee Sandager Caroline Sazama for Beth's MN Bookclub Friends, In memory of Frank J Lockman, Jr., always loved looking at your flower gardens.

Sue Schaffer, In memory of Lin Stephan, a great friend Gregory Schmit, In memory of Frank Joseph Lockman, Jr.

Angie Simonson, In memory of Patty Costello Joan and Mark Strobel, In memory of Matthew T. Ruona Emmy Treichel, In honor of Christa and Randy Treichel, Merry Christmas Linda Weber, In memory of Jerome Zachman Elissa Weller, In memory of Frank Joseph Lockman, Jr. Michelle Wetzel, In memory of Jane Klein Deborah Wheeler, In honor of Shirley Johnson Annette Wuertz, In memory of Loretta Wuertz Merrie Zakaras, In memory of Avanelle Froehlich, a dear friend

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SAVE WITH OUR 2022 DISCOUNT PARTNERS 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 a NEW map of participating locations—online at northerngardener.org/discount-partners.

101 Market – Otsego Abrahamson Nurseries – Scandia, Stillwater & St. Croix Falls, WI All Seasons Garden Center, Grand Forks, ND NEW Anoka-Ramsey Farm & Garden – Ramsey Arden Hills Nursery – Shoreview Axdahl’s Garden Farm & Greenhouse – Stillwater Bachman’s – Apple Valley, Eden Prairie, Fridley, Maplewood, Minneapolis & Plymouth Backyard Wedding Sites – Minneapolis NEW Beisswenger’s – New Brighton Cedar Brook Garden Center – New Prague 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 NEW Duluth Flower Farm – Duluth NEW Ecological Design – Minneapolis 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

Forest & Floral Garden Center – Park Rapids Friends School Plant Sale – Falcon Heights Garden Divas – River Falls, WI Garden Expressions – New Richmond, WI NEW Gordy’s Gift & Garden – Hermantown NEW Green Lake Nursery – Spicer Green Space, LLC – Minneapolis Green Valley Greenhouse – Ramsey Hartman Garden Center & Landscaping – Victoria Heidi’s GrowHaus – Corcoran Hiawatha Supply – Minneapolis NEW Home Sown Gardens – Eagan 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 Living Sculpture Trees – Sunfish Lake Lynde Greenhouse & Nursery – Maple Grove Mickman Brothers – Ham Lake Minnesota Landscape Arboretum – Chaska Mother Earth Gardens – two Minneapolis locations Nagel Sod & Nursery – Medford Nature’s Garden World – Fergus Falls Nelson Nursery – 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) NEW 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 Garden Center – 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 NEW Wagner Garden Centers – Minneapolis & Hugo Winter Greenhouse – Winter WI Wolcyn Tree Farms & Nursery – Cambridge NEW Zywiec Landscape & Garden – Cottage Grove NEW *Locations are in MN unless otherwise noted

The Minnesota State Horticultural Society is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. We are grateful 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.

Northern Gardener l Winter 2022

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