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Hello, Dahlia!
Dahlias are a true knock-your-socks off plant. Nothing produces a “ta-da” in your garden like the dahlia, especially at the time of year when our garden enthusiasm can begin to wilt in the late summer...
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Growing Strawberries in Northern Gardens
Sometimes it seems like our northern gardens are reluctant to get growing in the spring. It’s as if everything is in slow motion… the first seeds to sprout, the first blossoms to unfold… it feels like...
View ArticleShowy in the Shade: Astilbe and Ligularia
Astilbe has long been a staple in my shade garden. They are so striking when they bloom, with their tall plume-like flowers in delicious shades of pink, red and white. Their feathery tops contrast...
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Ask a Master Gardener: Propagating Houseplants
Neverending winter has me really searching for any plant-related activity I can find. April just also happens to be a great time to repot and/or propagate houseplants, so I recently took stock of my...
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Garden Delights: Striped Tomatoes
Okay, northern gardeners: tomato season is upon us and we have some decisions to make. We could plant our gardens full of Early Girl or Better Boy tomatoes and we’ll have plenty of delicious tomatoes...
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Parade of Spring Blooming Shrubs
Mother Nature is on her own schedule; this spring proves it more than ever. No matter when the blooming begins, the spring parade of color found in shrubs and small trees is splendid, and these...
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Peas 101
When it comes to growing vegetables, peas just don’t get the credit they deserve. According to data from the National Gardening Association, 86 percent of home gardeners want to grow tomatoes, while...
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Plant Allium for Beauty and Garden Protection
If you’re looking for a solution beyond fencing to keep rabbits and deer away from your plants, onions can help. Allium is the genus for onion plants—all its species, cultivars, and varieties provide...
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Plant These Annuals for Great Cut Flowers
Whether your goal is petite nosegays or elaborate arrangements, many blooming annuals offer a great supply of cut flowers throughout the growing season. Here are a few of my favorites (all are...
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Anise Hyssop: A Friend to Bees
If you’re keen to help bees and butterflies—and as a gardener, of course you are—there’s a plant you’ll most definitely want to add to your garden: the beautiful Agastache foeniculum or anise hyssop....
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5 Tips for Bringing Houseplants Outdoors for Summer
Do you bring your houseplants outdoors for summer? Sending a houseplant to summer camp on your patio, deck or even tucked into a garden bed can produce tons of growth and blooms on slow-to-bloom...
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Unusual and Unexpected Flowers for Arrangements
Growing your own flowers to create arrangements for your home is, in a word, fun. You can make the process even more exciting by growing some unexpected and unusual varieties in your garden to bring...
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Arranging Flowers Cut from the Garden
By midsummer, most gardens are bursting with blooms. Take advantage of the flowers, foliage and even fruits, vegetables and herbs in your garden—enjoy them indoors in lush, hand-gathered floral...
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Cut Flower Varieties that Love the North
Cut flower garden with teddy bear sunflowers, bachelor’s buttons and cosmos What’s more glorious than a vase overflowing with gorgeous, colorful blooms? If you daydream about growing your own cut...
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Great Native Plants for Cut Arrangements
Beyond their value in the garden and the larger ecosystem, many native plants make excellent additions to cut floral arrangements. And many have vase lives that match those of greenhouse-grown...
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Top Tips for Blue Ribbon Veggies
‘Tis the season for county fairs and all the delights that go with them: cotton candy, Ferris wheels and (hopefully) lots of blue ribbons. If you’re hoping to exhibit some of your homegrown vegetables...
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Ask a Master Gardener: Growing Marijuana
Have you heard the news? Marijuana/cannabis became legal in Minnesota on August 1. It only took about 15 days for me to get my first Master Gardener question about it, so I did some digging into this...
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Photosynthesis—How Your Garden Grows
Here’s an interesting question: where do your plants’ stems and leaves actually come from? In other words, where do plants get the raw materials that they need to grow? A tiny seedling begins with...
View ArticleNew Tree on the Block
We gardeners get as excited about new plants as some people do about new restaurants. The day I heard about the new InnovaTreeTM poplar developed by the University of Minnesota, I was as excited as I...
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40 Best Daylilies for Northern Gardeners
The garden of Wayne Johnson and Bonnie Beresford in Alexandria, MN, is filled with unusual trees, shrubs, hostas and large flower beds. But Wayne’s favorite flower is the daylily, and his 2½-acre...
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