with Teri Knight
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Winter shrub care and salt tolerant options
Consider ways to give our shrubs a little extra TLC during winter. Using snow as a type of mulch isn’t a bad idea for your shrubs but you have to be careful how you PLACE that snow over your plants.
Sending the kids out to pile it on might not be the best idea unless they know not to heave it onto delicate branches that could break. Especially the wet, heavy … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Veteran’s Day and the healing power of Nature
Today is Veterans Day and I want to honor all those who have served our Country and for those who have come back from war with injuries we see and those we don’t.
Transitioning from combat to civilian life isn’t easy. Experts are going back to lessons from long ago about the role nature has in healing. Years ago, on another radio show I had called “15 with the Author”, … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Indoor compost stuff
Compost happens, even in winter. I was leery about putting a kitchen compost bucket on my countertop.
I thought, it’s gonna stink and attract fruit flies, ugh those things are annoying! The fact is, they do, BUT there are some things I’ve learned.
For one, clean it every time you empty it. That includes taking the filter out and scrubbing in the nooks and crannies of the lid. I found stuff there I did NOT … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Amaryllis bulbs
Where I work, the amaryllis bulbs have been out for a while, and there’s a NEW type I’d never seen before. It’s covered in decorative wax with no watering necessary. PS, those waxed bulbs do not rebloom.
Amaryllis are synonymous with the holidays as we watch their growth and those incredible blooms!
Bulbs take 4 to 6 weeks from planting to bloom, depending on how much sun and warmth they get in their location, writes Eric … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Perennial seed picking and the plea to leave those perennials standing
I leave my perennials up for winter for a couple of reasons, winter interest for me and food and shelter for the birds.
I had a goldfinch munching early on the seeds of my coneflowers and blackeyed susans.
The chickadees are picking away at them too. I still have berries on my honeysuckle vines that, last year, the cedar waxwings went wild for. They devoured all the … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Alas, Burning Bush
I love burning bush.
And I’m so disappointed that it is invasive. But, there it is, the Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture has deemed it a noxious weed due to how it has overtaken as an understory plant in our forests, knocking out our natives.
It’s “legal status” at the moment is Specially Regulated with a 3 year production phase-out which will then be moved to Restricted beginning January 1, 2023.
That means nurseries will not … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Remove those annual vines
Vines are wonderful to soften fences. Annual vines are fun because you can change them out every year.
Leave your perennial vines alone right now, but it’s time to pull out those annual vines like Scarlet Runner bean, Morning Glories and Black-eyed Susan vines.
The University of Minnesota extension says it’s easier to remove these vines now as the stem is firmer.
Start by using your pruner or hedge shears to cut the … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Wood betony – an overlooked native
Always a favorite, my Northern Gardener magazine, did not disappoint.
As you know I have a butterfly garden and also a rain garden, I plant “mostly” native plants.
And wouldn’t you know, there’s one I hadn’t scoped out before. Wood betony aka Pedicularis canadensis.
It’s a bit of a parasitic plant with a taproot and lateral roots that attach to the roots of grasses, asters and a few other plants, making … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Dormant seeding your lawn
It’s the first week of November already and you didn’t get to seeding those dead spots in your lawn. That’s okay, dormant seeding is doable.
This practice involves seeding when temperatures are too low for the seed to germinate prior to winter. The trick is to find the time when soils are unfrozen so that seed can be worked in slightly, yet air temperatures must be cold enough so the seed won’t germinate.
With … [Continue reading]
Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Toxic flowers
As you peruse garden catalogs and local garden center websites, there are some flowers you might think twice about planting if you have a pet that likes to gnaw on everything.
One plant that’s controversial is ‘Lily of the Valley’, which is NOT a lily, has an attractive smell. I hate how it takes over wherever it’s planted.
But wait, there’s more. All parts of the plant are toxic to humans, cats and dogs if ingested. … [Continue reading]