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Asarum canadense January 2019 Know What You Grow

      Welcome to a beginning of another landscape season, well a few months off still here in Minnesota.  In thinking about how to start the new year I was struggling on which plant should I feature; bold, colorful, common, evergreen, shrub, etc. But then I thought about a common request I receive each year, ‘My…

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2019 Color of the Year – Living Coral

Living Color

Every year Patone Color Institute selects a ‘Color of the Year’.  2019 color is Living Coral.  Coming up with a few plant selections in Living Coral proved to be a little bit of a challenge, especially zone 4 or colder plants. Creative inspiration that is indigenous to PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral, ’embraces us with warmth and nourishment…

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Tulipa linifolia February 2018 Know What You Grow

Soon spring will finally arrive in Minnesota after a very long winter.  The warmer and longer days trigger spring flowers to reawaken.  One of my favorite spring flowers are tulips but the dutch hybrid varieties are either dug up before emerging or buds are nipped by deer just as they about to bloom.  Specie tulips…

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Crocus vernus March 2018 Know What You Grow

Every spring I head to the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to see the alley of crocus located by the Grace B. Dayton Wildflower Garden.  Crocus flowers with their array of colors is just what the soul needs after a long monochrome winter.  They are also an early source of pollinator food so I am not…

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Anemone americana March 2018 Know What You Grow

One the of earliest blooming perennials in Minnesota is the Roundlobed Hepatica (Anemone americana) which can emerge as early as April thus providing on of the first sources of food for pollinators.  Always a delight when you discover a colony of Anemone on early spring woodland hikes.  Must keep your eyes out for this plant since…

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