nature

How to prepare your trees for winter

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Trees can experience many stresses during the winter months including lack of water, sunscald, wildlife damage and winter injury. Young trees (one to five years old) should be watered throughout the year, until the soil freezes. ...

Hunters and foragers can help reduce invasive species

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Barberry Your favorite season in Minnesota may depend on what you like to hunt or forage. If you forage for morel mushrooms and ramps, spring might be your favorite season. If you are a deer or game bird hunter, then fall is important...

Blue gentian: A favorite late fall bloomer for bumble bees

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Blue gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) is sometimes called "closed bottle gentian" because of its unusual flower form. This native of northeastern North America, from the Dakotas to the East Coast and through eastern Canada, requires the...

Reducing tillage in your garden

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Tillage provides many useful services in the garden but can contribute negatively to soil health. Intensive tillage disrupts microbial communities and breaks up the soil structure. Over time, this leads to compaction, reduced water holding...

Five native grasses for great fall color

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu This has been a wonderful year for fall color in trees, shrubs and grasses. Here’s a look at five grasses that are good selections for putting on a show in your garden in the fall. Little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium The red...

Timely Tip

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Timely tip: If the early snow left you with plants standing in your gardening, it’s a good thing! These plants will provide seeds for overwintering birds and stems for stem nesting bees, and improve your winter view thanks to the plants’...

Snow and Cold Weather Complicate Fall Mulching for Strawberries

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Photo: Three inches of snow covers the ground west of the Twin Cities, October 20, 2020. Annie Klodd Between cold temperatures and snowfall this week, it can be confusing to decide when to lay down mulch for strawberries. Straw...

Will apples survive a freeze?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Haralson apples ripen late in the season. It's mid October and gardeners are covering plants and pots with sheets at night to protect them when frost is predicted. Plants can be “nipped” by frost when fat in cells on the outside edges...

Burning bush added to Minnesota's noxious weed list

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Euonymus hedge starting to turn red in the fall Winged Euonymus or burning bush (Euonymus alatus) has been a popular landscape shrub since it arrived in North America in the mid-1800s. A member of the bittersweet family (Celastraceae), ...

The 5 considerations of sustainable landscape design

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu A rain barrel surrounded by plants can make your landscape both environmentally sound and visually pleasing. Our home property has served as my outdoor laboratory for landscape projects, constructing features and growing all sorts of...