First Daffodil of Spring

Finally, all the daffodil bulbs I planted last fall from Breck's catalogue are finally opening up!

Master Gardener Plant Sale Coming Soon

I was just reading the paper this evening and came across a notice all Minnesota gardeners will love. The Dakota County Master Gardener plant sale will be coming up in a few weekends, giving all of us novices the chance to have a little something the experts have in their gardens. So make sure to save the date:

Saturday, May 9th
9am- Noon
UMore Park
1605 W. 160th St.
Rosemount, MN

The website states "Browse hundreds of plants that can be placed in native gardens, English cottage gardens, woodland gardens, rain gardens and more", and if you would like to see a list of potential plants, they have one for you too.

My Garden Book

This is for all of us out there that need some organization. After living in Florida for three years, I knew where everything was in my garden because nothing ever went dormant. But once we moved to Minnesota, where everything disappears for six months, I figured the best strategy was to buy a notebook and log information about all my plants. There was no way I was going to remember where I planted all my bulbs.

I started by dividing the book into sections: Front Beds, Side Beds, and Rear Beds. Then I made a drawing of the bed, using symbols for plants. If the plants were of the same family, they got the same symbol. For example, the triangles in the photo are all Coneflowers, but each is a different variety. So the variety received a number, and I noted the numbers at the bottom of the page. I left a few pages after the map, so I could right down growth notes over the next coming years.

If something doesn't survive, I write it down on one of the last pages in the notebook so I have a list of plants that may not do too well in my soil. Oh, and one last thing, I always keep the flower info stakes that come with the plant, so I have quick access to the plants growth needs, not to mention remembering where I bought the plant from. (if too many plants die or don't make it through the winter, and they come from one garden center, then I know to not go back to that business).

The book has been wonderful to have this spring. Of course, I discovered that I forgot to note down where I planted some of my daffodils, so there have been about five surprise locations this spring. I have quickly written down these locations now!

The First Flower Planting - Pansies

Bachmans of Apple Valley started selling their Pansies this week so I picked up a few, as they were Buy-One-Get-One-Free. How can I resist buying some blue and purple pansies for my garden? Since Spring is later this year, none of my bulbs are blooming yet, and I just need to see some color in my garden. I picked up some yellow pansies as well and planted them near the tulips.

Behind the pansies, in this photo, are some Allium bulbs I planted last fall. We'll see how they do later.

Spring Blooming Bulbs

Spring is finally here! After spending an entire weekend planting hundreds of various bulbs, they are finally coming up. About three weeks ago, the last week of March, my tulips started to peak through the ground. The daffodils, however, were worrying me and I was afraid they didn't make it. But a little over a week ago, the first ones started to finally show themselves.

From The Minnesota Garden

Below are some of my daffodils, with an Endless Summer Hydrangea bush just starting to sprout some new growth behind them.

From The Minnesota Garden