Northrup King Seeds

Just wanted to show you some nice looking seed packets.

1933 prices. 

Happy harvesting!

NDL's Secrets to Having a Frugal Green Thumb

It’s Spring! We’ve got the planting bug and are more than ready to start enjoying our too-short Wisconsin growing season by stocking up on plants and gardening supplies. Your best, first stop is at your local greenhouse where the gardening professionals really know what they are doing and do it well. If, like me, your eyes are bigger than your shopping cart and your gardening budget, the foray into the wonderland of the garden center can be a challenge. Here are some ideas to help you make good choices to stretch your shopping dollars:

Start plants from seed. The process can be intimidating, but there are resources to guide you through it. Your county extension office, YouTube, workshops, books, garden center staff, and experienced gardeners in your circle of friends and family can provide you with the knowhow and confidence to start at least a few of the things you want to grow from seed.

Buy small plants. Pick up your favorite ornamentals, herbs, and vegetables early and plan to repot at least once before your plants go out to the yard or garden plot; buying plants in four or six packs costs considerably less than buying the same number of plants at a more mature size. You can repot the tiny plants at home and nurture them indoors or in a sheltered place until they are big enough and weather allows them to go all the way out to the garden.

Purchase plants that are easily turned into more plants. Coleus and basil are just two examples of plants that can easily be multiplied by rooting cuttings in a vase of water and then potting the cutting after it has developed a good root system. The parent plant will sprout new growth after you have cut some of the main stems, and if done early in the season, you will be able to add the starts to your garden by the time danger of frost is gone.

Divide perennials. Not only can dividing increase the number of plants in your landscape, it can also provide you with filler for your pots and window boxes. Hostas are great for this. Other easy and attractive options are cranesbill geranium, golden creeping Jenny, lamium, bergenia, sedums and even small shrubs. Perennials used in this way can be dug back into a garden plot before the freeze to overwinter and use again next year.

Send your houseplants outdoors for the summer. When warm weather comes to stay, pair houseplants, such as spider plant, tradescantia, and begonias, with flowering annuals for beautiful container plantings. Then take them back indoors at the end of the season. 

Overwinter annuals for a repeat performance. Geraniums are especially good at surviving the winter indoors, either by going into dormancy or by being placed in a sunny location and continually watering as a houseplant. More details for either method can be found online. Coleus and begonias may also be good candidates for overwintering. If you have the room and the patience, give those and others a chance to hang in there until next year when they can go outside again.

 Save seeds. Seeds of many non-hybrid, heirloom plants can be saved and stored for sowing in subsequent years. Or if plants seed themselves, let them grow where they fall or transplant their volunteer seedlings to other locations in your garden where they might thrive. Brown-eyed Susan, Grandpa Ott morning glory, and Husker Red penstemon are a few garden plants that readily come back year to year from seed. Selective deadheading can control reseeders if they are a little too zealous at creating new plants. Heirloom vegetable seeds can also be saved for next year’s crop. Some saving is as easy as popping open a pod to retrieve the beans inside; others, like tomatoes, take a bit more effort, but with a minimum of instruction from the above-listed resources, saving their seeds is completely doable.

Go with the sure things. It is very tempting to want to try every new and exotic plant that appears for sale, but resist unless you know that it has a good chance of surviving more than one season. If you haven’t seen a plant before, it might be because it is not meant to be here. Local greenhouses are conscientious about offering plants that are suitable for our growing zone. Big box pop up garden centers, not so much. Their distributors are likely providing plants to stores in a region that crosses a spectrum of climates. Read the plant’s tag, look up its growing requirements, and then decide if you want to invest in a plant that may or may not thrive in your garden.

Go native. Some of the best bets for your garden are native plants. Most garden centers have dedicated sections of native perennials, and the above-mentioned resources can help you identify plants suited to our Wisconsin climate. In addition to being hardy, native plants have the added value of attracting a diverse variety of butterflies, bees, and birds to your backyard.

Avoid gimmicks and gadgets. There are no magic tricks for eliminating garden chores, so don’t waste your gardening dollars on items that make those promises. Gardening is fun, but there is a little effort involved. For a successful garden, stick with elbow grease and time-tested tools rather than falling for the newest As-Seen-On-TV offer, even if you can “act now and get a second one free”.

Treat yourself. Finally, after you have demonstrated frugality and pinched a few pennies, go ahead and splurge on a new flower pot, birdbath, perennial variety, showy annual, or whatever your heart desires. You’ve earned it!

5/29/20 - Since creating this post we were talked into presenting the topic as part of a virtual gardening series for a local library. If you are interested you can view it here.

Think Spring 2020

Think Spring Garden Seminar 2020 

Y'all come. 

Here We Go Again

A nifty thrifty website is whencanIreusethiscalendar.com.

Because of it we were able to reuse this lovely thing again this year after a mere six year wait.

Marie Kondo might not approve of that kind of saving, but she will be even more disapproving of the length of time we will have to hang on to it for a third time use. 2019 calendars do not sync up with the yearly dates again until 2030.

Your 2018 calendar is usable again in 2029. Not bad.

If you are a first wave baby boomer you might as well give your 2020 calendar to a millennial packrat right now unless you plan on taking really good care of yourself so you can use it again in 2048. 

Have a good year!

Think Spring 2019

Come on y'all and Think Spring with your fellow gardeners. 

11 speakers on 13 topics plus lunch, vendors, and door-prizes.

Registration information here. 

The VHC

Out of this jumble of plants in the wagon nursery....

...this little monarch larva found the butterfly weed and started to munch.

It is probable that a monarch butterfly found the plant and laid her egg on it.

That would explain better how a very tiny caterpillar could get to the exact plant it needed to eat. Butterfly weed is part of the milkweed (asclepsis) family. It's the one with the orange flowers.

Although the idea of her daringly scaling the sides of the Radio Flyer to survive is the stuff of super hero stories. 

Caterpillar Girl and Wing Woman - the Origin Story. Look for it on Netflix soon.

Fenceline Fiddlehead Forage

Beautiful, tightly wound fiddleheads arising from their ostrich fern base.

Pick only one or two from each so the plants don't suffer. Make sure they are ostrich ferns!

Blanch in boiling water for a few minutes.

Saute in butter. Yum!

Titan Sphinx

Whose heinie is sticking out of the nasturtium?

Why, it's the Titan Sphinx moth of course. 

Aelepos titan is far from home. The most southern edge of his or her range is Uruguay. Wisconsin is about as far north as titan sightings are reported and their brooding area is the Florida Keys. Seems like someone heeded hurricane evacuation orders and hightailed it to safe space. Good call!

I guess if your favorite tropical hibiscus lunch has been blown out to sea, a northern nasturtium will do. Any port in a storm, eh?

Seedy Art

Got a tip on artful seed packets full of lovely heirloom seed varieties from 

Hudson Valley Seed Library.

How could we not order and share some?

Brilliant red, butterfly attracting, blooms for gifting? Grumpy, but fragrant gnomes? Gleaming edible flowers and foliage?

All right in our wheelhouse.

The true gift was that of a young gardener in the family starting some of them for us while we were gallivanting around Europe right during prime seed sprouting season.

She did a great job!

We have nasturtium, zinnia, 

and a bumper crop of lovely, lemon cucumbers.

So gifted!

Now to think of something clever to do with the beautiful artist-designed packets. 

Anyone? Anyone?

Look at this!

One Fina Day

For a a garden club field trip. And we really did go to a field this time.

Fina Gardens, right in our own backyard in Hillsdale, WI, sells cut peonies to the floral industry during bloom season and rootstock by mail to any old body in the fall.

Some of these are headed for Hawaii where they will bloom beautifully for some bride who wants bouquet blooms just like in her granny's garden back in the Midwest. The ants have to stay behind.

This is Bartzella, an intersectional peony, and friendly model Earl's beard.

The garden club ladies had sooooo many questions.

NDL mostly looked and oohed and aahed and wished she had a big old yard with full sun.

Partial photo credit: M. Blue, garden club guest (and her amazing iPhone 7)

Look Who's Talking

NDL was asked to do a gardening Q & A for Volume One Magazine.

It turned out quite nicely. You can read it here if you wish.

Thank you to the kind neighbor lady who recommended NDL for the article and to our young neighbor lady-in-training for making NDL look good in print.

It was a pleasure and a privilege and fun to do.

Little Anne

Coming soon to West Columbia Street. 

Little Anne magnolia.

Buds are bulging. Keep your eyes open (while keeping them mostly on the road) for the flower show.

Space Invaders

We are so sorry to have to break this to you all, but there is a new creepy, crawly, wriggling, thrashing invasive species that you should know about.

It is an unpleasant message to share, but we just don't want anyone freaking out if they happen to encounter these crazy worms in the garden unexpectedly. Be careful so you don't inadvertently introduce jumping worms to your garden from purchased or shared plants and be especially watchful for hidden hitchhikers if you are tempted to take plants up north to the cabin.

Yuck!

For more info go to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website .

St. Croix Crossing

Last summer the garden club went on an aquatic adventure. A three hour tour, if you will. And we even got lunch! No coconut was on the menu. 

We boarded a paddleboat on the St. Croix River for an educational cruise around and under the construction of the to-be-completed in 2017 St. Croix Crossing that will replace the Stillwater Lift Bridge.

Speakers from the DOT and DNR were on board to narrate what we were seeing. 

For starters we learned that the bridge is an extradosed design which is a hybrid design of a box girder and a stay cable bridge (just as we suspected, but it was good to have that confirmed).

This is not usually the kind of thing NDL gets excited about, but this is a truly amazing project with some very impressive stats and a cool end product. And it was a good excuse to be on a boat on the river on a beautiful day.

The biggest red crane you see here (which certainly has some kind of official name that we don't know) is one of only three this big in the U.S. and it is on loan (I suspect there is a little rental fee) for this project.

Each of these bridge sections that the crane is lifting in this photo weighs 180 tons and there are 988 of them. Total concrete in the bridge will be 563.8 million pounds.

For bit of perspective see the concrete mixer on the barge. The lineup of Porta-Johns up on the bridge deck was impressively large, but tiny compared to the bridge too.

The length of the visible stay cables totals 5.2 miles (about 400 miles of cable strand). 

Within the bridge is 1,969 miles of cable strands.

The length of the bridge is nearly one mile. The width about 100 feet.

Segments between piers is 600 feet. That is the length of two football fields.

Part of the St. Croix Crossing plan that was of interest to the garden club and other outdoor and nature enthusiasts is the planned 4.7 mile Loop Trail.

The trail will connect to existing trails in MN and WI and uses both the new St. Croix Crossing and the existing Stillwater Lift Bridge, which will be converted to a bicycle/pedestrian bridge in 2018-19.

The new bridge will have a designated bicycle/pedestrian lane.

Of particular interest to the Garden Club cruisers were the well thought out plans for sustainable plantings in the many, some very large, areas around the long lead up to the bridge on either side of the river. These spaces include paths, parking lots, roundabouts, restrooms, informational kiosks, and viewing areas. It seems the crossing will be both a bridge to a destination and a destination itself.

If you want to know more check out the MN DOT website for Loop Trail and Design and Construction details

Have Herbs, Will Travel

It's a simple pleasure for sure. And pretty much a just a summer thing.

Heading out of town with a bouquet of homegrown herbs in the drink holder for some seasonal cabin cuisine. 

Time to plan this year's kitchen garden. 

Basil, basil, tarragon, basil!

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme...

Squash Justice

We had just three little Delicata squash on the vine in our community garden plot.

At the going rate of 68 cents per pound we thought we would at least break even on our investment in the two squash plants we had purchased at the clearance price of 79 cents each.

But then there were only two.

Squash thievery! 

We were very upset. More upset, some thought, than the situation warranted.

With our new, amazing, community garden "wildlife enclosure" (which is actually a "produce enclosure") it was unlikely the usual suspects, the Duncan Creek whitetail herd, were the culprits.

The generous soul in the household supposed someone hungry was benefiting from the free food.

The suspicious soul in the household who has observed youths pass through the garden on the way to the skate-park, basketball court, and swimming in the creek, felt that the oblong squash's resemblance to a football, and an overwhelming temptation to spiral one into the crick for a teenage version of Pooh Sticks was the likely motive.

In any case, the generous soul, when assigned to cut down the massive clump of comfrey growing next to our home compost bin found, hiding under the tangle of leaves, this beautiful little bonus, volunteer Sweet Dumpling sprouted from last year's discarded squash guts.

In telling this tale to another generous, wise, if only politely interested soul rooted in this household, he proclaimed it "Squash Justice". Hear, hear!

And so, whether a full belly from eaten squash, or the thrill of the toss of same was the mystery history of the Delicata, we wish the "borrower" well and hope it is the first in a series of pay it forward events.

Cucurbit Karma, if you will.

Peace, man.

The Nature of Gardening Throughout the Year

Improbably, NDL is responsible for production of the Garden Club Annual Directory. After the meat and potatoes content of the publication is updated it is time to add a bit of fluffy filler. One year it was garden tips, another quotes, and this year... notes on gardening with nature by NDL her ownself.

You may notice that by the end of the directory year NDL was getting a bit punchy with editing fatigue, but we hope you may find at least one small uncultured pearl of wisdom here:

September - Designate an area in your yard to let milkweed and other butterfly host and food plants grow. Mark it as a butterfly friendly area so the neighbors will know you are growing “weeds” with the intention of being environmentally friendly.

October - As you clean up the garden for winter, create, some natural bird feeding stations by leaving seed heads intact and encouraging small recesses for water to pool. Your fine-feathered friends will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

November - If you are interested in free plants don’t mulch too heavily under known reseeding perennials. Then, next spring look for volunteer seedlings to relocate or nurture in place.

December - While your memory is fresh make note of which of your plants need dividing for garden bed expansion, sharing with friends, or donating to a plant sale. If possible, before they disappear for the winter try to remember what color that iris, lily, or phlox was and write it down with a map to the plant’s location.

January - When the snow falls take a look at who is making tracks in your yard. Knowing which creatures are living in your garden and where they hide may help you to gently encourage their relocation, or continued presence in your garden habitat. 

Consider starting a nature/garden journal. Record your observations from year to year to keep track of when trees bud, birds leave and return, and when your first ripe, red tomato appears.

February - Armchair gardening has kept many a restless gardener going until she can get back in the dirt again. Get out those catalogs, books, and notes from last year’s garden efforts and start to dream and plan for this year’s garden campaign. Now is the time to review horticultural hits and misses and how to repeat or avoid them.

March -  If you are planning a vegetable garden consider planting a row to share. Programs like Grow a Row for the Hungry encourage us with helpful tips to grow extra produce to share with area food pantries or communal dining sites. Even a free basket on your curb during garden bounty time can help families add to their good nutrition efforts. Or extend this idea to growing a  row of lovely flowers for floral designs to share with friends, family, nursing homes, your church, or to grace the serving table of one of the above mentioned communal dining sites such as Agnes’ Table or the reception area of the Open Door Clinic.  Spread health and happiness, and smiles!

April - Arbor Day is a good time to hug a tree, but don’t kill it with kindness. Mulch around a tree trunk should be more like a donut that leaves the base exposed than a mulch volcano.  2 to 4” of mulch depth is enough to suppress weeds and show you care, without smothering it with love.

May - To avoid frustration protect your plants from baby bunnies who are trying out all kinds of greenery to see what is tasty. You can use this advice from February to October as rabbits have a 28 day gestation period and can produce up to seven litters per year. They are really cute, and very hungry.

June - Use your camera to help you remember good ideas from gardens you visit. Capture that lovely combo in a container planting or a particularly striking perennial pairing. Don’t forget to snap shots of your own favorite garden stars for your records.

  

July - If inviting friends to tour your garden it is a kindness to them and yourself to leave a few weeds, some undone deadheading, or an unfurled garden hose lying out. A garden is a dynamic work in progress, not a completed masterpiece. Everyone enjoys seeing other gardeners’ spaces, and no one expects perfection.

August - Invasives are like wolves in sheep’s clothing. Most were transplanted because of their beauty in the garden and only later discovered to be a danger to our native habitat. Weeding out invasives from our gardens and project areas calls for a “tough love” approach.

Photos from a 2010 Garden Club field trip.

Edible Hexham

To counteract the effects of daily white cane sugar on the population this clever town has grazing stations.

These are in the Abbey Courtyard.

The pretty bluebells are a bonus. A quick look-up shows they may have uses in folk medicine, but perhaps a bit more research is needed before you add them to your salad.