What am I seeing? Scilla siberica (Siberian Squill)

It’s the closest we will get in these parts to the lavender fields of Provence and though the lovely little Siberian squill is the scourge of wildflower enthusiasts, the spendor of it en masse is undeniable. It stops you in your tracks this time of year. It’s an aggressive spreader, true, maybe even invasive, but I…

I’m too big of a plant geek to ever have a picture-perfect garden

And I think I’m fine with that. This dawned on me last night when I was digging up a nearly dead Barberry ‘Crimson Pygmy’ and moving some Cimicifuga racemosa into its place. The tough winter nearly took out all three of the barberry in the garden, but this one was especially hard hit, with just a few…

True Confession: My ‘Winnipeg Parks’ love affair

Oh, where do I begin? Shrub roses are faithful garden lovers, I have discovered. I had always sort of overlooked them — like sweet science nerds and band geeks in high school — but I designed three garden spaces at a retirement community this past summer and I fell under the magic spells they cast….

Lily-licious. It’s lily time, everyone! Fill the holes in your perennial border with these floral lollipops

Several years ago, I focused my July Obsessions column in Northern Gardener magazine on the divine east-metro gardener Michelle Mero Riedel and her love of lilies. She opened me up to the splendor of the flower that I had previously viewed as maybe a bit to0 futzy for my personal garden taste. Now I am hooked….

I love you ‘Daniel Deronda’ clematis, but how in the hell do I prune you?

I was tickled to hear from so many fellow clematis lovers about their passions for the perennial climber that splays such scrumptious flowers. I also heard  your confusion over pruning — the when and how-to of it. Do you cut the vine to the ground in the spring or only back to the emerging buds…

Clemactic joys and sorrows: I need a clematis-growing support group

An editor I work with does not like her writers to use phrases like clematisaholic or clematisphile and I’m on-board with that — it does seem to make light of very real and serious issues. That said, this week alone I purchased ‘Carnaby’ (sometimes reported as zone 5) and ‘Venosa Violacea’  and transplanted Clematis Virginiana…

Garden Task: Dividing the feather reedgrass

A quick shout-out to an oft-overlooked ornamental grass that really is one of my favorites. Fall-blooming Feather Reedgrass (Calamagrostis brachytricha) can work as an anchor in your perennial border, with its graceful, arching, inverted-V form. At 4-feet tall and a spread of about 3-feet, it fills holes and pockets in your design and sits happily…

More Garden Heidi-ology

A big part of the fun of gardening is getting to know your fellow gardening peeps. This past year, I got to get up close and personal with great gardener Heidi Heiland of Heidi’s Lifestyle Gardens of Plymouth, MN. My profile of Heidi and her gardening lab and studio — which also happens to be…

Succulents are succulent; they make me happy

Fine Gardening magazine recently had an article on 10 outstanding succulents to try, which prompted my thinking — midst continuous snow fall and crazy temps — of how happy succulents make me. They teach us snowbunnies much about surviving the winter. They tolerate dryness by holding onto any moisture they can muster up, as best as they can. This…

My on-and-off-again love affair with Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro)

Deer resistant, drought tolerant, will handle some shade, all around tough as nails, and interestingly beautiful to boot. So, what’s the problem you may ask. Well, these handsome devils in the garden like to re-seed like crazy. If you happen to be like me and have trouble hoe-ing down volunteer plants, especially ones you love, they can…

Think pink: ‘Pink Fantasy’ clematis gets me wanting color everywhere in the garden

More and more, I find myself picking pink for the garden. Nothing soothes my soul and picks up my spirits like a pink flower. That said, ‘Pink Fantasy’ clematis is a jubilee of pinkness, and a clematis worth a try in your garden. It’s blooming early this year, as are all clematis, and most garden…

Canadian Wild Ginger is a great plant for dry shade

I introduced a tiny patch, a few small plants, of Canadian Wild Ginger to the Garden Drama test garden about 10 years ago, under an Annabelle Hydrangea. I had picked up a tiny pot of it at a plant club sale for 50 cents or so. Well, I am tickled to report that it has…