Tips and tales about keeping water clean
Cheryl Seeman is a Master Gardener and bee-lover who lives on Crooked Lake in Andover. “They call me the Queen Bee,” says Seeman with a laugh, as she leads visitors through her verdant yard and gardens. The lawn is dotted with white clover and dandelion blooms. A wide rain garden borders a curbside city storm…
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Do you ever wonder how plants can grow so quickly and yet without making a noise? Spring somehow always catches me by surprise even though I’ve spent months waiting and yearning for its arrival. Day after winter day, the world is bleak and gray, and then one morning I step outside and find tulips and…
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Workshops to be held in Wyoming, Hugo, Oakdale, Lake Elmo, and Cottage Grove After buying a home on Bone Lake a few years ago, Tom Furey downloaded the Score Your Shore tool from the Minnesota DNR website and set to work to learn more about his new property. From conversations with the Comfort Lake –…
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I was asked, “So, why do you want to study botany?” And I answered, “Because goldenrod and asters are so beautiful together, and I want to know why. I want to know why these stand together. Why do they grow together and look so beautiful when they could grow apart?” “That’s not science,” he said.…
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The roots of the leadplant chart a course toward the center of the earth. Thirsty and longing for stability, they branch, spread and burrow further and further into the soil. Encountering a rock or a flat pan of clay, they will pause, turn, and then continue their travels laterally. In sandy soils, where rainwater is…
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Stewardship grants, free site-visits, and community events help gardens become natural oases.
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The St. Croix Oak Savanna Chapter of Wild Ones just released a calendar of spring events that calls to frozen Minnesotans like water in a desert.
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There are 250 native bee species in Minnesota and 140 species of butterflies.
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Working with board members from the association, landscape designer Tara Kline put together a design that replaced around 3,325 square feet of turf with native plants. The swale features “thirsty” shrubs like dogwood that soak up lots of water, as well as plants like cup plant, joe pyweed, blue flag iris, and sedges that provide both beauty and habitat.
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Since your own lawn is small, you might be surprised to learn that turf grass covers more acres of land in the U.S. than the eight largest agricultural crops combined. Imagine what a difference it would make if all of us converted ¼ of our lawn to native plantings that provide habitat for pollinators, birds and wildlife.
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