If you are working to remove large areas of buckthorn, MyMinnesotaWoods staff advise that late summer and fall are the best times to cut and treat buckthorn stumps with herbicide in order to prevent regrowth.
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All articles filed in trees
Online classes for gardeners and nature enthusiasts
Explore new interests, build skills, begin planning for a summer landscaping project at your home, or simply enjoy a few hours of escape from the doldrums of winter.
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Ode to a an old dead log
Driving down a country road last week, I turned to gaze at a lone tree in the west that always stands so firmly, silhouetted against the evening sky. On this night, however, one half of the tree lay sprawled across a nearby farm field, toppled over by wind or age. “How sad,” I thought to…
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If those trees could walk
Managing woodlands for a changing climate Deep in the heart of Ecuador’s Sumaco Biosphere Reserve, the trees are slowly walking – very, very slowly. In pursuit of better living conditions, the trees grow new roots that stretch across the forest floor and gradually pull the rest of the tree along behind. These so-called walking palms…
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Listening for the trees
They say that trees can speak to each other in a language we humans are too busy to hear and too self-absorbed to understand. Peter Wohlleben, a German forester who wrote the now famous book, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate, has learned that trees in a forest actually live…
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Training the next generation to be “Keepers of the Trees”
The sun shines on a May morning and 23 tiny children gather round, faces up-turned, smiling and eager to begin the day. Kim Lawler, a team leader with Tree Trust, and Joan Nichols, a Master Water Steward in-training, stand before the children with a young white oak that the students will soon plant in a…
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Grants and workshops to help landowners create and improve woodland habitat
In addition to its annual tree sale, the Washington Conservation District offers advice and assistance to landowners hoping to create and improve woodland habitat on their properties.
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A Whisper of Spring in the Air
The East Metro Water Resource Education Program will begin holding landscaping workshops in April and May (North St. Paul – April 6, St. Paul Park – April 11, Oakdale – April 18, Hugo – April 27, Forest Lake – May 2).
Read MoreConservation in the time of wrath
Deep-rooted prairie grasses could find moisture during the driest of summers, but farm crops died quickly, leaving nothing behind but bare soil. During the ensuing Dust Bowl, clouds of dirt darkened the sun, burying homes and hopes in their wake.
Read MoreTale of the Trees
We may not have Brown Bar-ba-loots or Swomee-Swans in Minnesota, but we do have eastern spotted skunks and cerulean warblers.
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East Metro Water 