SEMINAR:

Beyond Coneflowers:

Native Gardens for City Living

Sunday April 15 2:00-3:30pm

St. Timothy Lutheran Church

1465 Victoria Street N. Saint Paul

Erik Olsen, neighborhood resident and landscape designer with Out Back Nursery and Landscaping, will share his expertise in a beautiful, compelling presentation on Sunday, April 15 from 2:00 until 3:30 p.m. at the St. Timothy Lutheran Church.

Come learn how native plants differ from non-natives and how you can pick from a palette wider than the popular coneflower and goldenrod. Olsen will advise on ways to integrate natives into small urban properties and how to transform our backyards into beautiful butterfly and bird sanctuaries and outdoor living spaces.  This presentation is free to the public.



USDA Plant Hardiness Map updated

The USDA recently updated its USDA Plant Hardiness map for the United States. The 1990 USDA map is the one that I have used for using native plants in natural landscaping and design. (Map credit. Top Map. University of Minnesota)

The new map (on the bottom) shows a warming trend. In the Saint Paul/Minneapolis metro area shows that we went from Zone 4a to Zone 4b. I am not sure what this all means for gardeners and natural landscapers who use native plants. As a landscape designer, I am will continue to create gardens with native plants from Minnesota. There will probably be some attention given to exotic invasive plants and insects and how these plants and insects are adapting to the warmer climate changes.

Using native plants with local genetic sources has always been a good way to ensure that your plants are genetically adapted to your area. It is also helpful to check native plant books and catalogs that may list the hardiness zones of native plants.

SEMINAR: Ecological Planting Strategies

Ecological Planting Strategies
Speaker: Carmen Simonet, ASLA, RLA

Tuesday March 20, 2012    6:30 - 8:30 pm

Wood Lake Nature Center
Richfield, MN

Understanding landscape as life in process allows us to relax and enjoy the spontaneous nature of our gardens. Plants spread,move around, grow larger then expected, and sometimes disappear entirely. Carmen will explore the dynamic nature of plant communities and natural processes and show us how we can apply this knowledge to our planting designs to create beautiful, low maintenance, and diverse plantings.

Carmen Simonet is a landscape architect focusing on creating environmentally friendly landscapes. She's also an avid gardener experimenting with regenerative techniques, edible landscaping, and native plants.

Native Evergreen Shrubs of Minnesota

Evergreen (conifer) shrubs are often prized by gardeners and landscape designers who use native plants.  They "stay green" all season long.  In Minnesota, many plants go dormant and lose their leaves of brilliant fall colors during September-October.  Then during November-December, most plants offer a subtle variety of brown and tan colors.  Finally, Winter becomes a frozen desert of snow punctuated with bare trees and rectangular buildings.   

Evergreen shrubs are important plants for foundation of buildings or in gardens as accents, because they provide greenery all season long.  Our native evergreen shrubs are useful for natural landscaping because they are not too tall.  Many of our attractive (deciduous) native shrubs are tall (6' or taller).  However, these three evergreen shrubs can be used closer to buildings and won't block windows.   

In Minnesota we have 3 native evergreen shrubs that are conifers.  These shrubs are important in another way.  These shrubs help songbirds.  Common Juniper and Canada Yew provide food (berry-like fruit) and cover for birds during the winter.  Creeping Juniper does not provide much cover.  However, Creeping Juniper fruit is sought after by Mourning Doves, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Blue Jays, Catbirds, Brown Thrashers, Chipping Sparrows and Yellow Warblers.  Canada Yew is known to attract Robins and Cedar Waxwings.  

Juniperus communis (Common Juniper)

HEIGHT: 3'-5' WIDTH 6'-12'

SOIL: prefers sandy,sandy loam,
average garden soil

NATIVE HABITAT: sandy barrens, abandoned fields and pastures,bedrock outcrops and savannas

LIGHT/SHADE: Full sun; moderately shade tolerant (20-50% shade).  Shade is often described as dapple shade from canopy trees.

NATIVE GARDEN USE: full sun prairie gardens, partial shade savanna garden, foundation plantings

CARE: Prune as desired (Mid May-Mid June)
Remove leaves from center of plant.  Always sharpen and clean your pruners before pruning your shrubs.  70% isopropyl alcohohol and a paper towel  can be used to clean the blades and handles of your pruner thoroughly to prevent the spread of plant diseases.

Common Juniper can be used as a foundation plant for along foundations of houses.  These shrubs can be pruned to create a more formal appearance.  The best time to prune Juniperus communis is during mid-May to mid-June when the plant is developing much of its new growth. 

Juniperus horizontalis (Creeping Juniper)

HEIGHT: 6"-9" WIDTH 6'-8'

SOIL: prefers sandy,sandy loam,
average garden soil

NATIVE HABITAT: sandy barrens, abandoned fields and pastures, bedrock outcrops

LIGHT/SHADE: Full sun.  Shade intolerant.

NATIVE GARDEN USE: full sun prairie garden, full sun rock outcrop garden, ground cover; plant next to edge of a retaining wall so it will drape over the edge; large planters.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES: Plant next to short growing grasses or wildflower species.  Avoid aggressive short growing native perennials that spread and could shade out this plant.

CARE: Prune as desired (Mid May-Mid June)
Remove leaves from plant.  70% isopropyl alcohohol and a paper towel can be used to clean the blades and handles of your pruner thoroughly to prevent the spread of plant diseases.

Taxus canadensis (Canada Yew)

HEIGHT: 2'-3' WIDTH 4'-6'

SOIL: prefers loam soils, well-drained humus soils

NATIVE HABITAT: Cool moist forested hillsides; margins for forested swamps. Companion plants are often moss, woodland sedges, Birch spp. and White Cedar

LIGHT/SHADE: partial sun to full shade. 

NATIVE GARDEN USE: Massing in woodland gardens; areas shaded by a house; under canopy of trees.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES: Slow growing.  White-tailed Deer browse it often.

CARE: Prune as desired (Mid May-Mid June)  70% isopropyl alcohohol and a paper towel can be used to clean the blades and handles of your pruner thoroughly to prevent the spread of plant diseases.


Canada Yew has ascending branches and when massed can have a nice appearance in a woodland garden.

Availability: Common Juniper, Creeping Juniper, and Canada Yew are all available at Out Back Nursery Landscaping in Hastings, MN.

Hillside Planting (Retaining Wall Alternative)

This house is located on the corner of a city block in Saint Paul. The homeowners had to remove the original retaining wall because it was falling apart. The homeowners found that the cost to rebuild the retaining walls would have been very expensive. Instead they decided to use native plantings to stabilize the hillside on two-sides of their lot. The west side is partially to mostly shaded from street trees. The south side (the long side) is half partially shaded all day and the other half is in full sun for most of the day. To compound the challenge, the soils are sandy fill soils with some compost material. This is how I met the challenge.

I used Minnesota native woodland plants in the shaded areas and native prairie plant species in the sun. The planted areas in the shade didn't fill in nicely until last year (5 years after original planting). The sandy soils slowed down the root establishment of the plants. The homeowners even used drip-irrigation to help sustain the plants during a longer than usual establishment time. New plants usually root into soils well after 2 or 3 growing seasons.

In stark comparison, the native prairie plants adapted very well to the sandy soils within 2 growing seasons. Some Prairie Dropseed Grass (Sporobolus heterolepis) was added to ensure that there was good coverage of the ground. Roots of prairie grasses run 4ft. -5ft. deep or more.


Over the years, I have showed this hillside to people for ideas regarding hillsides in small city lots. People who love native plant gardening/landscaping like how this garden hillside evolved over time. People who are still hesitant about using native plants (because they still cling to the formal landscaping ways) often remark that "they like certain parts of the planting" while "other parts look neglected or messy".

I don't mind hearing these kinds of comments. These comments help me evolve as a landscape designer. I strive to understand native plants and native plant communities to improve how to blend the "natural" and the"built" realms.

SEMINAR: Butterfies, Moths & Food Plants

Minnesota's Day-Flying Moths
Butterflies and their native food plants

Sunday, February 19 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
North Dale Recreation Center
1414 Saint Albans St. N.,
Saint Paul, MN

Come hear Heather Holm, noted horticulturist and blogger,share her ideas for creating gardens that help butterflies and moths flourish. Holm’s presentation, free and open to the public.

“Attracting beautiful moths and butterflies to our landscapes requires more than providing nectar sources,” Holm says. She’ll focus on 20 moth and butterfly species whose caterpillars require specific native plants to feed on before becoming flying adults.
She’ll also discuss the life cycles of butterflies and moths and their amazing adaptations and survival strategies.

Holm maintains the popular “Restoring the Landscape with Native Plants” blog. Her presentation is the first of a three-month Sunday Series sponsored by the Como Community Council.

Credit: Val Cunningham, District 10 Como Community Council, Environment Committee member

Gardens Growing Wild

The authors of A Pattern Language believe they found something genuine and authentic to human experience in the section called "Garden Growing Wild".

What is described are the very characteristics which are commonly found in "Natural Landscaping" (also including eco-friendly landscaping, Birdscaping with Native Plants, Wildflower Gardening, landscaping with native plants, sustainable landscaping, Landscaping with Native Plant Communities, etc.)

A Pattern Language. Christopher Alexander, with S. Ishikawa, M. Silverstein, M. Jacobson, I. Fiksdahl-King, S. Angel, Oxford University Press, New York, 1977.

Many people are turning to the "garden growing wild" because it requires less maintenance and offers meaningful interactions and/or contributions to a healthier planet.

It is important to remember that this type of garden is inherently informal or casual in appearance. This type of garden or landscaping requires careful planning of spaces used and types of plants. I use native plants that are indigenous to Minnesota and more specifically, to the Twin Cities area when I can. The "garden growing wild" often includes rain gardens (to reduce water run-off), rain barrels (to collect water), and intentional accommodations for attracting songbirds and beneficial insects.

According the Alexander et. al., the Garden Growing Wild is:

....is with a "quality of wilderness, tamed, still wild but cultivated to be in harmony with the buildings which surround it and people move in it."

...."arranged so natural processes will come into being will maintain the condition and not degrade it."

...."garden is arranged to the natural processes and enhances the garden and does not threaten it."
...."the empty spaces are filled with plants to reduce weeds."

...."natural stones form boundaries of grass there is no need to chop the turf and clip the edge every few weeks."
...."rocks and stones are placed where there are changes of level."
...."a garden growing wild is healthier, more capable of growth."

...."mosses and grasses will grow between paving stones." (Pussytoes are used on this path)

...."natural stones form boundaries of grass there is no need to chop the turf and clip the edge every few weeks."
...."rocks and stones are placed where there are changes of level"
...."a garden growing wild is healthier, more capable of growth."
...."The garden can be left alone; it will not go to ruin in one or two seasons."

...."The gardener is in the position of a good doctor, watching nature take its course, occasionally taking action, pruning, pulling out some weeds only to give the garden more room to grow and become itself."