Garden Blog

OK, I know it is only December and we have lots of winter left – BUT I had to share this news.  The 2019 Minneapolis Home & Garden Show has announce that HGTV will again be a HUGE part of show.  The Property Brother (swoooon) will be making an appearance on Saturday, February 23rd.  AND the second Saturday March 2nd Fixer Upper Clint Harp will be here.  Check out the link below for more details BUT go right now and mark your calendar so you don’t miss it!

BTW – Amy Lea ‘n Me will also be there, both weekends 🙂

You may now return to your normal pre-Christmas tasks!

https://homeandgardenshow.com/show-features/speakers-celebrities

Amy Lea ‘n Me is bringing something new to the Home and Garden Show this year.  We have one of the largest selections of Fairy Garden items in the Twin Cities and we are excited to highlight our selection at the show this year.  We currently have over 450 unique items including more than 40 different houses and more than 35 unique fairies.  We also have a variety of accessories including; bridges, furniture, fencing, animals, unicorns, dragons, gnomes, mailboxes, signs, garden tools, tree creatures, trails, pathways, mermaids, bird baths, ponds, colored stones, and so much more!  This year we will have more than 100 square feet full for everything you need to start or grow your fairy garden.  Stop by to see some examples and talk to Diana and she will be more than happy to help you come up with a plan to make your fairy garden magical.

We are also bringing a variety of our big garden décor items.  We will have a variety of solar and battery operated lanterns, solar stakes, tabletop décor and a large selection of bird feeders for every type of bird.

Birding Make & Take – On April 7^th and 8^th we will also have a great make and take project.  We will be making bird nesting cones to help the bird build their spring nests by having materials easily accessible for them.  We provide twigs, yarn, fabric, and ribbon pieces to fill the cone.  The cones come in 4 different colors for you to choose from while supplies last.  It is a quick project that is really fun for kids and adults.  It is fun to hang your nesting cone out and see the birds use the materials you put in it for their nests.  Sometimes you can even see some of the bright colored materials in the nests in the spring and summer.  Stop by and see some examples and spend 5-10 minutes making your own to help your neighborhood birds!

Now we know what the all the butterfly action is about!

SOURCE: http://blog-yard-gardennews.extension.umn.edu/

If you have been spending time in your flower gardens recently, you may have noticed many brown and orange butterflies visiting plants to drink nectar. Adults of the Painted Lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, are gathering at flowers in unusually large numbers to prepare themselves for migration down to the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. The Painted Lady butterfly is one of the most widely distributed of all butterfly species, but is not frequently seen in Minnesota most years. According to Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas, this is probably the largest migration he has seen in over 30 years (LJWorld.com September 8, 2017). These larger migrations often follow rainy periods in their wintering grounds.

You can help these butterflies on their journey south by making sure that you have flowers to provide them with the nectar they need to fuel their long journey and keeping these flowers free of pesticides. According to butterfliesandmoths.org these butterflies prefer nectar from composites 3-6 feet high, especially thistles; also aster, cosmos, blazing star, ironweed, joe-pye weed, red clover, and milkweeds. Many of these plants can also serve as food for the caterpillars if the adults make it this far north again next year. Unlike monarch caterpillars, which require milkweed, the painted lady caterpillars have been found on over 100 different host plants, but favorites include thistles and legumes.

If you have not already seen them, a visit to a pollinator garden planted with a variety of blooming flowers is likely to reward you with a stunning showcase of insect beauty.

Light Up the Night

The days are getting shorter as we move into September. The sun is setting just before 8:30pm each day so we need light for evenings spent outdoors. We are featuring light this month, one of the Garden Décor Elements. Sun light is not as strong as it was earlier in the season leaving some solar lights dimmer and batteries not fully charging. Using indoor/outdoor battery powered lights will let you enjoy the outdoors long into the fall. Most use simple AA or AAA batteries that are easy to access and change when needed.

These battery powered lights also include timers in the lanterns and the string lights. When turned on the light will stay on for 5-6 hours, depending on the timer, go off and the come back on at the same time the next day. For example, turn the light on at 8:00pm, it will stay on until 1:00am, go off and then come back on at 8:00pm the following night. Batteries will last a few months with this process.   The lanterns are indoor/outdoor and some of the styles can be set on a table or hung up. Many have a ‘candle’ inside to provide the light and others have an interior bulb. The string lights can be hung or woven around a bannister.

Don’t let fall chase you indoors. Let’s Light Up The Night!

Japanese beetles have invaded my yard and my neighbor’s yard.  This is a very timely article for me.  I hope it provides some helpful information for you.

Diana

Shared from:  The Sherburne County Master Gardeners Newsletter, August 2017

By Jeffrey Hahn, Extension Entomologist

If you had problems last summer with Japanese beetles on your property, the odds are very good they will be pests again this year.  In fact some people are already seeing them in high numbers.  So the question is what can a gardener do?

Killing individual Japanese beetles is actually easy but the problem is what to do when there are a lot of them.  There is no one guaranteed method for treating Japanese beetles.  It is best to use as many different management steps as possible to improve your chances of keeping Japanese beetle feeding to tolerable levels.

If you have a small garden, physical removal can be a good option, especially when only small numbers are present.  However when Japanese beetles are numerous, it become impractical to handpick them every day.  Another non-chemical option is to place a cheese-cloth, or similar type of fabric, around valued plants to exclude the beetles.

There are a few low impact insecticides available.  Pyola is effective but this product is short-lived and repeat applications are necessary.  Neem oil is also an option.  It helps deter Japanese beetles but is less effective when large numbers are present.  Both of these products can be toxic to pollinators so be sure to apply them when bees are not active.

There are a variety of residual insecticides that you can use, like permethrin or carbaryl (Sevin).  To protect bees, apply insecticides during late evening after bees are no longer active.  The products should be dry by morning when bees become active again.  If you are trying to protect a large tree, you may need to have it treated by a landscape or tree care company.

Deciding whether to treat trees and other plants will depend on how many of the leaves are still intact.  If nearly all of them are already chewed up, then spraying does not help protect the plant.  If there are still a lot of unaffected leaves, then it is work your while to treat them.

Keep in mind that trees that are healthy and mature are not going to be killed from just one year of feeding.  Trees are quite resilient and can tolerate a lot of defoliation.  If trees have been recently transplanted or are already under stress, it is a good idea to protect them from any additional damage.

What you don’t do is just as important as what you do try.  Some people like the idea of using Japanese beetle traps to protect their plants.  While these traps can capture an impressive number of beetles, the traps are attracting more beetles than they catch.  Research has shown that when these traps are used in home gardens, damage is not reduced but in fact is likely to increase.  Likewise, companion planting has been demonstrated to ineffective in protecting plants from Japanese beetle feeding.

Source:  http://blog-yard-garden-news.extension.umn.edu/