The weather is warming, the days are longer, and the familiar sight of daffodil and tulip foliage emerging from their dormant rest is telling us it is spring! I’d say that this time of year, like no other, really gets the gardener motivated.

Did you know that some flowers begin growth in the winter? Spring ephemerals often start blooming before spring even arrives. Even now, with six inches of snow accumulation and a temperature of 14 degrees, winter aconite, scilla, , crocus, and many more are inching above ground, unfurling leaves, and producing flower buds. The best time to see these early beauties is approaching—they bloom from mid-March through April.

Large annuals may be just what you need in certain spots in the landscape. They can add some height to a flower garden. You can also get more for your money by filling up a large space with just a few plants. Large perennials, like grasses, could also be used for these purposes. These are great because they come back every year, but unlike annuals they take more than a year to reach their full size.

As I write this, the weather forecast is calling for snow. But believe it or not I’m finalizing our summer annual order. Since Minnetrista buys the annuals whole sale, we put in the order early to make sure it is ready for late May.

This time of year, evergreens are a feast for eyes. But did you know that they are truly edible? People have been cooking with pines for hundreds of years. They provide vitamins A and C, antiseptic properties, antioxidants, and they add a delicious and unexpected twist to your holiday table. Interested in consuming your Christmas tree?

Here are some plants growing at Minnetrista that provide color and interest during the fall season.

The Minnetrista Horticulture crew has picked up many tips over the years. We thought we’d share tips with you for this fall season.

You might not be able to tell from advertisements or the plant stock at some retailers, but we are in a prime time planting period: late summer and fall! This has the Minnetrista Horticulture crew making plans to get plants in the ground and transplant what we can!

Containers can add form, texture, and color to areas that have limited garden spaces, like around buildings, sidewalks, vertical walls, and patios. The traditional container with annuals is great for beautifying your home, but next year you may want to try something different. Here are unique container displays that you can see at Minnetrista.

When you manage 21 acres of gardens and natural areas like we do at Minnetrista, the last thing you want to hear from one of your gardeners is that they found a plant disease and that it is moving fast. I hoped she was wrong. After checking it out myself, she most certainly wasn’t. It’s affecting hostas on the Minnetrista Boulevard. Now what?

Spring is a great time to divide hardy water lilies. We recently divided the water lilies in the pond behind the Lucius Ball home here at Minnetrista. If you have a hardy water lily at your home, here are some things to keep in mind when dividing or planting.

After average winters, it can be common for evergreens to show what is generally referred to as “winter injury” in late winter or spring. As you might expect after a winter like we’ve had, it can be even more widespread. You might be noticing this now in your own yard and at Minnetrista I’ve noticed it, too.

Are you ready for spring? Jump start the season with this do-it-yourself gardening idea. This project uses reused soda bottles and household materials to create beautiful, self-watering planters. They are economical, decorative, eco-friendly, and fun to make! Use them to grow herbs, display ornamental houseplants, or beautify your patio. The self-watering system allows you to tend to them less frequently, and eliminates the need for a tray to catch drainage. What could be easier?“

Topiaries are great pieces of living garden art that can add form and structure to your garden. You might think topiaries are only made by clipping shrubs into various shapes. While that is one way to make a topiary, you can also fake one by training a vine, like English ivy, to grow on a frame. It’s easier, quicker, and more affordable.

A common question I get from readers, especially after writing about trees, is if I can recommend a tree professional. I don’t mind telling people whom Minnetrista uses, but I like to  first mention some important tips that should be considered when choosing a tree contractor. Check them out below!

Coppicing, pollarding, pleach, fedge, and cordon. All of these are strange and intriguing botanical terms that I’ve encountered on the Royal Horticultural Society’s website. What do they mean? Well, I’ll leave it to you to look up the last four. I’m just going to tell you about the first—coppicing.

One thing I’ve often heard from people in the past when talking about tree failure is, “that tree or branch just up and fell.” I wouldn’t go as far as saying it is a pet peeve, but this thinking does bother me a bit as it shows a lack of understanding of trees and how they should be thought about in the landscape. Trees do have inherent risk. They are dynamic, sometimes very large living plants that have to deal with all of nature’s forces, but this doesn’t mean that they die and fall one day out of the blue. There is always more to it.

Flowers aren’t the only beautiful things you can find in a garden. There are lots of beautiful insects too. Many of which are attracted by flowering plants.

This summer, Minnetrista gardeners and staff had the pleasure of seeing the life cycle of the monarch butterfly unfold before us in The Orchard Shop Courtyard. We got an in-depth view—from larva, to pupa, to adult.

Have you noticed any webs that seem to be swallowing leaves and branches in trees lately? Well, I have, and so have many of my friends. What we are all seeing are fall web worms.