Magnolia Stars

Magnolia stellata, or Star Magnolia, is preparing for its upcoming show in The Twin Cities. Northern Magnolias are one of my favorite plants because of the various stages they go through as they bloom. This is a deciduous woody shrub. Unlike southern magnolias, this one forms its flower buds in the fall, then drops leaves and goes dormant for winter. The show starts again each spring. Star Magnolias are perfectly hardy here in zone 4.

Right now, the flower buds look like fuzzy pussywillows. Soon, the fuzz will be pushed aside to reveal a creamy white flower bud resembling a peanut. Most people miss all of this amazing drama, and only notice once the flowers are fully opened.

Minneapolis band, The Magnolias, are on tour right now in Europe. They'll be back in Minnesota for a show April 18th at First Avenue. (Just in time). ROCK !

Recycled Wrap

I found this new product...have you seen it yet?

Junk Store Gardening

With the bad economy, a lot more people are turning to gardening this season. Those fancy garden shops can get expensive when you're trying to stock all your supplies.

I did a little shopping at the local surplus store to find some alternative garden tools & accessories.

Perhaps these inflatable insects can help attract beneficial bugs to your garden; and make the yard fashionable too.

Instead of buying a pricey kneeling pad, you can get a whole stack of these mystery foam squares. (You just have to like pink).

If you use a walking stick to stroll around your yard, it makes your property seem larger. (I wouldn't recommend dressing as shown)... And every respectable garden must have rubber chickens. And they're so affordable...( look how happy he is)!!

Did you ever want to freak out your neighbors with your yard waste? Only 25 cents for loads of fun!

Tickets for the garden party.

Have a project in mind? Here's some totally fab "Landscaping Fabric" ...AND you're not hardcore unless you have a gas mask (everybody knows that)...If you're not making a statement, then what are you doing?

Too Embarrased to Buy Seeds...or 'Adventures in Seed Shopping'

I'm starting to realize why people order seeds through the mail. It can be very humiliating.
By the time this cilantro grows, and finally goes to seed (coriander), your diarrhea will have been raging for over a month.
I think I'll just live dangerously and use it for cilantro.

If you're looking for a creative idea for starting seeds,

remember my tip from last year titled: "Beverage Gardening"

Waiting for Spring Makes Minnesotans do Weird Things

The long, long Minnesota winter is kind of bad for gardening. By the time we can actually dig the soil and plant, it's a mad rush to hurry up and enjoy it. The official last day of frost is May 15th, and the garden's over and dying by September. Super lame!
So perhaps, that's why people here invent crazy winter activities to snap themselves out of the cold, dark funk they're in.

I recently went to a baseball game, played in the snow, in a baseball stadium in St. Paul, MN. They call it Iceball. And to make it worse, it's played old style with old-fashioned uniforms, and no baseball gloves. And it was about 30 degrees outside. The game was a fundraiser for Second Harvest Heartland.

Luckily, they had a host of mind-blowing characters in costume, who come out on the field and do stupid skits to help us forget about our frozen feet...Everybody was having FUN !

I thought it was funny that a path around the bases was shoveled before the game began.

There was a band playing out in the cold: Chris Hawkey (rocked the house) ...have you ever seen base & guitar players with mittens on? And do you know what the cold does to instruments? But they are tough up here in the frozen north.

Other winter torture activities here include a Polar Plunge, where insane people jump into freezing water, and Ice fishing contests, and no one can forget the St. Paul Winter Carnival which is a 2-week long outdoor party for winter fanatics...This is how we survive.

Eating Flowers in the Mexican Cloud Forest

The Rock and Roll Gardener took a winter road trip to Mexico.
The purpose of the trip was to spend time with family and friends, but I was on the lookout for photo opportunities, and the natural scenery as I passed through several climate zones on my way up into the cloud forest of the Sierra Madre Mountains.

Shortly after crossing the border, and all the headache and red-tape of getting the car across, we soon started seeing Joshua Trees in the desert of Tamaulipas. We traveled down the Gulf of Mexico toward Veracruz, where we started inland after passing Tuxpan. The area between the gulf coast and the inland mountain range is a big orange & tangerine growing area.
It’s at that point, where the landscape really starts to change.

As we passed each pueblito, we were climbing higher into the mountains, eventually entering the cloud forest region. At times, the fog was so thick; we could see literally nothing in front of the car. It’s that daily fog that provides a microclimate for many interesting plants, such as bromeliads (air plants) that attach themselves to the trees, and receive water from the mist in the air. The trees are also covered with ferns and mosses- most noticeable, Tillandsia usneoides (Spanish moss). The cloud forest area is a growing area for coffee. The coffee bushes seem to be planted randomly along the slopes, among the other vegetation.

It’s interesting to see the mixture of plants- Banana palms grow in the lower areas, but driving up into higher elevations, the bananas disappear, and you’ll see apple trees, nut trees, and the huge Maguey plant, from which the drink, ‘Pulque’ is made.

The Coral Bean trees were blooming (Erythrina herbacea) while we were there- considered a weed tree by some, the flowers were beautiful on the bare tree branches…and we ATE the flower buds ! Called Gasparitos, the red flower buds look like little lipstick tubes, and they are boiled and eaten with egg or in sauce. Not bad…they didn’t have much flavor on their own. Parts of this plant are poisonous, though, like the seeds.
Another odd plant to eat is chayote, or ‘espinoso’…all parts of the plant are eaten: the vines, the fruit, and the tuber root. The fruit is spiny and ugly. Cooked, it tastes a bit like sweet potato.

Witch Hazel

(Hamamelis virginiana)

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow, and there's a witch hazel still in bloom in St. Paul, MN. I didn't know how long they bloom here in zone 4, but usually by this date, everything has frozen, so I wouldn't expect to see this.

So, if witch hazel blooms in the cold fall, what pollinates it?

Viva Mexico !

I'm planning a trip to Mexico soon...and I will be reporting on the plants I find there. A few things I'll be on the look-out for: Poinsettia "trees" 8 feet tall, Boxwood hedges, Deadly Angel's Trumpet everywhere, and facinating changes in climate with every slight altitude change.

In the lower areas, you'll find coffee, banana, and citrus growing...but climb a bit into the higher altitudes, and you'll find apple orchards, and the beautiful Maguey.

Check back to see my plant findings from Mexico.

Death to Plants

Make sure to take one more look at the dying plants, as they take their last breath before winter. There's a bounty of seeds and colors now that are revealed only in the fall. The plants are standing proudly in their skeletal form, as if to say," Look at me...I was beautiful once, and I'm proud of all I've done".

Photography Locations

There's a perfect photo studio near you...how about a corn field or a pond, or a stand of pine trees? There are endless places outdoors for creating meaningful portraits. What feelings does a cornfield evoke? Many adults see it in an economic view, ...the financial losses, the heavy burden to the land, the loss of family farms, so many negatives...but to a child, it's a fantastic playground full of wonder and imagination.

Take city kids out to explore!

Monarch World Travelers

The Minnesota Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) are building up nectar reserves right now before their unbelievable journey to Michoacan, Mexico. I took these photos of Monarch butterflies in my garden. They love the giant zinnias!

Also, don't forget, they cannot survive without milkweed. The larva/caterpillar eats only milkweed, and the plant gives the Monarch it's poisonous properties, protecting it from predators.

The Monarch is the state butterfly of Minnesota, adopted in 1998.

Click the map to go to the web site for "Journey North" and learn about Monarch fall migration and tracking. Buen Viaje, Mis Amigos! Que Les Vaya Bien!

Bees Knees and Bachelor's Buttons

I followed this bee as he went to every Bachelor's Button flower in my garden...avoiding all kinds of other nice flowers- he was only interested in the Bachelor's Buttons. I didn't realize they are so appealing to bees- good to know.

I wonder what kind of honey that'll make?...Maybe blue?