A Rabbit Ate My Garden and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

Assessing the damage... I was too lazy last fall to put fencing around every plant in my yard...and now that the snow has melted, the realization is setting in... This rabbit carries a pair of Felcos and is a ruthless pruning maniac.
Anybody wanna buy a pound of little round garden balls?

Some favorite woody plants for my little garden buddy: My Rosebushes, Dogwood, Sand Cherry (prunus), Burning Bush , Spiraea, and Bittersweet Vine.

The bottom of the bittersweet looks like a cheese grater was rubbed on it all winter !

This is war ...I'm calling Elmer Fudd.

Beverage Gardening

With snow rabbits lurking outside, the safest place for seedlings is my windowsill. There's not much space along the window, and I have all these beverage cups left over from so many Rock and Roll parties...They make good windowsill seed starters.
The inner cup has drainage holes and the outer cup does not.

When you water them, you can pretend you're a bartender filling drinks.

Snow Rabbit

I took this photo this morning.

Trees have such a strange sense of humor.

Earth Hour Minnesota

I'm not online.
http://www10.earthhourus.org/
I'm turning the computer off.

Rock and Roll Gardener in Art Show

This weekend, I was in an art show in Madison, Wisconsin. I displayed my rockin' plant photography, along with a few other friends who had photos, paintings, and other mixed media masterpieces. It was a great time, and we received good comments and feedback on our work.

Winter Cracks Me Up

Can anyone identify this treacherous northern river?

(Hint: It only flows at this time of year).

Green City

I really should not be revealing our secrets...in case you all decide to move here.

But Saint Paul and Minneapolis are wonderful cities for gardening and getting outdoors

(if you don't mind hibernating for 5 months or so).

(From The City of St. Paul Website)

The Saint Paul Division of Parks and Recreation Operates:
101 parks
41 recreation centers
three golf courses
two city pools
Como Zoo
the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory

Maintains: 450,000 trees
101 miles of paved off-street trails
30 miles of bike lanes
10.8 miles of bike routes
30.3 miles of striped shoulders
24 miles of dirt trails
160 unique garden sites
150 hanging baskets
Is accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Park & Recreation Agencies (CAPRA)
One of only 59 park agencies nationwide to have received this accreditation and one of only three in Minnesota

For more information, visit http://www.nrpa.org/. or http://www.stpaul.gov/initiatives/sustainable/programs/initiatives.html

Lotus Be Friends

Who Can Identify The Body?

Time for a winter identification game.

See how many of these 'Sleeping Beauties' you can identify. You Northerners should do better on this. The photographs were just taken in Minnesota. What else is there to do during the long frozen winter? Answers are in the side bar, lower on the page.

Waiting

"I'm not waitin' on a lady...I'm just waitin' on a THAW".

Oh-Oh, February

Darn, It's February.
That means I need to decide whether I'm going to attempt to start seeds this year, or just avoid the hassle and buy all my annuals. I don't have a lovely little sunroom or greenhouse, so seedlings have to go in the window; and in Minnesota we don't have enough sunlight yet to grow strong seedlings, so a grow light is needed during these first months. The timing is always tricky, because the plants may grow too much too fast, and we can't put them outside safely until possibly Mid May. I suppose it's worth a try...so I'll start collecting my little pots and egg cartons and see what I can get started.

...A few seeds I'm starting: Coleus, Zinnia , Chiles, an assortment of tomatoes, Marigolds, and Mexican zucchini.

Succumb To The Cold

OK, It's January, your garden plants have given up. They are in a deep freezing sleep, and there's nothing you can do about it. Just keep your sidewalk shoveled, sanded and salted and GO INDOORS...

Visit the indoor tropics to avoid getting the blues this month. And...forget about your garden dreams, just for now.

Twisted Sister

Winter reveals the sick and twisted reality. Now is the time to access tree branches and do your pruning (if necessary). I tend to discourage excessive tree pruning. Don't do it if you don't know what you're doing! Pruning should be done for a good reason and in the proper way. You can do more harm than good if you just start hacking away.


Here, read this: http://www.rainbowtreecare.com/stories/story_15.htm

Plant For Winter

When you live in a climate that's cold for half the year, it's a good idea to PLANT FOR WINTER. Think about winter all year- even in June when you're putting in a new flower bed- remember winter- What do you have for winter interest?
A snowy garden can be beautiful. That's the time your GARGOYLE statue is really in it's glory !!!

HERE ARE SOME PLANT IDEAS FOR WINTER INTEREST:
Red Twigged Dogwood, Perennial Grasses, Evergreens, Burning Bush, Vines, Hydrangea, Winterberry (it's toxic though), Boxwood, Coneflower.