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COLUMN | VIEW FROM THE GARDEN | KENT PETTERSON

West End Garden Tour has Good Spinoff Effects | 12.10

Good gardening to you

Last month I speculated that we might be facing serious losses to the apple crop this year. So far, reports from orchards indicate the early-blossoming varieties have been hit hard where frost occurred. My own Honeycrisp is blooming beautifully, but in the middle of the city, no frost but wouldn’t you know it, snow in the air today. Oh well, Mother Nature giveth and taketh.

I hope you were able to get a start on vegetable seed planting last month. You should be fine with just about everything in the vegetable garden now except the warm-season crops. Those would include the cucurbits — winter and summer squashes and cucumbers by seed plus tomatoes and peppers from started plants. These warm season crops need to wait until the soil and air temperatures are warmer the latter half of May.

This summer I think okra might do quite well. It requires a longer and warmer summer. Do you think we might get one? Most people use okra for gumbo soup. Harvested as small pods, the green are the most common. I am especially interested in red okra for the beautiful yellow flowers and for the pods that are wonderful for dried arrangements. If you can find seed, start it in pots in early May and plant out as soon as it warm enough for the tomatoes. Sweet corn needs warmed soil too, but I don’t know any gardeners in the city who want to fight off the squirrels in a space that might only yield one or two meals for the summer.

I can’t believe I have already been digging those yellow flagging dandelions already. I really do need someone to do an intervention on me. I should be more tolerant of those yellow beauties in the lawn, but not the case. I am fine with creeping charlie, plantain, clover and other greens in the lawn but wave a little yellow in front of me and I go crazy.

In the flower garden, we should be ok for hardy perennials. I hope you all are talking swaps over the garden fence with the neighbors. I prefer to grow my annuals in pots and hanging baskets. It really helps to be able to move them in if a late frost is threatened.
Good gardening to you, Kent Petterson

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Watering our plants

Back in September I suggested that we should be watering our plants going into winter. Unfortunately, the same advice continues to be good for the spring that is now approaching. Who knows, we may be in shirtsleeves on March 1.

I’ve been starting plants in the basement. It is that season. Most, including lettuce, cole crops and peppers should be started indoors about March1, followed by tomatoes, marigolds, sunflowers, and fast growing squash and cucumbers about April 15. Check out seed starting on the Internet or get a book such as “Park’s Success with Seeds” to fill in all the details.

I’ve also been thinking about rabbits lately. Last year was a tough year with me losing most of the battles. This year I am thinking a big stout fence. But it will have to be a creative approach, because I seem to be outnumbered and they seem to be able so far to go over, through and under any barrier known to man.

I’ve tried exclusion netting — they eat it. I’ve tried short barrier fencing — they jump it. I’ve tried smelly sprays and that only seems to work for me. I’ve tried pellet shot and I’m not a very good aim.

In past years I had always taken the “live and let live, it’s best to share” view. I’m feeling like the scales have tipped and now the rabbits are unwilling to share. I really shouldn’t have to buy more land so there is enough to “share.”

The battle will continue this year. I haven’t given up and I have ideas. Perhaps you have had successes you would like to share. Please let me know at terrace@winternet.com.

Good gardening to you, Kent Petterson.

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Another garden season not too far away

At the beginning of 2012 it is appropriate to reflect on some good things for which gardeners can be thankful. Here’s my list, which might reflect some of your thoughts.

We can be thankful that another year out in the garden is not too far off — brrrr.

We are fortunate that the ground water supply is adequate for us to nurture plants in the landscape despite our year ending drought. Snow is moisture too, so pray for more.

We are thankful that we have two nursery businesses supplying our garden needs and that a whole host of businesses have supported beautification in the neighborhood by adopting hanging baskets and containers for flower planting.

We are thankful that so many people care about the West End and act on it every day to make it look better and more livable. Some of us can do so through our gardens.

We are thankful that our gardening brings us closer to the land that nourishes our body and soul.

We are thankful that the Fort Road Community Garden has passed its second year of growing food for its gardeners and our neighbors in need. A lovely spirited community has grown up around their garden in the empty lot at the corner of Jefferson and Victoria.

We are thankful for the gardeners of the West End, who are organizing their fifth annual West End Neighbors Garden Tour for June 16, 2012, Fathers Day weekend. Who would have thought we could find so many gardens and enthusiastic gardeners to pull it off and be the inspiration it has become?

Many gardeners are able to grow food for themselves, sometimes with overwhelming success. If you are blessed in this way, you might be interested in the efforts of a few neighbors that are working to match up your talents, open space land and interested supporters in finding ways to enhance a local healthy food supply. A group called Healthy West Seventh is seeking to organize the initiative. If you want more information, contact Kate Vickery at kate.vickery@mac.com or Master Gardener Lynda Anderson at lynda.anderson@gmail.com.
Happy New Year!

Schmidt Brewery Lofts

The fabulous evening unveiling of the Schmidt Brewery Lofts brought out around a thousand people. A lot of folks got a glimpse of the future possibilities for this neighborhood site. While waiting in line for a sample of the wonderful fare provided by the Glockenspiel, I had a chance to talk a while with The Florist’s Daughter, Patricia Hampl. You may be familiar with Hampl’s memoir of that name. Some older readers may remember Hampl’s parents, Mary and Stan, who operated Holm & Olson Florists with their greenhouses off Duke Street. The Holm & Olson greenhouses are gone now, replaced by housing.

Years after that loss, the West End is fortunate to be the home of four businesses specializing in flowers. The neighborhood has two florists and two nursery businesses, all locally owned family businesses. Not every neighborhood has even one florist, and I think two of the four remaining garden nurseries in the city are right here in the West End.

Ashley Nichols purchased Jandrich Floral Shop at 976 West Seventh Street in August of 2010. The family business of Larry Jandrich had been in operation for 47 years. Check out the standard holiday wreath display in their window. All wreaths, centerpieces and floral arrangements can be customized to your request at 651-292-8833.

DiSanto’s Fort Road Florist is a family owned business. Mike DiSanto’s shop is at 262 West Seventh, 651-222-1460. They are proud of their 20 years of quality floral arrangements and service to the neighborhood. A large holiday selection of poinsettias will be available from them this holiday season.

Leitner’s Garden Center is a full service nursery and landscape products business when you include their bulk products center of landscape rock, mulches and topsoil. Their shop at 945 Randolph Ave. is a delight for the eyes year-round. They have more than 50 assorted greens, berries and twigs available. Store Manager Joan Westby says they also have fresh flowers, Christmas trees and seasoned firewood.

Highland Nursery at 1742 West Seventh has “Gardening Classes with Sue” (owner Sue Hustings). January 24th is their next class on Garden Design — Planning Basics, followed by four others through the spring. Hustings moved the shop from Highland in 1978 and continues their nursery operation with the help of daughter Teri Otterness. Check out their Winter Wonderland of decorated holiday trees and gifts.

Please give these local businesses a shot at your holiday business and through the year. Our best wishes for all the joy of the holidays to all of our readers, and thanks for your interest.

One Last Mowing

In the fall I like to give the lawn one last mowing after the leaves have fallen, but I hate it when my lawn mower engine won’t start as it did this week. I have mine tuned up, seems like every year, and yet it gives me trouble nearly every time I want to mow the lawn. It’s not a lot of lawn, but I have been hanging on to it because I like the green spots of color surrounded by landscape plantings. Some people are getting rid of their lawn in favor of flowers or native plants or vegetables. That includes me at my home in Minneapolis where the fallen leaves become mulch instead of a raking job.

The same mulching at my gardens in St. Paul is accomplished with my mulching lawn mower. In the summer the rear bagger catches the grass clippings to put into the compost to speed up the composting process. In the fall, I mow the leaves along with the grass. The mulched leaves are almost gone by spring when put down in a thin 1/2 inch layer around plants. I am careful to not cover the perennial plants until the soil is well frozen. These kinds of strategies might make sense in your own landscape. Instead of sending the organic matter, which represents shelter and food for invertebrates, critters and birds, you can keep it.

Each fall the West End Gardeners start planning for the annual West End Neighbors Garden Tour. The fifth annual tour will be held Fathers Day weekend June 16, 2012. The initial planning meeting will be Wednesday November 9 at the Federation offices, 924 West Seventh. Please join us! We need you and your garden.

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Preparing Trees for Winter

by Jonathon Heaton, Arborist

Minnesota winters are tough. Not only for people, but for our trees and shrubs as well. Freezing temperatures, hungry animals, and heavy snow and ice combined with strong winds all create havoc with our plants. They don’t make down coats for trees but there are some preventive steps that can help your plants make it through the winter.

Two of the most beneficial things that can be done to help trees and shrubs stay healthy through the winter are mulch and water. Plants can continue to take up water well into fall even once they have lost their leaves. Water plays a critical role in plant health during the winter, especially with evergreens. Winter burn happens with evergreens when they lose water through their needles that they aren’t able to absorb and replenish from the frozen ground. Ensuring that they have had a good supply in the summer and fall will reduce the risk of winter burn.

Mulch helps to add beneficial organic matter as it decomposes. It reduces the amount of moisture that evaporates from the soil so there is more for your plants to use. It also helps to moderate soil temperatures, which is very important for trees braving a Minnesota winter.

Ideally, trees will have their entire root-zone covered in mulch, but even mulching only a few feet away from the trunk can be very beneficial. Take care not to place any mulch directly against the trunk of the tree as this can lead to other problems in the future.
Beyond the cold temperatures plants are also at risk of damage from snow and ice and chewing by animals. You can help to protect the stems of your plants from rabbits and voles by covering them with plastic or other chew-proof material as long as you remove this in the spring. Where this is impractical there are effective animal repellants that can be sprayed on the stems. There is a wide variety of deer-repellants available but for winter we only use a latex-based repellant which we have found to be very effective.

For snow and ice damage you can also help by wrapping evergreens with a soft twine to reduce the amount of snow the branches catch. When possible use a broom or shovel to knock accumulated snow from branches. For evergreens and deciduous trees alike proper pruning can go a very long way in preventing damage during the winter and improve the overall health and structure.

Ultimately the safest and most beautiful tree is a healthy tree. Keeping a plant healthy involves many issues such as soil conditions, proper pruning, watering, and managing insect and disease threats. As with most things in life an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I recommend consulting with an ISA certified arborist or other landscape professional before you notice any problems to identify what can be done to keep your trees and shrubs healthy.

Jonathan Heaton is an Arborist Representative with Bartlett Tree Experts. Bartlett Tree Experts provides services which help to maintain safe, healthy, and beautiful trees and shrubs. Jonathan can be reached at (763) 253-8733 or jheaton@bartlett.com.

Give Trees an Extra Drink This Fall | 10.11

As I write, it is raining today. It reminds me of how important soil moisture is for trees and perennial plants going into the winter season. I imagine some of my neighbors have been wondering what I have been doing watering on cool, even overcast days lately. Well, we all could do a little to improve the health of our planted landscape by doing more watering over the next days until freeze.
Early summer rains provided quite good moisture, but we haven’t had much rain for over a month. Some herbaceous plants, those annuals and perennials, have shown signs of a lack of moisture. Trees, not so much, but they are tapping reserves that need to be replenished without rain. We have been lucky by comparison to other parts of the country, with wild swings in violent weather especially common this year.

All plants and trees are more susceptible to disease and insects when their health is compromised by lack of moisture. With the new invasion of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), keeping our ash trees watered and healthy is the first line of defense. Have you noticed the purple three sided baited traps hanging in ash trees around town? These traps are designed to survey the presence of the borer by luring the beetle with bait and the color purple. The city has also been selecting bait trees as a lure for the beetles. Certain trees have been deliberately girdled (removing a ring of bark) to kill the tree. EAB are more prone to attack the weakened tree, which is seasonally removed and chopped up to reduce beetle populations.

The city has been surveying ash tree populations on public lands with an eye to programmed replacement. Thankfully, they have also revised the early total removal policy in favor of a more selective approach. Home owners can even adopt their boulevard tree and commit to having it chemically treated. Two of the commonly approved compounds imidacloprid and emamectin benzoate under several product names are considered safe, but at least one local municipality is considering a ban on their use because of recently discovered problems.
In the West End, we don’t have reports of EAB yet. Japanese beetles did arrive this year though, and that’s another story. But what are we going to do with all the ash trees that have been planted along West Seventh? The fight goes on for them and the other species planted in the concrete sidewalk box outs. Let’s give all our trees an extra drink this fall!

Editor’s Note: A bulletin from St. Paul Parks and Recreation asks residents and businesses to help water trees both privately and public trees near their properties. It says that the city’s 130,000 public trees are showing signs of stress, many of them severe, due to lack of rain this summer. A weekly watering of several hours from a trickling hose is recommended to help trees through the dry weather. For more information about caring for trees, residents can visit the City’s website, stpaul.gov/naturalresources and follow links to the Forestry unit. To request a gator bag to help water a recently planted public tree please call Forestry at 651-632-5129.

Hot Time in the Garden | 9.11

It has been a hot time in the garden this summer. I don’t know about you, but it has been hard on me to keep up with the garden work in the heat. Weeds, you know those plants out of place, have been taking over in some spots. Got to get them out before they set seed. Even so, rain has been wonderful and the grass is still green. It is harvest season including fresh tomato time! My Park’s Whopper hybrid tomatoes are coming in large, heavy and luscious, the heirloom yellow pear shaped Lemon Drop tomato is just fabulous, but we are still waiting for the exquisite and unusual heirloom Wapsipinicon Peach (aka yellow peach) that were such a delight in our garden last year. I would recommend these three as keepers to try again.

The West 7th Business Association and its Enhancement Coalition has been busy again this year planting tree box outs and containers along West Seventh. Led by Lori Harris, tree box outs have been planted with flowering plants donated by Minnesota Green. Have you noticed them? Not only has the coalition been at work. Businesses up and down the Avenue have been planting flowers and tending to their storefronts.

Eleven large flower containers were also adopted in the neighborhood. Some were relocated and others are new along West Seventh all arranged by the Enhancement Coalition with the assistance of City Parks. Please let the following adopting businesses know you appreciate the flowers added in these containers: Petite Salon, John Yust Architect, Bonfe’s Mechanical, Grand 7, Cooper’s Foods, Glockenspiel, Claddagh Coffee Café and friends of the new Pleasant Park. Kudos to the neighborhood!

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Tree Care in Minnesota Summers | 8.11

Guest Column by Jonathan Heaton

Few things are easy about the Minnesota climate. Frigid winters followed by hot summers can be very taxing on our trees and shrubs. Fortunately, with proper care, we can maintain a beautiful and healthy landscape. What is the best way to care for our shrubs during the hot summer?

With trees and shrubs, as with many things, the best defense is a good offence. Proper care throughout the year will have your plants ready to handle the stress of summer. Water regularly during the entire season, even in the fall after leaves have begun to drop. Maintain healthy soils with fertilization, mulch, and compost. Monitor carefully for pest and disease issues and treat when necessary.

A common question is when and how much to water trees and shrubs. Trees especially prefer long, deep watering as opposed the light watering that lawn sprinklers provide. This allows water to penetrate deeply into the soil where tree and shrub roots are growing. Soaker hoses left on for a long period of time and Tree Gator watering bags are efficient ways to water. There are inexpensive meters available to check soil moisture levels but the simplest way is to dig down 3-6 inches and feel the soil. If it feels dry, it’s time to water. Remember that it is possible to water too much; if the soil is still moist there, wait to water.

Healthy soil allows trees to grow more fine roots, which are the roots that absorb water. Soil that has all of the essential nutrients, that is high in organic matter, and that has good pore space (is not compacted) is the best for root growth and water absorption. Have your soil sampled to check for nutrient levels such as calcium, which plays an important role in water management for plants.

Summer is also a time when many pest and disease issues start to show their effects. A few common problems in our area are needlecast on pines and spruces, mites on many plants, apple scab on crabapples, and various leaf-feeding beetles and caterpillars. Monitor your plants carefully and regularly for any damage or unusual growth and consult with a professional if you see any problems.

Finally, it’s a good idea to have an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified arborist inspect your trees and shrubs at least once year. Arborists are trained to recognize current problems as well as to prevent serious issues before they start to affect your plants.

Jonathan Heaton is an Arborist Representative with Bartlett Tree Experts. Bartlett Tree Experts provides services which help to maintain safe, healthy, and beautiful trees and shrubs.

Open Letter to West End Gardeners | 7.11 [IMAGE]

Being an Open Letter to the West End Gardeners, Neighbors and Supporters

Rita Quigley may have summed up best why we have the tour when she told me “Today I have fallen in love with my own neighborhood again.” We do love our neighborhood and want to show it at its best and make it better. Last weekend was one of those times when we were at our best. Not only the tour gardeners but also all their neighbors. Our garden tour exemplifies the best of those kinds of grassroots neighborhood efforts.

Despite the rain, it was a wonderful weekend in the West End and kudos are due all around. A special thank you to each of the 16 gardeners who offered their garden for the tour. The gardens this year were diverse and beautiful each in their own wonderful way. A big thank you to all who participated and helped in small and big ways. Those that helped, more than 50 individuals plus our advertising partners and the Fort Road Federation, are the backbone of our effort.

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Attendance was probably in the neighborhood of 300 on Saturday, even though umbrellas were numerous again in the neighborhood. Reports were roughly 100 to 200 visitors at most garden sites.

Each garden on the tour will be nominated for a St. Paul Blooming Boulevard award. Nominations are due by July 9 with judging at the sites the week of July 24. There are numerous other gardens in the neighborhood that deserve recognition, and I would urge all and our neighbors to recognize the efforts of someone in the West End whose garden adds a beauty spot to our neighborhood. The 2011 Blooming Saint Paul Awards nomination forms are available online at the St. Paul city website, stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=1063.

Editor’s note: Sue Thompson writes: Thanks to Kent Petterson for the highlight of Urban Garden Concepts in his May column. Our correct phone number is 651-760-3846.

Crosby Farm Park | 6.11

Crosby Farm Park in the Mississippi River valley was not on my radar screen until last year. The river is so close, and yet because of real and imagined barriers to the river, it was psychologically so far for me. The river valley was within city blocks of both my home and my work, but “it was over there” where I hadn’t spent much time for many years.

That all changed last year when I became interested in the Great River Park (GRP) Master Plan project. Areas like Lilydale, Harriet and Raspberry Islands, Hidden Falls, the Upper Landing, Island Station and Crosby Farm Park were known of, yet in many ways unknown. The Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) and many neighbors have been involved all along the river for years. Pledge to Pull is a project of FMR at Crosby Farm Park.

Removal of invasive plant species and restoration of prairie land is a goal of Pledge to Pull. On Saturday, June 11, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. friends will be gathering at Crosby Farm for a weeding and planting event and you are invited. Dress appropriately, but supplies and training are furnished for volunteers.

You don’t need to go to northern Minnesota to experience wild lands. They are right here in our midst at the river. Maybe you, too, like me, can rediscover the river this year. For additional information you can contact Sue Rich at srich@fmr.org or 651-222-2193 extension 14.

For those who have been following the GRP Master Plan with me, the plan results from the year long study will be presented to the City by the Wenk Design Team at Harriet Island Pavilion on June 16 at 5 p.m.

I’ll also offer one last reminder that our 2011 West End Neighbors Garden Tour takes place on June 18, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a concurrent plant sale at the West Seventh Federation (974 West Seventh). The Tour features a variety of gardens, including residential vegetable and flower gardens, roof top gardens, rain gardens, and the gardens of Hinding Plumbing and Heating, Fort Road Community Garden, Day By Day Cafe, Fire Station No.1, Sholom Home and Terrace Horticultural Books, Information and maps for this event can be downloaded from fortroadfederation.org/garden/index.htm.
Good Gardening to You.

Editor’s note: Sue Thompson writes: Thanks to Kent Petterson for the highlight of Urban Garden Concepts in his May column. Our correct phone number is 651-760-3846.

Urban Garden Concepts | 5.11 [IMAGE]

Jeff Thompson lives on Emma Street with his wife Susan. His daughter lives two doors down. Gardening is kind of a family passion. Both of their homes will be on the West End Neighbors Garden Tour Saturday, June 18. More tour details are in this issue of the Community Reporter.

I want to tell you about Jeff’s business, Urban Garden Concepts. I first spotted Jeff, actually my wife Abby did, at Mississippi Market. He was displaying a sample of his cold frame for early spring protection of tender young seedling plants while they harden off. Hardening off is a spring period, about a week or two after plants come out of the greenhouse or your indoor protected environment. They need a time to acclimate themselves to the harsh outdoors. Wind, bright sun, or cool, even freezing temperatures, can mean their death. The cold frame provides a controlled space in which they can adjust.

Enter Jeff and his skilled hands. Of course, I wanted something a little bigger and had my own ideas. He fielded my every whim and came up with just the right cold frame for my situation. He’s a handy guy and knows just what gardeners need. Their garden proves it. He has samples of his raised garden beds in his yard and can build one or more for you. My friend Jo Craighead wanted a handicapped accessible raised bed. Before you know it, Jeff had one ready for her. He can build trellises, window boxes, combo boxes with trellis and, I would expect, just about anything you need for the garden. Jeff does have a day job, but give him a call at 651-760-3846. He'll call you back.

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Prepare for Your Garden | 4.11

We have had a warm spell and those mounds of white stuff are shrinking. Despite feelings to the contrary, spring will be here very quickly and it is time to prepare for the reality of your winter garden dreams. If you have an apple tree or decorative crab apple, this is the month before freezing ends to do pruning for shape and size control of those trees. If you wait until warm weather, your open prune wounds expose the tree to fire blight, a common disease in apple and pear trees. Its characteristic symptoms of watery looking blossoms and dried up tips to new spring growth are often fatal but easily avoided if pruning occurs in cold weather. For spring-blooming shrubs save the pruning until after they have bloomed. In Ramsey County, call 651-704-2071 and in Hennepin County, call 612-576-2118.

One of the least fun but most necessary and in the end satisfying of jobs is spring cleanup. Expect to see some snow mold, which is a light colored fungus cover of grass plants below the snow. In most cases, exposure to sunlight and air circulation will take care of the problem. Don’t be too anxious to rake before the lawn has had a chance to dry and firm up a bit. Despite the cold weather this winter, deep snow cover has kept the frost from diving too deeply in the ground. Hopefully this could allow all the good moisture to soak in rather than add to the flooding expected.

Recognizing that the street related areas in the West End also need some attention in the spring, the West 7th Enhancement Coalition in association with the West 7th Business Association is sponsoring the second neighborhood Spring Cleanup, Saturday April 9 9-11am. They want to encourage all businesses and neighbors to put their best effort into setting the tone for a beautiful West End.

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Think Spring | 3.11

We have had a warm spell and those mounds of white stuff are shrinking. Despite feelings to the contrary, spring will be here very quickly and it is time to prepare for the reality of your winter garden dreams. If you have an apple tree or decorative crab apple, this is the month before freezing ends to do pruning for shape and size control of those trees. If you wait until warm weather, your open prune wounds expose the tree to fire blight, a common disease in apple and pear trees. Its characteristic symptoms of watery looking blossoms and dried up tips to new spring growth are often fatal but easily avoided if pruning occurs in cold weather. For spring-blooming shrubs save the pruning until after they have bloomed. Complete information is available at the University Of Minnesota Extension website or their Master Gardener helpline. In Ramsey County, call 651-704-2071 and in Hennepin County, call 612-576-2118.
One of the least fun but most necessary and in the end satisfying of jobs is spring cleanup. This year, in addition to leaf raking, we can look for a lot of rabbit damage to shrubs and exposed plant stems above the snow line. Expect to see some snow mold, which is a light colored fungus cover of grass plants below the snow. In most cases, exposure to sunlight and air circulation will take care of the problem. Don’t be too anxious to rake before the lawn has had a chance to dry and firm up a bit. Despite the cold weather this winter, deep snow cover has kept the frost from diving too deeply in the ground. Hopefully this could allow all the good moisture to soak in rather than add to the flooding expected.
Recognizing that the street related areas in the West End also need some attention in the spring, the West 7th Enhancement Coalition in association with the West 7th Business Association is sponsoring the second neighborhood Spring Cleanup on Saturday April 9 from 9 to 11am. They want to encourage all businesses and neighbors to put their best effort into setting the tone for a beautiful West End this summer.

Rituals of Winter | 2.11

One of the rituals of winter for me is ordering seeds for the next summers’ garden planting. Plants are needed for my garden flower and vegetable beds, containers, and for donations to friends and neighbors. To get more plants, we divide perennial plants already growing in the garden. If you are planning on dividing perennials in your garden this spring, the West End Gardeners could use some of them in neighborhood gardens or for the plant sale held the same day as the West End Neighbors Garden Tour, this year on June 18. If you want a new plant at a reasonable price, growing from seed is the most economical way. This works well if you have a sunny window or a fluorescent grow light available, which I do, so all is well in that regard, but…

I do have one problem this year. I’ve caught the bug for something new in my garden. Miniature gardening has been around for a while, but I attended a presentation this winter on fairy gardens by the staff of Tonkadale Greenhouse. They have a wonderful website at tonkadale.com offering many variations on the theme with fairy figures, houses and of course tiny plants to create a living landscape in miniature. Some of you may recall the garden of Bonnie Rohow from our first West End Neighbors Garden Tour. Bonnie had a small Fairy Garden in her back yard at the base of a large tree. Just charming!

It is that charm that I hope to capture in a large pot or a window box in my garden this year. I’ve been collecting small resin figures and buildings from second-hand stores like our St. Vincent de Paul shop. Bonsai plants or miniatures from a supplier like Tonkadale or on the website miniforest.com complete the landscape. Miniforest has an unbelievable selection of plants. Trees, shrubs, perennials, mosses, grasses — all in miniature. Another source locally would be Betty Ann Addison at Rice Creek Gardens in Blaine, 763-754-8090. Betty Ann specializes in plants for rock gardening. Many plants in the rock garden are very small and would work perfectly in the miniature garden. For the time being, I am going to rely on plant suppliers for the miniatures. Most of these plants are sports or genetic “dwarfs,” so they are multiplied by vegetative means such as division or cuttings. When I get a few of my own, I could do the same, but for this year, I’m just excited about gathering up the pieces for my “little garden” in the garden.

Digging Out From Big Snowstorm | 1.11

As I write this I have just finished, with some help, digging out from the big snowstorm. Nothing probably will match in my mind the storms of my youth in western Minnesota, but this one was a doozy too. My new Floridian neighbors Jack and Carla are probably in shock trying to adjust to the problems and pace of Minnesota winter life with its assault of snow and cold.

Although this too will pass, it doesn’t make the snow any lighter as the pile gets higher. What does help is the way neighbors pitch in to help each other. I had my own heart-warming and back-saving experience when the Nhim family from across the street showed up to help with the shoveling. Cambodian immigrant dad, and sons, showed up to finish the job before I had to give it up for another day. I hope you were able to help or be helped in this Holiday Season of hope, family and giving.

Those of us who are gardeners have a normal variety of responses to winter, from “I will think about it in spring” to my own response of plans for seed-starting and ongoing propagation from cuttings in the basement. It is our indoor activities that keep us going in the offseason. The West End Gardeners have met in November to set the next West End Neighbors Garden Tour for Saturday June 18 Fathers Day Weekend next year. This fourth annual event is self-supporting and a delightful event in the neighborhood. Please mark your calendars to save the day. If you have a garden or know of a neighbor whose garden you know would be of interest, please get in touch with me, 651-222-5536 by January 15. We do not require a show garden, but rather a garden that is interesting and educational for others. The next meeting for the tour is set January 28, 6:30 p.m. at the Fort Road Federation offices, 974 West Seventh.

West End Garden Tour has Good Spinoff Effects | 12.10

It hardly seems possible it is four years ago that the germ of the idea for a neighborhood garden tour, later named the West End Neighbors Garden Tour, was floated by Maxine McCormick. A year later the first tour had occurred, and this year about 400 people visited 16 neighborhood gardens on a wonderful June day. A total of 44 gardens later, we are on our way to the 2011 tour with high hopes for more of the good things that the tour brings to the West End. It has been a fun journey for me and for some in the neighborhood too. We’ve had a journey of discovery of gardens we wanted to get to know and others we didn’t know existed; a journey of growth for an idea and a few gardens and their gardeners and a neighborhood; a journey of appreciation for the great neighborhood that the West End is and a chance to show others what the West End has to offer, and not just in the garden. We have heard of a couple that has traveled from the east coast each of three years to see what the new tour brings for them. It has been a journey of acquaintance and purpose for many in the neighborhood who realize the tour has become important to the neighborhood. Join the West End Gardeners on Nov.17 at the Fort Road Federation office 974 West 7th Street, 6:30 p.m., as we begin planning for the next phase of the journey.

For the neighborhood, the tour has been a wonderful single day event. It has also had several good spinoff effects. For instance, you may have noticed that the pots to the west of Randolph Ave. on West 7th have been looking pretty good the last couple of years. You may have noticed the St. Paul Parks horticulture crew working in the neighborhood this summer, which has never happened before. You may have noticed flowers growing in some of the tree box-outs on West 7th between Smith and St. Clair. Our West End Gardeners have played a role in all of these things. On Cliff Street this summer a small group of neighbors led by Lori Harris did a wonderful job of cleaning up the streetscape. The existing flower beds were renovated and replanted with hundreds of perennial flowers donated through the West End Gardeners and Minnesota Green.

It isn’t just the West End Gardeners. Despite the horrible economy and foreclosures all around, businesses and neighbors seem to have an upbeat attitude about the future prospects for this neighborhood. I hope your prospects are improving and that you will be able to enjoy the 2011 West End Neighbors Garden Tour. Stay tuned!