Garden Hike

Planting Potatoes is a straightforward process. Potatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow and are very nutritious. Once you start growing your own, you'll prefer to walk right by them at the grocery store. Broad Fork With 14IN Tines Great for breaking up compact soils, prepping

It's finally springtime. For me, that also means it's time to set up my first beehive!  I'm excited to get started, but I know there are a lot of steps involved. In this video, we'll walk through the process of setting up

A follow up video to see how the Holmstrup Arborvitaes turned out after being clobbered by heavy snow from a recent blizzard.

Spring Clean Up on Siberian Iris is pretty straightforward; clip back the dead tissue from last year's growing season.  It is though, one of the more "leathery" leaves to cut through and can take some time on large plants.

Each fall it is important to put tree guards on your deciduous trees and rodent bait around susceptible evergreens.  Take the tree guards off in the spring after the snow has melted.

Pine Tortoise Scale, a soft scale insect, can infect Jack Pine, Scotch Pine, Mugo Pine, and Austrian Pine in the North Dakota region. They go through three main stages of development: the egg stage, the nymph stage (the crawler stage), and the adult stage. The Pine Tortoise Scale has piercing-sucking

When most people think of trees, they think of the leaves and branches that are lush and green. However, there are many trees that enter a dormant stage during wintertime. It is easy to identify these trees even when they are not in leaf if you know what to look

If you are looking for an excellent compact panicle hydrangea variety, BoBo and Little Lamb Hydrangea are great options.  Both shrubs are loaded with white blooms that fade to pink in late summer into fall, and they add interest to the landscape year-round. In the winter, you can leave the

If you are looking for a beautiful shrub that will bring color to your garden in all four seasons, the Emerald Carousel Barberry is a great choice! This shrub has lovely yellow flowers in the spring, pleasant green foliage in the summer, orange and red foliage in the fall, and

It's that time of year again - time to clean up your Daylilies! After winter, all the top portion of your daylily plant is dead and needs to be removed. This debris should be removed for a neater looking garden and allow the new growth to quickly emerge.

Amber Jubilee Ninebark is one of those versatile shrubs that can take a lot of abuse and still look fabulous. I have mine planted in a tight location, so every spring I give it a heavy pruning.  Even though I cut it back hard, the new growth always has great

Potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa) is a great small shrub for the landscape that is hardy, drought tolerant, and has long lasting yellow flowers. It was very popular many years ago and coming back into favor. My favorite varieties are Dakota Sunspot, Mango Tango and Summer Dawn. The yellow flowers provide an

If you are wondering when is the best time to cut back Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass, the answer is spring. This is because it will over winter better if you wait until then to do any cutting thanks to the extra protection the tops provide from cold winters.  You

Goldmound Spirea, Spiraea japonica 'Gold Mound' I'm trying to remember the first time I saw a Gold Mound Spirea. I'm pretty sure it was in my college days in the woody plant ID courses I was taking, but what comes to mind is my

Purple flowers in the fall are one of the best things about Aster herbaceous perennials. But after a long winter, you'll want to start cutting back the dead stems in the spring. * Leave the tops on until spring.  This will maximize the amount of time bees have to

In the Great Plains where I live, Colorado Spruce trees are among the best evergreen trees to plant. They make an excellent wind and provide a year-round visual screen. They are also very hardy and mainly disease free in our area. But just 200 miles east of us, Cytospora Canker

Juniperus scopulorum 'Medora' The Medora Juniper is a beautiful evergreen that is perfect for adding winter interest to your landscape. Hardy for zones 3-7, it is a tough plant that can tolerate cold winters and strong winds. The Medora Juniper has a dense network of branches that are

The month of April is typically a time of warmer weather and the start of spring, but this year North Dakota was hit with a massive snowstorm. The blizzard brought high winds and several feet of snow to the state, causing widespread school closures, and major travel disruptions. For many

The paniculata hydrangeas are a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants native to Asia and North America. The name "paniculata" comes from the Latin word for "milk pail", referring to the shape of the inflorescences. These plants are popular garden shrubs, grown for their

Arborvitae, also known as the Eastern Arborvitae, is a great addition to any landscape. They are hardy and can withstand a lot of abuse. Recently, we have had a lot of snow in our area, and I noticed that some of the Holmstrup Arborvitae branches were starting to bend under

Summer Wine Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Seward') is a fast-growing deciduous shrub that can benefit from rejuvenation pruning. This type of pruning should be done before bud break in late winter or early spring before the new growth begins to emerge. Rejuvenation pruning will encourage new growth with excellent