Category: garden maintenance

15 Nov 2012
November 15, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin garden maintenance, garden seasons, Pruning, The Art of Landscaping, winter landscapes

Pruning, Beautfying the Landscape Garden in Late Fall

Two years ago November 13, a Saturday, my landscape grounds was buried under 32 inches of heavy, icy snow. Damage to white pines and arborvitaes accompanied the event.. I cannot remember last year's advent of winter. It was uneventful. Usually, the first snowfall is among the most beautiful, here in Vikingland. Especially if it is a dry one of about five inches of snow for a good white topping causing no tipping of pyramidal conifers....

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13 Sep 2012
September 13, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden maintenance, Plant health, shrubs and trees

Autumn “Falling” Early This Year in our Neighborhood

About three weeks ago two 80 plus feet high cottonwoods began shedding their leaves cluttering up many of my garden paths and favorite plants. There is no apparent need for this shedding because these water hoggers have grown up over the past 50 years immediately beside an acre sized pond including a large part for which I pay property taxes. Too, I have noticed the shedding of white pine needles which started about two weeks...

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08 Jul 2012
July 8, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin About Masterpiece, garden maintenance, Pruning

Stress in our 2012 Landscape garden Reminds me of the Summer of 1988

I remember well the summer of 1988. I was working for a grounds maintenance company, some place out of Bloomington. Clients were a number of big corporations which occupied large pieces of property. I got $8 an hour, but was called 'the Professor', because I knew something about plants. The hired, including me, were hired to be laborers, were expected to be laborers, and confined to be laborers. Few holes were dug.....nearly nothing was planted....

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03 May 2012
May 3, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin garden maintenance, Plant health, Pruning, shrubs and trees, The Art of Landscaping

Pruning the Conifers…..

The following observations are made for the general not the specific regarding pruning conifers. It is far better for the growth and health of conebearing  plants if pruning is accomplished in our Northland community before the first  of June of each year.    Some conifers are fussier than others about pruning. GENERALLY, then, you might   find it easier to remember  the pruning requirements of both groups by calling the candle producers  the 'fussy'     and  those which  do not produce candles, the not fussy....

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27 Feb 2012
February 27, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden maintenance, shrubs and trees, The Art of Landscaping, winter landscape maintenance, winter landscapes

A Snowstorm, the Heavy kind, Expected. Should Landscape Gardeners be Worried?

Snowfalls are great for Landscape Companies in cold climes like Minnesota who have a snowplowing business in Winter.    We,  at Masterpiece are one of them. Winter is a good time for certain kinds  of pruning, but most  gardens in these parts are in deep sleep this time of year.    Thank God for plowing driveways. I have just spent a couple hours prowling through my own gardened grounds to do some pruning and  prepare some conifers for a...

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05 Jan 2012
January 5, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden maintenance, random fun, Residential Projects, Rodent Control, winter landscapes

Landscape Garden Life among the Coyote

I have coyote preying on my grounds.   The resident couple have produced a pup.   We seldom see these folks, but they are there and we have quicky pictures to prove their settlement. In the thirty eight years of my residency here in suburban Minneapolis , I have been able to create and maintain a beautiful  classic landscape garden.   We live in a climate in which winter is the major landscape season, as long as all...

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14 Nov 2011
November 14, 2011 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden maintenance, perennials, Plant health, shrubs and trees

It has been very dry in the Garden this Fall. WATER NOW if you can.

This article should be considered a WARNING to any readers who planted or had us or anyone else plant new plant materials on your grounds since about the first of July this year in the Twin City area. We certainly had a number of rainfalls earlier in the year.   Many were of the plundering type in which the downpour was overwhelming but not terribly helpful to landscape garden plants.   Following these deluges, we have had...

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09 Nov 2011
November 9, 2011 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden maintenance, garden seasons, The Art of Landscaping

Late Autumn Color in our Northern Landscape Garden

By habit  northerners, including  amateur and professional 'horticulture' oriented people  refer to color in the autumn garden as any  color but green.   Red, pink, scarlet, orange, rust, chartreuse, gold, yellow, maroon, plum....you get the idea......green is never listed. This is mainly the  habit, monkey see, monkey do.   But there is another reason why these days greens have become so much more important in the art of landscape gardening. Over the past twenty five years the greatest numbers...

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06 Oct 2011
October 6, 2011 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden maintenance, Plant health, shrubs and trees

Warning to Twin City Homeowners: Water your grounds well this fall

Since our monsoons of early summer, there has been a drought in the general Twin City area.   For well established plants there generally shouldn't be much concern....as yet.   For newly planted woody plants and perennials regular watering......that is reliable water availability is essential for survival. A prolonged period of drought has about the same effect on woody plants regardless of soil type.   Plants will wilt and die  sooner in sandy soils.   They also recover sooner,...

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