Winona Nursery

Tent caterpillars hanging out; photo by ken schneider

The University of Minnesota Extension office reports that yard/ garden/ woods insect activity is 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule.  As if we needed to tell you.

Besides the tick population being particularly proliferous (I’m sure they’re proud), tent caterpillar sightings have also been way more numerous  and way earlier than usual.  They are responsible for the big white masses you’ve seen woven in amongst tree branches…get close to them and you can see the swarming mass feasting on the tree.  Yum.

The good news:  getting rid of them is usually a pretty low-tech affair.  Simply cut off the affected branch area(s), put the branch(es) down on a hard surface, and step on the web to kill the insects. Or get a less-squeamish individual to do the above.  It’s one of the few things that really is that easy.    Happy Spring!

Pella Tulips

For a few years now, I’ve wanted to take in the spectacle that is Tulip Time in Pella, IA.

Very soon (May 6-8 this year), all things tulip and Dutch will reign supreme in this Iowa town, and I’m so curious what it’s like! It’s supposed to be one of the greatest tulip displays this side of the Netherlands–must be a sight for sore eyes. After all the white, white, white, the rich saturated colors of tulips are so amazing anyway, and to see so many in one town would be incredible. Plus I hear they roll out some really good Dutch pastries…..

So have you been there? Is it really as great as it sounds? Do the marching bands really wear red wooden shoes? Do daffodils get invited to the party at all? Do tell!

March 2010 seems to be THE month for our continuinged. Seems like every green industry organization is having a seminar or training session of some kind. It was hard to pick and choose, but here’s what we settled on:

• Weathermatic Water Management Services seminar–Edward attended this valuable class, aimed at teaching contractors how to calculate home and business owner’s current water usage versus what they actually need to apply. This is good news, because there is real money to be saved when you figure out how to most efficiently water your turf.
• Power Limited Technician continuing education–According to state law, we need to have current licensure in order to legally do our irrigation controller and outdoor lighting hook-ups; Edward put in 8 (long) hours of training, getting all the updates on electrical standards.
• Unique Lighting Design & Engineering seminar–Outdoor lighting is a quickly-evolving part of landscaping; Ed, John, and Jordan went to get the latest.  They really liked how this seminar showed  how to highlight the typical home and make it shine during nighttime hours.  That, and they got free pizza.
• Perennial Picks for 2010 seminar–Dana, Bonnie, and Becky attended this seminar…one of the speakers might have hit the nail on the head with his presentation, “Reconsidering the Tried and True.”  Many of the new plants that were highlighted in other speakers’ talks are in testing…we prefer not to have our landscape customers to be the guinea pigs, so we’ll watch these new plants for you and report, but maybe it’s time to go a little old-school with plant selection.   There were a couple new varieties that we will start incorporating into designs however…Andrew Hosta, a cool green, blue, and white variegated hosta, and Carex elata ‘Aurea’, a finely-textured charteuse grass.  This little pop-of-color plant can handle dry shade, something a lot of homeowners have.

And that’s it for March…whew!