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14 Apr 2010
April 14, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin boulders and stone, Bulbs, garden seasons

What’s That In Bloom?

Well, what is that in bloom around the Twin Cities this year......April 9-20 depending on location of specimens?   Among the trees there are the magnolias, pink being Leonard Messel and the white, the Merrill Magnolia.  Both are pleasantly fragrant. The bright yellow flowering shrubs are the forsythias, probably Meadowlark or Northern Sun.  They have been in bloom in most locations for about a week already.  In older plantings one might see Nankin Cherry, a large...

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02 Apr 2010
April 2, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Uncategorized

Touring the Garden the First Week in April

This has been a great week in the Ray garden.  I am man of all responsibilities here....design, planting, maintaining, critic, teacher, but I do have artificial irrigation, which is not yet turned on. Water, light, fertilizer, space, and observation, knowledge  and imagination....yours....are the main factors in creating and maintaining the Eden of your life.   If you need assistance, by all means call Masterpiece Landscaping at 952-933-5777. What is beautiful in your grounds now?  March is...

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26 Mar 2010
March 26, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Uncategorized

What is the pH of your landscape garden soil?

What is the pH of your soil? "What a question.  How would I know?"  might be your immediate response. Without getting into the details, most of which I no longer remember, a pH "count" refers to the degree of acidity versus alkalinity  of what is being tested, in this case, soil.   A measure resulting at 7.0  is deemed neutral.   The higher the number indicates greater alkalinity, therefore the lower the number the more acid.  It all...

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25 Mar 2010
March 25, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Uncategorized

Is It Too Early To Fertilize?

What in the garden do you want to fertilize? I have a bit less than a half an acre of gardened landscape to nurture.  There is only one of me.  Therefore I have to streamline much of what I do in the landscape to make it and keep it presentable.  That means I have already applied a granulated fertilizer to the grounds this past week.  Via a hand spreader I walked around the entire area applying...

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21 Mar 2010
March 21, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Uncategorized

A Good Weekend for Home Landscape Cleanup

I had a good day working on my grounds today.  I have about a half an acre in plantings which includes a lawn, well a lawn of sorts....I takes me ten minutes to mow it.  I would like to have more lawn than I actually have allowed, but life hasn't turned out that way. Snowdrops,  some  scilla and eranthis are in bloom already.  Narcissus and some tulip foliage are showing.   I cleaned up some of...

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19 Mar 2010
March 19, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Uncategorized

The Winter Was Rough On Evergreens

Winter has been particularly punishing to evergreens these past two years.  Last winter severe winds during subzero temperatures severely damaged or killed yews.  This winter the heavy snow coupled with rain at Christmas froze a layer over the spreading and some upright conifers crushing  them early in the season.  Subsequent snows with no January or February thaws  added more weight to those already smushed disfiguring many.  While spreading a granulated fertilizer throughout my extensive gardens...

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04 Mar 2010
March 4, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Uncategorized

Thoughts About the Formal Landscape

The Formal Landscape Little in American life today is formal. Yet most of our Minnesota home landscapes are still designed, if they are designed at all, more or less formally. Early Minnesota city & town streets and lots were plotted by newcomers from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. Streets were straight and lots were rectangular. Houses for most buyers were boxy and had to be built fast! The Vikings were coming! One of...

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03 Mar 2010
March 3, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Uncategorized

Garden Gals and Garden Orange

I have been monkeying around  "garden"  for more than 60 years.  I have been landscape gardening for forty of those same years.   When I had finally grown up, about twenty years ago,  and got started with Masterpiece Landscaping, Ltd. I  had to begin to sell my ideas about beautiful landscaping to clients.   With guys I could talk form.  With gals one learns to talk color. I have never, ever heard a male human being announce as absolutely...

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01 Mar 2010
March 1, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Uncategorized

The Sunny Days of March Can Cause Trouble for Some Plants

Here we are with the beginning of March.  The snow I have on my grounds still covers everything.  It has piled between two and four feet everywhere.  I saw Earth for the first time last week driving along a freeway.  Naturally, Earth appeared only on the North side of the east-west road. With the exceedingly bright sun reflecting off of everything white, this is the time of the year susceptible evergreens and smooth-barked trees are...

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18 Feb 2010
February 18, 2010 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin Plant health

Conifers in Your Landscape: Overgrown? Priceless?

Nearly every year a list of new plants appear on the market  for home landscpape use.  Most disappear after only a few years on the planting schedules.    Most of these plants are perennials.  Hostas, aquilegias,  heucheras come and go like revolving doors.  Some are better than others either in hardiness, fussiness, life expectancy, disease resistance, or assets such as flower or foliage color  or strength of stems or general form. Among shrubs, Endless Summer Hydrangea has been...

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