Garden Hike

Mugo Pine: Keep it Small or Let it Grow

Keep your Mugo Pine shaped as tight as a pin cushion by shearing the new candle growth each spring. This video looks at five Mugo Pine varieties discussing sizes, characteristics, and pruning options. Thanks for stopping by Garden Hike! Kevin Make sure you check out A.M. Leonard for all

Creating Annual Flower Pots

Creating annual flower pots for your front porch is easy. Watch as Angie shows us how to pot up flowering annuals in ceramic pots. Here's a photo gallery of many more of her designs: Thanks for stopping by Garden Hike! Kevin Make sure you check out A.M.

Spiral Juniper: How to Trim and Shape

Junipers are a popular evergreen shrub that can be shaped in many different ways in your garden. In this case a picture (video) is worth a thousand words. Here I show you how to trim and shape a spiral juniper: Thanks for stopping by Garden Hike! Kevin Make sure you

Planting Potatoes: Soil Preparation, Fertilizing, Varieties and Planting Depth

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. This video shows my process: Broad Fork With 14IN Tines Great for

Setting Up My First Beehive

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

Heavy Snow on Arborvitaes Part II

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

Siberian Iris Spring Clean-up

Spring cleanup 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.

Tree Guards and Rodent Bait

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: Soft Scale Insect on Jack Pine, Scotch Pine and Mugo Pine

Pine Tortoise Scale is a soft scale insect that can infect Jack Pine, Scotch Pine, Mugo Pine, and Austrian Pine (and more). 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 mouthparts

How to Identify Trees in the Dormant Stage: What to Look For

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 dormant, if you know what to look for. In

Pruning Bobo and Little Lamb Hydrangea: The Perfect Compact Panicle Varieties

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. Here's a video showing pruning

Emerald Carousel Barberry Rejuvenation Pruning

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

Daylily Spring Clean Up | Garden Hike

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. These dead leaves should be removed for a neater looking garden and allow the new growth to quickly

Amber Jubilee Ninebark Spring Pruning

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 Shrub Pruning: Spring Maintenance for a Beautiful Landscape

Potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa) is a great small shrub for the landscape that is hardy, drought tolerant, and has long lasting 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 excellent

Cutting Back Karl Foerster Grass

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 | A Workhorse

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

Tips On Cutting Back Aster Herbaceous Perennials

Purple flowers in the fall are one of the best things about Aster herbaceous perennials and they are a great late season food source for honey bees. But after a long winter, you'll want to start cutting back the dead stems in the spring. * Leave the tops on

Cytospora Canker on Colorado Spruce. Early Symptoms Examined

In the northern Great Plains where I live, Colorado Spruce trees are among the best evergreen trees to plant. They provide excellent wind protection 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

Medora Juniper

Juniperus scopulorum 'Medora' The Medora Juniper is a beautiful conifer 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. he Medora Juniper has a dense network of branches that

A Plant Perfect Blizzard

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

Spring Pruning on Limelight Hydrangea

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

Heavy snow on Arborvitae

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 Spring Rejuvenation Pruning

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

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