If you love hostas or want to include more in your landscape then attend Let’s Get Growing on Saturday, March 3 at the Rosemount Community center.  “Confessions of a Hostaholic” will be presented by Master Gardener and hosta lover, Deborah Snow.  Deborah has always loved plants. She worked in a hosta business several years ago and started collecting hostas on her own when she owned her first home. She kept records for them each year and expanded her collection in a second home, and expands each year. She is excited to share the many varieties she has come to love!

 

Event details and registration information are located at Let’s Get Growing.  Space is limited so register today!

Join Dakota County Master Gardener, Cheryl Forest, on Tuesday, August 29th at 6:30 PM for our Seed Savers talk.  Collect seeds from our gardens at the Fairgrounds and learn how to harvest, dry and store seeds. This cost saving technique will give you a head start on next year’s garden.  Please register for this free event on our website.

Thanks to everyone who came out the fairgrounds for our Tuesday Evening presentations this year. If you have an idea for a topic please share it with us and we look forward to offering Tuesday Evenings again in 2018.

Regardless of what you think is the cause of pollinator problems, we can all agree that pollinators serve a very important role in our ecosystem and help us grow the food we eat. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture states that “More than one third of all plants or plant products consumed by humans are in some way dependent on insects for pollination.”  What can we do to help? Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting on a variety of things you can consider to help do your part to protect our pollinators.

One of the easiest things we can do to help pollinators is provide the right plants in our gardens.  Encourage bees and butterflies in the garden by providing different kinds of plants that produce nectar and pollen from early spring in March through frost in September to maintain a reliable food source. Perennials plants that come back every spring can be selected with bloom times in mind.  Here a just a few of the perennials you can add to your garden now to provide for pollinators.

Joe Pye Weed blooms in August and September and is a large perennial reaching about 5′ tall and forms a rather large clump. Prefers part to full sun. Smaller cultivars of this native can be found in garden centers.

Anise Hyssop is a pollinator friendly perennial for full sun and growing about 3′ tall with pretty lavender flowers.  The name anise comes from its minty-licorice scent.

 

Purple Coneflower is a very hardy, sun loving perennial flowering in July and August.  Purple coneflower is also very drought tolerant and will attract tons of pollinators and birds too.

For a more complete list of pollinator plants, the U of M has a great list of plants at  Plants for MN Bees .