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IntroductionOrnamental Plants are usually considered as either annuals (plants that only live for one year) or perennials (plants that live for several years). Many of the plants that we grow as annuals are actually perennials that are not hardy enough to survive our winter. For example both geraniums and petunias are perennial in areas where winters are mild enough that they don't freeze.Minnesota can be a difficult place to grow plants. The growing season is relatively short; we have both very cold and very hot weather, and then there are the mosquitoes! The good news is that our growing season is long enough to grow almost anything we want as long as we choose our varieties carefully and get the plants off to a good start. We have worked hard to choose varieties well suited to Minnesota conditions so that you can have the best garden possible.
SpacingPlants must be spaced so that they fill in the area of the planting but are not so croweded that their growth is restricted. All plantings will look a bit sparse when first planted and will take a few weeks to properly fill in.The plant tag will generally tell you how widely to space the plants, but I find that the tag often allows too much space to really make a full bed with the short growing season that we have. I prefer to plant things 75% of the recommended spacing so that if the tag says plant ten inches apart, I plant about seven or eight inches apart. To get a good approximation of the number of plants that you will need for a garden bed, you need to know how big the bed is. Measure the length and width of the garden area in feet to get total square feet. This is easy if the bed is square or rectangular, but if your bed has curved sides you will have to do some estimating. From the table below, find the spacing that you want to use. Then multiply the plants per sq. foot by the number of square feet in your garden space.
Spacing Plants per square foot
6x6 4
8x8 2.25
10x10 1.44
12x12 1.0
14x14 0.73
For example, lets assume you measured your garden area and found it to
be a total of 18 square feet. If you wanted 8 x 8 inch spacing, you
would multiply 2.25 times the square feet of your garden.
2.25 x 18 = 40.5 PlantsThis is only an approximate measure, but it is very useful in purchasing plants. If you want to measure your planting areas and bring the dimensions in, we can help you decide how many plants you need to buy. My wife claims that I turn everything into a math problem, so maybe I'm going too far on all this calculating, but it works for me. The other method of getting the correct number of plants is too keep good records of what you used in past years. This works really well if you always plant the same things in the same areas, but even if you change what you plant, we can use last year's information to figure out about how many square feet you have and work from there.
ColorsGardeners of even 20 years ago had only a fraction of the colors available to them that we have today. Breeders are constantly working to produce not only new colors but also new plant forms such as dwarf types of otherwise tall plants.We make every effort to have a wide range of colors available in each of the plant types that we grow, however, there are so many colors that it is impossible to grow them all. In fact if we grew all the different colors of impatiens that are available, there would be little room left in the greenhouses for anything else. The colors we choose are those that year after year have the largest demand. If you want a specific color of a certain plant, let us know and we will try to provide it next season. One last note on color -- it's unfortunate that designer colors are not possible with flowers. Maybe with genetic engineering you will some day be able to exactly match the cushions of your outdoor furniture to your geraniums. I look forward to the day when we have blue dahlias and and deep yellow petunias. That day has not yet come. We grow as many colors as we can, but some colors just aren't available.
Plant ListsPlant List for 2006Click on the plants below to get more information about plant type, colors, size, sun requirements, etc. Many plants go by more than one name so I've tried to list plants by commonly used names that will be easily recognized. I'm continuing to find good pictures of plants that are not copyrighted. As I find them, or produce them myself, I'll get them posted. I'm not a great photographer, so updates will come as I can get them. Putting this list together is a huge amount of work and will take some time, so be patient if many of the links don't go anywhere for now. Annuals Ageratum Alyssum Asarina Asparagus Fern Bacopa Begonia Browallia Calibrachoa Carnation Coleus Dahlia Daisies Dianthus Dusty Miller Fuchsia Gaillardia Geraniums German Ivy Heliotrope Impatiens Licorice Plant Lobelia Marigold Mexican Heather Morning Glory Millet Nasturtium New Guinea Impatiens Osteospermum Pansy Petunia Plectranthus Portulaca Salvia Spike Tahitian Bridal Veil Verbena Vinca Vinca Vine Zinnia Perennials Alyssum, Perennial Dragon's Head Purple Cone Flower Shasta Daisy Vegetables Broccoli Cabbage Cauliflower Cucumber Egg Plant Melons Pepper Squash Tomato Herbs Chives Cilantro Lavander Mint Oregano Parsley Rosemary Sage Thyme
Hortiplex is a large plant database. They provide for searching for plant types and also entry of information about plants. The database is not complete, but it contains some useful information and is growing.
Oct, 2005 plants.htm |