Each May my friend Steve and I visit Kelley and Kelley Nursery in Long Lake, MN. It's a bit of a journey (40 miles) to get there from the east side of the Twin Cities metro where we live. We always come home with more plants than we intended to buy. Still, garden retail therapy is abolutely essential after seven months of Minnesota winter.

The perennial meadow is planted with bluebells, trillium, minor bulbs and tulips.

Kelley and Kelley is a family-run business, third generation I believe. The people at Kelley are part of the reason the place is so special. The owner takes time to visit with you. And the friendly staff go far out of their way to be helpful.

Tulips and bluebells, close-up

Kelley and Kelley offers 'you pickem' plants. You can select plants from a spreading field of spring ephemerals or their raised beds. The field staff will dig and pot them for you. Kelley's also sells pre-potted perennials.

Their selection ranges from typical plants you would find at gardenmarts to unusual varieties for the collector. But the big draw for me, and many others are the bluebells. They are the only nursery I know who sells them in the Twin Cities.

Visit the 2011 Minneapolis Home and Garden Show

A scene from Natural Landscape Minnesota, Inc's display garden

It's March in Minnesota. There's only a few weeks of Serious Winter left. Rather than sit home and endure the home stretch of grey and cold, why not visit a garden show? Each year I take a Friday afternoon off and head to the annual  Minneapolis Home and Garden Show. Just walking into the big convention hall brings summer to you; the whiff of flowers and hot dogs is a powerful winter antidote.

Fellow garden nut Karen and I strolled up and down the aisles. We went straight to the garden displays. There I met Jim, the owner of Natural Landscape Minnesota. He had the best display, of conifers, waterfalls and stone. He told me about the way hexangonal basalt columns were formed billions of years ago. There were several columns for sale there. Jim is also sculptor of stone; he has several pieces of his work, most were already sold.

I may have to visit Jim this summer.

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Magnolia 'Ann' is a smoky purple must-have at Linders' display. I'm going to have to find room for it at my place. The pink rhododenron is a Finnish hybrid, hardy in MN.

Karen and I spent a half day browsing the garden booths. I got some ideas for outside projects including an easy way to make a beautiful fire ring for my back yard this summer. We snacked on free samples. I should have tried the frozen wine, but I passed it over for some homemade caramels.

There are all sorts of ideas for the house and yard, so go, fill your head with anti-winter thoughts and visit the Home and Garden Show. It's open through Sunday, March 6, 2011.

Amaryllis Study 

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I've kept this same bulb alive for years. Each spring I put it outside. When October comes, I put it in the basement and let it dry out. In December I take it back upstairs and start watering it again. It hoists 3-4 enormous redred blooms by Valentine's day.

The color is vivid, glowing scarlet, especially when the flower is backlit.

"Many of these trees were my friends. Creatures I had known from nut or acorn"

Today we went for a walk through the park on Harriet Island. I found this marvelous, monsterous old cottonwood. I named it 'Treebeard' after  the Tolkien   character.  This Treebeard is ancient and on the decline; the telltale trails of carpenter ants mean he's hollow.

All I had was my iPhone 3G with me. If I return, I'll bring my better camera.

I see an owl. Do you?

Burls and swirls, grottos and caves.

'Dakota Song' was developed in South Dakota, a place not known for lovely roses. Peach is a rare color for hardy roses. This rose is hard to find. I bought mine from Kedem Nursery in Hastings, MN.

'Evelyn' is named for the woman of 'Crabtree and Evelyn' reknown. In a nod to its namesake, this rose is beautifully scented. Not a large or productive rose in MN.

'Charlotte Brownell' is a "hybrid hybrid tea," a back cross of a tender florist rose with a wild species rose. Colored like the famous 'Peace' rose, but sweetly scented. Very large flowers.

'Teasing Georgia' has pale yellow flowers. It's a short climbing rose for me. I grow it on a low iron  trellis.

Bountiful and productive, 'Graham Thomas' opens a rich yellow and fades to pale cream on the second day. Scented of old rose and tobacco leaves. I find it hard to take my nose out of a bloom.

Want to see more of my garden? Click here.

Want to see more of my roses? Then click here.