November 30, 2021
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Bird Garden in Wisconsin

How to Build a Bird Garden in Wisconsin Build a Bird Garden in Wisconsinno-repeat;center top;;auto0px Watching backyard birds is relaxing, entertaining, and educational. Seeing a bright red cardinal in the middle of winter is uplifting. A visit from a ruby-throated hummingbird outside the breakfast nook can be a great way […]
January 12, 2021
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

2021 Color of the Year & Your Plants

2021 Color of the Year & Your Plants Hopefully, the 2021 Color of the Year will help offset my family’s recently muted New Year’s Eve plans. No bar revelry. No toasting with friends and strangers at midnight. Instead, I spent a contented night at home with my husband and 4-year-old […]
December 29, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Chickens & Japanese Beetles

Chickens & Japanese Beetles This is Effie. Effie is a chicken. She belongs to a boy named Ethan, whose mom works at Johnson’s Nursery, and they often share Effie’s eggs with the staff. But besides laying delicious, organic, protein-rich eggs, Effie and her friends provide another service for her human […]
December 29, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Leaf Lore: Yarrow

Leaf Lore: Yarrow Leaf Lore: Yarrow The 1986 edition of the Old Farmer’s Almanac featured the article “How to Find the Perfect Mate”. They listed several superstitious acts to perform if you want your true love to appear, beginning the list with “Pluck a stalk of yarrow and stick it […]
December 29, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Plant Size & Investments

Plant Size & Investments There is an old grower\’s adage about plant size — \”If it\’s not growing, it\’s dead\”. Aware of this truism, Johnson\’s Nursery provides a range of mature heights and spreads for shrubs, trees, and evergreens. A plant’s mature size and how well it performs commonly depends […]
December 29, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

2018 Color of the Year

2018 Color of the Year – Ultra Violet 2018 Color of the Year – Ultra Violet The Pantone Color Institute has announced the 2018 color of the year…and it’s going to be “reigning” purple. 2018 will have a cosmic hue, the final color in the rainbow spectrum – Ultra Violet. […]
October 26, 2017
fall-harvest
by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Fall Harvest & Planting

Fall Harvest & Planting Fall Harvestno-repeat;left top;;auto Autumn in Wisconsin is a special time. Roadsides are painted in orange, red, and yellow. The air smells crisp and it’s time to get out the sweaters. The cooler temperatures invite most people to slow down from our busy summer schedules in preparation […]
October 16, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Seasonal Needle Drop

Seasonal Needle Drop The cooler temperatures of autumn are approaching and while humans are putting on extra layers of clothes, evergreens are shedding their old needles. This annual occurrence is called “Seasonal Needle Drop” and is completely normal. Think of it like people shedding their hairs. So don’t panic when […]
October 6, 2017
by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Fall Planting

Fall Planting Fall Planting In the fall, I am asked the same question over and over: Is it too late to plant? The answer? Not at all. But it is a good idea to get perennials and evergreens in the ground by mid-October. You want to give perennials enough time […]
October 2, 2017
native-pollinators
by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Native Pollinators

Native Pollinators Did you know the phrase “the bee’s knees” originally described something tiny and insignificant?  Since then it has evolved to mean something outstanding. And in August, I find nothing more outstanding than the sight of native pollinators in the landscape. One of the basics of plant life is […]
September 25, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Fungus Among Us

Fungus Among Us There is more going on with autumn leaves besides the color changes of yellow, orange, and red – fungus. September is when fungal spotting has reached its peak, causing many of your favorite plants to defoliate or go dormant early.See, in spring, fungal spores are everywhere, dancing […]
August 12, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Battling Buckthorn

Battling Buckthorn Wisconsin gardening comes with many obstacles: rabbits, deer, cold winters, and invasive non-native plant species. In the war against invasive plants, one of the worst enemies is Buckthorn, specifically Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and Glossy Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula). Many times we’ll be at a customer\’s site and they […]
July 17, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Plant Sex

Plant Sex Wisconsin summers are like a tumultuous love affair. They can fluctuate from hot and steamy to cold and rainy in the course of one night. Did you know that summer love affairs are happening all around us in broad daylight? Plants everywhere are fornicating, right in front of […]
July 13, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Crazy Common Caterpillars

My son, Jack loved to grab, throw, and chew on books when he was one year old. He also adored books being read aloud to him. I was reading him “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle and it occurred to me that we often overlook these juvenile versions of […]
July 2, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Rabbit Resistant Perennials and Shrubs

Rabbit Resistant Perennials and Shrubs Recently, my husband and I were babysitting my cousin\’s kids, so we dusted off my husband\’s complete set of Looney Tunes DVD\’s and put it on to watch. I learned two things from this. 1) Kids today don\’t have an appreciation for the sophisticated comic […]
May 25, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Phenology

Phenology The calendar says that spring is officially here, but it doesn’t really look like it yet. Today’s tip touches on a branch of science called phenology, meaning when climatic conditions correlate with plant and animal behaviors. Some say spring has arrived when you spy a robin. I say it […]
May 16, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

2017 Spring Plant Draft Picks

2017 Spring Plant Draft Picks We’re excite to announce the 2017 spring plant draft picks. Tulip blooms dotting the landscape aren’t the only sign that spring has arrived. Football fans eagerly watch to see who their favorite teams will acquire to create a winning line up in fall. These players […]
April 18, 2017
by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Cultivar – What Is It?

Cultivar What is a cultivar? What are their advantages? My husband and I are expecting a little seedling in the fall. Thank goodness there is only one in here, but say I were having identical twins. They would be genetically identical, just like a plant “cultivar”. When the seeds of […]
April 10, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Delicious Landscapes

Delicious Landscapes We are in the age of sustainability. We buy energy-saving light bulbs and hybrid cars. I will furiously rummage through the office trash to retrieve an aluminum can that didn’t make it into the correct recycling bin. We want our ribeyes to be grass-fed, our eggs to be […]
April 5, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Signs of Spring

Signs of Spring Signs of Spring Officially, the calendar says March 20th is the Vernal Equinox and the first day of spring. But in Wisconsin, where a snowstorm might still be around the corner, I know that spring isn’t official until I see certain signs every year. Sign #1 – […]
April 1, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Harvest Windows & Dig Times

Harvest Windows Throughout the spring season, we hear from a lot of panicked people who think that their trees have to be in the ground by June. So not true! And although this video pertains to harvesting field-grown plants in the spring, the theme is the same for harvesting plants […]
March 22, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Green Screens: Living Privacy Fence with Evergreens

Green Screens: Living Privacy Fence with Evergreens The first signs of spring bring me to our tree farm in Jackson. Our fields are full of trees for potential green screens to hide your neighbors, a shed, or whatever obstacle you want to block.Ben Franklin wrote, “Good fences make good neighbors”. […]
February 18, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Forcing Tree Stems

Forcing Tree Stems We are smack in the middle of a long cold winter and that darn groundhog says it won’t be over soon. Today I’m going to show you how to bring a little spring indoors by forcing tree stems. Cutting stems of spring flowering trees and bringing them […]
January 25, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

2017 Color of the Year – Greenery

2017 Color of the Year – Greenery I think we can all agree that 2016 was a hell of a year. An unprecedented presidential election. Syria. Brangelina Split. Zika Virus. Brexit. Prince died. Russia. McDonalds now serves all day breakfast. RIP Princess Leia. 2016 was pretty tumultuous for me on […]
January 17, 2017
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Proper Snow Removal

Proper Snow Removal Instead of telling you to lift with your knees, it’s all about saving the branches of your trees. Contrary to what you might have heard, it is important after a heavy, wet snowfall to remove what has accumulated on certain plants like arborvitaes, boxwoods, and pines; basically […]
December 15, 2016
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Six Best Things For A Sleeping Garden

Top 6 Things To Do While Your Garden Is Sleeping Do you have a sleeping garden? I love winter! I get excited to break out the warm coats (I may have too many in the closet) and put on a pot of hot tea. These gray months of cold and […]
December 2, 2016
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Winterizing Evergreens

Winterizing Evergreens Just because winter is here, doesn’t mean ignoring the garden. The freezing process draws moisture out of a plant. The “polar vortices” of Wisconsin’s winters can be hard on certain evergreens, especially if they don’t get enough water in fall. When hit with repeated cycles of very cold […]
December 1, 2016
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Family Tree Discount

Family Tree Discount If you have recently had a baby, congratulations! Johnson’s Nursery has a Family Tree Discount. We offer 25% off the retail price of any one plant, whether a perennial, shrub, or tree to commemorate your bundle of joy. Baby and tree will grow up together. If you […]
November 9, 2016
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Sporty Specimens

Sporty Specimens Sporty Specimens In the T.V. special \”It\’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown\”, Linus sagely muses, \”There are three things I have learned to never discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin\”. I think we could add sports team allegiances to that list. In my family, the […]
October 13, 2016
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Fall Blooming Plants for the Pollinators

Fall Blooming Plants for the Pollinators Using fall blooming plants in the landscape will give insects an extra boost for late-season and winter. These days, insect population decline has more attention than ever. The most popular of which is the Monarch Butterfly. There is also frequent news over the Honeybee […]
April 20, 2016
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Landscape Compatibility Test

Landscape Compatibility Test I was shopping at a Trader Joe’s recently for some groceries. I say groceries, but I really mean affordable bottles of wine. While checking out, the cashier asked to see my ID (haven’t been under 21 in a long time so I’ll take that as a compliment […]
February 13, 2014
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Leaf Lore: Maple Syrup

Maple Syrup Lore It’s unclear when people discovered that pancakes with maple syrup were the perfect combination, but we sure are glad they did. Traditionally, pancakes were made to use up the decadent ingredients milk, butter, and eggs that were forbidden during the Lenten fast. Thus, Fat Tuesday (Mardis Gras) […]
March 12, 2009
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Leaf Lore: Peach Baskets And Basketball

March Madness Leaf Lore: Peach Baskets And Basketball Peach Basket-ology March Madness is upon us. Have you selected your brackets yet? Brackets. Sounds a lot like baskets. Did you know that peach baskets play a key role in the history of basketball? Credit for invention of the game is given […]
April 4, 2000
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by Carrie Hennessy
Categories

Leaf Lore: Daylily

Leaf Lore: Daylily Leaf Lore: Daylily “Day O! Day O! Daylily bloom and me wanna take home!” Let’s sing it loud and proud for daylilies! Some people may say they are ordinary, but daylilies are one of those great perennials that are easy to grow for beginners because they handle […]