6 Smart Steps Northern Gardeners Need to Know Before Ordering by Diana Pierce, January 14, 2026 Seed Display Case, Bachman’s. Photo: Diana Pierce January is when the seeds displays go up and seed catalogs start arriving. I don’t know about you but I get that familiar feeling of wanting everything . If winter feels endless and this wall of seed packets suddenly looks like hope, you are not alone. Before you start circling everything in the catalogs, I talked with Master Gardener Don Smith of...

Expert Do’s and Don’ts from the University of Minnesota Extension By Diana Pierce, Jan. 7th, 2026 Kalanchoe rainbow of colors at garden center. Photo: Diana Pierce Winter is tough on indoor plants. It’s not because we’re doing everything wrong, but because light, humidity, and routines quietly change after the holidays. Drooping leaves, pale growth, or plants that seem “stuck” are common winter signals, not failures. To help make sense of these winter signals, I turned to Laura Irish-Hanson,...

Your most-loved stories of 2025 + plants to watch in 2026 By Diana Pierce, December 31, 2025 On this last day of 2025, I keep thinking about unexpected moments — the ones that arrive without announcement and change everything that follows. The moment a peony found its name-”Angelic Diana.” Photo: Keith Swenson Within moments of standing near this peony, with my camera in hand, Keith Swenson, owner of Swenson Peony Gardens, turned to me and said, “We should name it Angelic Diana.” He said it...