 |
Minnesota Gardening PodcastAuthor: Brad at MinnesotaGardening.com
We bring together Upper Midwest gardening enthusiasts who are transitioning to a more sustainable lifestyle to explore eco-friendly landscape and gardening practices, so that we can reduce our chemical use, water use, and create a thriving ecosystem. Language: en-us Genres: Education, Home & Garden, How To, Leisure Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
Listen Now...
Spring's First Flowers While Hiking the Louisville Swamp
Tuesday, 31 March, 2026
Pasque flowers are blooming in this transition to spring. I’m out hiking with Scout along the Minnesota River on federal land at the Louisville Swamp, narrating what we see as the prairie wakes up. You’ll hear why those fuzzy, pale purple native wildflowers matter, how quickly bees find them, and what the first blooms of the year teach us about building real habitat, not just pretty landscaping.As the trail shifts from open prairie to woodland edge, the conversation gets more practical and more opinionated. I share why Minnesota Gardening became A Better Yard, and why my focus has moved toward sustainable landscaping: reducing chemical use, saving water, feeding native pollinators, supporting songbirds, and storing carbon in ways homeowners can actually pull off. We also dig into buckthorn, the invasive shrub that leafs out early and steals sunlight from spring ephemerals. I talk about what large-scale buckthorn removal looks like in the real world, including the trade-offs and the frustrating “collateral damage” when helpful natives get hit too.Then we zoom out to the bigger stressors showing up on the trail, especially declining burr oaks and how hotter, wetter nights can accelerate fungi and disease. That leads to a key takeaway for climate-resilient yards: genetic diversity matters. If we fill our landscapes with cloned, named varieties, we limit adaptation right when conditions are changing fast. Choosing seed-grown native plants and regionally appropriate genetics gives nature more options.If you like this kind of on-the-ground yard advice, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. What’s the first sign of spring you look for every year?Save $30 on your first month of A Better Yard!Head to ABetterYard.org and use coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save $30!
