A while back, I got a call from my sister-in-law Peg Johnson, who lives in Portage, Wisconsin. The conversation went something like this:

“Hey, Douger!”

“Hey Pegger!”

“Say, I was wondering… I know you build ponds and water features, and, well, I think I’m ready for one myself. How ’bout coming over to Portage and putting one in my back yard? You’re free this weekend aren’t you? I’ll make it worth your while…”

“I dunno, Peg. I just don’t know if I can make it over there so soon. Anyway, it’s in the upper 90’s.That’s a little warm for a weekend job, don’tcha think?”

“Ya know Doug, football season is coming up pretty soon, ya know. How ’bout if I trade you a big screen for your labor?”

“I’ll cancel my appointments.”

I only had a weekend to do it, so my wife Mary Jo came along to help. Peg recruited 4 or 5 high school football players and her 2 daughters, Sydney and Elise. She also called a local backhoe operator to do the initial excavation for the pond, and rented a loader so I could move the dirt and boulders.

Peg has a beautiful back yard which overlooks a large wetland that attracts a lot of wildlife, and is also a nesting habitat for cranes. I wanted to put the pond and waterfall where she could still enjoy it from her patio and living room, while at the same time taking advantage of the beautiful view. The photo at right shows the view from Peg’s patio during construction. You can see the wetlands in the background. (Click photo to enlarge)

Peg gave me a lot of creative freedom, so I decided to put in 2 streams along with a small upper pond that cascades in to the larger lower pond. Because her lawn slopes away from the house, we decided to haul in several truckloads of dirt and build a retaining wall behind the pond, so the waterfall could face her patio and living room. It also made room for a higher waterfall, longer stream, and the upper pond. We used fieldstone that we found at a local quarry to build the wall. (See photo at left. Click to enlarge)

Several gallons of sweat, 5 sore backs, a scraped elbow, 2 black and blue fingernails, and approximately 368 glasses of water consumed, (not to mention some prayers for a miracle mixed in with it all), we were able to get the pond, waterfall, streams and rock retaining wall finished by late Sunday afternoon.

That’s my wife Mary Jo and I after a long day’s work in the photo on the right (After we cleaned up!). The pond is finished, but the landscaping is yet to come. Notice the two streams and the upper, smaller pond cascading in to the lower, larger pond. I will update you with the “finished product” this spring!

Even after all the hard work, we had to admit that we all had a good time. Sometimes the biggest challenge can be the biggest rewards. And family memories are the best kind to have, aren’t they? Thanks for the big screen, Peg.

That’s Peg in the back, “orchestrating the work”. Right photo: Mary Jo and Sydney hamming it up

Occasionally I’ll run across something on the web that I’d like to pass on, whether it be an important issue, or just a fun fact. In this case, it’s just a fun fact I found from the U of M Yard and Garden News. There are some deciduous trees that hold their leaves in the winter and don’t drop them until the next spring.Two of my favorites are the Northern pin oak and the Blue beech. I’ve always wondered if there was a word for that keeping-their-leaves-over-the-winter-thing and yes, there is. Read on.

By the way, I recommend that you plant the Northern pin oak and not the Eastern pin oak. Pin oaks (and all oaks in the Red oak genus) are very sensitive to low iron levels in the soil (which shows up as a yellowing of the leaves, a condition known as iron chlorosis) , but the northern pin oak has proved to be more tolerant. In either case always plant a pin oak in a slightly acid soil with good drainage.

What’s Up With That?! Weird Stuff and Fun Facts from the Gardening World
By Nancy Rose

Deciduous trees are supposed to drop their leaves in autumn, right? So why are there still lots of brown leaves clinging tenaciously to certain trees in our neighborhoods and natural areas? In a word: marcescence.

Deciduous trees that hold onto their leaves through the winter are described as marcescent (mahr-CESS-ent). Some tree species are more likely to show marcescense than others. In this region, oak species (Quercus) including pin oak, red oak, and white oak are the most noticeably marcescent trees. American hornbeam, also known as blue beech (Carpinus caroliniana), and ironwood, aka American hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) also tend to hold leaves. Other trees such as sugar maple are occasionally marcescent.

In autumn, the leaves of most deciduous trees develop an abscission layer where the petiole (leaf stalk) meets the branch. This allows the leaves to fall off without leaving an open wound on the stem. Dry leaves stay on marcescent trees because the leaves didn’t develop the normal abscission layer in autumn.

Marcescence is often a juvenile trait and may disappear as the tree matures. It also may not affect the entire tree; sometimes leaves persist only on scattered branches. Marcescence is typically based on a tree’s genetics, but sometimes weather plays a part. In years with early freezes tree leaves may be killed before developing an abscission layer, resulting in persistent brown leaves on many trees that aren’t usually marcescent. –Nancy Rose

Thanks, Nancy!

Northfield has the state’s best soccer complex for a town its size, and it continues to get better. The complex is part of Spring Creek park, which is located along Jefferson Parkway on the south side of town. Thanks to the efforts of the steering committee chaired by Rick Estenson, the complex expanded last year to include the construction of Amerman Pavilion and the *WINGS Oasis (*see below. More on the Oasis in a later blog entry). The pavilion was named after local youth soccer coach Jeff Amerman. Jeff was a big contributor to Northfield’s youth soccer program, who passed on in 2005. It is a beautiful facility with room for a concession stand, a huge exterior stainless steel counter , a large sheltered picnic area, and storage for soccer equipment.

Ray Cox, owner of of Northfield Construction, volunteered his time to be the project manager for the construction of the pavilion. He contacted several local contractors to donate their time in constructing the pavilion and also organized the timetable. Phil Olson kept on eye on the project and kept track of the day-to-day progress. I volunteered to oversee the landscaping for the pavilion, ( see photos, click to enlarge) which was accomplished by the efforts of several hard working volunteers. (Any of you guys interested in a job with Grove Landscaping?). Thanks to Knecht’s nursery for donating the plants. Construction started in the Spring of last year, and we finished up the landscaping with a volunteer work day in the first part of November. The work could not have been accomplished without a great group of about 15-20 volunteers.

Make sure you visit Ammerman Pavilion. and see what a great job these volunteers have done! While you’re there, take in a soccer game or two, or three…..

*WINGS (Women In Northfield Giving Support) is a local organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children in Northfield. They were instumental in making the Oasis possible. You can learn more about them by going to their website through this hyperlink.

Ready——————————Set———————————-Go!!

Thanks to the City of Northfield, Northfield Rotary Club, First National Bank, Northfield Soccer Association Northfield Hospital, Malt-O-Meal, Community Resource Bank, and Wells Fargo Bank for a major portion of the financial support for the construction of the pavilion.

Northfield Steering Committee: Rick Estenson, chair. Charlie Cogan, Jim Pokorney, Kevin O’connell, Margaret Colangelo, Curtis Tiano, Andrew Tiano, Rachael Stets.

If you’re an avid gardener, you have probably seen that the National Arbor Day Foundation has released an updated version of the U.S Department of Agriculture’s hardiness zone map, which was last updated in 1990. The NADF has used data from 5000 National Climatic Data Center stations around the country from the last 15 years to compile their information and come up with the new zone map. The data for both the USDA and the NADF maps are based on average annual low temperatures.

According to the NADF:

The new 2006 arbor day.org Hardiness Zone Map is consistent with the consensus of climate scientists that global warming is underway. Tree planting is among the positive actions that people can take to reverse the trend.
Of course existing trees should continue to be cared for… Certain species may be more vulnerable to stress with the current warmer climate, but they will continue to provide environmental and economic benefits as they grow. It’s just a good idea to consider more tree species diversity for the future.”

Go to their site to view the updated climate zone map, which will appear similar to the picture to the upper right. You can also look up your own climate zone, or compare the old USDA climate zones to the new NADF ones. (I have also included a place to look up your NADF climate zone on this blog entry). While you’re at it, check out the NADF press release, which will explain the process of compiling the new info in more detail.

 Proceed with caution

Just because we may be in a slightly different zone doesn’t mean that we can begin planting landscape plants that were meant for the next warmer climate zone. There are more factors than just the minimum temperatures in a given region. There can be any number of things that effect a plant’s ability to survive a winter in Minnesota.
I have been through winters with average temperatures that were devastating to evergreens because of an early ground freeze and a lack of snow cover. The same is true of of other plants, especially ground covers perennials that were planted too late in the season.

A dry fall can also be fatal to plantings (especially evergreens, which can continue to loose moisture in the winter), or plants that entered late fall in a stressed condition. Be sure you find out more about some of the “new introductions” you may read about in your plant catalogues. You can also find out about reliably hardy plants that were developed in Minnesota by checking out the publication “Minnesota Hardy”.

According to an article in UMNews, we still need to be careful in choosing what we plant.

Both maps are also limited in predicting plant hardiness because they tell us only one thing: the average annual minimum temperature in a given region,” says Rose…..Since the exact conditions for next winter–let alone the next five winters–can’t be predicted, Meyer and Rose recommend that Minnesota gardeners continue to choose landscape plants carefully. Less-hardy plants may require special care, including the application of winter mulch.