However, we wrote then about boulders in the garden toward the end of the season, September 8, 2009, to be exact. I offer the reprint below in hopes it might still be useful reading for those contemplating there might be boulders in your home landscape garden future….perhaps even this year:

BOULDERS IN THE MINNESOTA LANDSCAPE GARDEN

“Here in Minnesota boulders happen. They were carved out from bedrock by glaciers and then dumped willy-nilly as the glaciers receded. For decades farmers gathered the gatherable to get them out of the way of plowed fields. Some still do. Now, they sell them.

Some boulders are more beautiful than others. Some are larger, others more square than oblong. Some are granite, others limestone.

Things “boulderlike” have become very popular in landscapes. In the old iron mines up north, rock outcrops are quarried and the products marketed….selling them to builders and landscapers.

For years the Minnesota landscape people have built boulder walls which resemble egg piles. Roundish things often the same size piled and pushed by bobcat tightly one onto another creating an enormous eye sore for you and future generations to view.

Not long ago the industry produced indescribably ugly reddish brown volcanic lava slag chunks and sold them as ground cover material to homeowners to “beautify the home garden”, hoping to stay up-to- date with their garden “arts”. Minnesota homeowners still have tons of limestone chips or river rock dumped around their homes believing that making their ground look more like moonscape enhances earth’s beauty.

I have lived at my property for 35 years. There were no boulders, and, lucky for me, no river rock or limestone “mulch” which I would have had to remove when I moved there. There was lawn, a tree or two, and more lawn. And there were interesting gentle slopes and slight differences of elevation in the 1/2 acre space. I like boulders naturally placed in the landscape. Quarried rock can be beautifully arranged there as well. But it does require more training and skill to create naturalistic settings than placing garden items living or man made simply where space allows.

One sentence incorporating three questions is all that is needed to understand the rules of both plant arrangement and the placement of boulders: “WHAT ARE YOU PLACING WHERE AND WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

“Therein lies the rub!”

No special vocabulary is needed to answer these three questions. What is required is an eye, a feel, and experience. Please visit our masterpiecelandscape.com Website lineup of landscape pictures. Of course I am biased but the guys who run Masterpiece Landscaping are very, very good at positioning the right plants, and the right stonework into the right places and combinations in the landscape. But, see for yourself after you finish reading this article.

What can boulders in the garden do for you?

My general answer may be, perhaps nothing. Some very astute gardeners deeply into landscape beautfy prefer a more formal, more gentle Earth setting. One without boulders tends to quiet and soften a view with the living not the cold, brutal hardscape. A rocky garden is less civilized and a less tranquill space than a rockless setting. It suggests the wild rather than the cultivated.

In Minnesota, especially around the city of Duluth, some of the most beautiful rock anywhere can be seen. Drop by the Lester Park area on the east side. Go to the streams rushing from the uplands onto the grand lake, Superior. Boulders, rock standings, some bigger than a house expand ones imagination.

If in your landscape you wish to create or imply a stream, your work could not be believable without rock or boulders. They make the water move laterally one way or another. They create the width or narrowness of the believable stream.

Plants grow, but boulders do not. This should always be remembered when determining plant-boulder space relationships. Here we can have a problem with large plant forms near any boulders. To repeat, plants grow, but boulders do not.

Boulders are expensive when set properly. Frugal and stingy gardeners don’t “plant” boulders. The stone itself may cost only $400 per ton, but how are you going to get the monstrosity home? And then up a hill or around to the back grounds, and then how is it going to be set? That is the art of it, isn’t it? It takes time, skill, equipment and labor.

I am sorry to say that some ”landscapers” simply dump boulders onto a spot. The “dumper” claims when looking at what was dumped, that nature made it dump that way. The next time you notice boulders set in a landscape, judge for youself the ones you think were dumped versus the ones you believe were set with beauty in mind.

Remember too, there always is a chance, maybe one in ten thousand, the boulder was dumped beautifully, so keep your betting money in your pocket.

Study those boulders you believe were set with beauty in mind and compare them with the dumps. Then explain with a meaningful vocabulary what you believe the difference is.

Alot of politicians these days are trying to sell equality. Landscapers and gardeners should remind them that that which is equally large, is equally small.

Sand, masses of sand are particles roughly of equal size. Boulders in arrangements of equal sizes are usually boring and in all ways uninteresting….pressing on the monotonous. Manufactured boulders are repulsive to look at.

A flat piece of land is usually associated with a more formal garden. It is the environment most associated with gal gardeners. In general, they prefer flowers, the more the better. To them garden means flowers. Not that they were born fixed in this belief. There are many practical, reasonable reasons for this…You think of some.

I have noticed a wonderful trend over the past ten years or so, however. Lots of our best clients, (sorry guys, most of them are women….guys are needed to help pay the bills), absolutely love boulder settings. Not all of them are in the suburbs either.

Some of the most beautiful grounds of all, in my prejudiced view, where boulders are central to the feel of the verdant landscape, are in small city lots, one in dinkytown and another in St. Louis Park.

There are many asides to boulders in the garden. Daylilies often are made more beautiful not far from one or some. Creeping evergreens, expecially Japgarden Junipers next to, around, creeping onto or away from boulders, never fail from causing a sigh of approval when seen.

Another mentionable, one tends to lose far fewer pruning shears, trowels, cultivators, hand tools of all kinds in gardens where there are boulders around, especially those not dumped. That is, if one trains to set them as tables where these tools can be safely if temporarily positioned when the gardener moves on to another task.

Then there is the sitting boulder. In the dinky town garden the front area was landscaped with sitable boulders for a seating of six to eight. The lady client had a book club of six to eight regular members and looked forward to an occasional outdoor setting. No garden furniture needed to be moved into position.

Boulders offer more to a successful landscape than what I have mentioned here. I wouldn’t want to reveal all we know about their uses in these blog articles. Otherwise, there might not be a need for you readers to call us to help keep us in business.”

I am one of these complainers….Cold, rainy, cloudy, windy, snowy for the first six weeks, more rain, more and more rain. Here it is only 30 days until the days become shorter…and shorter….and shorter.

I am extra depressed already…..but then, before the rains, the heavy ones today, Sunday, May 19, 2013, I became convinced I have never seen my own landscape garden more spectaular….unbelieveably spectacular, the color, floral show piece of its existence.

It is true that a landscape garden regularly worked, thoughtfully maintained, corrected, added to, subtracted from, IMPROVES every year….and I have pictures to prove this in my own experience.

If we are serious about practicing landscape gardening thoughtfully, every year our standards become higher, more severe. Our artwork becomes better and better. The once pleasant dogwood or spiraea is now noticed as ugly, or no longer harmonious in our “composition”….and after all, if we are striving to create settings for our eyes at any level of Beethoven’s adagios for our ears, harmony, beautiful harmony is the ultimate in the art of landscape garden. (I have cultivars of both dogwood and spiraea in my own garden paradise, but not in the numbers and cultivars of those forty years ago).

My May 19, 2013 landscape garden is by far the most colorful in the 39 history of my stivings. Why not guess why?…..besides mentioning the maturing of the woody plants…for landscape gardens, like people, gain character with age.

Well, if your geography around our Twin Cities is similar to mine….and it generally should be, we haven’t had much of a Spring at all until a day or two ago with its warmth and moisture. Last year’s Spring began on March 15 and dragged out for six to eight weeks. There was a long, delayed and a much appreciated extended floral display over the two months…..extended more than overlapping.

Two days ago not only were my early tulips blooming, so are my midseason and late tulips. Some of the Siberian squill are still in their royal blues, but let’s add everything that I have for Spring bloom is now in Spring bloom….All at once!

PJM Rhododendron….all of its twelve by twelve feet is at peak bloom as are all ten Fragrant Viburnums, the forsythias are still in their yellow display, the fothergillas, all eight Redbuds, the Elizabeth Magnolia, Toka and Waneta plums…and if you don’t think that these redbuds top everything else in bloom, you’ve missed your best spring-bloomer of them all! Rockcresses, Lenten Rose, Euphorbias, Japanese Poppies, dwarf Frittilarias, the pulmonarias, Bleeding Hearts, Lamium and Vinca, the fern fronds, and all of the dozens and dozens of conifers are in bud as if in bloom. Add to this array the yellows, limes, aquas, greens dark, greens green and light of the conifer world, you have the makings of a masterpiece without even trying. All squeezed into this week….and with rain with or without heat, all of the color will be gone by Friday.

Oh, however, what a show this landscape garden displayed today….and will again tomorrow, if it doesn’t rain.

My old-time huge white flowering crabapple is not moved by cold or heat, rain or drought, cloud or sun….It has its own calendar and will open its mass of white on May 22 whether anyone likes it or not. Mother Nature doesn’t seem to fool the larger trees very often.

Call Masterpiece Landscape, Ltd. at 952-933-5777 to schedule visits to view these grounds. Keep Planting and Pruning. Every year your own masterpiece will get better and better, if you constantly answer the question(s)….WHAT are you placing WHERE, and WHY are you doing this? The more honestly, accurately, that is, answer these questions, you will become a better landscape garden artist every year, year after year.

Well, it’s either too little CO2 if you accept modern mythology regarding Global Warming……now changed to “Climate Change” to cover all fronts political and climatological.

We have had a throw back to my childhood decade….when these ‘colds’ in April and May were quite the habit…..and a very unpleasant one when you delivered newspapers in St. Paul during oh, so many, miserable blizzards, both morning and after school when winter was more tundra-like than now.

Nevertheless for decades May 10 has been a significant date for landscapers, farmers, gardeners, and other outdoor types…..May 10 is the average frost-free date for our Twin City area.

Despite our cold outdoors this year, the coming week’s forecast is for evening temperatures to remain above 40 degrees Fahrenheit…….and so it is highly likely there will be no further Spring frost, much less a killing frost (temperatures below 29 degrees Fahrenheit for most ‘tender’ plants.

My Siberian Squill, which now likely reaches a population of a million or more on my grounds have been in bloom for nearly a month. They are now beginning to decline on the front, the East side of my grounds. Unfortunately, half of this month of scilla bloom has been under snow…..which kept its fresh magnificent rich blue bloom out of human site for half of its bloom on the eastern exposure. Scilla bloom elsewhere didn’t have such a warm, cozy, and frost free area as the sunny east side to display its beautiful blue to hasten its Spring display.

They are in peak color now.

October 10 is the last average frost free date in Autumn……usually a cold, clear night, often depressing to the landscape gardener and such folks who like the gopher outdoors.

The abcs of creating a beautiful Landscape garden is the major question in three parts: What is to be planted Where, and Why should it be done?

Most Americans know very little about the Landscape Garden arts. Most landscaping is done by habit, not by a drive to create beauty, which requires some degree of eye, feel, and thought and knowleege of plants……whether by homeowner or most commercial enterprises. Plants use, selected for whatever goes where, are usually chosen depending upon cheapness of price rather than quality and visual beauty. Location of incoming plant is almost always occurs at the spot where there might be most room…..not what the plant does or doesn’t do for the eye when seen.

We have been planting Paperbark maple, Acer griseum, for many years now, and are pleased Bachman’s Nursery is now making them available to their wholesale customers. We have had to special order them in the past.

Countless hundreds of ‘new’ woody plants of all shapes and sizes especially conifers, some discovered, others ‘invented’ over the past thirty years, are now available for home landscape garden use in our Northland. Unfortunately, almost no homeowner or gardeners is aware of these ‘introductions’.

Readers may want to follow up on some of our favorites for northern gardens which are not readily available locally…..Holger’s juniper, Waneta plum, Gentsch Canadian hemlock, Highland spruce, Horstmann’s Silberlocke Korean Fir, and a host of Japanese White pines…..all exuisite for a variety of uses in the Landacape Garden.

The trick isn’t in the gathering of the plants….it is in the “Where” they are to be planted, and, the “Why”.

Call us at Masterpiece….952-933-5777 for the best choices of plants, where to plant them, and explain Why.

Eranthis, Snowdrops, and Siberian squill all began bloom last week in our grounds. They are still in bloom but completely unnoticed under ten inches of recent snow and ice. Last year they woke up by the 18th of March.

The major problem with spring bulbs is one must plan and plant in October….when Spring rarely comes to mind. Another problem…..rabbits eat tulips, both foliage and bulbs. Yet, tulip blooms offer the widest variety of colors probably of any plant ‘group’ around. Narcissus, that is daffodils in the vernacular, are much more permanent in the home grounds…for NONE are eaten by rodents. If you aren’t terribly fond of yellow or white blooming exclusively in the spring grounds, you needn’t bother being tempted by these rabbit and mouse proof garden additions.

Tullps are usually identified by spring season in which they bloom…early…midseason….late. If winter con tinues for another week or two, which is likely before the grounds are free of snow and ice, Spring will be abbreviated and the tulip season of bloom will become less distinct. They will still bloom in their inherent order, but there likely will be more blending of their programmed time of bloom, yielding to overlaps.

Check out the retail counters or notify us at Masterpiece now or any time of the year if you would like to express Spring more colorfully, more ‘springlike’ with bulb plantings in October….There are dozens and dozens of species and their cultivars many of

Not all conifers are equal in their abilities to stay in one piece during excessively heavy snowfalls. Let me start with the toughest….or better yet, those which easily handle heavy snows no matter how scruntched they may look…..

Balsem Fir, the firs in general, Colorado Spruce, and the Spruce in general lead the list of those who are stiff enough to endure about any weight….The proudest spruce of all, the one that stands the same with or without any weight on its shoulders is the Norway Spruce cultivar, Hillside.

Then there are the categories of conifers which are so supple they may bend all over with out breaking anything…..Chamaecyparis, some Arborvitaes, Sherwood forest and Rheingold, for instance.

Hemlocks don’t bend at the trunk, but the foliage droops easily under snow weight. I have about ten Hemlocks, all Canadian Hemlock type, and have never seen a split branch from any cause.

Pines vary. The worst of all conifers in heavy ice storms is the native White Pine. In its native woods they grow densely unable to spread the canopy. My 70 foot 2nd year ten inch seedlings were planted in 1976 to celebrate our Nation’s 200th anniversary. All entertained sandy loam soild with plenty of leaf mulch every year. Some, planted closer together rather than as a specimen, are shorter and have developed less broad branchings. They aren’t troubled by icy snow. But my tallest, a beautiful specimen, lost about thirty major very broad branchings which couldn’t endure the 32″ snowfall of November 13 a few years ago. As they came crasching to the ground, they destroyed fell branches below them. After some pruning cleanup, the tree displays more character than beauty.

An excellent much smaller and slower growing by Nature is the Swiss Stone Pine. Once thought not to be hardy here in the Twin Cities, actually in my professional landscaping life time, it seems quite at home and appears immune to any and all icy invasions of these grounds.

I believe it safe to write….all junipers seem to ignore snow and ice weights. Their branchings don’t seem to spread…..What one has to look for is the entire plant, if it is pyramidaly might snap in half under snow if it is bent looping to the ground.

Among the arborvitaes, the Sunkist, Yellow Ribbon and Sherwood Forest seem to bend well. Degroot’s arborvitae may snap or be stripped of some vertical stems under snow weight, and the pyramidal might break in two, when under ten feet tall.

One way to protect your pyramidaly type conifers, especially the arborvitaes, is to prune a couple inches off of the foliage to tighten up future growth. If done regularly for about six or so years, these arborvitaes are dense enough in foliage not only to withstand nearly any snow weight, but to stand proud as if it couldn’t be bothered by such petti matters as a foot of snow in April.

There is no doubt in my mind the best of all fertilizer additions one can apply to outdoor growing things in general, is good old 1-1-1 well rotted cow manure. But, ow many cows have you seen lately pooping around your neighborhoods?

Most, the vast majority of Americans are indoor people and have no idea what a 1-1-1 fertilizer analysis means. By the way, a 1-1-1 analysis is the same as 10-10-10 except for the concentration of the content. The numbers refer to Nitrogen-Phonphorus, and Potassium, in that order on any label, the macro nutrients generally most important in leafy plant growth. Generally, Nitrogen stimulates plant leaf growth, Phosphorus, plant root growth, and Potasium flower and fruit growth.

A good way to remember the order of these macronutrients is they are in alphabetical orderon labels in our English language…..No so in Latin’s N-P-K arrangement, for K is the symbol for Potassium.

The cultural battle centers on worshipped organic fertilizers and the disdain of the inorganic…..a battle unworthy of knowledgeable civilized, Earth aware folks.

Plants have no clue where their NPK nor anyother nutrient more specifically needed comes from. They can’t identify one from the other, they take what is available. N is N, P is P, and P is K.

In the general what needs to be remembered, I think, inorganic fertilizers are more quickly absorbed by needy plants all else being equal. Unhappy garden plants usually announce some issue by yellowing when yellowing is neither natural to the plant, such as the conifer King’s Gold Chamaecyparis or not appropriate to the season. If your dwarf blue spruce or a normally bluish pine is yellowing, however, since the issue be be a long term lack of nitrogen, you might decide on a regular oranic nitrogen fertilizer program over a long period of time for attempted cure.

Remember, too, there are many other plant disorders which show yellowing of natural foliage, not just a lack of nitrogen.

I have an automatic watering system during the growing season, the best investment for healthy plant growth I have ever made. Every early Spring, I apply Milorganite, a 6-2-0 organic as I have for decades and decades…..by habit…..(never change a winning hand). Occasionally, maybe twice a decade I’ll remember to put some potash here and there. One other issue in my landscape garden situation….My Sunkist Arborvitaes which by commercial label admit maturing to 8 feet in height, have surpassed 20 feet instead from my watering-fertilizing- organic matter muclhing regimen.

I found the following detailed explanation about what you should know about your landscape garden, and probably more than you care to know….but the information is available for you to pick and choose.

Understanding Nitrogen in Soils

by Mike O’Leary, George Rehm and Michael Schmitt at the University of Minnesota:

Environmental and economic issues combined have increased the need to better understand the role and fate of nitrogen (N) in crop production systems. Nitrogen is the nutrient most often deficient for crop production in Minnesota and its use can result in substantial economic return for farmers. However, when N inputs to the soil system exceed crop needs, there is a possibility that excessive amounts of nitrate (NO 3 – ) may enter either ground or surface water.

Managing N inputs to achieve a balance between profitable crop production and environmentally tolerable levels of NO 3 – in water supplies should be every grower’s goal. The behavior of N in the soil system is complex, yet an understanding of these basic processes is essential for a more efficient N management program.

Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen exists in the soil system in many forms and changes (transforms) very easily from one form to another. The route that N follows in and out of the soil system is collectively called the “nitrogen cycle” (figure 1) and is biologically influenced. Biological processes, in turn, are influenced by prevailing climatic conditions along with the physical and chemical properties of a particular soil. Both climate and soils vary greatly across Minnesota and affect the N transformations for the different areas.

Figure 1. The Nitrogen Cycle.

Sources of N for Plant Growth
Nitrogen can be supplied for plant growth from several sources:

The atmosphere
Biological fixation
Atmospheric fixation
Precipitation
Commercial fertilizers
Soil organic matter
Crop residues
Animal manures

Atmospheric N is the major reservoir for N in the N cycle (air is 79% N 2 gas). Although unavailable to most plants, large amounts of N 2 can be used by leguminous plants via N fixation . In this biological process, nodule-forming Rhizobium bacteria inhabit the roots of leguminous plants and through a symbiotic relationship convert atmospheric N 2 to a form the plant can use. The amount of N 2 fixed by legumes into usable N can be substantial, with a potential for several hundred lbN/acre/year to be fixed in an alfalfa crop. Any portion of a legume crop, that is left after harvest, including roots and nodules, supplies N to the soil system. When the plant material is decomposed, N is released. Several non-symbiotic organisms exist that fix N, but N additions from these organisms are quite low (1 – 5 lb/acre/year). In addition small amounts of N are added to soil from precipitation . The amount of N supplied from precipitation averages 5 – 10 lb/acre/year in Minnesota.

Commercial N fertilizers are also derived from the atmospheric N pool. The major step is to combine N 2 with hydrogen (H 2 ) to form ammonia (NH 3 ). Anhydrous ammonia is then used as a starting point in the manufacture of other nitrogen fertilizers. Anhydrous ammonia or other N products derived from NH 3 can then supplement other N sources for crop nutrition.

Nitrogen can also become available for plant use from organic N sources which must be converted to inorganic forms before they are available to plants. Nitrogen is available to plants as either ammonium (NH 4 + ) or nitrate (NO 3 – ). Animal manures and other organic wastes can be important sources of N for plant growth. The amount of N supplied by manure will vary with the type of livestock, handling, rate applied, and method of application. Since the N form and content of manures varies widely, an analysis of manure is recommended to improve N management.

Crop residues from non-leguminous plants also contain N, but in relatively small amounts compared with legumes. Nitrogen exists in crop residues in complex organic forms and the residue must decay (a process that can take several years) before N is made available for plant use.

Soil organic matter is also a major source of N used by crops. Organic matter is composed primarily of rather stable material called humus that has collected over a long period of time. Easily decomposed portions of organic material disappear relatively quickly, leaving behind residues more resistant to decay. Soils contain approximately 2,000 pounds N in organic forms for each percent of organic matter. Decomposition of this portion of organic matter proceeds at a rather slow rate and releases about 20 lbN/acre/year for each percent of organic matter. A credit for the amount of N released by organic matter is built into current University of Minnesota N recommendations.

Nitrogen Transformations
Nitrogen, present or added to the soil, is subject to several changes (transformations) that dictate the availability of N to plants and influence the potential movement of NO 3 – to water supplies.

Organic N that is present in soil organic matter, crop residues, and manure is converted to inorganic N through the process of mineralization . In this process, bacteria digest organic material and release ammonium (NH 4 + ) nitrogen. Formation of NH 4 + increases as microbial activity increases. Bacterial growth is directly related to soil temperature and water content. The ammonium supplied from fertilizers is the same as the ammonium supplied from organic matter.

Ammonium-N has properties that are of practical importance for N management. Plants can absorb NH 4 + -N. Ammonium also has a positive charge and, therefore, is attracted or held by negatively charged soil and soil organic matter. This means that NH 4 + does not move downward in soils. Nitrogen in the ammonium form that is not taken up by plants is subject to other changes in the soil system.

Nitrification is the conversion of NH 4 + -N to NO 3 – -N. Nitrification is a biological process and proceeds rapidly in warm, moist, well-aerated soils. Nitrification slows at soil temperatures below 50 degrees F—thus, the general recommendation is that ammoniacal (NH 4 + forming) fertilizers should not be fall- applied until soils are below 50 degrees F. Nitrate is a negatively charged ion and is not attracted to soil particles or soil organic matter like NH 4 + . Nitrate-N is water soluble and can move below the crop rooting zone under certain conditions.

Denitrification is a process by which bacteria convert NO 3 – to N gases that are lost to the atmosphere. Denitrifying bacteria use NO 3 – instead of oxygen in the metabolic processes. Denitrification takes place where there is waterlogged soil and where there is ample organic matter to provide energy for bacteria. For these reasons, denitrification is generally limited to topsoil. Denitrification can proceed rapidly when soils are warm and become saturated for 2 or 3 days.

A temporary reduction in the amount of plant-available N can occur from immobilization (tie up) of soil N. Bacteria that decompose high carbon-low N residues, such as corn stalks or small grain straw, need more N to digest the material than is present in the residue. Immobilization occurs when nitrate and/or ammonium present in the soil is used by the growing microbes to build proteins. The actively growing bacteria that immobilize some soil N also break down soil organic matter to release available N during the growing season. There is often a net gain of N during the growing season because the additional N in the residue will be the net gain after immobilization-mineralization processes.

Nitrogen Loss From the Soil System
Nitrogen is lost from the soil system in several ways:

Leaching
Denitrification
Volatilization
Crop removal
Soil erosion and runoff

In contrast to the biological transformations previously described, loss of nitrate by leaching is a physical event. Leaching is the loss of soluble NO 3 – as it moves with soil water, generally excess water, below the root zone. Nitrate that moves below the root zone has potential to enter either groundwater or surface water through tile drainage systems.

Coarse-textured soils have a lower water-holding capacity and, therefore, a higher potential to lose nitrate from leaching when compared with fine-textured soils. Some sandy soils, for instance, may retain only 1/2 inch of water per foot of soil while some silt loam or clay loam soils may retain up to 2 inches of water per foot. Nitrate can be leached from any soil if rainfall or irrigation moves water through the root zone.

Denitrification can be a major loss mechanism of NO 3 – when soils are saturated with water for 2 or 3 days. Nitrogen in the NH 4 + form is not subject to this loss. Management alternatives are available if denitrification losses are a potential problem.

Significant losses from some surface-applied N sources can occur through the process of volatilization . In this process, N is lost as the ammonia (NH 3 ) gas. Nitrogen can be lost in this way from manure and fertilizer products containing urea. Ammonia is an intermediate form of N during the process in which urea is transformed to NH 4 + . Incorporation of these N sources will virtually eliminate volatilization losses. Loss of N from volatilization is greater when soil pH is higher than 7.3, the air temperature is high, the soil surface is moist, and there is a lot of residue on the soil.

Substantial amounts of N are lost from the soil system through crop removal . A 150 bu/acre corn crop, for example, removes approximately 135 pounds of N with the grain. Crop removal accounts for a majority of the N that leaves the soil system.

Nitrogen can be lost from agricultural lands through soil erosion and runoff . Losses through these events do not normally account for a large portion of the soil N budget, but should be considered for surface water quality issues. Incorporation or injection of manure and fertilizer can help to protect against N loss through erosion or runoff. Where soils are highly erodible, conservation tillage can reduce soil erosion and runoff, resulting in less surface loss of N.

Avoid Misconceptions
In considering the many transformations and reactions of N in soils, there are some major points to keep in mind. Although N can be added to soil in either organic or inorganic forms, plants take up only inorganic N (that is, NO 3 – and NH 4 + ). One form is not more important than the other and all sources of N can be converted to nitrate. Commercial N fertilizers, legumes, manures, and crop residues are all initial sources of NO 3 – and NH 4 + and once in the plant or in the water supply it is impossible to identify the initial source.

Nitrate is always present in the soil solution and will move with the soil water. Inhibiting the conversion of NH 4 + to NO 3 – can result in less N loss and more plant uptake; however, it is not possible to totally prevent nitrification. There is no way to totally prevent the movement of some NO 3 – to water supplies, but sound management practices can keep losses within acceptable limits.

Summary
This publication discusses several factors that are key to understanding N behavior in a soil system. Numerous sources of N exist and must be considered when evaluating the N budget for any field or region. Nitrogen’s mobility factor in the soil must be considered when developing N programs and evaluating environmental effects. Nitrogen loss from the soil system is greatly affected by soil type and climate. Sandy soils may lose N through leaching while on heavy, poorly drained soils it may be lost through denitrification. Because Minnesota has such diverse soils and climate, interpretation of the N cycle should be site specific.

The following publications which discuss several aspects of N management in more detail can be requested through the county offices of the Minnesota Extension Service or from the Extension Store, 20 Coffey Hall, 1420 Eckles Ave., University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108-6069.

Eventually, I discovered that I was wrong…..but I was too late along in life for me to recover from lost time gathering computer expertise. Nevertheless, the 17 and a half pieces of knowledge I do know about the computer, I know well.

For most of the time I have been writing articles for this Masterpiece Landscaping, Ltd blog site, I was rather depressed about the absence of commentary from readers. How unlike gardeners of any type, I thought…..and kept thinking. But, I love what I do and enjoy writing and talking about what I have discovered from my years of Landscape Gardening. I like sharing this good fortune of knowledge.

It turned out that among the things about the computer I didn’t know was that good people, good souls, and fellow gardeners HAD been emailing with comments to make about the blog articles, but I was unaware of the space at this computer where these comments arrived…..until company compatriot, Josh Perlich discovered the articles yesterday, 194 of them, which until this discover went unanswered.

I want to thank all of you who have enjoyed these articles as much as I have for your remarks, comments, humor, and other gardener charms which go along with the nature of such animals. I think that among the very best people in the world are those who garden the soil around where they live. It has something to do with a deep soul being revealed in full public. I shall try to list all of the names, in time to thank for their commentary beginning with the following gardeners: Gert, Nikki, Peerless, Heather, Jennica, Jahlin, Jaycee, Aspen, Tisha, Wind, Mark, Dorie, Estella, Lola, Lettie, Stretch, Takeo, Jeannie, Vianca, Infinity, Sukey, Adele, and Darrence….for starters.

Please continue to write in and do include questions along with your comments which will help you enjoy succeeding in your Landscape Gardening, God’s greatest artform to mankind.
Thanks again. glenn ray, christian ray, josh perlich and all the folks at masterpiece

Lawn is normally flat grounds. Although it certainly supplies negative space in winter as in summer, when it occupies large sweeps of grounds, lawn doesn’t bear captivating shadows in winter because it IS flat. My 2/3rds of an acre of grounds, nearly all without lawn, stages plants of all sizes at many elevations probably no more than ten feet from highest to lowest point. It is in these sweeps of undulating grounds and the passages to lower or higher elevations of even a few feet, that winter’s shadows, forms, textures, and colors are so magnificently displayed over the landscape garden’s vast bed of white. This winter, due to its many light to moderate snowfalls has been exceptionally beautiful due to the purity, the cleanliness of its white showing off all other features.

Time usually dictates what herbaceous perennial foliage I cut back in fall, except I know what I want to maintain for winter landscape decoration. If winter starts with a deluge of rain and ten inches of heavy wet snow, most herbaceous foliage will be crushed and so, unavailable for winter garden display. This winter’s snow was introduced to my landscape garden lightly, gradually. So, here is a listing of some of the plants I preen for winter landscape garden display above the snow line:

Astilbe, the big Chinese, Visions, Deutschland, and most others stand erect and proud in their winter clumps, as if in bloom. Similarly Monarda, Joe Pieweed, Fireworks Solidago, Hot Lips Chelone, Vernonia, Baptisia, the Stonecrop Sedums, such as Autumn Fire, Garden Phlox, Tiger Lilies, Karl Foerster grass, some of the Miscanthus grasses, Goldsturm Rudbeckia, and Euphorbia polychroma’s golden wirelike stems all show their stuff well in winter even if the snowfall is deep but DRY rather than Wet and heavy. Yet, NOTHING in the garden perennial world displays snow more beautifully than ANGELICA GIGAS, (Korean Angelica). Its tan stems are sturdy, some reaching ten feet in height all appearing as candelabra proudly displaying two to four inches of snow covering the past season’s florets, some still loaded with seeds.

None of these perennials are the main feature of the idealized Minnesota winter landscape garden. As we mention so often the core of the “living” winter landscape gardened grounds is the evergreen conifer. Do not forget that over the past thirty years, new, spectacularly beautiful hardy evergreen conifers from all greens to the yellow to the bluish, from the tiny to the huge, the narrow to the fat, have been ‘invented’ or discovered….. for our horticultural zones from 3.5-4.8 now existing in our Twin City area southward.

It is certainly a shame so few Minnesotans have discovered these treasures.