Browsing by Author "Weisenhorn, Julie"

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    Episode 25 Adding Flowering Plants to Your Garden to Increase Pollination: What's Killing My Kale?
    (2019-08-02) Klodd, Annie; Hoidal, Natalie; Weisenhorn, Julie; Hecht, Nathan
    In episode 25 of What's Killing My Kale, Natalie talked with Extension Educator (horticulture) Julie Weisenhorn, and recently graduated horticulture master's student Nathan Hecht. Both Julie and Nathan have been studying how flowering plants near fruit and vegetable plots impacts pollination and fruit set. While we generally know that adding flowering plants to the landscape is good for pollinators and beneficial insects, we wanted to dig deeper and learn how much of an impact flowering plants can have, how to go about selecting the proper plants, and how the broader landscape impacts results. This is a longer episode, but it's packed with insight and good discussion. 
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    The Foodscape Master Plan, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 2023
    (University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 2023-11-28) University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum; Weisenhorn, Julie
    The Foodscape features plants with edible qualities, and is a canvas for visitors to learn creative, sustainable, and beautiful ways to grow their own food. By definition, a “foodscape” is a space where people acquire and prepare food, talk about and learn about food, and connect with food. To this we added our vision for the Foodscape, which is to celebrate the beauty of food crops as elements of a managed landscape. The Foodscape gardens are located around the Burton and Virginia Myers Education Center at the Farm at the Arb. There are cement and woodchip paths winding through the Foodscape. The Foodscape was planted in summer 2023 by UMN Extension Educators Julie Weisenhorn and Jon Trappe, and a team of dedicated Master Gardener volunteers. It surrounds the new Burton and Virginia Myers Education Center, which opened in March 2023. The Myers Center houses the Arboretum Adult Education Program and the UMN Extension Master Gardener Program. It also has a state-of-the-art educational demonstration kitchen and restrooms.
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    Minnesota Yard & Garden Ask an Expert Builds Relevancy and Value Answering Questions
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2016-10) Weisenhorn, Julie; Froemming, Jackie; Kenny, Tim
    Citizens look to Extension Horticulture for unbiased, research-based advice on establishing and m aintaining healthy yards and gardens. Over the past decade, changes in expectations, culture and technology have required Extension to provide answers in ways that fit current lifestyles. Ask an Expert (AaE) is an online question-answer tool hosted and supported by national cooperative Extension (eXtension.org). On the surface, AaE clearly serves as a means for Extension to help citizens solve problems quickly and efficiently. On a deeper level, AaE provides a powerful tool that strengthens Extension’s relevancy and value to the individual’s daily life, and the connection they have to their land grant university. In 2015, 18 active Extension horticulture educators and Master Gardeners answered 6,914 questions from Minnesotans (average response rate per question: less than 1 day). AaE is one of the volunteer activities available to Master Gardeners. Volunteers are trained by Extension educators who lead the AaE Minnesota Yard & Garden group and are mentored by experienced Master Gardener colleagues. Volunteers help each other with tough questions via a very active listserv, and are part of the larger eXtension.org AaE and Horticulture communities of practice. Question topics range from basic plant identification to more complex explanations of landscape best practices to positive identification of emerging invasive species. In spring 2016, a Master Gardener positively identified a new infestation of black swallow-wort from pictures sent by a homeowner though AaE, and connected the homeowner with the MDA Arrest-the-Pest. (average response time: less than 24 hours per question), and we are on-track to exceed this rate with over 3500 questions answered to-date.
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    Right Plant, Right Place, Right Purpose: The Plant Elements of Design Plant Selection Program
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2016-10) Weisenhorn, Julie; Alvarez, Tomas; Baker, Amy; Makela, JoAnne; Frazier, Maggie
    Sustainable landscape design focuses on long-lived plants that thrive in their growing conditions. Too often, gardeners are wow’d by the visual aesthetics of a plant and neglect to take into account its optimal growing requirements – and whether the site they are selecting for meets those requirements. The Plant Elements of Design plant selection program supports the landscape design process by providing a tool for selecting plants based on matching their characteristics to the site. This program is useful as a reference for various audiences including horticulture students and educators, landscape designers and architects, Master Gardeners, home gardeners, nurseries and garden centers, and landscape contractors, managers, and maintenance firms. This free, online database is populated with 2745 woody and herbaceous plants including over 5000 downloadable images. Plants can be chosen using 19 different plant characteristic and 350 site categories such as plant type, size, soil type, light requirements, texture, seasonal interest, design use and landscape use. All perennial plants in the database are considered hardy in USDA zone 4 with adjoining zones indicated. Users can print plant data sheets including images, and select and export selected plants to a .csv file for use as a plant key, project management, and landscape planning. The Plant Elements of Design was developed over 15 years and currently information provided for each plant is based on the knowledge and experience of University of Minnesota specialists, experienced gardening educators, and industry professionals.
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    SULIS: Sustainable Urban Landscape Information Series—Design
    (2018) Weisenhorn, Julie; Ripp, Tim; Vaughan, Elizabeth
    SUSTAINABILITY AND LANDSCAPE DESIGN discusses the major considerations that need to be incorporated into a landscape design if a sustainable landscape is to be the outcome. Landscape functionality, cost effectiveness, and environmental impacts are a few of the items discussed. THE BASE PLAN describes how information is gathered, compiled and used in the development of a landscape design. How to conduct an interview, carry out a site survey and site analysis, and how to use information collected from counties, municipalities and developers are some of the topics discussed. THE LANDSCAPE DESIGN SEQUENCE explains the essential steps to create a sustainable landscape design. The design sequence includes the creation of bubble diagrams, concept plans, and draft designs THE COMPLETED LANDSCAPE DESIGN describes the transition from a draft to the completed landscape design. Important principles and elements of design are defined. Examples of how each is used in the development of a sustainable design are included.
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    University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener CenUSA Biochar Demonstration Gardens 2012-2015
    (2017) Davenport-Hagen, Lynne; Weisenhorn, Julie; Meyer, Mary H.; Sui, Luna Xiaoye
    Soil serves as the foundation of all gardens, and thus incorporating beneficial amendments before planting is of the utmost importance to a healthy, roductive crop. Increased interest and research in biomass and biofuels has promoted the use of biochar, a coproduct of the pyrolysis process, as one amendment to improve soil health. Urban soils, the site of many home and community gardens, can be carbon-poor, so we wondered if biochar would benefit home gardeners and grow more productive plants. Soils at four demonstration sites in Minnesota were amended with hardwood biochar. With the help of Extension Master Gardener volunteers, we grew, harvested and measured common garden crops over four years to see if those grown in biochar-amended soils were more productive. Variables in weather, crops and volunteer interpretation of data did not provide conclusive results. However, the poorer soils amended with biochar showed some increase in soil pH and percent organic matter, and clay loam soils were less compacted. Most crop yields showed improvement over the four years; however, we believe these increased yields were likely affected by a combination of factors (rainfall, air temperatures) and cannot be directly attributed to the addition of biochar.
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    Water Wisely: Healthy Plants, Healthy People, Healthy Planet
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2016-10) Weisenhorn, Julie; Zuzek, Kathy; Bauer, Sam; Grabowski, Michelle; Froemming, Jackie; Berlin, Beth; Haugen-Brown, Tana; Nelson, Randy; Trott, Robin; Meyer, Mary; Yetka, Leslie; Hahn, Jeff; Foord, Karl; Kenny, Tim; Rice, Andrea
    Wise watering practices in the home landscape save money, help protect Minnesota’s water supply and optimize plant health. Nearly one-third of residential water is used to irrigate home landscapes. Improper watering practices impact the availability and/or quality of groundwater, lakes and streams. Some landscape plants, such as lawns, generally need less water than we think, while trees sometimes need more.