Gardening in Alaska presents big challenges, whether it's the extra effort in finding plants tough enough to survive our Zone 2-4 climate, communicating with like-minded Alaska gardeners, or keeping up with the latest trends, issues and solutions. We'll try to help with that. We'll also tour gardens from Homer to Anchorage to Wasilla to Willow whenever we get the chance, and post the best garden photos around. Presenting a forum about cold-weather gardening and for cold-weather gardeners is what we are all about. We hope you'll join us on the Talk Dirt garden blog.
Photographer and gardener Fran Durner (fdurner@adn.com) writes the blog.
A member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame, Jeff writes a weekly column on gardening in Alaska.
RECENT COLUMNS
Splitting dahlias with Amelia Walsh
Deadheading and seed collecting
Harvesting herbs from your garden
Bugs of Summer: The good, the bad and the squishy
Municipal Greenhouse Gardeners
Alaska Peony Growers Association
Alaska Society of Outdoor and Nature Photographers
Alaska Farmers' Market Association
Alaska Natural Heritage Program
Alaska Plant Materials Center:
Evergreen Nursery and Garden Center
Fairbanks Georgeson Botanical Garden
Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge
Pyrahs Pioneer Peak U-Pick Farm
South Anchorage Farmers Market
Moose-free garden? - 11/5/2009 8:23 am
Book review: Black Plants - 10/29/2009 3:46 pm
November Garden Calendar - 10/28/2009 2:49 pm
Fall means apples and winter veggies - 10/26/2009 6:12 pm
Botany of Desire airs on Wednesday - 10/25/2009 5:39 pm
Some changes proposed for muni Horticulture Section - 10/22/2009 11:47 am
Verna and Frank Pratt recognized - 10/20/2009 10:35 am
Birds are gardeners' companions - 10/18/2009 6:58 pm
Anchorage is one of the best cities for community gardens - 10/14/2009 3:18 pm
Fall colors Outside - 10/14/2009 11:26 am
Take advantage of the sun to mow your leaves. - 10/12/2009 4:09 pm
A gardener's conundrum - 10/11/2009 5:00 pm
Out of the office and in the garden - 10/1/2009 5:07 pm
October Garden Calendar - 9/30/2009 11:25 am
Yes Virginia, maples can grow in Alaska - 9/29/2009 4:21 pm
TREErific tree tour on Wednesday at UAA - 9/28/2009 2:26 pm
Dig, bake and eat potatoes in Palmer Friday - 9/24/2009 4:09 pm
Still time to harvest - 9/23/2009 4:52 pm
Termination dust signals the end of summer - 9/22/2009 4:04 pm
I know you have photos, I know you do... - 9/17/2009 8:41 pm
More mushroom walks this weekend - 9/16/2009 8:47 am
Gardening grows camraderie - 9/15/2009 10:43 am
NOVEMBER 5, 2009 - 8:23 AM
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The moose pawed down the barrier to get to the cotoneasters. Fran Durner/ADNMy nose is running like a river and glowing as red as Rudolph's as I write. What is it about freeze-up and the end of outdoor gardening that lets one's immune system and defense mechanisms down?
OCTOBER 29, 2009 - 3:46 PM
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Take a trip into the dark side of gardening with Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden. (Paperback, Timber Press, $14.95) by Paul Bonine. This new book of hort noir is out just in time to haunt your dreams for Halloween.
OCTOBER 28, 2009 - 2:49 PM
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The first significant snow of the season.
Richard J. Murphy/ADNNovember 1, Sunday, 2pm. Join outdoorsman Dick Griffith for a presentation on his 250-mile trek along the coast from Glacier Bay to Copper River. Points of interest along the way are Lituya Bay and the crossing of LaPerouse Glacier. At the Eagle River Nature Center. Free program; $5 parking for non-members.
OCTOBER 26, 2009 - 6:12 PM
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Bob Boyer shows the difference between a greenhouse-grown "Prairie Magic" and the same variety of apple grown outside in his orchard. Fran Durner/ADNFor those of you who have been waiting to find out if Bob Boyer would be selling his wonderful greenhouse apples again - he is! Thursday, October 29, from 1 to 5 pm only. I hear it's been the best year yet for apple production. The last time I checked, Boyer was growing about 37 apple trees, nine peach trees, three apricots, two plums and one quince tree inside the greenhouse. His orchard held over 100 fruit trees including apples, cherries and pears. Although he doesn't heat the greenhouse, the trees inside do much better than the trees outside.
OCTOBER 25, 2009 - 5:39 PM
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A tulip - one of the plants examined in "The Botany of Desire." Photo by Ruth Dundas/PBS
Anyone who has read Michael Pollan's book The Botany of Desire (2001, Random House) is familiar with the stories he tells weaving the adaptation of the apple, tulip, potato and marijuana to man's own evolutional history. The question Pollan asks is, isn't it actually the other way around? "We don't give nearly enough credit to plants," Pollan says during the opening of the two hour PBS adaptation of his book, airing this Wednesday on Channel 7 from 7 - 9 p.m., "They've been working on us, they've been using us, for their own purposes." 
"The Botany of Desire," the bestseller book by Michael Pollan.
OCTOBER 22, 2009 - 11:47 AM
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Impatiens started from seeds in the municipal greenhouses at Russian Jack Springs Park. Bill Roth/ADNI thought I'd take a minute to look into persistent rumors flying around regarding cuts to the Horticulture Section within the Municipality Parks and Recreation Department.
OCTOBER 20, 2009 - 10:35 AM
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Verna and Frank Pratt with their award planted in their garden. Fran Durner/ADNThe Anchorage Chapter of the Alaska Master Gardeners gave out their first ever Lifetime Achievement Award to Verna and Frank Pratt on Monday night. The award was a large granite stone, suitable for the garden of course, with an attached plaque that read, "In Recognition of Your Knowledge and Dedication to Teaching Others to Appreciate and Understand the Wildflowers of Alaska.
OCTOBER 18, 2009 - 6:58 PM
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A great blue heron preens at Potter Marsh. Fran Durner/ADNThe great blue heron is uncommon in Anchorage, but one has been hanging out at Potter Marsh directly in front of the boardwalk at the entrance. It's been there for a week or so, wading in the shallows, catching fish and preening itself on a gnarly log - putting on a show for the admiring crowd.
OCTOBER 14, 2009 - 3:18 PM
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The growing season is a memory for this year at McPhee Community Gardens in Mountain View. Makeshift fences divide the plots in which some Anchorage residents take great care to grow traditional foods. Marc Lester/ADNThe Daily Green an online magazine devoted to "earth-friendly living" has picked Anchorage as one of the top ten cities across the country to nurture community gardens.
OCTOBER 14, 2009 - 11:26 AM
Fall colors are reaching their peak Outside from coast to coast. I just wanted to share some beautiful photos from the AP wire service with you.
Lyn Walters, 71, fly fishes in the Merrymeeting River in Alton, N.H., as fall leaves begin to change Thursday, Oct. 8,2009. AP Photo/Jim Cole
A couple takes in the view from the ocean lookout ledges on 1375-foot Mount Megunticook, Monday, Oct. 12, 2009, at Camden Hills State Park in Camden, Maine. The state's forest rangers, who have been tracking fall foliage for 50 years, are now using personal data assistants to send in fall foliage reports from the field. Most of the state is reaching peak colors this week. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
OCTOBER 12, 2009 - 4:09 PM
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Golfers enjoying the best fall weather yet at Russian Jack Springs Park golf course. Fran Durner/ADN
Wouldn't you know, as soon as I come back to work, the sun comes out again.
At least I had an hour this morning to run the mower back and forth over the lilac and cherry leaves on the grass in the back yard. There was something very satisfying about doing that. Thanks to our friend Jeff Lowenfels, I've been doing this for years now, feeding the soil, the grass and the worms without the use of any chemicals.
OCTOBER 11, 2009 - 5:00 PM
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Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer' has had a long period of bloom. Fran Durner photo.When faced with impending ice and snow, what is one to do when garden flowers are still in bloom?
Starting the week off with the full intention of cutting down and cleaning out everything from the beds around the house, I was stopped full short when I got to the foxglove still blooming in the back yard. So I let them stand. They look a little strange out there on their own, but I can see them through the window when I'm in the kitchen - even on a gloomy day - which has been every day this week.
OCTOBER 1, 2009 - 5:07 PM
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Dear readers, it's time for me to spend some time putting my own garden to bed before the snow falls. So I will be out of the office for the next ten days pulling and cutting and mulching and composting.
In the meantime - post more garden photos!
See you when I r
SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 - 11:25 AM
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Fall colors are reflected in the water of Westchester Lagoon as a mallard duck feeds along the shoreline. Erik Hill/ADNOctober 1, Thursday, 7pm. The ins & outs of Flower Arranging presented by Camille Williams. The Anchorage Garden Club monthly meeting at the Pioneer School House basement, corner of Third Avenue and Eagle Street. Call the AGC hotline for program information, 566-0539.
SEPTEMBER 29, 2009 - 4:21 PM
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Fall colors of maple and birch leaves in downtown Anchorage. Fran Durner/ADNDoes anyone remember a better fall season? It seems like it’s going on and on and some trees haven’t even begun to turn yet. Take a drive before the winds or killing frosts destroy the view. My favorite outings so far have been down the Seward Highway to Portage or north along the Eagle River Road all the way to the Eagle River Visitors Center. Then get out and take a walk on one of the trails. On a sunny day the colors are absolutely intense but even on a cloudy, rainy day, there is a sereneness to the view.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2009 - 2:26 PM
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A Siberian pear tree in fall plumage on the west side of Rasmuson Hall on the UAA campus. Fran Durner/ADNJoin TREErific for a fall color tree tour led by Pat Leary, UAA Landscaping Horticulture Manager and certified arborist, on the UAA campus on Wednesday, September 30 at 6PM.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 - 4:09 PM
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A variety of heights and styles of raised beds can accommodate seniors who wish to garden at the Palmer Veteran & Pioneer Home. Photo courtesy Ellen Vande Visse. Ellen Vande Visse, organic gardening goddess and compost queen, has been up to her usual tricks this summer helping to get two community gardens going in the Mat-Su. She's been working with students and volunteers at the Mat-Su College, Palmer Veteran & Pioneer Home and UAF’s Matanuska Experiment Farm to learn to garden organically.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 - 4:52 PM
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Flat leaf Italian parsley and chives. My favorite combo. Photo by Fran DurnerFrost finally arrived last night but I haven't been home since I scraped the ice off my windshield this morning so I don't know how things have fared. Luckily, I did cut what was left of the dahlia flowers and brought them in. Tonight, will try to bring in more herbs for drying and also to chop fresh to mix up with butter blends. They'll go in the freezer.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 - 4:04 PM
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Fall colors along the Sterling Highway in the Kenai Wildlife Refuge as Mt. Redoubt steams up a cloud, literally, in the backround. New snow on the still hot volcano lava dome sent up clouds of steam at Redoubt on Friday, September 18, 2009. The volcano was not renewing activity. In fact, it is about to be down graded to level green, according to volcano scientists. Fran Durner photoThe timing was perfect for a berry picking expedition to the Kenai Peninsula last Friday. Word from area friends was that the lingonberries - low bush cranberries - were ready, and so were we. The sun was out and warm, the ground was dry and I was with a friend who got down to business as seriously as I did after we had scouted out a few spots and settled into a promising area near Kelly and Peterson Lakes. The take - about three quarts for the freezer. The reward - a cup of salmon chowder and a piece of orange spice pumpkin pie with whip at Gwins on the way back home.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 - 8:41 PM
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So don't tell me that with all the gorgeous weather, you haven't been taking oodles of photos of your garden. Don't try to wiggle out of it, I know you've got photos, I know you do.
And where better to show them off, I ask you, than in the Garden Gallery?
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