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
Timelapse garden through a season
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
Reflections of the past summer - 11/18/2009 4:46 pm
Holiday flower show warms the day with blooms - 11/17/2009 4:04 pm
Stock up for Thanksgiving - 11/17/2009 10:05 am
Colorado based grocer operates own farm - 11/15/2009 3:48 pm
Review: Hardy Succulents - 11/12/2009 3:58 pm
Timelapse of a garden season - 11/11/2009 5:29 pm
Two forums of interest to gardeners this week - 11/10/2009 5:14 pm
First snow was a surprise - 11/9/2009 3:42 pm
Lesson learned - 11/8/2009 12:13 pm
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
NOVEMBER 18, 2009 - 4:46 PM
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Now that we've had some time to reflect, what would you say have been your successes and/or failures of the past summer?. Please share your experiences in the comment section below.
NOVEMBER 17, 2009 - 4:04 PM
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How does Amelia Walsh get her Lewisia cotyledon to bloom so beautifully at this time of year? Fran Durner/ADNTake a moment or a lunch hour today or tomorrow to stop by the Wells Fargo Bank building at the corner of C St and Northern Lights to see the 49th annual Holiday Flower Show sponsored by the Anchorage Garden Club. The lobby is filled with amazing blooming plants, artistically arranged displays and a Christmas tree decorated all in red and white.
NOVEMBER 17, 2009 - 10:05 AM
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Alex Davis in the Northway Mall last year. Fran Durner/ADNMissing the farmers markets as you think ahead towards Thanksgiving?
Several of the farmers and vendors have moved inside where it's warm and cozy and can be found on Wednesdays at the Northway Mall from 11-6.
NOVEMBER 15, 2009 - 3:48 PM
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Mike Gilliland, chief executive officer of Sunflower Farmers Market, sits among the vegetables growing in the company's experimental garden in Longmont, Colo. Sunflower is one of the few, if only, grocery stores in the nation to operate its own farm. Photo by Kenneth D. Lyons, The Denver Post via APBy STEVE RAABE / The Denver Post via Associated Press
NOVEMBER 12, 2009 - 3:58 PM
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What I love about succulents: They are almost always fresh and plump looking when spring snow begins to pull away from the flowerbeds. Their appearance is unique and not like anything else. They are drought hardy and neglect resistant. They have THE most startling flowers. They come in a wide variety of species and habits.
NOVEMBER 11, 2009 - 5:29 PM
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NOVEMBER 10, 2009 - 5:14 PM
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Steve Brown and friend. Photo courtesy Steve Brown.November 13, Friday, 8:30am-noon. Gardeners are invited to the Friday morning forum of the Alaska Farm Bureau annual meeting. Presentations include Chicken University, learn to raise chickens in your backyard presented by CES agent Steve Brown, Growing Apples in Alaska presented by grower Dan Elliott and Preserving Your Harvest presented by CES home economist Leslie Shallcross. At the Millennium Hotel in Anchorage. $20 registration or $30 including lunch. You can register online here or contact Jane Hamilton at janehamilton99737@yahoo.com or 907-895-4752.
NOVEMBER 9, 2009 - 3:42 PM
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The lilac looks lovely with the new snow and lights entwined in it. Photo by Fran Durner. View a timelapse video of a garden through the season
NOVEMBER 8, 2009 - 12:13 PM
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Red runner beans hanging on the vine. Photo by Fran DurnerI learned a lesson this weekend when I opened a jar of dilly red runner beans canned earlier in the fall, to test for flavor. The pods were tough and stringy - unchewable - although the beans inside were good to eat.
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.
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