bergeson Nursery Spring 2021 4177 County Highway 1, Fertile, MN 56540 www.bergesonnursery.com 218-945-6988 1 2021 Online Seminars Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm. Online only. Search Facebook for "Bergeson Nursery." Follow our page to get notifications of our live videos. The seminars will be posted for later viewing. April 1st - Trees for your Yard April 6th (Tuesday) - Shrubs for your Home April 8th - Growing Fruit in the North April 15th - Growing Roses in the North April 22nd - Growing Perennials in the North April 29th - Success with Annuals Hours Extended Hours: April 19 – June 6 Monday through Friday: 8:30 – 8:00 Saturday: 8:30 – 6:00 Sunday: Noon - 5:00 Regular Hours: June through September Monday through Saturday: 8:30 – 5:00 Sunday: Noon – 4:00 Off-Season: October through March Please call ahead. Open weekdays in early April. All prices & availability subject to change. 2 Bergeson Peat Bags: $12 per bag. Our bags are approximately 40 pounds and 1.2 cubic feet. Bulk: $60 per 1/2 yard scoop. Two scoops, or one yard, is what usually fills the back of a pickup. Limit 3 yards. Ordering by Mail We are not a mail order business. We'd rather you pick up your plants if possible. Only bare root plants under 3' tall from the Small Fruit, Shrubs & Vines, Roses, and Windbreak sections can be mailed. We cannot mail trees, fruit trees, perennials, or annuals. We will be charging a flat rate of $25 per order for shipping to the states of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. COVID considerations We are still under a mask mandate. Please wear a mask when you come to the nursery. We will do our best to accommodate those who need to have their order gathered for pickup. 218-945-6988 www.bergesonnursery.com [email protected] 3 The Bergeson Bunch Orpha Aanenson leads the transplanting team with over 53 years of experience. Her skill and speed are unparalleled by any youngster. Bergeson alumni Samantha Nemechek drove up from Iowa to help us for a week. Orpha & Mavis Thanks, Sam!! Lisa Christianson brings her sunny, hardworking attitude to the greenhouse on weekends. Eric Downs exemplifies quiet competence and is called upon for tasks that confuse the rest of us. He manages the perennial display. Mavis Durm pairs up with Orpha to transplant the vast majority of our greenhouse plants. Her youthful energy is infectious. Cindy Engelstad has managed the office for over 20 years, answering phone calls and valiantly navigating government bureaucracy to keep us on the right side of the law. Kathy Fisher drives from Ada on the weekends in spring and summer to take your money with a smile. Tyler Henderson and Jack Fuchs comprised Dot & Cindy the youth contingent. Laurie Hanson can be found at the potting table in the shade house wielding her plant knowledge and creativity to create lovely planter combinations. Ken Kaste works year around and is the guy who will get anything done fast. He also is the lead waterer in the spring season, which is an Ken extremely challenging task. Gerald Kircher lives at Garden Hills Farm down the road and brings a friendly demeanor and old-school work ethic. 4 Dot Lorz compiles the treasures in the gift shop. Her kindness and optimism is a light for us all. Thanya Steichen drives all the way from Ulen to help us Kae, Cindy, Champoo, Dot, & Ken in the spring. She speeds through difficult tasks without complaint. Her daughter Jennifer pitched in, too. Aaron Rongen has long been a stalwart presence in the Bare Root Building, patiently answering questions. Champoo Bergeson helps at the cash register, loads peat bags, makes carryout boxes, and works in the greenhouse. Tracie Bergeson helped remotely from Oregon, making phone calls and answering emails. Paul Bergeson spends all winter trimming and labeling trees Glenda & Paul and shrubs in the bare root building, and does the field cultivating in the summer in addition to Kae with flowers. keeping the display gardens watered. Eric Bergeson stepped out of retirement to give a greatly needed hand in the bare root building. Kae Bergeson manages the greenhouse and seeds all the flowers and veggies. She and Joe design and plant the display gardens each season. Joe Bergeson is the go-to guy for answering plant questions and helping with landscape design, unless he's hiding. Violet inspects boxes. 5 What is Bare Root? The prices given in the Small Fruits, Fruit Trees, Shade and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Roses and Windbreak sections are for bare root plants. They are sold dormant, without soil on the roots, out of our cold storage building until mid-June. Bare root trees and shrubs can be planted as soon as the ground thaws in April through the first week of June. We have a selection of potted shrubs throughout the summer, but all trees including fruit trees are sold only in the spring. Earlier is better for bare root. We carefully wrap the roots for you and include detailed planting instructions with every bare root purchase. Why Bare Root? • Bare root trees rarely need staking. • Bare root trees and shrubs get established with less stress to the plant. • Bare root plants don’t need to be watered every day. Water them thoroughly at planting and then wait a while before watering again. • Bare root trees have been found to be less likely to blow over in a windstorm, even many years down the road. • Bare root plants are much easier to take home. We’ve sent home thirty apple trees in a Buick Le Sabre. Bare Root Replacement Policy Properly planted trees and shrubs are guaranteed to grow the first growing season. We do not guarantee over winter. We are happy to replace anything which did not thrive the first growing season. The Secret to Success with Bare Root Plants The roots must always remain glistening wet at all times. They're ok in the package for a few days as long as there is no air leakage, but once you open the package you should be paranoid. Take just one plant out at a time and leave the rest wrapped up tight. It's ok to put them in a bucket of water during the day of planting, but don't leave anything in water overnight. Instead, if you don't finish, put them back in the bag and tie it up tightly. 6 Contents Spring Seminars (Online only) & Hours 2 Peat, Mail, Bugs 3 The Bergeson Bunch 4 What is Bare Root? 6 Small Fruit 8 Fruit Tree Tips 10 Fruit Trees 11 Shade and Ornamental Trees 14 Elms for the Prairie 18 Apples We Love 19 Shrubs and Vines 20 Evergreens 25 Hedge & Windbreak 26 Secrets to Growing Roses 30 Roses 31 Visiting Bergeson Gardens 34 Fabulous Fertile! 35 Perennials 38 Annuals 59 Vegetables 68 Herbs 70 Map to Bergesons 71 7 Small Fruit Autumn Magic Aronia Golden Flowering Currant Fragrant flowers, edible and A vigorous, leggy shrub with nutritious berries for jam and golden blossoms in spring syrup, glossy foliage, and that have a delicious clove great fall colors on an fragrance. Black currants are upright shrub growing 3-4’ shiny and tasty. Grows 5-6’ wide and 4-5’ tall. tall. $25 #1: $18; 18-24” twig: $4 Millenium Asparagus Adams Elderberry A winter hardy F1 hybrid For pies, jam, and elderberry that has high yields and can wine. Great for wildlife. Very tolerate heavy soils. Higher aggressive growth; allow 8' proportion of male plants, height and width. Glossy which have larger spears. green foliage, white flowers, tiny purple berries. $5 per root $25 Nanking Cherry Gooseberry Needs more than one plant Hinnomaki Red - Bright red for pollination. A vigorous 6' berries that are tangy and shrub with white flowers in sweet. spring and small, tasty red Pixwell - the old standard. cherries. 2-3’ light: $5; 2-3’ hvy: $25 $22 Chokecherry Beta Grape Native to this area, growing The classic tart purple grape. into 10-15' trees. Spreads by Vigorous and hardy. Flavor is suckers. Black cherries for slightly different than King jelly, syrup, and wine. of the North but it’s hard to say exactly how. 3-4’: $12.50; 24”: $5 $20 American Cranberry Itasca Grape An important source of food for Sweet golden fruit can be birds. Can be used for jelly and used to make dry white syrup. An attractive 8-10' shrub wine. Zone 4, so hardy but with showy white blossoms in not as hardy as the purple the spring. Smaller size grapes. We’ll see. available in Windbreak section. $25 $20 Red Lake Currant King of the North Grape Big clusters of zingy-sweet Bears loads of tart purple red berries on a 4’ bush. grapes on a very vigorous, Vibrant flavor. Beautiful hardy, healthy plant. Would color for jellies and sauce. cover an arbor. $22 $20 8 Small Fruit Swenson Seedless Boyne Raspberry GrapeUltra-sweet, small, seedless The classic summer-bearing red grapes. Also called raspberry. Very hardy. Bears Somerset Seedless. We were on second year canes; cut pleasantly surprised at their out the dead canes each hardiness, although they can season. die back. $20 $6 Valiant Grape Caroline Raspberry Sweeter than other hardy Our current favorite purple grapes. Very hardy, raspberry. A fall-bearing, but less vigorous. Can get mow-down type. Huge, mold on the fruit and various flavorful berries. Vigorous foliar diseases. spreading plants. $20 $6 Honeyberry Bristol Black Raspberry Hardy and adapted to our Although black raspberries soil.