Blazing Star Gardens

22/10/2026

The real MVP of this native shade garden is the Ivory Sedge that is laced between the woodland flowers—providing a seamless transition from lawn to garden and flower to flower.

In the spring, Wild Blue Phlox and Jacob’s Ladder bloom everywhere, providing beauty and pollinator value. In the summer and fall, the Ivory Sedge is a brilliant green mat while the spring shade flowers reduce in vigor.

There is a utilitarian role too—the Ivory Sedge shields the bare ground between flowers from w**d seeds, preventing the majority from touching the soil and germinating. Without grasses or sedges covering ground between flowers, w**d seeds have a chance to make soil contact and sprout. Conventional American gardens often fill this role with an annual layer of new mulch, but that is expensive and labor intensive.

We planted this part of our native garden with our 12-packs of plugs (72-cell trays) about 9-12” apart. Mulched first with 3” of free wood chips from a tree trimming company, then planted with a drill and auger. It takes a lot of plants to fill an area densely, which is why we usually recommend small plugs instead of pots, both to reduce labor and to keep a budget under control.

Ivory Sedge is the best of the best. We are happy to see it blow up in popularity! Parasol Sedge provides the same benefits for the sunny areas.

02/10/2026

3-DAY CLEARANCE SALE!

All remaining plugs 20-60% off!
Michigan Lily bulbs 50-pack for $87! (Ridiculously good deal)

Shipping only, Oct 6-9th.

See available plants at:
https://www.blazingstargardens.com/plants?availability=Available

30/09/2026

Stem cuttings are kind of like magic the first time you see them. Cut off a plant stem, stick it in soil, and it spontaneously sprouts roots!

A couple native plants don’t germinate easily, or seeds are not readily available at the quantity we need. For those species, we propagate with stem cuttings. Wild Blue Phlox is a good example: the seed is hard to harvest, hard to germinate, and rarely available commercially in quantities larger than a small packet. But it is one of the easiest natives to propagate with stem cuttings! Not all plants can be propagated this way.

Stem cuttings create a copy of the “parent”plant it was cut from. Because we want genetic diversity with native plants, and not identical clones of one or two plants (which is how they make cultivars), we take cuttings from a large number of parents plants and refresh the parent stock occasionally. For native plants going into gardens, it is a tradeoff.

Stem cuttings like these are used in all kinds of horticultural operations: tomatoes, annuals, perennials. Stem cuttings are slow and labor intensive, so we always prefer using seeds to propagate when possible.

Our cuttings process is pretty low-tech and effective:
1. Cut stems about 2 stem nodes down, usually with a small Fiskars micro shears
2. Stick them in a damp dibbled tray with regular potting soil
3. Lightly water with a Wonder Waterer
4. Put a dome on them in a shady area of the greenhouse (automatic misters without domes are less work to water, esp with a lot of trays, but take more work to set up and can cause issues if not set up well)
5. Lightly water under dome every 1-2 days
6. Remove dome when they are rooted enough to give a little resistance when pulling the cuttings out, usually after 2-3 weeks

25/09/2026

The Fall Clearance Sale continues!

128-cell tray of Ivory Sedge, only $70. Small plugs, but really nice plants, and super easy to plant. A great chance to cover a lot of ground. Make sure you use mulch. Only 11 trays available. They will ship out on Monday Sept 28th (arrive the 29th-Oct 2nd)

https://www.blazingstargardens.com/plants/p/ivory-sedge-carex-eburnea-native-plant-plugs-128-cell-tray

24/09/2026

Have you ever thought “I need a ridiculous amount of Path Rush for a shady groundcover that can handle foot traffic in poor soil”? Well, now’s your chance! We have a surplus if you have the demand.

Path Rush: $40/50-cell tray
Ivory Sedge: $60/50-cell tray

Order now for next week’s shipping!

17/09/2026

Join us this Saturday from 10am–1pm in Golden Valley to shop native flowers, grasses, and shrubs! See which plants we'll be bringing here:
www.blazingstargardens.com/native-plant-sale-availability-list

Blue Thumb Fall Native Plant Sale
Saturday, September 19 | 10am–1pm
Valley Community Presbyterian Church
3100 Lilac Dr. N, Golden Valley, MN

Fall is a great time to plant, with cooler temperatures and warm soil
helping plants establish strong roots before winter.

In addition to plant shopping from four native plant vendors, visitors can access free garden design resources from Blue Thumb and connect with local environmental organizations tabling at the event.

17/09/2026

I once heard another horticultural business owner say they don’t do spreadsheets. I couldn’t relate.

Google Sheets and Excel are the backbone of our inventory, pre-orders, and plant sales. From keeping an accurate inventory, to estimating sales forecasts, planning transplant lists, printing tags, and generating pivot tables for each pre-order fulfillment date–spreadsheets and formulas are essential to getting work done precisely and on-time. Conditional formatting helps us quickly identify shortages or surpluses across inventory columns.

Spreadsheets are a huge contributor to a work/life balance–being able to do the administrative and organizational work in a fraction of the time–the type of work that isn’t always easily delegable.

This video is a little misleading–after writing out a few inventory numbers by hand on the inventory printout, I switched over to taking inventory on the main Google Sheet on my phone, and did the entire inventory on there–it ended up being easier to use formulas to add multiples of trays together with partial trays that were in different locations in the greenhouse, ex. Butterfly Milkw**d 72-cell plugs =(72*3)+48+24 .

11/09/2026

Buy Plants at the Edina Wild Ones Plant Sale this Saturday from 10am - 1pm at Meetinghouse Church in Edina!

View our Plant Sale Availability List here:
https://www.blazingstargardens.com/native-plant-sale-availability-list

Meetinghouse Church
6200 Colonial Way
Edina, MN 55436

08/09/2026

Last call for Edina plant sale pre-orders! We are running low on inventory—especially 12-packs—and pre-orders are the best way to get the best plants. We will have a good supply of 3” pots available at the sale itself.

The Edina Native Plant Sale is this Saturday from 10am-1pm at Meetinghouse Church, 6200 Colonial Way, Edina, MN. See you there!

08/09/2026

Place your preorders now! We aren’t sold out yet but we are getting there!

Details for our September 19 Fall Native Plant Sale! 🍂🌼

⏰ The plant sale takes place from 10 AM - 1 PM on Saturday, September 19. The earlier you arrive, the more plants will be available. We will not admit anyone to the plant sale before 10 AM. Some of our nurseries are accepting pre-orders now!

🌟 We have some amazing organizations tabling at our sale this year! After you’re done shopping, pick up resources from Golden Valley Garden Club, City of Golden Valley, MN - Local Government, Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission, and Wild Ones Twin Cities, Minnesota.

☕ Arrive ready to be caffeinated! We are excited to have the incredible Càphin Mpls with their Vietnamese-inspired coffee and matcha drinks.

💧 There is also a water fountain onsite, so don’t forget to bring a water bottle and stay hydrated!

We’re just a few weeks away now! Plan your plant orders and learn more at https://bluethumb.org/fall-native-plant-sale/