Plant of the Week: Beyond Midnight Bluebeard

You know what's been looking really great in our garden these past couple of weeks? Beyond Midnight™ Caryopteris. It's Caryopteris season, of course, but this variety is especially appealing. The bees are all over it!

Beyond Midnight Caryopteris has extremely dark, glossy foliage, a compact habit, and rich blue flowers.

It has a particularly nice flower display, and unlike many other varieties, its foliage is quite attractive as well. It fits nicely into our border (2-2.5' tall and wide). Like other Caryopteris, Beyond Midnight™ will do best in full sun and well-drained soil. 

Caryopteris like Beyond Midnight are a favorite of pollinators.

Not a lot of good things happen after midnight. In fact, a lot of really bad decisions are made in the small hours of the morning. Check your Facebook feed or visit an all-night grocery store, and you'll see what I mean.

But this Sunday night we had the opportunity to see something really cool - a lunar eclipse. And not just any lunar eclipse: a Super Moon lunar eclipse!

Technically, the eclipse occurred before midnight; it started at 10:11 p.m. Eastern time. But I'm sure you will grant me a bit of poetic license with the Beyond Midnight™ tie-in because this was just too cool not to talk about. Maybe you stayed up beyond midnight talking about what you just saw. After all, there won't be another for eighteen more years.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles.

Plant of the Week: Gatsby Oakleaf Hydrangeas

Gatsby Gal oakleaf hydrangea

Hydrangea quercifolia (oakleaf hydrangea) is a wonderful native plant for North American gardens. With its distinctive texture, outstanding fall foliage and appealing summer flowers, it is a delightful addition to woodland gardens and other landscapes.

Gatsby Gal™ is a compact variety that is a good choice for smaller landscapes. It grows 5-6' tall and wide. If you have a little more room, consider Gatsby Moon™ (full, doubled flowers), Gatsby Star™ (distinct, star-like florets) or Gatsby Pink® (early pink color). They will all grow 6-8' tall. These are superstars for the fall landscape!

Gatsby Moon oakleaf hydrangea

Hydrangea quercifolia grow into USDA Zone 5, and will adapt to full sun or partial shade. They bloom on old wood, so just sit back and enjoy the rich fall foliage - don't prune them!

True confession: I did not enjoy reading The Great Gatsby.

Granted, it was in high school, and I should probably give it another try. But I just can't bring myself to do it. Perhaps because it seemed to be a novel about boring, selfish people and there are so many other books I actually want to read - why give a dud another try?

The Great Gatsby wasn't a success when it was released in 1925. Not until WWII did it gain popularity, eventually becoming prestigious enough to be assigned to surly high school students.

Gatsby Star oakleaf hydrangea

Hydrangea quercifolia also improves with age. To really appreciate the appeal of an oakleaf hydrangea, give it a few years in the ground. That sort of long-term thinking doesn't always work in our on-demand-just-in-time-fast-food world, but some things are worth waiting for. The intriguing texture and color of oakleaf hydrangea is one of them.

Perhaps I will give The Great Gatsby another try. After all, that next Game of Thrones book is taking a while to get here.

Gatsby Pink oakleaf hydrangea

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles.

Plant of the Week: Sky Pointer Japanese Holly

Sky Pointer® Ilex crenata is an improved version of the familiar 'Sky Pencil'. It is similar in habit to 'Sky Pencil', growing 4-5' tall and staying very narrow and strongly pyramidal. It's a great choice for adding year-round architecture to your garden and lends itself to a number of creative applications, from a unique accent in a perennial bed to contemporary container gardens. 

Hollies are versatile shrubs that look great year-round, but really steal the show come winter. Sky Pointer holly's shiny, dark evergreen leaves and tight, upright branching make this a must-have plant. 

Sky Pointer holly does well in full sun or part shade and is hardy to USDA Zone 6.

Award Winner: Jazz Hands® Variegated Loropetalum

One of our favorite new introductions for the southern market, Jazz Hands® Variegated Loropetalum, received a Retailer’s Choice Award.  A panel of independent garden retailers selected the best new products, both live goods and hard goods, for their stores at SNA 2015 and Jazz Hands® Variegated Loropetalum was among their selections.

And now just a few notes about this lovely plant.  For starters, it is the first ever variegated Loropetalum.  With its beautiful pink flowers and variegated foliage, it’s a real stunner in the garden!  I wish I could grow it in Michigan, but it's best in zones 7b-9b. This distinctive plant is just one of several Loropetalums in the new series introduced by Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Flowering Shrubs.  Others include Jazz Hands® Dwarf Pink, Jazz Hands® Dwarf White, Jazz Hands® Bold, and Jazz Hands® Mini. 

  

Plant of the Week: Orchid Satin Rose of Sharon

We've had a relatively hot, humid stretch of weather here in Michigan. Our friends in the deep South are laughing at our discomfort, but we're not used to 90°F. Plants can get cranky in the heat, too. One groups that seems to love it, though, is Hibiscus syriacus (rose of Sharon).

These tough plants will take heat, dry conditions, and general "we're on vacation" neglect and keep looking great. Orchid Satin® Hibiscus is one of our newer varieties. The beautiful flowers are not just for show; bees and butterflies love them, too. This new variety has the added advantage of being sterile, so you won't have pesky seedlings littering the landscape.

Like other Hibiscus syriacus, Orchid Satin rose of Sharon will do best in full sun and is hardy to USDA Zone 5. I've seen them growing further north but suspect that it is reseeding from year to year. You won't need to worry about that with a sterile variety like Orchid Satin, Azurri Blue Satin® or Sugar Tip® roses of Sharon. All have good deer-resistance.

This variety will grow 8-12' tall and wide. If you need something smaller, check out the Lil' Kim™ varieties, which stay 3-4' tall and wide.

Orchid Satin rose of Sharon is sterile.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles.