Plant of the Week: Sprinter® Buxus

Sprint to the end of the year!

You can do it! The winter solstice has passed, so the days will be getting longer. There's only a few days to go in 2016, and then we will have a fresh new year to enjoy.

 
Sprinter® Buxus gets its name from its fast growth. I realize that speed is relative (for plant growth, anyway); it's still a boxwood. But it will finish twice as fast as most other varieties. That's money in the bank.

Sprinter® boxwood is hardy to USDA Zone 5, and grows 2-4' tall and wide. It will grow in sun or shade, and like other boxwood, has excellent deer resistance.

Boxwood blight

Many of our customers are concerned about boxwood blight, and rightly so.

We're fortunate that boxwood blight has not been found in Michigan. Nevertheless, we are very aggressive about monitoring our nursery stock and maintaining good plant health hygiene. Keeping things clean helps keep things green.

Much of the country is not so lucky, and is dealing with the threat of boxwood blight. Here are some good references I have found:

1. Here is a good overview of boxwood blight.

2. Growing resistant cultivars is a good strategy. 

3. Decorating with boxwood is a holiday tradition in many regions. Use care in disposing of greenery used in this way. 

4. Our friends at Saunders Nursery have posted some well-written and sensible updates on the subject.

 

 

Plant of the Week: Anna's Magic Ball

Have a ball!

Here's a cute little plant for brightening your winter garden: Anna's Magic Ball™ Thuja occidentalis. It has bright golden evergreen foliage that holds its color well through the winter. It maintains its dense, globe-like habit without pruning, and is a great accent plant or low hedge.  

Anna's Magic Ball™ Thuja grows just 10-15" tall and wide (we can barely see it above our piles of lake effect snow). It is hardy to USDA Zone 3 and will grow in full sun or partial shade.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

Plant of the Week: Celtic Pride™ Microbiota decussata

 

Bring on the cold weather!

OK, so maybe we humans aren't super excited about cold weather and the ensuing heating bills, but some entities are. My dog, for one, loves winter. She's a Norwegian elkhound. Snow is her thing.

Some plants like it, too. Microbiota decussata is one of them. With a common name like Siberian cypress you'd expect it to like winter. And it does: it likes USDA Zone 2. Even my dog isn't that hardcore.

Celtic Pride™ Microbiota was selected for its superior disease resistance and excellent winter color. While the species will often develop unsightly tip die-back, this selection maintains nice healthy color.

With its soft, appealing texture and low-growing habit, this is a very nice plant for cold-climate landscapes. It's a good mass planting, and its tolerance of dry shade makes it a useful option. It's got good deer resistance, too! 

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

Plant of the Week: Soft Serve® Chamaecyparis

 

Ice cream in December?

It's OK if it's Soft Serve® (false cypress). This elegant plant has soft, fern-like evergreen foliage that is green on top and flecked with silver-blue on the underside. It's a beautiful specimen plant.

Soft Serve® Chamaecyparis is hardy to USDA Zone 5 and grows 6-10' tall. It will be grow in sun or partial shade, but if you're in a colder climate some protection from winter wind is a good idea.

Welcome to December!

Can you believe it? There's only one more month left in 2016, and it's a tough one.

The weather turns cold and the daylight disappears; these short days are hard for anyone who has evening activities or a dog who wants an evening walk.

 
So I'll be talking about evergreens this month. After all, December is when evergreens really earn their keep in the landscape. Both modern and ancient cultures bring evergreens inside at this time of the year; a bit of green in the dreary gray of winter is promise that the sun will come back.
 
Cupressaceae contains some popular genera, including Thuja, Chamaecyparis, and Microbiota. Here is a good slide show illustrating this group of plants. You'll need a break from all of the seasonal television specials; a few minutes of The Star Wars Holiday Special will have your kids begging for a lecture on the wonders of falsecypress.
Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

Plant of the Week: Invincibelle Mini Mauvette™ hydrangea

 

Purple rocks!

For a long time, Hydrangea arborescens came in any color you wanted, as long as it was white. Northern gardeners coveted the vibrant colors of Zone 5 H. macrophylla. And then they had pink! 

But once we had achieved one color we wanted another. So we are very happy to introduce Invincibelle Mini Mauvette™, a petite selection that pushes into new color territory. Its abundant flowers are a rich mauve-purple. The purple tones are most apparent in the buds, but the flowers have a more violet hue than pink varieties like Invincibelle® Spirit II.

 

After so much cheerful pink and wholesome white, I kind of like the moody hues of this new variety. Who says the Heartland can't have a little drama? Rest assured that while Mini Mauvette may have unusual color it has the same easy growth and reliable flowers as the other Invincibelle® hydrangeas.

Invincibelle® Mini Mauvette™ hydrangea grows 2.5-3' tall and wide and is hardy to USDA Zone 3. It likes full sun, where it will have the best flowering and richest flower color. It will grow in partial shade, especially in milder locations, but we really recommend full sun for northern climates.

The pink-mauve-purple flowers age to a very attractive green and pink, too, as shown above. 

The case for purple:

You have blue, but want pink. Or have pink, and want blue. I can't help you with politics, but hydrangeas I can do. Here's a quick reminder of how to change hydrangea flower color.

But what about purple? We were all reminded of what a great color it was when the world mourned Prince several months ago. I wrote a bit about Let's Dance® Rave™ hydrangea at that time. Now I'm telling you about a more cold hardy hydrangea that is also an intriguing shade of purple or mauve.

This is a fun plant for those of us in the margins of H. macrophylla territory. H. arborescens is a tough customer that can take a lot of abuse. Even those of you in milder climates will appreciate its adaptability to full sun. Your fancy bigleaf hydrangeas won't be happy in it, but our native smooth hydrangea does great in full sun. In fact, it will often have better flower color and production in full sun.

Plant of the Week: Laced Up® elderberry

 

Fastigiate Black Lace® elderberry

 

It's Halloween so it seems like a good time to highlight a plant with some Nightmare Before Christmas appeal. I could have gone with the obvious, like Ghost® weigela, but instead, I'd like to present a plant that Morticia Addams would covet: Laced Up

®

 Sambucus.

Imagine Black Lace

®

 Sambucus but narrow and columnar. Laced Up® elderberry has the same deeply cut, dark purple foliage and pink flowers as Black Lace®, but grows upright with an occasional twist to one side or the other. If you want a sedate, traditional silhouette, this is not the plant for you. But if you or a customer wants something really different from everything else in the neighborhood, Laced Up®  is your plant.

Laced Up® Sambucus nigra will grow 6-8' tall and 2-4' wide. It doesn't need pruning in production; its natural inclination is to grow vertically without much (any) branching. You can prune it as a young plant to get a couple of branches on it - they, too, will grow straight up. 

It will grow in full sun or partial shade, with more intense color in full sun. It is hardy to USDA Zone 4. Although not selected for its fruit production, it will produce black berries if planted near Black Lace® Sambucus.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles



Plant of the Week: Double Play® Candy Corn® Spiraea

 

Trick or treat!

Ah, candy corn. Personally I think it's a waste of refined sugar. I'll take sour gummy worms over the overly sweet little pseudo-kernels of corn any day. But each to his own, I suppose.

I do, however, like Double Play® Candy Corn™ Spiraea. This plant's name really captures its color transformation: the colors of the actual candy are completely artificial, but the plant's hues are 100% natural and gluten-free.

 
It begins with fire engine red spring leaves, then matures to pineapple yellow. The new growth is orange red. If that's not enough for you, the flowers are dark magenta-purple.  All of that color, and in something as adaptable as a spirea! What a treat!

Double Play® Candy Corn™ Spiraea japonica grows 1.5-2' tall and wide. Like other spireas, it is very adaptable and deer resistant. It will grow in full sun or part shade, and is hardy to USDA Zone 4.
 
If you're looking for something with a little less flash, consider one of the more sedate members of the Double Play® series. Truthfully, all were selected for their outstanding foliage and flowers, so none of them is a wallflower. But Double Play® Pink and Double Play® Red spireas have more of a burgundy spring flush and darker summer color (although their flowers are outrageous!). The most subtle one in the group is Double Play® Blue Kazoo, which is a completely different color palette: cool blue green foliage and white flowers.
Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

Perfecting the Outdoor Experience

More and more people are bringing the party to their patios with expanded greenspace, elaborate firepits, and adding outdoor entertaining space...me included.  I spend more time in my backyard and patio than anywhere in the house.  There's also been a recent resurgence of backyard games like horseshoes, cornhole, yard jenga, can jam, and several others.   Because of these trends, the backyard has become the hangout spot for my family and friends.  I've realized that I need more patio friendly plants that shine out in the evening so my guests and I can enjoy my garden well after dark.  Here's a few ideas that I'm planning to put in my gardens that will shine all night long. 

Sugar Shack® Buttonbush
Cephalanthus occidentalis 'SMCOSS' USPP 26,543, Can 5,124 | USDA 4 | AHS 10 | Part Sun – Sun | 3 -4’ tall and wide

Buttonbush has long been prized as a native, but it was way too big for most landscapes. Not anymore! We've cut the size in half and added colorful red fruit and glossy foliage. Add in cool looking, fragrant white flowers and you've got a delightful plant that shines from spring to fall and all night long! 

 

Sonic Bloom® Pearl weigela
Weigela florida 'Bokrasopea' pp#24585; cbr#4598 | USDA 5 | AHS 8 | Part sun to sun | 4-5’ tall and wide

Sonic Bloom^® Pearl is a humdinger of a weigela!  Sonic Bloom plants have the strongest reblooming seen on weigela, blooming in May and reblooming until frost. The flowers open pure white with a yellow throat and then change to pink

Bloom-A-thon White Reblooming azalea Rhododendron
Rhododendron x 'RLH1-3P3' USPP 21,512 | USDA 6 | AHS 9 | Part sun to sun | 2.5-3’ tall and wide

Large flowers appear in April, then rebloom in early July, continuing through fall until hard frost. Even high summer temperatures don't stop this enchantress from producing loads of late summer and fall flowers.

Jazz Hands Dwarf White loropetalum
Loropetalum chinense 'Hakuou' PPAF | USDA 7b | AHS 9 | Part sun to sun| 1-3’ tall, 3’ wide

Here's one for my southern friends...I wish I could grow it in Michigan!  It has rich, dark green leaves and large pure white flowers that burst forth in spring. It is a repeat bloomer that flowers sporadically all summer long. Its dwarf habit makes it a good fit for residential landscapes and container gardens. 

Plant of the Week: Pearl Glam Callicarpa

Rock star Callicarpa

When you do one thing, you need to do it really well. If you're a beautyberry, that means producing outrageous ornamental berries.

 

But what if we set our expectations a little higher? I'd like my shoes to be both comfortable and stylish, and I'd like my Callicarpa to have something going on other than fall fruit.

We ask, and plant breeders deliver. Pearl Glam™ (above) and Purple Pearls® Callicarpa (below) have extravagant purple fruit and purple foliage. Pearl Glam has slightly darker foliage, but Purple Pearls® has distinctive pink flowers. These are rock stars where other callicarpa are mere pop singers.
Both are hybrids (C.dichotoma x C.kwangtungensis) and so a little hardier than Callicarpa americana; they will go into USDA Zone 5. They will do best in full sun, and grow 4-5' tall and wide.

These fast growing plants have good deer resistance, and are a nice addition to gardens that need some fall interest without attracting deer.

 
In addition to their exceptional berry display and unusual foliage color, these new varieties have an appealing upright habit that looks good in a container.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

Plant of the Week: Low Scape® Mound Aronia

Get the low down!
Let's say you want a small plant. Something that is good for mass plantings. You'd like it to look good in spring when shoppers are in the garden center, so some flowers on its compact habit would be nice. And you want something adaptable: cold, warm, wet, dry, sun, part-shade - everything. Fall color would be nice, too. Your customers are interested in native plants, so if we can manage that and good deer resistance it would be great.

Done. We are happy to present Low Scape® Mound Aronia melanocarpa. It meets all of these criteria, and looks great doing it.

Low Scape® Mound grows 1-2' tall and 2' wide. If you want something a little taller, check out Low Scape® Hedger. It's the perfect size for (you guessed it) hedges. Although Low Scape® Mound Aronia will produce black fruit in summer, Low Scape® Hedger doesn't really fruit. These are ornamental selections: if you are looking for fruit production, 'Viking' is your plant.

Both are hardy to USDA Zone 3 and will grow in full sun or partial shade. 

The case for an ornamental Aronia:

Aronia melanocarpa, or black chokeberry, is a really useful and interesting plant. It's attractive, too.

That last bit is important. For a long time it seemed that A. melanocarpa breeding was focused on fruit production. A worthy goal, to be sure. Aronia is a valuable fruit crop option for cold climates. There are some Midwestern farmers who are getting in on the next big thing and growing Aronia for making jelly and wine. Birds like it, too, which helps its case as a good plant for naturalizing.

But it has some really strong ornamental qualities, too. Spring flowers, summer fruit and fall color give it multi-season appeal. As interest grows in using native species for landscapes, it's great to have some new options. Am I the only person out there who is sick and tired of 'Gro-Low' Sumac? (OK, it's fine, but really, let's move on.)

For an elegant argument in favor of Aronia, check out this article from the Arnold Arboretum. It's full of practical observations about the plant as well as a play-by-play of Aronia nomenclature drama. Not my thing, but the taxonomists among you will appreciate it. It certainly beats watching the Detroit Lions.

 

Plant of the Week: Gatsby™ Series Hydrangeas

The Great American Hydrangea

When presented with a group of outstanding Hydrangea quercifolia, we felt strongly that our native hydrangeas deserved a name that reflected their heritage. That's how we came to call them Gatsby™ hydrangeas. 

They all have exceptional flower displays and robust fall color. They also perform well as container grown plants. Oakleaf hydrangeas have typically fared better as field grown plants than container grown ones, but these varieties shape up nicely (but go for a 3 gallon or larger).

Gatsby Pink® oakleaf hydrangea (shown right) has very showy blooms that quickly transform to rich pink. Gatsby Moon™ hydrangea has very densely packed panicles that are almost mophead-like in appearance, yet hold up very well on sturdy stems. Gatsby Star™ has a lacier look with crisp, star-shaped florets. All of these plants will grow 6-8' tall and wide.

If you need something a little more compact, check out Gatsby Gal™ H. quercifolia (Shown at top). She grows just 5-6' tall and wide.

 

All of the oakleaf hydrangeas will grow in full sun to partial shade and are hardy to USDA Zone 5.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

Plant of the Week: Brandywine™ Viburnum

Fabulous in Fall!

It's officially fall, and I'm very happy.

I love fall. I love the crisp air, the bright colors, and the dead ragweed. And I love Brandywine™ viburnum.

 
I'm not alone in my fondness for this plant. Our very own Plant Hunter, Tim Wood, wrote a nice tribute to it on his blog. While any Viburnum nudum is delightful, Brandywine™ is particularly nice because it doesn't need a pollinator to produce the showy fall fruit that I need to have. You need them, too.

Brandywine™ is hardy to USDA Zone 5, and grows 5-6' tall and wide. It will grow in full sun or partial shade, and has good deer resistance.

 
Although Brandywine™ is perfectly happy on its own, it is also a good pollinator for 'Winterthur', which does need a companion plant to produce fruit.

An autumn delight.

One of the nicest plants for the autumn landscape is Viburnum nudum. It's nice all season, actually, with white flowers in spring and shiny foliage all summer long. But fall is when this plant really gets its groove on.

That classy green summer foliage transforms into rich burgundy, and the white flowers of spring have been replaced by the showiest berry display this side of the American Pie Council. Yes, there really is such a thing, and they take their blueberry pie seriously. 

While you can't eat these berries, your bird friends will. The fruits range from pink to blue to blue-black, and you may have all three colors on your plants at the same time.

This is a lovely native plant that adds a lot to the fall landscape. And doesn't your fall landscape deserve something spectacular? Summer gets all of the attention, but let's face it, fall is when many of us can enjoy our yards.

 
The bugs are gone, the temperature is just right for puttering about or even relaxing with a good book. The kids aren't bothering you because they're busy with homework. You deserve something this lovely in your garden. It will help to distract you from the powerful language your spouse uses while watching football. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, enjoy fall!
 
Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

GWA Annual Conference & Expo

What a trip! 

This year's Garden Writers Association Annual Conference & Expo was held in Atlanta.  It was a busy conference full of education, garden tours, and of course, lots of plant talk! 

As always, it was pleasure catching up with everyone throughout the conference and particularly in the exhibit hall.  Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Flowering Shrubs had several new varieties on display.  I'd have to say the crowd favorites were Pearl Glam™ Beautyberry Callicarpa and Purple Pillar™ Rose of Sharon Hibiscus.


The garden tours were amazing...even in the rain!  The Atlanta Botanical Garden was my favorite. Lots of unique and inspiring gardens throughout the grounds and the catwalk was pretty cool too!  

We also toured several private residences and one stuck out, largely because my other passion, midcentury design.  The house and the gardens complemented each other so well. 

Thank you to the GWA board and committees for their hard work to make this event a success.  Next year's conference and expo is in Buffalo, NY from August 4-7...mark your calendars!

Plant of the Week: Tiny Wine® Physocarpus

Ninebark is awesome!

Tiny Wine® Gold Physocarpus is just what its name implies. Tiny Wine®...but with yellow foliage. Like the original Tiny Wine ninebark, it is a compact plant with fine texture and good mildew resistance.

Physocarpus is best in full sun, and does like to have good air circulation. This variety will grow 3-5' tall and wide, and is hardy to USDA Zone 3. Tiny Wine® Gold is a heavy blooming plant that is very showy right when customers are in the garden center.

Ninebark is a tough, durable, native plant, and I'm really happy that it has become a popular plant for gardens and landscapes. If you've got a site that's sunny and windy, give it a try!

Story ideas: 
Dwarf shrubs
Native plants
Cut flowers
Disease resistant plants

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

 

Plant of the Week: 'Miss Molly' Buddleia

 

Good Golly!

 

'Miss Molly' is one of the compact, colorful butterfly bush varieties developed by Dr. Dennis Werner of NCSU. Her sister plants include 'Miss Ruby', 'Miss Violet' and 'Miss Pearl' - all delightful and well-mannered.

 

We love these non-invasive varieties. They have nice, well-behaved habits and are covered with vibrant blooms. When other plants are exhausted by summer's heat, these varieties add exuberant color and fragrance to gardens. 

'Miss Molly' has the reddest flower we've ever seen on a Buddleia, although that red color is most pronounced in southern climates. It is a non-invasive cultivar, and is permitted for sale in Oregon.

 

It grows 4-5' tall and wide and is hardy to USDA Zone 5. Like all Buddleia, it will grow best in full sun and well-drained soil. 

 

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

 

 

 



Plant of the Week: Spilled Wine® Weigela

You've heard of Wine & Roses® Weigela, I'm sure. How about Spilled Wine®? It has all the color (darker, actually) of the original, but is smaller. Wider than it is tall, this is an excellent landscape plant that makes a great mass planting. Spilled Wine® Weigela is a more vigorous plant with better flowering than its sister Midnight Wine® Weigela. It gets larger at maturity, and will fill out a container faster, too. All of these dark leafed weigelas will grow best in full sun. That's where you will get the best foliage color and most abundant blooms. Spilled Wine® Weigela is hardy to USDA Zone 4, and gets 2-3' tall and 3' wide. Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

Plant of the Week: Lo & Behold® 'Pink Micro Chip'

Lo & Behold - it's so tiny! Lo & Behold® 'Pink Micro Chip' is the smallest plant in the Lo & Behold® series. Indeed, it is a tiny little thing - just 1.5-2' tall and wide. 

It produces an abundance of little lavender-pink blooms in summer, flowering from summer to fall. Like the other plants in the Lo & Behold® series, it is a non-invasive cultivar, and is one of a handful of Buddleia varieties permitted for sale in Oregon. It is hardy to USDA Zone 5, although we recommend a good layer of mulch to protect it in colder climates.

What do you do with such a tiny buddleia?
It's just not what we're used to. Kind of like one of those little teacup chihuahuas. Technically, it's a dog, but it's hard to think of it like you would a German shepherd.
And you shouldn't. You wouldn't take your lapdog for a five mile run; you shouldn't plant this little Buddleia in the back of the perennial border. Plant it up front where you can see it. Just as the chihuahua is a nice little dog for folks in apartments, Lo & Behold® 'Pink Micro Chip' is a great choice for patio gardens.

Like chihuahuas, the Lo & Behold® butterfly bushes are kind of fun in groups. Plant a bunch of them as a mass planting or ground cover. They'll flower all summer long. These plants will force you to rethink how you use Buddleia in the landscape.

Lo & Behold® Buddleia and chihuahuas have one more thing in common; they need some help to make it through winter. We recommend planting Lo & Behold® varieties early in the season so they have plenty of time to establish before cold weather comes. It's important that they have good drainage, too, Cold, wet winters are tough on them.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles