November 22, 2016

Plant of the Week: Sicillian Sunshine™ sweet bay


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Thanksgiving is just a few days away. If you haven't already planned the menu and guest list, you'd better get busy. Whether you go with a traditional turkey or a Tofurkey, odds are you'll be using bay leaves in your feast.
 
Our Sicilian Sunshine™ sweet bay is an ornamental selection, but you can certainly use the colorful foliage in cooking, too.


Sicilian Sunshine™ Laurus has stronger and more consistent gold color than 'Aurea', and has attractive red petioles that add a little extra color to gardens. It grows 4-10' tall and will grow in full sun or partial shade.

This USDA 8 plant is really best in Mediterranean climates, so it's not an option for those of us in colder climates. We can enjoy it as a potted plant, though. Here's a great opportunity for anyone looking for something fun and new to sell at Thanksgiving. Ornamental gourds and chrysanthemums have been done to death, How about a cute little sweet bay plant instead?



How important are bay leaves, really?

They don't seem like much. When making your shopping list for Thanksgiving or any other feast you probably have your mind on other, flashier ingredients. For sure you don't want to forget the cranberries or the turkey/turkey substitute. And the bay leaf is something that when you're halfway through a recipe and find out someone put an empty herb jar back in the cupboard, you might not think it's worth making an emergency trip to the grocery store. After all, it's not like it's chocolate or something obviously vital to culinary success.

Ah, but it is. Here's a science-y look at why bay leaves are important to your recipe. If you don't mind a little profanity, here's a pretty funny bunch of testimonials for bay leaves.

And so now you're ready to get on the bay leaf train. Let's make something with bay leaves!

 
The only problem? You're out of bay leaves! Who was the jerk who put the empty spice jar back in the cupboard? Probably the same person who used up all of the good mustard and hid the container in the back of the fridge. If only someone would give you a sweet bay plant to put on your Thanksgiving table...

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

November 15, 2016

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.

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