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