Plant of the Week: Emerald Envy® Viburnum

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

The Emerald City is on my mind right now because I'm headed to Seattle this week for the Association of Professional Landscape Designers International Design Conference. It should be a great time! If you're not going you might be green with envy...

The event gives me an excuse to talk about a really handsome Viburnum: Emerald Envy®. It's a very nice selection of Viburnum x rhytidophylloides (same species as 'Alleghany') with a dense, compact habit.                                                       

Emerald Envy®  Viburnum

Sure, Emerald Envy® has nice white flowers in spring, but the reason I like it is its rich green foliage. There's a bit of a sheen to the leaves that's quite enticing.

Emerald Envy®  Viburnum flowers

An appealing habit in a container is pretty great, too. Let's face it, many Viburnum look a little awkward in a pot. But Emerald Envy® is a plant that invites you to come and get a closer look at it.

Hardy to USDA Zone 6, this deer-resistant plant will grow 6-8' tall and adapt to either sun or part shade.

Another awesome plant geek event is happening next week, too!

There's a pretty amazing tour going on in August as part of the International Plant Propagators Society (IPPS). The IPPS Eastern Region Michigan Area Meeting is Thursday, August 8 at the Dow Gardens:

Here's the schedule:

• 9:00-9:30 - Registration with coffee and donuts. Meet in Visitor Center first.
• 9:30-9:45 - Welcome by Chuck Martin, Senior Horticulturist, Dow Gardens.
• 9:45- 11:30 - Tour of the Whiting Forest. The nation's longest canopy walk, orchard with over 75 varieties of apples, creek restoration project, and much more.
• 11:30-12:30 - Erik Runkle, Michigan State University Professor/Floriculture Extension Specialist will speak about supplemental lighting and the use of LEDs during propagation.
• 12:30-1:30 - Lunch break.
• 1:30-2:00 - Bob Kuszmaul, owner of D&B Plants, will speak about trends in the nursery/propagation industry.
• 2:00-4:00 - Tour of the Dow Gardens. Experience a dazzling 110 acre display of annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees punctuated by distinctive bridges, an award-winning children's garden, towering pines, and delightful water features.

But wait - there's more! For anyone who wants to stick around once the meeting ends, you and your family are invited to the home of IPPS-ER Board member and meeting organizer, Chuck Martin, for hot dogs and burgers along with yard games.

The cost of this fabulous event is just $35. Attendee family members may attend for $25 each to include admissions and lunch. Family road trip!

Note: You do not need to be a member of IPPS to attend. Students, interns and employees are welcome!

Register here by August 5.

Plant of the Week: Lollipop Malus

National Lollipop Day

Other than helping a bit with laryngitis, I don't think of lollipops as being very useful. They certainly have never satisfied my 4 pm chocolate craving.

But here's a Lollipop® that actually is useful: it's a truly dwarf crabapple tree. It was selected by the breeder because it maintains its neat habit and dwarf (8') form.

Lollipop® Malus is one of seven Proven Winners® ColorChoice® trees available now - with more to come in the future.

Lollipop® crabapple has loads of white flowers that will produce shiny red fruits in fall. Birds and wildlife love them.

This is a useful plant for formal mass plantings or as a well-behaved specimen. Homeowners often want assurances that a plant won't get "too big". Here's one that won't.

It will do best in full sun, and is hardy to USDA Zone 4 (AHS heat tolerance of 8).


Yes, National Lollipop Day is a thing, and it's happening on Saturday

I admit the timing seems a little off. Mid-July is when I'm looking for a frozen treat rather than room temperature candy. Still, I did think it was pretty great when the drive-through bank teller sent a lollipop to me when I was sweltering in the back of my parents' un-air conditioned, vinyl-seated Dodge Coronet.

You can make the day more meaningful by skipping the standard issue sucker and going for an artisan lollipop. I'm the driver now, and maybe I need to keep a stash of these in my air conditioned car for when I'm waiting for my kids to get out of practice.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles

Plant of the Week: Scentlandia® Itea

North America has some pretty cool plants. Native plants are popular for a lot of reasons, but sometimes it seems like the discussion misses the fact that they would be worthwhile plants even without the bonus of being native.

Itea virginica, or sweetspire, is one such plant. It has lovely fragrant flowers, is adaptable to wet soils and shade, and will reward you in fall with nice foliage color. Who wouldn't want that?

Scentlandia® Itea 

Scentlandia® Itea features exceptionally fragrant flowers and a compact (2-3') habit. Normally, the species can get up to 5' tall, so if you have a smaller space this dwarf selection will be a better fit. Note: Love fragrance? This native beauty made our Top Ten Fragrant Shrubs video.

Scentlandia® Itea fall color

While we consider it to be hardy to USDA Zone 5, it has shown better bud hardiness, which helps it flower better than generic members of the species after harsh winters. If you're toward the northern edge of its zone, you'll like that. Remember that Itea virginica flowers on old wood, so you don't want to prune it back in fall or winter.

Plant of the Week is written by Jane Beggs-Joles