The Pink Flowering Almond is an old time spring bloomer. Simple cherry blossom-like flowers in April cover the branches. They grow to 5 to 6 feet tall and wide. They enjoy full sun to partial shade. I would use this as a backdrop plant because after it blooms it’s a plain green shrub and pairs well summer bloomers like daylilies, spirea, salvia, barberry or panicle hydrangeas.
Diana Clare Lungwort is a afternoon shade loving perennial that can brighten up shady areas with it’s frosted green leaves. It’s doesn’t grow very tall about 1 foot. This allows it to go in front of Japanese Maples, Hydrangeas or Hinoki Cypress. In spring it blooms a rich blue blooms adding another level of interest.
This week the nursery is starting to come alive with foliage and flower color!
Evening Star Superbells is a mounding type of Million Bells that has a wonderful color combo of purple and yellow. I have been very impressed by the “Punch” series of Superbells that I think the “Star” series will do just as well. This annual is great for spilling out of pots with blooms all summer long. You also don’t have to trim them unless you have a water oops. Just remember to water and fertilize regularly. Great for planters in all day sunny spots.
The Scarlet Storm Quince aka Double Take Scarlet is a thornless, fruitless quince that in April gives you these wonderfully deep red blooms. They grow to about 4 to 5 feet tall and wide. Quince due well in as little as 4 hours of sun to all day sun. The red covers the branches of last year growth, so don’t prune them until after the annual show to maintain size.
This week I feature two Magnolia trees that bloom in April with great color! Magnolias in our area prefer full sun but some wind protection. Neighboring mature trees, houses, or other buildings work great to shield them from hot summer wind from the south to west. Magnolia are not drought tolerant, they prefer to be watered regularly. They also prefer to be fed regularly with a fertilizer for acid loving plants like a Rhododendron fertilizer.
Black Tulip grows to 15 to 20 feet tall and 6 to 10 feet wide. It has large dark burgundy, tulip shaped flowers that begin in early spring before the leaves. It’s smaller habit works well in smaller yards that need some spring impact!
Felix Jury Magnolia grows to 16 to 22 feet tall and 5 to 7 feet wide. It boasts 12 inch wide blooms of hot pink. Another tree that would work well small spaces that need lots of spring color!
This week’s featured plants shine bright all winter long providing color when there is not. Both of these handle full hot sun!
Winter Sun Pine is a type of mugo that reaches 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. In the warmer months it’s a standard pine green but come winter it’s an electric yellow. It’s very cold hardy and tough to handle our hot summers. Winter Sun Pine works well for along a fence or house corner for a winter focal point. This would work well with redtwig dogwoods, or blue spruces for winter interest.
Golden Sword Yucca are great for hot sunny spots. They get 3 to 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide. White bell shaped flowers appear in the late spring. The yellow variegated blades pair well with russian sage, lavender, ornamental grasses, red barberry or mugo pines.
The snow is gone and here somethings that are in bloom! Helebores prefer afternoon shade (12 to 5) to all day shade. They enjoy alkaline soils making our area very welcoming to them. These perennials flower from January to March, this year of course it was March to April. Helebores are great for in front of Hostas Hydrangeas, Hinoki Cypresses and Rhodies. They also contrast Hostas and Coral bells well too with their dark green foliage. Maintenance for them is easy. Simply fertilize, cut out spent blooms and remove older leaves.
Camelot is pink one that reaches 12 to 15 inches tall and 20 inches wide. It starts with pink buds and opens to pink cream.
Double Fantasy is a double white that grow to 8 to 12 inches and 16 inches wide. The clean white is striking.
Here is a video from Garden Answers going over Helebores.
The Lil’ Kim Rose of Sharon is a dwarf version of the high blooming plant reaching only 3 to 4 tall! Like other Rose of Sharon they need lots of heat grow and bloom so full sun spots are great. They flower from July to September. This would be great as a foundation plant under windows or to add color to boxwood hedges in a nice pattern.
The Contorted Filbert is a non fruit bearing Filbert that is most know for it’s twisted branches in the winter. They grow 8 to 10 feet tall and wide. They can handle full to part sun. I like to use the Contorted Filbert as a backdrop for perennials and smaller flowering shrubs. Once fall happens it’s time for the Contorted Filbert to take the stage. You can also trim the branches to use for craft or floral projects.
It’s hard to believe it is March 11th with all the snow on the ground and Feb like temps. Usually, we would be unpacking the nursery from winter but right now we are working on signage and organizing things before spring hits. Once spring hits, we will be working quickly to welcome it! Here is some flower color to help push spring along.
The Supertunia Vista Fuchsia Petunia is like it's hot pink cousin Bubblegum, featured a couple of weeks ago. The only difference is the deeper pink color. Like Bubblegum you feed it, water it, and you will be rewarded with continuous blooms as well no need for deadheading. Vista Fuchsia is a mounding petunia that grows to about 12 inches tall and up to 3 feet wide. Vista Fuchsia grows well in the ground or in pots. It loves sun and our heat too! You can plant this with Bubblegum and enjoy a wonderful show all summer long.
Saint Patrick Rose is green to light yellow rose that seemed fitting to mention for St. Patrick’s Day! It is a long stem rose (Hybrid Tea) that flowers through summer with a deadheading every couple of weeks. It grows to about 4 to 5 feet tall and prefers at least six of hours of sunlight. Being a light yellow in the heat of summer they can fade to white quickly but the color holds well in temps below 90 degrees. This color plays well with purple or dark pink flowering plants like lavender, salvias, garden phlox or spirea for a nice contrast.
The Golden Ruby Barberry is a dwarf barberry with coral orange foliage. It gets two feet tall and wide without trying to be rangy like it’s fellow cousins. Golden Ruby can handle being in sun or shade spots but it’s color is best when it gets at least 6 hours of sun. I like to use it for a border plant to contrast perennials and larger shrubs. It also fits in tight spots that are now wider than 3 feet.
Gold Finger Potentilla is an old favorite for places that have lots of heat, sun and not the best soils. Gold Finger keeps to about 3 feet tall and wide. Flowers in summer with deep yellow blooms. Though it can get rangy over time, these plants can handle a lot of and are easy to care for. I like to use these in desert landscapes or less formal design that needs something colorful and tough. To keep them from getting rangy I like to prune them hard every three years to encourage new branching in late Feb/March. Potentillas play nice with perennial salvia and lavenders.
I wanted to share the two most popular plants that we took to Regional Home and Garden Show.
The Pink Dawn Viburnum is one of the best “Welcome Spring” plants there are on the market. For it is a tough plant that can take full sun to part shade, handle wind and our cold temperatures. Pink Dawn Viburnum grows to 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide. In late winter to early spring it flowers fragrant soft pink blooms. They almost remind one of lilacs. In fall, their green leaves turn to a rusty red. I like to use this plant as a height and surrounded by summer flowering perennials. You can also use it for privacy screening by a patio to take advantage of the fragrance.
The Blue Short Needle Japanese White Pine attracted people at the Home Show because of it’s blue-green foliage and irregular shape. It grows to 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide. It doesn’t grow fast which allows it to be used in smaller spots that can’t have full size pine growing there. They enjoy full sun to part shade conditions and enjoy well drained soils. It would work great to serve as a backdrop to perennials and shrubs while providing year round interest.
These two featured plants are summer bloomers that don’t show well in winter; but I’m tired of the snow and wanted to share some color.
The Supertunia Vista Bubblegum is an annual that is very easy to care for. Feed it, water it, and you will be rewarded with continuous hot pink blooms. One plant fills a big pot all by itself. I was impressed with how well this plant did in my own planters. I didn’t have to deadhead spent blooms or trim it. Vista Bubblegum is a mounding petunia, so it is more ideal for grand filler statements. It gets about 12 inches tall and up to 3 feet wide. It loves sun and our heat too!
Neil Diamond is a striped Hybrid Tea, one bloom per stem. The pink/red with white stripes pattern varies from bloom to bloom. It reaches 5 ft tall and resists disease very well. Like other roses it starts flowering in May and goes until it gets cold like October/November. Roses are easy care for if you: give them space, plant them in sunny spots, feed them and then don’t water them on a nightly basis. It’s really that simple with roses in our area or at least that’s what my roses get. If you prune out spent blooms on Hybrid Teas at least monthly, it promotes more blooms.
The Ivory Halo Dogwood is a great plant for winter interest whether it’s snowy or not; with it’s bright red stems. They grow to about 6 feet tall and wide. You can keep them in check with shearing if the space doesn't allow for it. Ivory Halo works well in full sun, as long as it gets plenty of water. The leaves during the growing season are medium green with white edges. This allows it to contrast plants like roses, pines, ninebarks and weigela. It can handle a wide range of soil conditions from being on a drip system to being on a river bank with saturated soil. Ivory Halo is great for parts of the yard that are always wet. Ivory Halo would be glad to take up the water.
It’s so fuzzy! The Tiger Eyes Sumac is a yard friendly cutleaf sumac that looks like antlers in the winter; including having the velvet. It reaches 6 feet tall and wide. Tiger eyes leafs out in the spring with yellow to chartreuse green leaves. It's shape and texture resembles a Japanese Maples; but Tiger Eyes enjoys our hot summers. The only complaint that is tries to colonize but if you pull up the suckers keeps it in check. Enjoy the fall colors of oranges and red for a grand finale to the growing season.
Yellow Trumpet Vine is great for when you need yellow summer flowers that attract pollinators. The Trumpet Vine is aggressive so it does need to be kept in check with frequent trimming. Yet, if you need a narrow privacy screen this one works for it provides a thick foliage screen. It enjoys full sun and likes water. Don’t give it too much nitrogen to help keep it in check. Otherwise enjoy the flowers in the summer time.
The Green Spiral Fir is a small weeping tree, it provides a rich green color to the landscape with great texture. It gives the appearance that the needles spiral out of the trunk. It can handle full sun but needs to have consistently moist soil. Green Spiral reaches 25 feet tall and 15 feet wide with a mounding habit. Use this plant as a focal point and mix with dwarf Hydrangeas, daylilies or bee balm.
Hot and Cold Hot Poker is a hot and dry loving plant. It enjoys full sun and doesn’t mind being in hot gravel. The orange to cream torch flowers appear throughout the summer with deadheading. The flowers also attract pollinators really well. Hot and Cold reaches to 2 to 3 feet tall and wide with the torch flowers rising above grass like foliage. Red Hot Pokers play well with lavenders, yarrows, sumacs and junipers.
This week features plants that show well on cloudy winter days! We even took these photos on a cloudy day to show off their glow.
Goshiki False Holly is a medium shrub for afternoon shade spots. It grows 3 to 5 feet tall and wide. The leaves emerge pink, then tune green with splashes of yellow. Goshiki prefers well drained soils so it will go well with azaleas, rhododendrons and astilbes. It works great in small areas and can be trimmed easily to keep in check.
Chollipo Euonymus is a sun loving yellow variegated plant that grows to 12 feet tall and 6 feet wide. It can be used where you need a vertical height and for darker spaces. Chollipo can handle part shade to full sun spots. Like the Goshiki it prefers well drained soil, to be regularly watered and fertilized. Also trim to keep it in bounds if needed.
The Black Hills spruce is a smaller growing, tough spruce that doesn’t have as sharp of needles as the Colorado Spruce. It’s green color makes a nice specimen for Christmas lights. They grow to 35 to 40 feet tall and 15 to 20 feet wide. It handles all of our area’s landscaping quirk of sun, heat, cold and soil pH.
The Midnight Rose Coral Bells is a dark purple variety with flecks of hot pink that stand out in shade gardens. Coral bells prefer afternoon shade in our area (noon to 5) and would prefer to have well drained soil. In spring it flowers white. Midnight Rose Coral Bells with their dark foliage contrasts well against bright green foliage to yellow foliage plants like hostas, hydrangeas, or astilbes.
The Weeping Norway Spruce is a classic, durable weeping evergreen for the Tri-Cities. It handles full sun to part shade, our range of temps from summer to winter and our soils with ease. The Weeping Norway Spruce is also flexible to how you train it. You can twist it, train it upward, or let it creep along the ground. The versatility is endless. It’s mature spread is 6 to 10 feet.
The Fiji Rose of Sharon is for full sun spots and has a long bloom season. The pink/white blend stands out well whether it’s a sunny day or in moonlight. This plant is available as a shrub for privacy or accent as well as a small “tree” for focal points. It grows to about 10 to 12 feet tall and six feet wide. The more sun it gets the better for it needs heat to bloom like it’s cousin the dinner plate Hibiscus. Keep it well fed and hydrated so Fiji won’t disappoint.
Angel Falls White Pine is a weeping pine with blue green foliage. It’s needles are soft to the touch versus the spiny feel of the Austrian Pines. The blue green foliage lends itself to contrasting red, dark green, or yellow leafed plants. The Angel Falls mature size depends on how tall you train it. 12 to 15 feet would be the tallest it grows upward if trained. Training Angel Falls upright is simple, you tie it to a bamboo stake, move the stake upward and retie as needed. The flexibility of training the plant lends itself well to focal points near the corner of the house, blank walls or corner where something tall is needed. Angel Falls prefers at least 6 hours of sunlight.
Whipcord Western Red Cedar is a dark green mop-head evergreen. This one is just cool when put in the yard. It breaks away from the standard upright globe shaped plants. The dark green plays well with different shrubs and perennials. It also enjoys full sun (at least six hours) and moist but well drained soils. Whipcord grows to about 4 to 5 feet tall and wide.
The Baby Blue Eyes Spruce is a dwarf Colorado Blue Spruce that reaches 20 to 30 feet tall and 10 to 15 feet wide. It’s slow growing, so it takes awhile to that large. It enjoy a wide range of soil conditions and like the rest of the Colorado Spruce family they do very well here. Our sunny weather actually bring out the blue color! It’s great to use for bird cover, Christmas lights and focal points.
Sheila’s Perfume rose is a delightful Floribunda Rose (flowers in clusters). It grows to about 4 feet tall and wide. It’s blooms resemble a Hybrid Tea in form and size. Sheila also isn’t prone to powdery mildew but it’s still best to not water her going into the night and making sure she has at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. Sheila has a strong fragrance which is nice to enjoy in the garden or in a bouquet.
The Variegated Alaskan Cedar is an evergreen tree that gives a yard texture, height accents, or just a good block. The foliage is dark green with a smattering of yellow needles. This tree grows to about 20 to 30 feet tall and 12 to 15 feet wide, making it a small tree. They can handle fun sun, though strong winds when it’s over 90 can lightly burn the yellow.
Onyx Flamingo Hydrangea is a type of big leaf hydrangea that loves afternoon shade in our hot summers. The pale pink bloom clusters is striking when compared to both the black stems and the dark green foliage. It grows to 3 to 4 feet tall and wide. It also blooms on new and old wood, so now matter how bad winter is, you will still have blooms. If you would like a pale blue version of this, just treat the soil with sulfur, G&B Acid Planting Mix or Aluminum Sulfate to acidify the soil.
Both of these two perennials featured this week are for afternoon shade to total shade spots of the yard. They both enjoy moist soils and have great foliage texture to provide the entire growing season with color.
Firework Rodersia reminds me of something you would see out of Jurassic Park. The large leaf and deep texture would be ideal for craft projects. It grows to about 3 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide. In late spring early summer it flower fine pink clusters. The real reason to plant this is the green with bronze edged foliage that contrasts hydrangeas, hinoki cypress or japanese maples.
Praying Hands Hosta is a dwarf hosta that has twisted green foliage. It has this gorgeous golden yellow fall color seen above. It grows to about 14 inches tall and about 2 feet wide. It can be a border plant to a shade garden or a stand alone feature in a bed that is small in stature. Praying Hands is also resistant to slugs!
