Category Archives: Plant Profiles

Plant profile x 2

Two very fun berry producing bushes are in the spotlight this time around in Plant Profile; snowberry  symphoricarpos albus and beautyberry (callicarpa dichotoma ‘Early Amethyst ‘).

From early  September and into November a lot of what makes my garden interesting revolves around the seed distribution mechanisms of many plants; the fruit of apples, pears, crabapples, cool looking seedpods of baptisia and woodland peonies, prickly seed heads of coneflowers, clematis  and black eyed susans , rose hips and the seed bearing berries of hollies, viburnums, dogwoods and the two shrubs featured today , beautyberry and snowberry.

Snowberry, or symphoricarpos albus, is a suckering native shrub and although it can be easily overlooked in spring and summer  is a can’t- be- missed  highlight starting in late August. This shrub is absolutely humming with pollinators all through June, July, and August  because it is smothered in tiny bell shaped pink flowers that are a great nectar source for bees and wasps. The berries form in late summer and early fall and will adorn the bush well into the winter as they are favored by grouse and ignored by most other birds until the robins return and devour them in spring019. This tough shrub can tolerate poor soils and drought, even thriving under mature oaks. It will grow  to be about 3-5 feet tall with a similar spread, and given its suckering habit is perfect for embankments and other tough garden situations. I grow not only this species , but also symphoricarpos x doorenbosii ‘Amethyst’ which produces coral-pink berries. “Amethyst’ is a far less vigorous  grower but the berry color is so lovely .028 008 (2)Both make superb additions to late season flower arrangements.020

The second shrub ,beautyberry (callicarpa dichomata)is one you would be very familiar with if you have ever heard my presentation  “Shrubs for Year Round Interest” as I tend to gush about it and may have even called it my favorite on a few occasions ( pssst ! don’t tell the other shrubs!) .

Just like snowberry, this shrub is covered along it’s branches with tiny flowers all summer long and frequented by many winged pollinators. Unlike snowberry, the beautyberry is a very well rounded and well mannered plant. I cut my beautyberry back to about a foot tall in the very early spring just like I would  a butterfly bush ( buddleia) or blue mist shrub ( caryopteris) because many times here where it is so cold there will be winter die back and even if there is not it flowers better on new wood (and the shape is better too). VERY quickly the shrub will form a lovely mounded form topping out at 3-4 feet and proceed to flower profusely.

014These flowers turn into , for lack of a better word, electric purple colored berry clusters that generally remain on the bush right through leaf drop and through the first few snowfalls. There is NOTHING in the gardening world as colorful and wonderful beautyberries in the snow.imagesCAQQ5LZI imagesCA8ILEQ4( snow images from google, I can’t seem to find the folder mine are in ) A few freeze thaw cycles will take away the bitterness of the berries and then the birds will gobble them up, but we can count ourselves lucky to have enjoyed them for the months they were there.

This shrub is also a pretty tough customer, being able to grow in sun to part shade and fairly tolerant of a myriad of soil conditions. It is said  you will have a larger crop of berries if you plant more than one beautyberry ( and boy oh boy would a hedge of them be divine) but I grow only one and have had stellar berry production every year. It can also be clipped for use in arrangements where it  will be greeted with ooohs and ahhhhs and other excited utterances, because it is that cool.

There are many available varieties of callicarpa but I chose ‘Early Amethyst’ because some of the others can get quite large and frankly a little rangy looking and also because ,as the name implies, it berries much earlier than its’ cousins. ‘Profusion’ ( callicarpa  bodinieri var.giraldii )is another good beautyberry if you have room for a larger shrub .

Fall is a great time for planting shrubs , and many nurseries have great sales now , so look for these two great garden additions and get planting!

Plant Profile: Clematis ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon’

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Although clematis ‘Mrs Robert Brydon’ does not make my “Top 10 Clematis” list, it does, in fact, place pretty high up on my “Must Have Plant” list. Let’s go over the reasons, shall we?

-It is a superb non twining ground cover plant that will quickly cover the space under the shrubs in your border with it’s lovely disease free leaves

-It can also be tied up onto a trellis, bird netting, a pole, or any other vertical object you have handy

-It will scramble happily down a berm, hill, or even better cascade over a rock wall

-It is definitely on the “Top 10 Easiest to Grow” clematis list

–It will grow in many light conditions and is fairly drough tolerant once established

-It is a breeze to propagate via cuttings , your gardening friends will love you if you give them this plant

-It blooms late in the season ( late July to Sept) when so many other things in the garden are winding down

The only reason it does not place among my top ten clematis is generally  plants earn their space  there because they  have a very long bloom time and sadly this one does not.  I may reconsider that though as the foliage on this one never browns or gets any foliar disease which more than makes up for a shorter flowering time.

For years I have struggled with the correct name of this clematis. It has dubious parentage and I have seen it for sale under many names including clematis heracleifolia x jouiniana ,  clematis x jouiniana ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon’, clematis jouiniana var. davidiana ‘Mrs Robert Brydon’ but thankfully the International Clematis Registry at Hull University has it now listed as plainly clematis ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon. Whew.

I love that the name conjures up the  old fashioned practice of calling a married woman by her husbands name, not because I am a believer in the oppression of the fairer sex , I did not even legally take Wil’s name I just sort of added it  on to mine to avoid confusion for the kids when they were in school and may ditch it when they are done. I just like the thought , however imagined it may be, of a graceful and charming world with proper manners , polite conversation  where you are adressed as such, and maybe a white glove or two thrown in for good measure.  Actually my garden club has only recently disbanded the practice of having our members listed as “Mrs. Husbands Name and Surname” making me Mrs. William Monroe which is funny and maybe just a bit ironic.006

Back to the clematis, ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon ‘ is a dream to take care of. It will get pruned to 8-12 inches in the springtime, but since, as its various names all suggest, it is herbaceous , it may have already pruned itself for you by dying back to the ground over the winter. It will grow pretty slowly at first eventually getting  large leaves on stems that are 6-8 feet long. When it flowers, which is happening right now here in The Burrow, it is spectacular. The flowers are the loveliest shade of white-ish blue, a color I find dreamy in the garden and are massed along the top third of the plant.

I have seen this plant frothing over a stone wall, tied up at the base so it looked like a hydrangea bush, trained onto fences and poles and here I created a berm for it to sprawl down( bottom photo)) in the Dogs Garden and it romps all through shrubs and other plants like this  variegated weigela in the rock garden ( below ) and in all instances it looked phenomenal.007016

 

Plant Profile: Peach Drift Rose

005 (6)Although I am familiar with the Drift roses, the first time I saw the one called Peach Drift I was in L_O_V_E. Drift roses are bred and brought to you by the same people who gave us the KnockOut! family of roses.

Let me just interject an opinion here ;), I have heard many many  gardeners knock the knockouts. Just as recently as last week I overheard someone in a nursery saying with disgust “Don’t even show me any of those knockouts, I HATE them.” Ahem, why????  They  bloom their heads off, they are disease resistant, they tolerate all forms of neglect, they tolerate all types of soil and even do ok in shadier conditions, and the double pink and Sunny are fragrant, so what’s the problem? Don’t plant them if you don’t want to, but don’t knock a perfectly useful and beautiful garden plant without a good reason.

Back to the Peach Drift……..Any way, I was touring the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden when I spied Peach Drift absolutely foaming  flowers all around a set of benches in the garden. I drifted  over (couldn’t resist) and was immediately taken by the clusters of bloom that open from dark peach buds to adorable little yellow tinged mini roses and fade off to a more delicate shade of peach, and guess what?  they are ever so sweetly fragrant. I took tons of photos and added” Peach Drift” to my “must-have” list, then promptly left my camera on the train. Sigh

Here in the Burrow I  was already growing the Coral Drift, Sweet Drift, and Pink Drift and was continually struck by their long bloom time ( spring to hard freeze) and disease resistance. I was trying to figure out where I could squish in the Peach Drift when I came across the very plant being grown as a standard! Woo-Hoo!! Perfect! ( for those who are confused by the term, a standard is when a rose or other plant has been pruned into a sort of tree form, like topiary,) Not only does that make them easy to fit in  ( I grow other roses on standards nestled in between boxwood hedges) but it also lifts up the plant to the  perfect level for enjoying the fragrance.009 (6)

The two Peach Drifts I bought now grace the landing at the foot of my porch where we eat breakfast every day in good weather and are a constant source of delight.003

Some basic info: Peach Drift or Rosa Meiggili is a cross between a groundcover and a miniature rose. It is hardy in zones 4-11 and disease resistant. It flowers in cycles that last 5-6 weeks from spring until a really hard freeze ( not frost, it scoffs at frost). It is the most floriferous of the roses in the Drift series, and that is saying a lot! It will grow to about 1 1/2 feet tall to 2 feet  wide .

You can deadhead the spent flowers to tidy it up and speed up the bloom cycle , but if you don’t it will shed them on its own and re-bloom without your help. Since my Peach Drifts are being grown in containers, I will have to water and probably fertilize them, but in the ground they would not need such coddling.004 (5)007 (4)

Plant Profile: Verbena ‘Annie!’

Here in The Burrow, it is all sunshine all the time.( Just to be clear I am referring to the garden, not the gardener lol).  There are very few shady spaces and that makes it easy to have waves of flowers season long in a brilliant blooming succession until a hard frost ends it all. The only issue I have found when planting in the sun is the dearth of great ground cover plants. So very many of my favorite ground covers are only happy in the shady parts of the garden and fry in my sun. I use many low growing sedums, dianthus, moss phlox  and some of the smaller campanula varieties here and there , but it wasn’t until I discovered verbena ‘Annie!’  that I was truly impressed.002

Most of you are familiar with the annual verbenas that come on the market here in in May used either in hanging baskets or a the trailing plants in containers. I love them and use them repeatedly, but they are gone at seasons end. This verbena introduction was a cutting taken from a woman’s  garden ( the “Annie” in  verbena ‘Annie!’) in Minnesota ( which is darn cold ) where it had been surviving the winters and blooming like a fool . High Country Gardens is the place to get it, and do so fast, it often sells out.

I planted 3 a few years ago , and now have an impressive spread.

Verbena ‘Annie!’ has deeply cut foliage and sweet lavender-purple blooms that appear in late April and will continue non-stop until a hard frost in late October. No, don’t check your glasses, I really said late April to late October non-stop. As it trails along the ground it roots where it touches the soil , thus creating a happy mass of ground hugging flowers  or giving you new plants to spread  around the garden if you dig them up. I transplanted a few last week that had trailed down into a walkway where they did not belong. They were in full bloom, and never missed a beat in the move. As if you could ask for more, it is also lightly fragrant, sort of reminiscent of the scent of summer sweet , and when planted en masse the fragrance will  perfume the air . If you have just  a few you may need to get down near the ground to smell it, which is one of the very few pleasures of weeding I guess.

The only problem I have ever had is that it will suffer from powdery mildew as  the summer goes on in places that get a lot of overhead  irrigation (in the drier areas  it is fine). Although some of the foliage may look a little spotty you hardly notice as your attention is taken  by  all the flowers.

This plant certainly deserves not only the exclamation point that was given to it in its name, but also to be planted more frequently.004

 

A plant profile …. Spicebush

..or more accuratley a shrub profile…It is not often that I pick out one plant from my garden and give it it’s own special post ( unless it is a clematis of course) ,but  after a busy week speaking including two lectures that were all about shrubs added to the fact that the forsythia is in bloom here there end EVERYWHERE I though this one deserved a calling out.

The shrub is Lindera benzoin, or spicebush as it is commonly called ,and it is a real winner in the border. It’s attributes are many, starting with the fact that it is native to the east coast and thus not on any invasive plant list

– it is perfectly happy in light shade( at the edge of a woodland garden for instance)

-it is perfectly happy in the full sun  ( my garden for instance)  where it will grow dense and rounded and have the best fall color

-and perfectly happy in the full shade although there  it may grow with a more  open spreading habit .

-it grows to about 6-10 feet and rarely requires pruning

As if that were not enough, it has vibrant yellow-green flowers that emerge before it leafs out and approximately the same time as that ubiquitous harbinger of spring  ,forsythia, but the shrub itself is far more attractive in form and thankfully I have yet to witness any ridiculous pruning to it as  the poor maligned forsythia is subjected to. Some say the name comes from the spicy aroma released when the stems are bruised, some say the smell is from crushed leaves. I struggle to find a scent strong enough from either to warrant the name, but no matter, it has so much else going for it.019

Wait, there is more!  The leaves are a lovely bright shade of green  all season long , then turn a buttery yellow color in the fall.

As if that were not enough, if planted in pairs ( a male and a female as spicebush is  dioecious) the female will produce red berries in the falllinberry

and last but not least, my favorite part, the Spicebush is an important  food source for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly caterpillar. For the uninitiated, the  aforementioned caterpillar is one of the great surprises in the garden . Open any curled leaf on a lindera in the summer and you are likely to see “staring ” back at you the back end of a very cool caterpillar disguised with two large “eyes” to fend off predators. IMG_20120903_143240

So much fun to show off to garden visitors of all ages! Followed promptly by, what else?  Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies! spsw

For some reason this shrub has found it difficult to get promoted in commerce, but it is worth seeking out. I have noticed it in a few smaller nurseries as of late that are carrying a line of plants called American Beauties Natives, but any large nursery will probably carry it as well.

P.s. did you hear me say ” a harbinger of spring”  given our lackthereof in these parts , I  that deserves repeating dontcha think?

Comfrey

Not many people I know grow comfrey, an herb well know for it’s thug like behavior in the garden. It can grow up and into even the most densely rooted plant and will spread underground taking over any open ground and trampling any plant in it’s way. When you attempt to weed it out, any little molecule left in the ground will form a new colony by the time you get to the compost pile. The species self seeds crazily so defines the word garden pest. So……… why grow it?

Well, a well know fact to most European gardeners  is that comfrey leaves make unbeatable fertilizer. The plant acts as a miner, pulling out nutrients from deep in the soil and storing them in it’s leaves. You can put the leaves as is in your compost for a nutrient boost, or put them in a container to decompose,( a little smelly so put your bucket far away from the windows) then dilute the thick black liquid they form with water to make a foliar fertilizer. Recipes are  here http://www.howtodothings.com/home-garden/how-to-make-comfrey-fertilizer and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRbHqz1m7kk although I just use a 5 gallon bucket and a brick . The fertilizer is totally organic and totally  FREE!

I could say that is why I grow comfrey, but I think that may come off as , well, the bold face lie that it is. I grow it for the amazing color show. The buds of comfrey when they are all tight and closed have a surreal pink glow to them, especially against all that dark green foliage. Then they open to the most beautiful blue,yes blue, true blue, not a purple masquerading as blue or an if I squint my eyes that resembles blue blue, but real honest to goodness blue. AND they bloomfor a looooong time. I pea stake them or use a cats cradle set up in the spring so all that blueness rises above the other plants near them ( they will flop without it) and I enjoy their show.

When they go wayward, I spade out the offenders and compost them or add to my bucket of leaves . Thug or not, I would not be without it, and when I leave this world it will be a race between the comfrey and the trumpet vines to see who takes over this little acre first.